There is no particular second thought about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforms the way we communicate, consumer interactions, procure products and services across all the industries. When it comes to healthcare, Artificial Intelligence ideally has already transformed the patient experience and is now changing the way specialists practice medicine and their procedures. Also, the pharmaceutical sector does not remain untouched with the magnificence of AI. It is successfully changing the way things operate. But the Artificial Intelligence journey has just begun and it is yet to take on the healthcare industry by surprise with the upcoming revolutions.
But the pertinent question is, do we really need it? And the answer is yes! Hospital error is the main cause of a patient’s death and that can be solved by using artificial intelligence. Nearly 4,40,000 Americans die every year because of hospital errors. Reports say that 86% of mistakes in the healthcare sector are avoidable and these numbers can only come down with the integration of AI in the healthcare sector.
Now, it’s obvious that the idea of replacing doctors with AI seems absurd to the common man and it is. But with AI, the idea is to help these practitioners make better and informed decisions. Let’s look at some of the applications that AI holds for the future of the healthcare sector:
Personal Health Virtual Assistant
Smartphones are common today and so are virtual assistants like Siri and Google Assistant. In the future, we will have health applications combined with these virtual assistants to provide massive value to the users. So these healthcare applications will act as personal health assistants for the patients and will assist and treat the patients when doctors are not available.
Medical Imaging Analysis
As mentioned above, human errors are the main source of deaths. By using AI in Radiology to examine X-Rays and MRI’s the chances of minute details that are missed by the human eye will get minimize. Thus, accurate and efficient decision making will be possible with AI.
Healthcare Bots
AI in healthcare will take the lead in the customer service domain by helping them book appointments, assisting in medication and being available 24×7. So these bots will make healthcare more patient-centric.
These applications will make the highest paradigm shifts in the healthcare sector. It will bring a tremendous amount of benefits to the sector as well as the consumers.
Out of all, AI will significantly reduce costs for the hospitals with chances of making fewer errors in the process. According to Accenture’s reports, AI applications can save up to $150 billion by 2026.
This is the brighter side of what AI can bring to the healthcare sector But there are a few barriers that remain. Services across the industry differ in terms of how tangible and how customized they get. In this decade or coming ones, the focus will always remain on the human touch in the healthcare service sector. With all the integration Artificial Intelligence will be bringing into the healthcare sector, it’ll be interesting to see how the human touch is kept intact, how is maximum personalization maintained and how are regulatory implications solved.
Disclaimer: Opinion expressed here is the writer’s own opinion based on the analysis.
