Arkstone Incorporates Patient Allergies Into Its Already Powerful Analysis Toolkit

Arkstone Medical Solutions is pleased to announce that the OneChoice engine now factors in patient allergies when making treatment recommendations. When choosing a course of antibiotics, a physician must balance a number of factors. While a lab result may detect a number of organisms, not every organism is necessarily pathogenic or needs to be treated. In fact, the same organism may be pathogenic if detected in a respiratory swab, but not in a urine sample. If resistance genes were detected, then the antibiotic that would usually treat that particular pathogen may be ineffective. Doctors are also creatures of habit and usually prescribe what they know even if new research may suggest that the drug is no longer the best choice. Balancing all these factors and keeping abreast of the latest news from governing bodies can be daunting for any single medical provider. Arkstone's OneChoice technology automatically analyzes all these factors, and many more, like age, gender, and diagnosis, to arrive at a targeted precision-guided treatment recommendation. By incorporating which antibiotics the patient may be allergic to, the recommendations become even more tailored to the specific patient's needs.“We want recommendations to be as fine-tuned as possible. The more factors we can account for, the better the care a physician can provide for their patient” says Dr. Ari Frenkel, Arkstone’s Chief Science Officer and co-founder. “Many physicians using molecular diagnostics are already confused about how to decipher the results, and when patients have allergies to antibiotics, it further complicates the picture. By providing targeted therapy, and including options that take into consideration the patient's allergies, it allows the doctor to focus more on that patient.”OneChoice recommendations are just a part of the Arkstone Report which is already in use by many molecular laboratories across the country. Each Arkstone report also includes a proprietary ArkScore, which takes recommendations a step further by offering providers an easy way to compare antibiotics to one another, as some are considerably safer and more effective than others. The report presents physicians with a clear and easy to read analysis of laboratory results. The report is also an important part of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in hundreds of skilled nursing facilities nationwide. “Our technology is always evolving, and we are constantly looking for ways to make our systems smarter and more effective,” says Dave Gross, CTO and co-founder, “By incorporating allergy information into it's bag of tricks, our artificial intelligence engine improves exponentially”