OSAKA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 16, 2025--
The inaugural meeting of the Asian Productivity Organization’s (APO’s) annual Green Productivity Advisory (GPA) Council was successfully convened from 14 to 15 April 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
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The GPA Council, chaired by Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo Ryoichi Yamamoto, comprises members from Fiji, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand and advises APO Secretary-General Dr. Indra Pradana Singawinata on the development of a solution-based, action-oriented, Asia-centric GP 2.0 Ecosystem.
Secretary-General Dr. Indra reported the progress made by the Secretariat in conceptualizing the GP 2.0 Ecosystem, as well as three of its seven elements: the GP rating system; GP guidebooks; and GP mapping. In addition, prototypes of the GP rating system and GP mapping were unveiled and demonstrated to the GPA Council for the first review. Council members and their representatives provided insightful feedback and suggested adjustments to improve the overall design of the GP 2.0 Ecosystem and its elements.
The significance of the GPA Council’s efforts to incorporate the principles of GP, as defined by Professor Yamamoto in 1994, into the GP 2.0 Ecosystem was underscored at the Special Presentation Session held at the Blue Ocean Dome (BOD), EXPO 2025 Osaka, on the evening of 14 April, where council members highlighted past and present national efforts in implementing sustainability initiatives in the spirit of GP in Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, while looking toward the GP 2.0 Ecosystem. The session included welcome remarks from President of ZERI Japan Yusuke Saraya, host of the BOD session; opening remarks by GPA Council Chair Professor Yamamoto; a video message delivered by H.E. Agni Deo Singh, Minister for Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations of Fiji; and live presentations by council members and their representatives.
In his address, Guest of Honor Vice Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia (BAPPENAS) Febrian A. Ruddyard emphasized the importance of green transformation and GP to achieve sustainable growth without exacerbating the immense pressure that the environment was already experiencing after decades of industrialization. The Special Presentation Session concluded with closing remarks by APO Secretary-General Dr. Indra, followed by a video highlighting the remarkable achievements of Biofarma, a pharmaceutical manufacturer from Indonesia, as a current example of GP in action demonstrating how the application of proven GP techniques had led not only to enhanced productivity but also to saving lives.
As the GPA Council reconvened on the morning of 15 April, presentations were given by two guest lecturers, which helped broaden the deliberations on the strategic direction of GP 2.0. A final set of recommendations on the development of the GP 2.0 Ecosystem was agreed upon that will guide the APO Secretariat’s efforts in the coming year. These recommendations will also be reported at the 67th Session of the APO Governing Body to be held in Jakarta in May 2025.
About the APO
The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) is a regional intergovernmental organization dedicated to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region through mutual cooperation. It is nonpolitical, nonprofit, and nondiscriminatory. Established in 1961 with eight founding members, the APO currently comprises 21 member economies: Bangladesh; Cambodia; the Republic of China; Fiji; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Lao PDR; Malaysia; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; the Philippines; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand; Turkiye; and Vietnam.
The APO is shaping the future of the region by fostering the socioeconomic development of its members through national policy advisory services, acting as a think tank, institutional capacity-building initiatives, and knowledge sharing to increase productivity.
APO Secretary-General Dr. Indra delivering the closing remarks at the GPA Council Annual Meeting Special Presentation Session at the Blue Ocean Dome, EXPO 2025 Osaka.
SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--
Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.
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Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.
This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.
Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.
“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”
The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:
“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
