How Does AI Help Healthcare?

1. PROVIDES REAL-TIME DATA

A critical component of diagnosing and addressing medical issues is acquiring accurate
information in a timely manner. With AI, doctors and other medical professionals can
leverage immediate and precise data to expedite and optimize critical clinical decision-
making. Generating more rapid and realistic results can lead to improved preventative
steps, cost-savings and patient wait times.

Real-time analytics can help improve physician-patient relationships. Making vital

patient data available through mobile devices can engage patients in their treatments.
Mobile alerts can inform doctors and nurses of urgent changes in patient statuses and
emergencies.

Drexel University Information Science Professor Christopher C. Yang, PhD, says,

“As AI technology is becoming more advanced, more data can be collected than
traditional medical institutions could ever possibly accumulate.”

2. STREAMLINES TASKS
Artificial intelligence in medicine has already changed healthcare practices
everywhere. Innovations include appointment-scheduling, translating clinical details
and tracking patient histories. AI is enabling healthcare facilities to streamline more
tedious and meticulous tasks. For example, intelligent radiology technology is able to
identify significant visual markers, saving hours of intense analysis. Other automated
systems exist to automate appointment scheduling, patient tracking and care
recommendations.

One specific task that is streamlined with AI is reviewing insurance. AI is used to
minimize costs resulting from insurance claim denials. With AI, health providers can
identify and address mistaken claims before insurance companies deny payment for
them. Not only does this streamline the claims process, AI saves hospital staff the time
to work through the denial and resubmit the claim.
Enabling faster payments and greater claims accuracy, hospitals can be more confident
about reimbursement time frames, making them more willing to accept a larger number
of insurance plans. AI essentially allows hospitals to accept a wide array of plans,
benefiting potential and existing patients.

3. SAVES TIME AND RESOURCES

As more vital processes are automated, medical professionals have more time to assess
patients and diagnose illness and ailment. AI is accelerating operations to save medical
establishments precious productivity hours. In any sector, time equals money, so AI has
the potential to save hefty costs.

It’s estimated around $200 billion is wasted in the healthcare industry annually. A good
portion of these unnecessary costs are attributed to administrative strains, such as
filing, reviewing and resolving accounts. Another area for improvement is in medical
necessity determination. Hours of reviewing patient history and information are
traditionally needed to properly assess medical necessity. New natural language
processing (NLP) and deep learning (DL) algorithms can assist physicians in
reviewing hospital cases and avoiding denials.

By freeing vital productivity hours and resources, medical professionals are allotted
more time to assist and interface with patients.

4. ASSISTS RESEARCH
AI enables researchers to amass large swaths of data from various sources. The ability to
draw upon a rich and growing information body allows for more effective analysis of
deadly diseases. Related to real-time data, research can benefit from the wide body of
information available, as long as it’s easily translated.

Medical research bodies like the Childhood Cancer Data Lab are developing useful
software for medical practitioners to better navigate wide collections of data. AI has also
been used to assess and detect symptoms earlier in an illness’s progression. Telehealth
solutions are being implemented to track patient progress, recover vital diagnosis data
and contribute population information to shared networks.
5. MAY REDUCE PHYSICIAN STRESS
Some latest research reports over half of primary physicians feel stressed from
deadline pressures and other workplace conditions. AI helps streamline procedures,
automate functions, instantly share data and organize operations, all of which help
relieve medical professionals of juggling too many tasks.

Yang explains, “The most significant contributor to physician burn out is patient load
and the nature of the profession. However, as AI can assist with more time-intensive
operations, explaining diagnoses for example, medical professionals may experience
some stress alleviation.”

Limits of AI in Medicine
1. NEEDS HUMAN SURVEILLANCE
Although AI has come a long way in the medical world, human surveillance is still
essential. For example, surgery robots operate logically, as opposed to empathetically.
Health practitioners may notice vital behavioral observations that can help diagnose or
prevent medical complications.

