How AI can have a meaningful impact on healthcare in the future
Source: Datameer
The landscape of the global healthcare industry is changing faster than ever due to major investments and technological developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms. While artificial intelligence will have major impacts across all major industries, its application to healthcare will be a valuable and necessary step into the future.
Potential Impacts of AI on Healthcare Cost Structures
Through increased, larger-scale investment
in healthcare AI, the iron triangle of healthcare can be better addressed, finding a middle ground between accessibility to care, the affordability of that care, and the overall effectiveness of healthcare systems. While the iron triangle of healthcare typically requires a negative tradeoff or a choice between two of the three interlocking factors, artificial intelligence unlocks the potential to improve one side of the triangle without sacrificing another. In short, artificial intelligence will continue to serve as a transformative power within healthcare.
Source: SlideShare
The Quest for Profitable Implementation
Investment in healthcare AI has expanded rapidly in recent years in both the public and private sectors “it is expected to reach $6.6 billion by 2021, according to some estimates. Even more staggering, Accenture predicts that the top AI applications may result in annual savings of $150 billion by 2026” (Forbes).
Furthermore, according to a 2018 study by PwC, more than one-third of healthcare providers have made investments into healthcare AI and medical predictive analytics, preparing for the next generation of automated healthcare. While all of the specific applications of these technologies have not yet been fully realized, there has been much speculation over how artificial intelligence will be regularly applied and used within the world of healthcare:
Future Areas of Impact
“Investment is ramping up very quickly,” says Gurpreet Singh, U.S. health services leader at PwC. Singh sees three major “zones of investment” for AI in healthcare:
Digitalization — implementation of artificial intelligence, digital processes, and other automated tools to reduce the cost of operational expenses
Engagement — improving methods of interactions between patients/consumers and their respective healthcare providers, systems, and services
Diagnostics — the development and construction of new products, services, and algorithms to provide diagnoses and automate steps of healthcare processes
Source: PwC
Challenges to Implementation for Medical Professionals
While a turning point in healthcare is approaching due to massive investments and research efforts, there are still significant barriers that must first be overcome before AI can become the foundation of modern healthcare. Providers of healthcare services need to ensure the accuracy and predictive success of algorithms to be used in the provision of health services. On the other hand, there will be inevitable reluctance on the patient side to put their trust into automated, robotic health services.
Ultimately, doctors and other medical professionals must be willing to work hand-in-hand with AI technology, as both will remain essential to effective healthcare. Robots will not replace medical professionals altogether, but the use and reliance on AI in standard healthcare procedures will continue its growth into the future. While AI is rapidly changing modern conceptions of healthcare, the need for open-minded, ready-to-learn medical professionals will remain a foundational element of healthcare.
In addition to doubts about the effectiveness of AI in healthcare, there are also a number of financial concerns for smaller firms that lack the capital to invest in such newer, more experimental technologies. However, as artificial intelligence technologies become more advanced and the field becomes more competitive, it is reasonable to believe that such technologies will become more accessible and more affordable in the near future.
Concluding Thoughts
“We don’t have enough labor to manage everyone’s health all the time with a doctor and a nurse,” Dan Housman, CTO of ConvergeHEALTH by Deloitte says. “So we need this boost of artificial brains to be able to support people.”
As we enter a new, hyper-digitalized era of healthcare provision, artificial intelligence offers newer, improved solutions to recurring problems surrounding health services across the globe.
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