Top Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Healthcare

The healthcare industry is badly in need of reform. From chronic diseases and cancer to radiography and risk assessment, there is virtually endless opportunity to leverage technology to deliver more precise, efficient, and forceful interventions at precisely the appropriate moment in a patient's care.

Artificial intelligence technology is primed to be the engine that drives advances across the care continuum as payment mechanisms develop, consumers, expect more from their providers, and the volume of available data continues to grow at a staggering rate.

Traditional analytics and clinical decision-making tools provide a lot of advantages that AI does not. As humans engage with training data, learning algorithms can become more exact and accurate, allowing humans to obtain unparalleled insights into diagnosis, care processes, treatment variability, and patient outcomes.

Moderators With the help of experts from across the Partners Healthcare System, including faculty from Harvard Medical School, Keith Dreyer, DO, Ph.D., Chief Data Science Officer at Partners, and Katherine Andriole, Ph.D., Director of Research Strategy and Operations at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), counted down the top ways artificial intelligence will revolutionize the delivery of healthcare.

UNIFYING MIND AND MACHINE THROUGH BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES

Using computers to communicate is by no means a new concept, but building direct links between technology and the human mind without the use of keyboards, mice, or monitors is a cutting-edge field of research with significant implications for some patients.

Some patients' abilities to speak, move, and interact meaningfully with others and their settings can be taken away by neurological illnesses and injuries to the nervous system. Artificial intelligence-assisted brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) may be able to restore such essential experiences to those who worry they will be lost forever.

We want to restore someone's capacity to communicate by Tuesday if I'm in the neurology ICU on Monday and encounter someone who has suddenly lost their ability to move or speak,” said Leigh Hochberg, MD, Ph.D., Director of the MGH Center for Neurotechnology and Neuro recovery.

We want to restore someone's capacity to communicate by Tuesday if I'm in the neurology ICU on Monday and encounter someone who has suddenly lost their ability to move or speak,” said Leigh Hochberg, MD, Ph.D., Director of the MGH Center for Neurotechnology and Neuro recovery.

“Using a BCI and artificial intelligence, we should be able to decode the neural activates associated with the intended movement of one's hand, and we should be able to allow that person to communicate in the same way that many people in this room have communicated at least five times over the course of the morning using a ubiquitous communication technology like a tablet computer or phone.”

DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RADIOLOGY TOOLS

Radiological pictures produced by MRI machines, CT scanners, and x-rays provide non-invasive insight into the inner workings of the human body. However, many diagnostic methods still rely on actual tissue samples obtained through biopsies, which carry risks such as infection.

Experts expect that artificial intelligence will enable the next generation of radiological instruments to be precise and detailed enough to eliminate the requirement for tissue samples in some circumstances.

Artificial intelligence is assisting in the development of “virtual biopsies” and the advancement of the cutting-edge area of radionics, which uses image-based algorithms to describe tumor phenotypes and genetic features.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO CARE IN UNDERSERVED OR DEVELOPING REGIONS

In underdeveloped countries around the world, a shortage of skilled healthcare providers, such as ultrasound technologists and radiologists, can severely limit access to life-saving care.

The session pointed out that there are more radiologists working in the half-dozen hospitals that line Boston's renowned Longwood Avenue than there are in all of West Africa.

Artificial intelligence may be able to assist minimize the effects of the significant shortage of skilled clinical personnel by taking over some of the diagnostic tasks that are normally performed by humans.

REDUCING THE BURDENS OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD USE

EHRs have aided the healthcare industry's digital transition, but the process has created a slew of issues, including cognitive overload, endless documentation, and user burnout.

Artificial intelligence is now being used by EHR developers to design more intuitive interfaces and automate some of the repetitive tasks that take up so much of a user's time.

According to Adam Landman, MD, Vice President, and CIO at Brigham Health, users spend the majority of their time on three tasks: clinical recording, order entry, and sorting through the in-basket.

Artificial intelligence might help with routine demands from the inbox, such as medication refills, and result in notifications. According to Landman, it may also make it easier for users to accomplish their to-do lists by prioritizing items that truly merit the clinician's attention.

CONTAINING THE RISKS OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

Antibiotic resistance is becoming an increasing hazard to people all over the world, as abuse of these life-saving therapies encourages the emergence of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. Multi-drug-resistant pathogens can cause havoc in hospitals, claiming hundreds of lives each year.

Data from electronic health records can aid in the detection of infection patterns and the identification of people at risk before symptoms appear. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the accuracy of these data and deliver faster, more accurate notifications to healthcare providers.

“AI tools can live up to expectations in terms of infection control and antibiotic resistance,” says Erica Shenoy, MD, Ph.D., Associate Chief of the MGH Infection Control Unit.

BRINGING INTELLIGENCE TO MEDICAL DEVICES AND MACHINES

Smart products are sweeping the consumer market, from real-time video from inside a refrigerator to cars that can detect when the driver is distracted.

Smart gadgets are essential in the medical field for monitoring patients in the ICU and elsewhere. Using artificial intelligence to improve the ability to detect deterioration, detect the onset of sepsis, or detect the onset of complications can improve outcomes and lower expenditures associated with hospital-acquired conditions penalties.