Mayo Clinic and Bayesian Health co-develop new AI-powered solution to expand palliative care access and improve patient outcomes

New AI-powered solution built on Bayesian's clinical intelligence platform expands access to palliative care, identifies unmet patient needs earlier and reduces readmissions

ROCHESTER, Minn. and NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayo Clinic and Bayesian Health today announced they have co-developed an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to identify hospitalized patients who may benefit from palliative care earlier in their stay. The solution is designed to support timely consultations, with the objective of improving goal-concordant care for patients with serious illness and reducing non-beneficial readmissions.

Roughly one-third of readmissions involve patients with serious illness, many of whom experience repeated hospitalizations. However, fewer than half of these patients receive palliative care consultations.

To address this challenge, Mayo Clinic and Bayesian Health built a solution that identifies patients with unmet palliative care needs earlier and equips clinicians with the context they need, within their workflow, to navigate the complex conversations and care coordination that follows.

In a randomized clinical trial conducted at Mayo Clinic, validated findings from an earlier version of the program demonstrated that use of the tool was associated with a 44% increase in timely palliative care referrals, a 25% reduction in 60-day readmissions and a 28% reduction in 90-day readmissions, along with improved patient quality of life.

"The challenge in palliative care is not just identifying unmet needs but doing so early enough to change the course of care," said Jacob J. Strand, M.D., chair of Palliative Care at Mayo Clinic. "What makes the difference is tailoring workflows to local culture, based on patient acuity, and across central and bedside teams across the organization. When high-quality, patient-specific signals reach frontline clinicians in the moments that matter, it cuts through the complexity of inpatient care, drives more consistent decision-making and supports teams in delivering the best possible care to every patient."

Mayo Clinic's Department of Medicine led the clinical development and validation of the AI solution. Bayesian Health supported integration of the model into the electronic health record, allowing care teams to access this information within existing clinical workflows.

This is the first collaboration of its kind at Mayo Clinic to use AI across the entire care process in a complex hospital setting, helping its care teams spot unmet needs earlier, connecting the patient with the right specialists at the right time, while keeping the patient's health information coordinated but confidential for an overall improvement in care.

How it works

As health systems build out their AI strategies, Bayesian Health provides a clinical foundation of real-time clinical intelligence that shifts care from reactive to proactive. The newest module on the Bayesian platform brings this approach to palliative care, identifying unmet needs such as pain or caregiver support so clinicians can reach patients earlier in their care journey. Palliative care teams get a real-time, hospital-wide view of patients who may benefit from a consult, while bedside clinicians get clear, interpretable guidance and a streamlined path to action, so the moment of insight becomes a moment of care rather than another notification. The clinical AI continuously learns from clinician feedback and local patient populations, improving identification accuracy over time.

"Palliative care is exactly the kind of problem our platform is built for: reaching patients earlier, when clinicians still have time to change the course of their care," said Suchi Saria, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Bayesian Health. "It takes purpose-built infrastructure, rigorous validation and a thoughtful partnership between AI and clinical experts. That's how trustworthy AI gets built, and it's how care actually improves for both patients and caregivers."

This co-development agreement is a strategic collaboration under Mayo Clinic's Practice Transformation Ventures (PTV) framework which includes, but is not limited to, a licensing or vendor arrangement. The Department of Medicine in Rochester served as the Practice owner, providing leadership, clinical expertise and support throughout the project.

Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in the technology referenced in this news release. Mayo Clinic will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research. 

About Mayo Clinic  
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

About Bayesian Health
Bayesian Health is the real-time clinical intelligence platform that helps health systems deliver proactive, high-reliability care. By continuously reading the full patient record to establish each patient's baseline and detect meaningful change over time, Bayesian applies complex clinical reasoning to identify the patients who truly need attention and surface clear next steps inside the EHR — turning data noise into trusted, decisive action. Leading health systems partner with Bayesian to make the long-promised shift from reactive to proactive care across key drivers of mortality, readmissions, and length of stay, hardwiring quality as a durable strategy rather than a series of disconnected initiatives. Learn more at https://bayesianhealth.com

SOURCE Bayesian Health