OpenAI Powers Color Health’s Copilot for Cancer Treatment

OpenAI’s GPT-4o artificial intelligence (AI) model is powering a copilot application designed to accelerate cancer patients’ access to treatment by identifying missing diagnostics and creating tailored workup plans.

Developed by Color Health, the copilot helps healthcare providers make evidence-based decisions about cancer screening and treatment, OpenAI said in a Monday (June 17) press release.

Early in its rollout, the copilot has helped healthcare providers identify four times more missing labs, imaging, or biopsy and pathology results than those without the copilot, according to the release.

In addition, using the copilot, it takes an average of five minutes for clinicians to analyze patient records and identify gaps — solving the fragmentation of data and weeks of delay that can result from existing processes, the release said.

This solution can help catch cancer earlier by providing wider access to expertise, Color Health said in a Monday press release.

“Accordingly, the first use case of Color’s copilot tool focuses on the systems to automate the understanding and analysis of a person’s background risk factors and then apply the guidelines that adjust their screening plan based on their individualized circumstances,” Color Health said in the release.

The second focus of the copilot is effectively managing patients into treatment by bringing the expertise to determine what tests are necessary to inform treatment to the primary care doctor’s office or to nurse oncologists, according to the release.

“Both of these can jump to action as soon as a patient is diagnosed,” Color Health said in the release. “That way, by the time the patient meets her oncologist for the first time, she has a much higher chance of being ready to initiate treatment and, we hope, save weeks of precious time.”

Many makers of AI systems have been moving to apply the technology to the healthcare industry, PYMNTS reported in December.

Healthcare is a massive sector with many segments — and there exist different roles AI can play across the ecosystem that come weighted with different risks and different opportunities.

Faster, AI-assisted diagnoses can lead to faster treatment, producing better and more repeatable outcomes, PYMNTS reported in April 2023.