Originally published in Healthcare IT News
This past year was a pivotal one for artificial intelligence in healthcare, of course, with healthcare provider organizations participating in significant new developments that promise to transform healthcare delivery in the years to come.
The coming year promises to introduce new layers of technological and regulatory nuance as policymakers and healthcare organizations grow more sophisticated in their understanding and use of AI, and as they acclimate to the "new normal," says Ronen Lavi, CEO and cofounder of Navina, a developer of AI technology that works with primary care data.
Healthcare IT News interviewed Lavi, who offered three trends healthcare leaders should be aware of going into 2024: one on "meaningful use" of AI, one on explainable AI and another on greater adoption of tech-enabled, advanced payment models.
Q. You have said that this year there will be early steps toward what you call "meaningful use" for AI. Please explain.
A. 2023 saw the emergence of AI into mainstream workflows across industries with the launch of OpenAI'sChatGPT. With it, analysts predicted paradigm shifts in labor, with particular emphasis on the middle class "knowledge worker." In medicine, we saw countless releases of AI-enabled functionalities, ranging from ambient dictation, task management and clinical decision support.
When electronic health records came to the scene, regulators responded with incentive programs to help accelerate the transition from paper to digital records, with the objective to increase interoperability, quality and safety of patient care.
With every exam room now equipped with a computer or tablet containing troves of patient information across a variety of platforms, clinicians are increasingly turning to AI-powered systems for summarization and insights.
Today, AI-powered data summarization and exploration has become increasingly accessible to clinicians. We anticipate regulators will see an opportunity to incentivize the usage of these solutions that enable "a complete view of the patient" to increase safety and quality of care.
Q. There certainly is a wariness in healthcare toward so-called "black box" systems. You suggest that in 2024 responsible, explainable AI will be king. Please elaborate.
A. During 2023, clinical and healthcare IT leaders witnessed an unprecedented number of creative examples for how to incorporate AI into clinical and administrative workflows. However, a year in, these leaders have grown more sophisticated and have developed a deeper understanding of what AI can – and cannot – do for their organizations.
While software developers continue to push the boundaries of what AI can do, when it comes to healthcare, nothing can replace the clinician-patient experience. Despite overhyped promises of systems that can overcome staffing challenges, the reality is that in a clinical setting, AI will augment rather than replace human interaction in the exam room.
Read the rest of the interview in Healthcare IT News.
