Greenville Reporter

PEP Health has announced a strategic partnership with ECU Health, a rural academic health system, to enhance patient experience through real-time AI insights. The collaboration aims to provide ECU Health with AI-driven insights from unsolicited patient feedback, enabling a more inclusive and proactive approach to improving patient care.

Dr. Julie Kennedy Oehlert, Chief Experience Officer at ECU Health, stated: “Creating caring experiences for our patients and team members is central to our mission and values. PEP Health’s technology offers a new and comprehensive way to deeply listen to patients as well as potential consumers and puts us in a better position to make more informed experience decisions. This partnership supports our ongoing commitment to deliver safe, highly reliable human-centered care to the communities we serve.”

PEP Health uses AI, data science, and natural language processing (NLP) specific to healthcare to analyze millions of patient interactions across various online platforms. ECU Health will utilize PEP Health's proprietary AI analysis of unsolicited feedback from over eight million digital sources.

“Patient experience is the foundation of healthcare excellence,” said Dr. Mark Lomax, CEO of PEP Health. “ECU Health’s commitment to understanding patient and community insights sets a standard for human-centered care. With our technology, they can focus on what patients’ value most and continuously adapt to meet those expectations.”

The importance of patient experience continues to grow as it influences HCAHPS scores, CMS Star Ratings, and financial performance. Traditional surveys often provide limited insights from only a small percentage of patients while many individuals share their experiences online.

“Forward-thinking health systems like ECU Health recognize that these insights from unsolicited feedback are key to unlocking better outcomes, improved loyalty, and inspiring long-term patient trust. Our technology provides more visibility into actual patient sentiment—helping healthcare leaders take meaningful action before issues impact care quality or financial performance,” continued Dr. Lomax.