As the use of AI ushers in great hope for advancement in the healthcare industry, there are also concerns about the impact this technology could have on human interaction, data, its success rates, as well as the burdens it could place on clinicians and health systems.
Becker's reached out to health system executives and AI leaders to discuss what the most common misconceptions about AI in healthcare are.
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
Saad Chaudhry, CIO of Luminis Health (Annapolis, Md). Some of the common misconceptions of AI in healthcare is the idea that AI is a plug-and-play component that can be activated immediately. The current applications for AI require thoughtful data integration work up front during implementation. And then it requires some level of ramp-up usage to work out any kinks, just like any other specialized system. And just like any other application, AI too requires regular "check-ups" in the form of upgrades, exception escalations, etc.
A second misconception is the idea that AI is the solution for your bad data problem. Most current AI applications in healthcare are algorithmic. This means that you will still need to have a handle on your bad data before you can reap any real benefits from utilizing AI in your environment.
Third, is the idea that any function can be automated via AI. AI has very specific use-cases. More often than not, it is best utilized in areas where there is a very large volume of data-related work, with predictable levels of variation and with a finite number of solutions.
Zafar Chaudry, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital & Information Officer of Seattle (Wash.) Children's. Health systems are already sitting on mountains of data and AI can help us with this. But if the data is not fully understood by clinicians or no change is driven using the data then patient outcomes won't improve.
Another misconception about AI in healthcare is that just because a pilot using AI shows success, doesn't mean that the overall solution will get adopted. There are cultural and political challenges to overcome and change remains difficult in healthcare.
Sumeet Chugh, MD. Associate Director of Smidt Heart Institute and leader of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine division at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles). A question that I get a lot from people is, is AI going to put physicians out of business?
What I see in the future is not a reduction in physicians, but an increase. I don't think we're going to be letting go of physicians because there's AI, we're just going to be hiring ones who know how to deploy AI.