Dr. Anita Gupta is a C-Suite Healthcare Executive Leader, Board Member and Physician-PharmD at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Health innovation has been rapidly changing, mostly due to the incredible potential of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more open, equitable and accessible around the world due to open generative AI resources. The ease of integration and the potential of AI to rapidly improve healthcare is happening already by making health systems and processes more efficient.
AI has made health information easier to digest by analyzing large amounts of data, helping to discover new drug uses and aiding in decision making for both individuals and physicians in making medical diagnoses. During health crises and emerging matters, open innovation methods combined with AI could be an important tool to implement rapid solutions.
Even with this rapid progress, many hurdles remain. In the next year, there will be more advancing uses of AI in the medical setting, which will likely become more visible and viable in the medical setting. Here are five ways AI has the potential to change the future of health in the near term, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome.
1. Sustainable Tools
AI tools are in the process of revolutionizing health systems and diagnostics by allowing for remarkably increased efficiency in analyzing medical images. Moreover, these tools are advancing standardization in a sustainable way. For example, decreasing variability in physician analysis of imaging and its results can help decrease the overall costs of therapeutics. Methods for early detection of complex diseases, such as cancer, are also being explored.
However, potential future challenges include the need for robust drug clinical trials that can ensure broad, inclusive datasets. This would help properly train AI tools to include broad populations of patients so as to determine accurate projections, all while ensuring patient data privacy. In my experience, when we spend more time focusing on the patients and their goals, particularly those related to drugs, the outcomes are generally better.
2. Evolution Of Personalized Medicine
Teamwork combined with the power of AI data analysis can evolve the industry of personalized medicine. In my experience, without AI and a knowledge of prior history or conditions, dealing with chronic pain conditions can be very time-consuming. New AI tools have the potential to analyze patient histories more efficiently, helping clinicians determine optimal care strategies and revealing hidden data trends that were not readily available before. I believe this can then help clinicians with their decision making as well as with developing viable future care plans, especially when these tools are used in tandem with strong teams to manage medications or treatment plans.
3. Transforming Teamwork And Engagement
AI tools have the potential to overhaul how teams work in health systems, allowing more interdisciplinary care with varied professionals. This could be done by applying AI tools to workforce planning, staffing coordination and operational management. In medicine, this could be a game-changer in treatment planning, as it could improve patient outcomes when diverse opinions are taken into account, especially when managing complex conditions such as cancer that require both physician and patient engagement. However, the industry may need to experience a significant cultural shift (subscription required) toward embracing these new models of teamwork if we want to make progress.
4. Accelerating Drug Discovery
AI tools also have the potential to identify new breakthroughs and drug candidates, as well as discover uses for older drugs that may have been missed. With proper guidance and by reviewing patterns, research and clinical trials of drugs, we could see new discoveries being made while also reviewing adverse events or other potential risks of current drugs. This could accelerate drug discovery while also reducing costs.
Regulatory hurdles remain, however, as the current progress of innovation is rapidly advancing the process of repurposing drugs. In my experience, when managing the drug crisis or finding new therapeutics to treat cancer, it can take years before a suitable breakthrough is made and even longer if the regulatory pathway is not clearly defined. One way to address this challenge is to create regulatory pathways for open innovation and collaboration so all stakeholders can work together to solve complex healthcare challenges.
5. Future of Medical Communication
Poor communication can lead to poor outcomes in health, and the need for patient-centered care is an emerging trend in healthcare. Medical communication (subscription required) between physicians and individuals can be improved with AI tools such as email or text communication. This may help create efficiencies by reducing time on these tasks.
However, the risk of losing the human aspect of medical care, depersonalization of healthcare interactions and the need for digital trust are common concerns, along with the digital divide between those who may not have access to the same technology or who prefer other ways to communicate. I believe it is still important for healthcare providers to build trust with patients through two-way communication rather than relying solely on one-way communications such as smartphones.
The potential for this new technology to make progress for the future of health comes with ongoing challenges. Regulatory and policy efforts are still underway to assess AI’s value and ensure ethical, safe and equitable implementation. As AI continues to gain ground in the medical field, I believe it holds the promise of fundamentally transforming public health by offering new avenues to enhance overall well-being.
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