To transform healthcare, the sector must move away from a pipeline, service-model approach toward a data-driven "platform" method of delivering care, Mayo Clinic President and CEO Gianrico Farrugia, MD, wrote in a May 23 article for the World Economic Forum.
Dr. Farrugia outlined four steps the healthcare system must take to get there:
1. Completely safeguard patients’ data. This must be done "while enabling innovation through broad access to the data," Dr. Farrugia wrote.
2. Use platforms to innovate, increase access and scale knowledge. Mayo Clinic's collaborates with companies like Google and nference to develop algorithms that predict and identify conditions like heart disease, breast cancer and anxiety and depression. "We believe that in the not-too-distant future and at a very small cost, a smartwatch or any low-cost one-lead device will run a number of AI algorithms and monitor people for 15-20 asymptomatic disorders," Dr. Farrugia wrote.
3. Take the hospital to the patient. Mayo Clinic works with Medically at Home to care for patients around the clock at home, where many hospital beds are predicted to transition in the coming years.
4. Use platforms to improve equity. "There is a legitimate concern that using AI on datasets in a healthcare platform could exacerbate disparities," Dr. Farrugia wrote. "Conversely, the ethical and validated use of AI combined with platform thinking opens up equitable healthcare access to many underserved populations worldwide."