“AI has been around for a few decades and continues to mature. As this area advances,
there is more interaction between healthcare professionals and tech experts,” Yang
explains. AI requires human input and review to be leveraged effectively.

As AI develops, the tech and medical fields are increasingly communicating to improve
the technology. Yang adds, “Years of education are required for medical professionals to
operate in their fields. Essential information gathered from Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs) enriches the data available and improves explainable AI (XAI) to provide
healthcare workers with trusted and valuable insights.”

2. MAY OVERLOOK SOCIAL VARIABLES

Patient needs often extend beyond immediate physical conditions. Social, economic and
historical factors can play into appropriate recommendations for particular patients. For
instance, an AI system may be able to allocate a patient to a particular care center based
on a specific diagnosis. However, this system may not account for patient economic
restrictions or other personalized preferences.

Privacy also becomes an issue when incorporating an AI system. Brands like Amazon
have free reign when it comes to collecting and leveraging data. Hospitals, on the other
hand, may face some set backs when attempting to channel data from Apple mobile
devices, for instance. These regulatory and social restrictions may limit AI’s ability to
facilitate medical practices.

3. MAY LEAD TO UNEMPLOYMENT

Although AI may help cut costs and reduce clinician pressure, it may also render some
jobs redundant. This variable may result in displaced professionals who invested time
and money in healthcare education, presenting equity challenges.

A 2018 World Economic Forum report projected AI would create a net sum of 58
million jobs by 2022. However, this same study finds 75 million jobs will be displaced or
destroyed by AI by the same year. The major reason for this elimination of job
opportunities is, as AI is more integrated across different sectors, roles that entail
repetitive tasks will be redundant.

Though AI promises to improve several aspects of healthcare and medicine, it’s vital to
consider the social ramifications of integrating this technology.

4. INACCURACIES ARE STILL POSSIBLE

Medical AI depends heavily on diagnosis data available from millions of catalogued
cases. In cases where little data exists on particular illnesses, demographics, or
environmental factors, a misdiagnosis is entirely possible. This factor becomes
especially important when prescribing particular medicine.

Remarking on this data gap, Yang says, “No matter the system, there is always some
portion of missing data. In the case with prescriptions, some information regarding
certain populations and reactions to treatments may be absent. This occurrence can lead
to issues with diagnosing and treating patients belonging to certain demographics.”

AI is constantly evolving and improving to account for data gaps. However, it’s
important to note that specific populations may still be excluded from existing domain
knowledge.
5. SUSCEPTIBLE TO SECURITY RISKS
As AI is generally dependent on data networks, AI systems are susceptible to security
risks. The onset of Offensive AI, improved cyber security will be required to ensure the
technology is sustainable. According to Forrester Consulting, 88% of decision-
makers in the security industry are convinced offensive AI is an emerging threat.

As AI uses data to make systems smarter and more accurate, cyberattacks will
incorporate AI to become smarter with each success and failure, making them more
difficult to predict and prevent. Once damaging threats out-maneuver security defenses,
the attacks will be much more challenging to address.

Should Artificial Intelligence be

Used in Healthcare?
AI has doubtless potential to improve healthcare systems. Automating tedious tasks can
free up clinician schedules to allow for more patient interfacing. Improving data
accessibility assists healthcare professionals in taking the right steps to prevent illness.
Real-time data can better and more rapidly inform diagnoses. AI is being implemented
to reduce administrative errors and save vital resources. SMEs are increasingly involved
in AI development, making the technology more applicable and better-informed. AI is
increasingly applied to healthcare, and limits and challenges continue to be confronted
and overcome. AI still requires some human surveillance, may exclude social variables,
experiences gaps in population information and is susceptible to increasingly-calculated
cyberattacks. Despite some of the challenges and limits AI faces, this innovative
technology promises extraordinary benefits to the medical sector. Whether a patient or
physician, lives everywhere are improving thanks to AI.