Artificial intelligence software developer AnalyticsMD Inc. will use $13 million in new funding to expand the use of its platform among existing clients, further development of its platform and hire new executives.

The company, which focuses on serving the healthcare market, uses machine learning algorithms to analyze large internal data sets from hospitals, along with external data, in real-time to make recommendations that help hospitals proactively manage operations more efficiently. Unlike rules-based platforms that are static, the use of artificial intelligence ensures that AnalyticsMDs platform learns from data as it goes, enabling it to refine recommendations given to the hospital staff as metrics within the data change, the company says.

AnalyticsMDs platform integrates with a hospitals back office systems to gather information from various departments such as the emergency room, operating rooms and in-patient wards to identify sudden surges in emergency visits, case delays, fluctuations in the patient population and patient calls to the nursing station. The platform also pulls in data on staffing levels and individual staff members on duty. That data is supplemented with external data that can effect operations, such as holidays or weather forecasts that can impact patient admissions.

For example, for the upcoming 4^th of July weekend staffing information in the emergency room is fed into the platform. Among the information is that a physician, who tends to order a lot of tests for emergency room patientswhich can significantly extend their staywill be working that weekend. External data also tells the platform that the heat index is forecast to be over 100 degrees, conditions that can lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Finally, hospital data reveals that the hospital is at capacity, but that several patients are to be discharged soon.

After crunching the data, the AnalyticsMD platform formulates recommendations for actions to be taken that weekend that are sent to hospital staff. The hospitals lab manager is notified that tests need to be turned around as soon as possible over the weekend to help prevent backups in the emergency room. The emergency room staff is notified there is likely to be a high influx of patients overcome by the heat and the admissions staff is notified to make discharges a priority so that beds are available if emergency room patients need to be admitted. Messages can be sent to hospital staff by text, e-mail or phone call.

By using the platform to coordinate with staff in each department, the hospital is prepared to better manage the flow of patients and reduce congestion in the emergency room, says Mudit Garg, CEO and co-founder of AnalyticsMD.

More effective departmental management can also help hospitals avoid inadvertently double booking operating rooms because a surgery took longer than expected.

AnalyticsMDs platform is used by community, academic and public hospitals across the United States including Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., and Medstar Montgomery Medical Center in Onley, Md.

Many customers start using our platform in one department then expand it to others, which is why we offer separate modules for the emergency room, operating room and in-patient, Garg says.

Joining the AnalyticsMD executive team are Srinivas Mantripragada, formerly of network security provider Infoblox, as head of engineering; Michael Mucha, formerly of healthcare and payment solutions provider Evolent Health Inc., as head up sales; and Natalie Sunderland, formerly of health benefits platform provider Castlight Health, as head of marketing.