Health systems continue to adopt artificial intelligence for clinical documentation, patient portal messages and utilization management. But what is the next evolution of healthcare AI?
Becker's recently connected with four health system leaders named to AI business intelligence firm AIM Research's list of the 100 most influential AI leaders of 2024, asking them each for a bold prediction on where AI healthcare goes next. Here are their answers:
Justin Coran, PhD. Chief Analytics Officer of Renown Health (Reno, Nev.): One of the best areas for growth in the healthcare industry specific to AI and ML [machine learning] is going to be in predicting disease, or being able to recommend more optimal treatments for patients. In those two spaces, we're going to see a large adoption on the AI front, especially if we can bend the cost curve with AI. If we can figure out how we can integrate AI within healthcare services to lower the overall cost of care, I think that can be a game-changer within our industry.
Where I think we're a little bit unsure of as a healthcare industry is how beneficial AI will be in the nonclinical operational space. There's definitely a large cost to integrating AI. When we start looking at nonclinical operations, there's going to be a bit of a balancing act between how much you can spend in nonclinical operations and really be able to afford, especially if you're a nonprofit health system. If you have low contribution margins, that could impact what your affordability can be.
A lot of the prime use cases are going to at least start out on the clinical side. It's much easier to prove out a return on investment there or at least be able to tie it directly to a quality improvement and outcome improvement, something on the case of patient and physician relationship as well.
So I see a huge boom of AI on the clinical operations side and a little bit of cautiousness on the nonclinical operations side.
Divya Pathak. Chief Data Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals (New York City): I foresee AI evolving to integrate multiple data modalities in real time, dynamically being able to learn new tasks without training, and support reasoning with the domain knowledge required.
This will enable AI to support an unlimited range of clinical applications that you can dream of — all the way from interactive chatbots to precise and personalized diagnostics to bedside decision support, both in the traditional clinical settings and also in remote devices. This enhances both the clinician-facing and the patient-facing applications. So that's my goal, my aspiration.
Mangesh Patil. Chief Analytics Officer of HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.): Healthcare, especially outside of acute care, will become much more accessible to patients through digital channels, leading to a more proactive approach to health and a healthier lifestyle.
On the acute care side, patient rooms and hospitals of the future will be reimagined with embedded AI. As a support system for care team members, AI will become as essential as water and electricity, with "AI plumbing" built into hospital facilities.
Nallan Sriraman. Chief Technology Officer of Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.): One bold prediction for the future of healthcare AI is the development and widespread adoption of AI-driven vision restoration therapies for patients with eye diseases that lead to vision loss, like age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
AI will play a crucial role in creating personalized treatment plans, enhancing early detection through advanced imaging analysis, and guiding precision therapies such as gene editing and regenerative medicine. These advancements will significantly improve vision outcomes for AMD patients, potentially restoring sight and dramatically enhancing their quality of life.