Amit Phadnis, the CIO and CTO of RapidAI, a global leader in clinical AI, believes that technological advancements have made it possible to do things faster than ever before. However, healthcare organizations are struggling to keep up with the increasing patient loads and time-consuming manual processes. With burnout rates of 50% for doctors and 77% for radiologists, it is clear that something needs to be done to alleviate the extreme pressure that physicians are facing. Implementing AI to streamline workflows and increase efficiency could help healthcare practices improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and provide much-needed relief for clinicians.
AI has been shown to excel in performing repetitive tasks, making it well-suited for routine and operational tasks in the healthcare back office. This includes sending reminders for appointments, prescriptions, and billing, obtaining appointment confirmations, filing insurance claims, and answering patient questions via chatbot. While these tasks are important, AI can go further in the clinical space by supporting care teams in making decisions for their patients. Clinical AI is not meant to replace physicians or make diagnosis decisions independently, but rather to serve as a support system that streamlines workflows and saves clinicians valuable time.
In the clinical setting, AI can assist with tasks such as defining objects on images, detecting disease, measuring blood flow, improving image quality, segmenting images, tracking progression, providing exact locations and measurements, assisting with pre-surgical planning, and giving instant feedback during surgery. By identifying disease states early and helping normalize clinical practice across populations, clinical AI can lead to better patient outcomes and reduced treatment costs. However, integrating AI into clinical workflow, training it on appropriate data, addressing privacy concerns, and ensuring accuracy are all challenges that need to be navigated in order for AI to be effectively utilized in healthcare settings.
For healthcare systems looking to meet the growing challenges of the population, integrating AI into their processes could provide much-needed breathing room for clinicians, nurses, and medical staff. From streamlining back office tasks to assisting in clinical decision-making, AI offers numerous benefits when used correctly and cautiously. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the use of AI has the potential to revolutionize how patient care is delivered, ultimately improving outcomes for both patients and healthcare providers.
