Hospitals and health systems such as Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help aid them in reaching a diagnosis, often earlier than they otherwise would, The Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 28.
Here are three examples of how hospitals, health systems and primary care practices are using AI to help diagnose patients:
- Mayo Clinic is using AI in its cardiology department to help detect new cases of heart failure and cases of irregular heart rhythms. Paul Friedman, MD, chair of the Mayo Clinic's cardiology department said the AI tool is helping the organization detect these conditions years before they might otherwise have been detected.
- Miami-based Cano Health, a value-based care provider, used AI to analyze images from an eye camera to identify diabetic retinopathy, a cause of blindness that can affect people with diabetes. According to Robert Kenney, MD, PhD, senior medical director at Cano Health, the AI tool can help primary care physicians identify patients with diabetic retinopathy without them needing to see a specialist first.
- Baltimore-based Sinai Hospital is using an algorithm to identify which hospitalized patients are most at-risk for sepsis. The algorithm alerts physicians if it detects that a patient is septic or deteriorating. Physicians then evaluate the patient and start antibiotic treatment if they agree with the algorithm's assessment.