“There is no industry in more need of AI & Automation than healthcare. But we first need to break down data, and workflow silos.”—Alex Meshkin
Technology has had a remarkable influence on extension and enrichment of life. Advancement in biomedicine, such as new drug therapies for auto-immune disorders, and different cancers; to providing a four-dimensional diagnosis, robotic surgery to non-invasive imaging; all these healthcare innovations are having a momentous impact on both healthcare providers and patients. Healthcare industry is being engulfed by hot buzzwords like Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, Deep learning, and Cognitive computing.
The market has seen a tremendous increase in the adoption of electronic records by care providers and there is more usage of connected wearable devices. There seems to be a strong pipeline of technological progress in the country, which comprises of lab research, the life sciences industry, and translational research in academic medicine. This has made integration of AI in the field of medicine almost inevitable. AI is ruling the healthcare sector and has taken over it right from image analysis to data management; it is reshaping the healthcare sector towards a positive change. Both robotics and AI are playing a significant role in progressive development of medicine & patient care, and has become an active part of the healthcare eco-system. One thing is for sure, the future of medicine is shifting and it will encompass additional use of artificial intelligence.
Healthcare Domains that Use Artificial Intelligence
Recently, a report from the Wellcome Trust and Future Advocacy suggested that AI is here to stay and will revolutionize the healthcare sector significantly in the coming years. The report summarizes and examines some of the possible ethical, social, and political effects AI might have on the sector. A few spaces of the healthcare sector that are currently undergoing change are:
AI to Identify & Monitor the Spread of Disease
Certain specialties like Radiation Oncology, Ophthalmology, and so on, have rapidly advanced technologically; there is an increased use of AI through computer mapping. A very low and accurate amount of radiation is applied to the specific area that needs treatment, after which the part is subjected to different levels of radiation. The angles at which the radiation enters the body are noted, and this information is used by the computer systems, along with physicist, to strategize a treatment plan that is complete and tailored to fit the needs of patients.
A great deal of research and work is currently being carried out by several institutions. This will enable computers to determine and detect signs of Cancer at an earlier stage, thereby aiding doctors to use the patient data to make more personalized treatment choices. The prospective for AI-enabled technologies to quickly absorb and comprehend new medical functions, and then analytically provide doctors with the essential facts and figures, could be monumental. The prospective applications of AI in healthcare could perhaps predict future diseases even before they are manifested, thus improving the eminence of services for patients.
AI-Assisted Robotic Surgery
A category of AI-assisted robotic surgery was lately used in orthopedics; to assess data from pre-operative medical records, to physically guide the surgeon’s tools simultaneously during a procedure. This technology can also utilize data from previous surgeries to carry out informed tasks during the impending one. Ophthalmology is another medical specialty which is gearing towards AI. When a person suffering from cataract undergoes surgery, there are numerous ways in which this can be done, for example, the recently developed laser technique that create an incision, and remove the anomaly with simply programming the machine to do so. The computers also map out the angles and depth of the areas of the eyes, to make sure the appropriate depth and angles are adjusted in the appropriate manner. These instances offer promising results for the future of medicine.
AI to Make Drug Discovery & Genomic Science more Operative
When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, drug discovery, and clinical trial research are the first things that come to the mind. With the use of machine learning, early-stage drug discovery can be carried out. This includes processes from preliminary screening of drug compounds to prediction of the success rate based on biological, chemical, and physical factors. This will enable us to take a step forward towards precision medicine or personalized treatment.
AI-Based Fraud detection
Health care organizations and insurers have always encountered a major issue when it comes to errors and fraud, which have a negative impact on their budget. Detection of fraud, traditionally, relied on permutations of manual reviews & computerization of medical prerogatives. This was a tedious and time consuming process; it also hindered the capability of quickly spotting inconsistencies. Organizations and insurers are now investigating AI-supported data mining, combined with AI-based neural networks (that mimic the processes of the human brain, but rapidly) to search Medicare prerogatives for patterns concomitant with medical refund fraud.
AI to Perform Clinical Work Such As Diagnosis, Prognosis,& Screening
In recent times, there has been a rapid surge in the commercialization of machine learning and big data, which has helped to bring AI to the vanguard of healthcare and life sciences. This has changed the industries’ diagnoses and treatment procedures, to a great extent. Some examples include diagnosing diseases like diabetes, cancer, or other chronic conditions. AI and machine-learning could help progress cancer diagnosis and treatment, to provide more precise and patient-specific diagnosis and prognosis.
AI Power-Driven Virtual Nurse Assistants
The work of a medical nurse is of utmost importance and requires a high level of precision and attention. A Virtual Nurse Assistant will ease the tedious work of nurses by helping them in monitoring patients, interacting with them, evaluating the symptoms, and directing the nurses to deliver the most effective care setting. It is estimated that AI-powered nurse assistants could save around $20 billion every year, by saving approximately 20% of the time nurses devote towards patient maintenance errands. Although this type of AI technology is in its nascent stage, it is a powerful tool that is critical to ensure error free patient care.
Where is AI-Based Healthcare Technology Heading?
With AI developing at a surprisingly fast pace, we are currently at the top of the hype cycle, but it is too soon to tell how the technology would turn out. There are definite areas where AI-based technology can ease the doctors’ or physicians’ workflow challenges, improve diagnosis and treatment choices, enhance key revenue cycles, and care administration workflows. Though we are just at the beginning of AI-based future, achieving these feats will require a several decades at the minimum. It has the capability to transform various major aspects of healthcare sector; however, the technology is still being validated. And challenges, including access to data, cost, and simply considering how computers reach conclusions, need to be addressed.
As AI-based technologies develop and become more rampant, healthcare sector will have to invest in these, so as to deliver the maximum value to its clients. Nonetheless, the AI-based applications that can deliver the most value today, such as administrative workflow, AI-assisted surgery, virtual nurse, etc. It should be highlighted and invested in, so that healthcare providers are free to focus on better care.
