How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Democratize Healthcare
The impact of AI on healthcare is a significant consideration for providers, medical malpractice and personal injury lawyers and medical review companies.
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Access to healthcare is a major concern in the United States, with the CDC pointing out that at least 20% of U.S adults do not have a regular source of healthcare. Healthcare providers ensure the quality of care provided via regular medical peer review and other evaluation procedures, therefore quality of care need not be a great concern. However, the lack of access to proper healthcare has a direct impact on the life expectancy, especially that of poor people. One of the contributing reasons for this condition is the shortage of physicians in the required places. Many providers prefer to work in top-class hospitals with brilliant colleagues and treat patients who can pay for their services. Another reason for lack of healthcare access is the prohibitive prices of medical care. Is there a solution for this situation? The need of the day is democratization of healthcare, which many observers and experts in the industry say could be possible with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Innovative technology could even bring down healthcare costs and democratize healthcare in the true sense. When we talk of AI, these unique tools enable easier evidence gathering and analysis. According to the 2018 Health Trends Report from the Stanford University School of Medicine, with the arrival of Big Data there is more opportunity to democratize healthcare. Data availability and access is the major pre-requisite if healthcare is to be democratized. Three main trends in AI technology are driving exceptional change in how physicians, patients and researchers share information. 1. Intelligent computing: This enables physicians to develop customized treatment plans for patients. Moreover, with greater insight into patient data as well as the availability of a wide range of trial-based information via intelligent computing, healthcare spending can be reduced by billions within a few years. 2. Privacy, security and safety: AI tools can sift through huge amounts of data. The concern is that consideration of doctor-patient privacy complicates the ownership and confidentiality of the healthcare data AI tools depend on. There is always the fear of data breaches and its consequences. Concerns regarding privacy, safety and security of data will play a major role in how AI tools can access the required data. In the current environment the concept of confidentiality and ensuring patient privacy and safety may have to be re-examined. 3. Sharing of data: The Stanford University report highlights that democratization necessitates openness. Unless data is shared among all stakeholders, any amount of
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computing and insights cannot help. Though interoperability remains a great challenge, API technology that standardizes how applications “talk� to each other, can help improve the sharing of data. AI tools have the ability to keep on learning and continuing to identify new features in the data which will in turn give the most accurate diagnoses. The uniqueness of this data is that it is drawn from thousands and thousands of patients, much more than specialists can see in their offices in a lifetime. AI can be constantly retrained with new data sets to improve its accuracy. It has the unique ability to apply time-series methods to understand how a patient differs from baseline on a granular level, which in turn may help identify what elements of a patient’s lifestyle and/or treatment have led to his/her current state. The technology understands how a patient has changed over time more than any human could and this is much more predictive. Since AI can provide greater insights and process results more quickly and accurately, doctors will rely on machine learning to change over from standardized to personalized healthcare. Physicians will be able to focus on practicing medicine instead of wasting time on mundane tasks. When patients are given access to their health information, they will communicate and collaborate more with physicians and become more engaged stakeholders in their health. The impact of AI and machine learning on the healthcare industry is a significant consideration for physicians, healthcare organizations, medical malpractice and personal injury lawyers and medical review companies that assist these entities. It is important to understand that while it is true that innovations in medicine can improve care and reduce time-wasting and error-prone work, there exist challenges in democratizing data or making data universally available and simultaneously guarding its security and ensuring it is used safely and ethically. The traditional doctor-patient relationship will continue to fortify progress in the healthcare field, and partnerships should be built with patient trust in mind. Democratization in healthcare is believed to have the potential to transform the doctor-patient relationship.
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