i n terviews
Objectivity with no empathy: how symptom checkers can help patients? Artificial Intelligence is getting better in diagnosing. Although AI still can’t see and examine patients, it has an access to an unlimited medical knowledge and up-to-date research data. It’s learning very quickly and gaining new capabilities like emotional intelligence. An interview with Piotr Orzechowski, CEO of the startup Infermedica. Artificial intelligence in healthcare is developing very rapidly, but the technology is being adopted on the market very slowly. Why is that, and what can be done about it?
There are many reasons – although last year there were many successful commercial implementations of artificial intelligence. Examples worth mentioning include IDx-DR, the first FDA-approved
medical device exploiting AI for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, and Apple Watch 4’s feature for detecting atrial fibrillation, which shows that intelligent algorithms are already becoming available to mainstream consumers. In my experience, the slow progress is due to three main factors: insufficient clinical validation of solutions, legal aspects, and distressing experiences associated with the computerization of health-
care. The first problem unfortunately affects the vast majority of AI suppliers, who have not yet provided solid evidence that the technology they’re offering is safe to use and will have specific benefits that will justify the investment. The second factor has to do with the lack of clear legal liability for errors committed by AI. As in the case of autonomous cars, who is responsible in the event of a bad decision? The doctor, the patient, the provider, or maybe the virtual AI entity, whose license to practice can be revoked? The final issue is related to the often painful experience of numerous organizations that have implemented solutions such as electronic patient documentation. In conversations with hospitals, especially in the United States, the first question is usually, “Can you integrate with our EHR system, and how complicated it will be?” Ironically, it seems that in many cases the IT infrastructure itself is a barrier to the implementation of new IT solutions, including AI. There is currently a lot of hype about AI solutions in health. In which areas of medicine are they most promising?
I think that the impact of AI will be felt first in remote monitoring of cardiac patients, in imaging diagnostics as support for radiologists, and in preliminary diagnosis of a patient’s symptoms. In the case of this last application, there are a number of solutions, called chatbots or virtual assistants, whose aim is to gather information from an interview with the patient and recommend the next step, replacing “Dr. Google”. This type of solution is already being piloted by leading insurance companies, including Allianz, Bupa or Prudential.
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