🏥Is the healthcare industry ready for AI?

What’s in for today:

• Let’s talk AI

• Penalties for assault on ED workers

• The Stop Nurse Shortages Act

Let’s talk AI

Healthcare, often touted as one of the most vital sectors of society, is like that one person in the group project who still insists on submitting handwritten notes while everyone else is using Google Docs. While other industries have upgraded to the latest tech, healthcare is still figuring out how to work the fax machine.

Promises

Since the launch of ChatGPT, there has been a lot of excitement about AI and its potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry. With its ability to process large amounts of data and identify patterns, AI can play a key role in clinical decision support - accelerating diagnosis, creating personalized treatment plans, and enhancing patient outcomes.

AI also has the potential to reduce the burden on healthcare professionals by automating tasks and streamlining operations. Estimates suggest that wider adoption of AI in healthcare can lead to savings of 5% to 10% in US healthcare spending - about $200 billion to $360 billion annually.

Examples

The healthcare industry isn’t always quick to embrace new technology, but AI is a different story. Here are a few examples of how AI is being used in the industry:

• AI helps diagnose a rare form of diabetes (Read the full story here)

• Radiology: A study shows that the use of AI and machine learning can reduce image wait time and turnaround times (Read the study here)

• The Medical University of South Carolina is using AI to reduce ED wait times and enhance the quality of care for patients

• Cedars-Sinai and K Health launched an AI-driven virtual care app

• Providence created ProvidenceChat, its own ChatGPT

• Cleveland Clinic partners with AITRICS to launch sepsis prediction solution

Challenges

The use of AI in healthcare offers great potential, but it also comes with some challenges. One major concern is ensuring that ethical and regulatory considerations are carefully addressed. There’s also a need to focus on maintaining data privacy and minimizing any biases in the algorithms to prevent widening disparities in healthcare access and quality. These issues need thoughtful examination and strong strategies to ensure that AI benefits healthcare fairly without compromising ethical standards or making societal inequalities worse.

Is the healthcare industry ready for AI?

The question of whether the industry is ready for AI is quite complex. On the one hand, there’s a lot of excitement about how it could bring positive changes, with many healthcare organizations already using AI tools in either operations or patient care.

However, readiness varies across different sectors of the industry. Many healthcare organizations face obstacles such as limited financial resources and inadequate infrastructure to effectively implement and manage AI-driven systems. For example, according to a survey, only 16% of health systems currently have a systemwide governance policy specifically to address the use of AI and data access.

In order for the healthcare industry to make the most of AI capabilities, it’s important to work together to tackle disparities, support education, and training, and set clear policies and standards.

Why should you care?

According to a report from Statista, the value of AI in the healthcare industry is estimated to be $11 billion in 2021. This figure is expected to skyrocket to a whopping $187 billion by 2030. This incredible growth signals a big transformation in how healthcare organizations, including hospitals, insurance, and pharmaceutical companies, operate.

The use of AI in healthcare is expected to make some big changes. It should help make healthcare services more efficient and improve outcomes for patients.

Workforce

🩺Physician Assistants name change to Physician Associates: In 2021, the AAPA House of Delegates affirmed “Physician Associate” as the official title for PAs to highlight their crucial role in healthcare. The new professional brand “PAs Go Beyond” has gained attention, emphasizing PAs as key healthcare providers. PAs are advised to use “Physician Assistant” or “PAs” in clinical settings until state-level legislation officially adopts the “Physician Associate” title to avoid legal and regulatory issues (Read the latest on PA Brand and Title Change).

🏥Tougher penalties for assault ED workers: The California Medical Association (CMA) is backing a bill to toughen penalties for violence against healthcare workers in emergency departments. If the bill passes, people who assault or batter emergency department workers could face up to a year in county jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both. The bill made it through the California assembly in January 2024 and is now awaiting for consideration in the California Senate (Read the bill here).

🥼The “Stop Nurse Shortages Act” was introduced earlier this month, aimed at addressing the national nurse shortage by creating a $10 million/year grant program to support accelerated nursing degree programs for individuals with non-nursing undergraduate degrees. It looks like they’re really trying to nurse the nursing shortage.

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