Can The ‘AI Revolution’ Make Healthcare Safe? Or At Least Safer?

Healthcare Remains a ‘Not-So-Safe’ Industry

Those of us in the business (of healthcare, that is) know that the is not a safe industry:

-- One in three people admitted to the hospital will experience some sort of medical mistake, according to Health Affairs.

-- According to the FDA, 100,000 patients every year experience medication errors.

-- According to the NIH, surgical errors, falls, infections and other errors cost American Taxpayers over $20 billion dollars each year.

However, it’s not all ‘doom and gloom.’ The healthcare industry is much safer than it was even 5 years ago: there are fewer medication errors, fewer falls and fewer hospital-acquired infections. Measure sets and management goals have improved too. Importantly, medical diagnosis has become more accurate leading to faster diagnosis and treatment.

But progress on all these fronts is slow and ‘best practices’ in medical management are not widely adopted. There are very few mechanisms to ‘make’ doctors or nurses utilize these ‘best practices,’ which means patients often do not receive the best treatments available.

Healthcare is Run By An Old Guard Having To Embrace Change

Why? Because healthcare is entrenched in ‘The Old Ways.’ Many believe that ‘regular people’ cannot understand medicine and should be kept out-of-the loop. Doctors often believe that their work is too technical to be measured and since every patient is individual, there can be no such thing as a universal best practice. But this is just not true and the evidence says so…

So this is why it’s so surprising to hear—in contrast—just how quickly new technologies are being adopted within the healthcare system. There is a surprising willingness to adopt and use AI-based technologies within hospitals and doctors’ offices and with patients.

Today we see predictive analytics, large language models, remote monitoring technologies and other AI-type information tools being used in multiple settings within healthcare, which was simply unheard of even 2 years ago.

For example, many patients are being prescribed remote monitoring apps to measure their blood glucose to better manage diabetes. And many doctors eagerly use these data to remotely check-in on their patients.

For example, hospital management use predictive analytic tools which provide real-time updates to nurses about open hospital beds and exam rooms, to optimize processes and decrease wait times for patients.

For another example, many of the basic administrative processes that keep things flowing smoothly in the doctor’s office are now being done automatically by AI, like medical coding and billing and transcribing doctor’s notes.

AI More Human than Humans

And these technologies are doing more than all that…A recent study showed that ChatGPT came out well ahead of the human doctors on usefulness and empathy—weird that technology can be more ‘human’ than humans!

Concerns?

There are concerns—oh to be sure. The World Health Organization writes that there is a ‘call for rigorous oversight of these technologies to be used in a safe, effective, and ethical ways.’

Bellwether Says ‘YES’ on AI in Healthcare

My bellwether indicates more positive benefits are on the way from AI and other Large Language Model tools in healthcare.

I see a (near) future where technologies help researchers utilize large data sets to better understand disease and where such knowledge translates into rapid diagnosis and treatment of illness and diseases—tailored to each person to be 100% effective. Care delivery will continue to shift away from medical offices and hospitals because medical care will be administered in the home and virtually.  And plan to see more and more medical management be done by patients themselves and their families.

The Future of Care Can’t Come Fast Enough

I see right now that AI is improving the lives of doctors, nurses, technologists and yes, patients. I see more reliable care and care that is based in evidence and research—because of AI.

It takes a whole new paradigm to disrupt a very, very traditional industry like Healthcare, and AI and other machine learning technologies are being the disruptor much needed to realize big upsides.  

Expect more disruption in this industry, and I for one am super excited by the upsides.  Get ready because these changes are coming and it’s going to arrive very soon…

As the saying goes, ‘The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.’

About the author: Julie Kliger is recognized by LinkedIn as a "Top Voice" in Health Care in 2015 & 2106, & 2107. She is a Healthcare ‘Strategic Realist’ who is passionate about improving health care and improving lives. She specializes in future-oriented healthcare redesign, optimizing existing operations, implementing new care models and strategic change management. She is an advisor, clinician, health system board member, speaker and author.