These days the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) is thrown around like so many other buzzwords of the past decade. Healthcare industry experts see it as “the next big thing” or as the ultimate disrupter on par with Uber. But how will it really change the state of healthcare? We sat down with QliqSOFT CEO and resident machine learning expert, Krishna Kurapati to get his take on the 5 Ways AI is changing healthcare.
Compared to other industries such as Retail and Finance, Healthcare lags in the use of AI. Probabilistic approaches, which AI is all about, do not work well in Healthcare as it is often a question of life and death. Due to HIPAA compliance and the business practices of healthcare, particularly in the US, data lives on islands.
Natural Language Processing, which helps in reducing screen time and improves face to face encounters with patients has been the dominant use case of AI in Healthcare. Symptom checker has been popping up as the next wave of AI application.
AI thrives on Data. Lack of interoperability and data sharing are the reasons why it’s hard to get quality data to train AI models. Healthcare organizations and vendors need to work closely to find secure ways to share and utilize this data. In fact, I feel that hospitals are willing, but the vendors, especially the developers of many EHR platforms are reluctant to unlock their APIs for true interoperability to occur.
Technology is supposed to relieve bottlenecks and improve efficiency. Unfortunately, healthcare technology initiatives tend to create the opposite effect. Physicians today spend more time in front of their computer than in front of the patient. The greatest benefit Artificial Intelligence provides is the ability to free clinicians from devices and bring them closer to patients and aid in diagnosing and treating conditions based on the latest research.
Due to rising costs and cheap computing worldwide combined with an aging population, AI can manifest in many applications. We are already seeing shoots of such applications like Conversational Bots to help navigate patient journey to diagnosing cancer. AI will make significant strides as the US mandate to interoperability of healthcare data goes mainstream.
Krishna’s thoughts published here are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Healthcare and Artificial Intelligence. From natural language processing to “smart” agent escalation, the future holds great potential for this technology and QliqSOFT plans to be part of the conversation. Stay tuned to qliqsoft.com over the coming months to see how we are addressing AI and how we plan to incorporate Artificial Intelligence into our family of products.
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A lifelong communicator, this Tennessee native got his start in broadcast news before branching out into public media, corporate, communications, digital advertising, and integrated marketing. Prior to joining QliqSOFT as the company's first marketing team member, Ben shared his talents with organizations that include the University of Alabama, iHeartMedia, and The Kroger Company.
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