The A.I. revolution in health care is coming

Important Points

Telemedicine was used in a huge way during the pandemic. Accenture estimates 70% of the tasks performed by health-care workers could be automated or augmented with technology (such as AI).

Telemedicine was used in a huge way during the pandemic. Artificial intelligence will further transform the health care industry.

AI-driven healthcare goes beyond AI diagnosis and chatbot doctors. The majority of these transformations are behind the scenes, with improvements in productivity and comprehension. The move towards AI-driven healthcare may appear slow at first but it appears to be gaining momentum. 83% of executives agreed that science tech capabilities can help to address health-related issues around the globe.

Prenuvo uses AI to improve its whole-body MRI scanners for preventative screenings. Prenuvo has developed enterprise services that support the workforce of companies such as TDK Ventures, Caffeinated Capital and others. These scans are offered to individuals in clinics throughout North America.

Andrew Lacy is the CEO and founder at Prenuvo. "AI can supercharge their work."

Lacy said that they are actively researching training models that can identify ultra-early disease stages that radiologists may not be able see with their eyes. They are also developing models to accelerate image acquisition (potentially reducing MRI times by 90%) as well as to segment organs and compare them with what Lacy refers to as a "normative aging curvature."

Lacy says that the average brain shrinks by 3% every decade. However, a Prenuvo research found that vigorous exercise predicted greater brain volume, especially in areas relevant to cognition and susceptible to neurodegeneration. Prenuvo's definition of vigorous physical activity is a good indicator of a person who has a healthy lifestyle. However, if they still experience brain atrophy (as shown by AI-enabled MRIs) over time, it may be a sign of any of the 500+ conditions that Prenuvo diagnoses.

AI-enabled scans of health to prioritize preventative healthcare is similar to another recent workplace benefit boom. Peter Nieves of fertility startup WINFertility cited a 500% increase in employers adding fertility benefits between 2019 and 2020. Prenuvo services are more than just a way to make benefit packages competitive.

Missed prevention can be costly to all parties, including employers that insure their employees. Preventative care is a key component of chronic health conditions. According to the CDC, 90% of $4.1 trillion spent annually on health care goes towards people with mental and chronic health conditions.

AI is being used by health-care startups to improve their services

Some health-care startups are already embracing AI, while others have AI on their roadmap. Sesame Care falls into the latter category. Sesame connects its users to providers for a single visit or membership. Sesame URL work, an element of the platform allows organizations to provide their employees with low-cost access to a health-care market.

Sesame will incorporate AI for notetaking and to improve productivity. They plan to use AI to help patients better understand their needs by leveraging search and question-prompting.

Employers can benefit from getting ahead of the curve by embracing the startup's AI-driven approach.

Sesame aims to reduce costs (and make them clearer) by cutting through the noise. This will increase the leverage for both the patient and the provider, and contribute to an improvement in system capacity.

How much real control does an employer have?

Rich Birhanzel is Accenture's senior managing director for global health. He said that health insurers were the driving force behind AI deployment. "As far as AI in healthcare is concerned, this decision really falls to the providers."

Employers can use these addendums to cover the gaps in the health care system until it catches up.

Birhanzel believes that legacy systems in health care will use AI first to assist with task management. Accenture estimates 70% of tasks performed by health-care workers could be automated or enhanced using technology (such as AI). This is due to a shortage of clinicians and the document-heavy standards. Birhanzel said that there is already a chance to reduce the time spent on capturing the essence and creating a summary for the patient.

All experts agree that the key to a successful AI implementation is responsible AI implementation. Employers need to monitor AI pilots and developments in their geographic region. Avoid being distracted by the latest shiny thing and instead consider what will increase company savings, improve competitiveness and employee quality of life.