How is AI Making Healthcare Smarter
Robots are now making precision surgeons. That was the case in one study, which found that robot-assisted surgical instruments led to 21% reductions in patient hospital stays. Because machines could analyze pre-op medical records and data, the surgery could be more effective, which helps surgeons offer more individualized care.
But that’s not the only way “robots” (or artificial intelligence) are making healthcare smarter. With AI, healthcare organizations can improve diagnoses, enhance security, and improve patient experiences. Here’s how.
Smarter Healthcare Through Enhanced Security
According to HealthCatalyst, on the black market, a person’s medical record can sell for ten times what their credit card information can. This makes healthcare an especially enticing target for cybercriminals. And thanks to AI, these same cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated in their attacks.
Fortunately, AI security can be just as sophisticated—if not more so. For example, Johns Hopkins is utilizing an AI application that uses a custom model for privacy analytics, detecting when any pertinent healthcare information was being exposed to potential vulnerabilities. The AI could then make recommendations for cybersecurity professionals, teaching them how to shore up these vulnerabilities in the future.
In that way, AI for cybersecurity is a bit like healthcare itself; it takes in information, looks for problems, and makes a diagnosis. This keeps your security “healthier” because it teaches your organization where its most vulnerable chokepoints might be. Once they’re shored up, you stand a better chance at protecting your patients’ confidential information. It can also predict future anomalies, based on reviewing larger amounts of data than your team can.
One additional note: the Johns Hopkins case study highlighted that many clinical data breaches happen due to employee mistakes, AI can help you manage access to key information so it limits the chance of this type of breach happening. Anyone not currently working on that patient, doesn’t need access to their information. AI also handles more routine tasks, such as reviewing flagged records, so your cybersecurity professionals can focus on the more high-risk areas of information vulnerability.
In healthcare, custom AI solutions are trending for pharma, data analytics and more. Comport has a team of AI and HPC experts that can help design these solutions for you.
Connected Care and AI Detecting Patterns People Can’t See
With connected care, organizations have improved access to collaborate and achieve better results for their patients. AI can take this one step further by quickly examining and extrapolating a wide swath of data to find patterns that people might not have been able to see. It can then suggest possible diagnoses and treatments that humans might not have been able to dream up. Not every suggestion will pan out the way the AI might intend, but this suite of tools can help human doctors and medical professionals make their decisions. Maybe AI points out a potential diagnosis that seems close to the mark—and it’s not one that the human doctor might have otherwise considered.
AI can also help patients and staff directly. AI can offer analytics for patients, checking on their wait times and offering suggestions for healthcare organizations to improve those times. AI can help staff with their workflows—sometimes even automating repetitive tasks. AI can help handle everything from scheduling to vacation planning, which helps staff reduce the risk of burnout. In turn, staff will be better equipped to handle patients with the care they deserve.
Improved Diagnosis with AI
Diagnosis can seem like both an art and a science. Seasoned medical professionals often develop a knack for asking the right questions, for spotting unconventional signs of disease, or for connecting dots that others might not connect. And while AI isn’t going to replace this experience, it can enhance what medical professionals are capable of, improving accuracy and speed to correct diagnosis.
For starters, AI healthcare can provide predictive analytics via electronic health records. This way, it can examine patterns and start to identify potential risks that healthcare professionals don’t necessarily have the time or resources to detect.
AI’s role in predictive medicine is also coming to the forefront. It can offer individualized predictions based on genetic histories. It can factor in lifestyle data, absorb a patient’s existing medical condition and come up with ideas on how to manage and prevent disease. Once again, this doesn’t replace traditional medical treatment and diagnosis. It helps make the existing healthcare professionals smarter, giving them insights from data that would otherwise take days and weeks to collect. And AI can do it at the drop of a hat—assuming all the right systems are in place.
Improving Patient and Staff Experiences
Good healthcare is one of the most direct, human experiences we have. It can be difficult to see how AI can help. But it can—and in surprising ways. According to the World Economic Forum, there is $750 billion in waste across the U.S. healthcare system annually.
Any efficiency AI can add to patient and staff experience will cut into that waste. AI can help manage schedules. It can help perform automated tasks. It can take the heavy research required for many medical professionals and quickly sort through data. This doesn’t only allow for more individualized patient services, but it frees up time so staff are able to focus on what really matters: patient care.
AI Making Healthcare Smarter—It’s Time to Embrace It
It’s one thing to know AI is making healthcare smarter. But how do you achieve that new intelligence?
It might help to work with Comport, a leading technology IT provider in healthcare and AI. With the right AI to fuel your information, your security, and your ability to offer great healthcare, you can expand and improve your services without losing the human touch that makes your healthcare company special. Reach out today!
