The healthcare sector is about to undergo a tech-enabled revolution
The Telegraph covered a robotic revolution in the healthcare sector where they predicted an increase in robotic systems in hospitals in the next decade. With an increased interest in machines being programmed to perform surgical procedures, data science and AI will come in handy.
Here are a few of the many ways AI and data analytics are paving the road to better healthcare.
Mining medical records and devising treatment plans
Today, every person who visits a medical practitioner has their medical record created. On average, a radiologist attends to nearly 200 people and 3000 medical images per day. This quantity is only going to grow. Analysing this data and determining a treatment plan is consumes valuable time. AI can help to reduce the workload and expedite the medical process to a great extent. This process is called Patient Data Mining.
MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) created ‘ICU Intervene’, a machine-learning approach that collects a significant amount of ICU data, from medical to demographic details. Through this data, the AI can determine what kind of treatments the patients need. This data could hasten diagnosis and save critical time.
“Data gathered and presented by AI algorithms will enable healthcare providers and doctors to see patients’ health risks and take more precise, early action to prevent, lessen the impact of or forestall disease progression. These interventions will curb healthcare costs and lead to improved patient health outcomes,” said Derek Gordon, COO of Lumiat, to Cygnismedia.
Assisting in repetitive jobs
Jobs that follow patterns, such as X-rays, CT scans, and data entry can be offloaded to an AI assistant.
In cardiology and radiology analysis and compilation of data consumes crucial time and is prone to trial and error. In such scenarios, AI can be a smarter and more effective option. AI can be engineered to read CT scans and medical reports. It can then provide a diagnosis reviewing similar images stored in the database.
In fact, a Chicago startup, Careskore uses a cloud-based predictive analytics platform. Using Zeus algorithm in real time, Careskore predicts the likeliness of an individual’s hospitalisation, after studying a range of data which includes a combination of behavioural, demographic and clinical data.
Blending physical and virtual consultations
Chatbots are massively being used in the healthcare sector. These healthcare bots interact with the patients through telephone, text, or through a window on the website. They help in scheduling appointments and follow-ups, billing, processing 24/7 urgent requests for customer care, and so on. They help reduce the overall administrative cost in the hospital.
Also Read: After Singapore Budget 2019, is medtech set to enjoy a hype cycle?
Medical virtual assistants (MVA) collect and compile a patient’s medical and demographic details. M-health apps help people to track their health and notify patients about upcoming appointments. They are also programmed to answer the basic health-related or medical queries of a patient.
Medication management
AI-enabled systems can track patients’ data and suggest treatments based on their analysis. This way AI can become an active part of clinical decision making. A recent article by Wired stated that AI is 99 per cent accurate and 30 times faster in studying and translating mammograms, enabling quicker detection of breast cancer compared to doctors. Such assistance can significantly augment the medical procedure.
IBM Watson launched a unique programme for oncologists. Here, AI will study all the structured and unstructured data of a patient, and suggest treatment pathways to the doctor. According to Enlitic, a medical startup, “Until recently, diagnostic computer programs were written using a series of predefined assumptions about disease-specific features. A specialised program had to be designed for each part of the body and only a limited set of diseases could be identified, preventing their flexibility and scalability.”
Helping people to make better health choices
AI can efficiently track a lot of data and can guide humans to lead a healthy lifestyle. Based on the demographic, behavioural and medical data of people, AI-enabled systems can predict health risks in advance and can warn people accordingly.
Not only does AI help doctors by advising treatment solution, but also enables people to lead a better and healthier lifestyle.
—
Image Credit: morganka
e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.
The post A quick overview of how AI and data analytics are shaking up the healthcare industry appeared first on e27.