Dr. Waqaas Al-Siddiq DBA, founder of Biotricity, is a serial entrepreneur, a former investment advisor and a technology expert.
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology into healthcare is critical to address the widening gap between patient needs and the availability of healthcare professionals. The growing prevalence of chronic diseases, an aging population and an increasing utilization of healthcare resources is unserviceable by traditional methods of care delivery.
Overburdened healthcare workers are preoccupied with routine administrative duties that detract from direct patient care. AI holds immense promise in alleviating this stress on the healthcare system. By streamlining and automating administrative tasks, AI can reduce human error, improve operational efficiency and allow healthcare providers to focus on direct patient care.
The Looming Healthcare Workforce Crisis
The growing prevalence of chronic illness, the leading cause of death in the U.S., coupled with a shortage of healthcare workers, is straining the healthcare system. As the aging population expands, the incidence of chronic diseases is surging. Six out of ten adults in the U.S. live with at least one chronic condition and four in ten are managing two or more.
Healthcare workers are facing burnout as they struggle to meet the needs of the expanding patient population. This burnout, exacerbated by resource constraints that have perpetuated since the COVID-19 pandemic, is fueling the healthcare worker shortage. There are, on average, nine registered nurses in the U.S. for every 1,000 people, and the physician shortage is projected to be over 124,000+ doctors within the next 12 years.
Physician retirement adds to the problem, with 20% of physicians at or over 65, creating a critical gap in care quality and accessibility. This shortage is compounded by disparities in healthcare access, which continues to disproportionately affect disadvantaged groups.
AI As A Prescription For Improved Administrative Efficiency
AI systems are increasingly being integrated to automate and reduce time-consuming processes such as appointment scheduling, billing and coding, and record-keeping. This reduces administrative burdens and minimizes human error, enhancing operational efficiency.
For example, AI is utilized for ambient listening during patient appointments, filtering out pieces of patient history to capture relevant clinical details.78% of physicians utilizing AI-enabled ambient listening reported it expedited clinical note taking and 2/3rds felt that it saved time to focus on direct patient care.
AI-enabled patient engagement tools, like AI-powered chatbots, can offload routine patient inquiries and provide patient education and support. In a study evaluating the efficacy of patient engagement solutions, they were found to have reduced emergency department visits by 35% and were associated with a 45% decrease in mortality rates for chronic disease. 61% of patients reported that AI-powered chatbots helped with symptom self-management, reducing calls to their care team to allow them to focus on direct patient care.
The Broader Impact Of AI On Healthcare
AI systems can also detect individuals at high risk for chronic conditions by continuously scanning data in electronic medical records (EMRs) to identify outliers or irregular patterns. AI can analyze vast amounts of patient data, including medical records, test results and genomic information. This enables the identification of trends, prediction of disease progression and development of personalized treatment plans.
For instance, if a patient’s blood pressure readings suddenly deviate from their historical data, AI can flag it for healthcare provider review to determine if the condition requires immediate attention. By offering healthcare providers tools to monitor patients’ health remotely, identify early warning signs and intervene proactively, AI significantly enhances clinical decision-making. In turn, this can lead to better management of chronic conditions, improved patient outcomes and a more efficient healthcare system overall.
In addition, automating time-consuming tasks such as appointment scheduling, billing and record-keeping, combined with AI-powered tools for patient engagement and clinical documentation, creates a more scalable and proactive healthcare model. As healthcare professionals face increasing pressures, AI’s potential to reduce burnout and enhance care delivery is more crucial than ever to pave the way for a more efficient, patient-centered healthcare system.
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