New studio takes innovation in-house at Ardent, building upon the two companies’ early success in developing AI solutions together

Ardent Health Services has partnered with SwitchPoint Ventures to launch an innovation studio focused on transforming healthcare delivery and administration. The partnership is an outgrowth of the companies’ successful two-year collaboration in developing AI solutions, combining Ardent’s resources and broad clinical footprint with SwitchPoint Ventures’ expertise in artificial intelligence and innovation strategy.

The new studio builds on a model that has already delivered results, handcrafting solutions that use Ardent’s 30 hospitals and 200 sites of care to address entrenched challenges within healthcare delivery. The studio’s charge is to develop and deploy data-driven solutions across Ardent’s footprint, with an eye toward launching them as independent ventures serving the broader healthcare industry.

“Ardent and SwitchPoint share a commitment to addressing the root problems that burden healthcare delivery,” said Ardent President and CEO Marty Bonick. “Making healthcare work better demands more than status quo thinking. SwitchPoint’s team listens, breaks down assumptions, attacks the salient issues, and iterates until there’s a breakthrough. Together, I’m confident we will bring big ideas and bold solutions to life in the areas that matter most to patients and caregivers.”

In 2021, Ardent and SwitchPoint partnered to develop Winnow, an AI solution for clinician recruitment. Winnow uses predictive analytics to help Ardent and other healthcare providers source, recruit, and retain clinicians who are ideal fits for each role. Winnow was recently awarded the 2022 NEXT Award for Best Healthcare Startup by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

Ardent has also implemented Polaris, SwitchPoint’s novel solution for accurately predicting patient volume - months in advance - in any clinical setting. Such visibility enables managers, for the first time, to deploy staff in an intelligent way to meet the predicted labor demand. Ardent has adopted Polaris in the belief that optimized schedules will have an extraordinary ripple effect: boosting the satisfaction and retention of clinical staff, streamlining hospital operations, and improving patient care and satisfaction.

“One of the reasons why innovation is so difficult is that people talk about the need for change, but won’t take the steps to make the change,” said Ray Guzman, CEO of SwitchPoint Ventures. “It has been a breath of fresh air to work with Marty and his team. Their growth mindsets, respect for the creative process, and eagerness to follow through makes for an ideal environment to introduce disruptive solutions. Like us, they are serious about transforming the healthcare industry, and I’m excited for the future we are building together.”

The new venture is the latest in a series of partnerships between Ardent and disruptive health technology companies focused on reimagining the healthcare experience for patients and caregivers. The company recently announced the launch of a state-of-the-art continuous inpatient monitoring program with BioIntelliSense, a virtual nursing program with care.ai, and a remote patient monitoring initiative with Cadence.

About SwitchPoint Ventures

SwitchPoint Ventures is an artificial intelligence-focused, Nashville-based venture studio that partners with business leaders across industries to drive rapid technological innovation. By focusing on its partners’ toughest challenges and biggest opportunities, SwitchPoint’s award-winning data science team creates custom artificial intelligence solutions to support smarter, more profitable business decisions. Learn more at: www.switchpointventures.com.

About Ardent Health Services

Ardent Health Services invests in people, technology and communities. Through its subsidiaries, Ardent owns and operates 30 hospitals and nearly 200 sites of care in six states with more than 24,000 employees, including 1,200+ employed providers. With a focus on evidence-based practices to improve quality care and patient outcomes, 95% of eligible Ardent hospitals received a Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of A or B for Fall 2022, compared with 57% of all ranked U.S. hospitals. In 2022, Modern Healthcare recognized six Ardent entities as “Best Places to Work,” marking the 14^th consecutive year an Ardent facility was recognized. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Ardent is owned by current and former members of Ardent’s management team; Equity Group Investments (EGI), a Chicago-based private investment firm; and Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR), a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Learn more at: www.ardenthealth.com.

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