Artificial Intelligence

Health is in the throes of some of the most significant changes as systems reel from a variety of rapidly changing environments. Dr Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer at HIMSS, explores lessons learned, as we look cautiously to a better 2022.

While the 'robot' aspect of RPA gets most of the attention, successful implementation centers on the people and processes that will be impacted by the technology – and in a healthcare system where burnout is rampant, there are plenty of those.

A new weekly series looks beyond the pandemic and explores strategies for driving lasting, IT-enabled operational and business improvements across healthcare.

At Penn Medicine, integrated product teams – comprising data scientists, physicians and software engineers, among others – are helping improve AI and machine learning applications.

While traditionally deeply skeptical of artificial intelligence in clinical settings, in today's fast-changing care delivery landscape many physicians are thinking more proactively about how AI can improve quality and patient experience.

Health systems that refuse to see themselves as engineering houses risk falling behind in their ability to properly leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning.

As we have heard repeatedly over the past few months, there is a need to think of managing this pandemic in the same way we prepare for a marathon rather than a sprint, says Dr Charles Alessi, chief clinical officer, HIMSS.  

Data science and clinical teams at PCCI, in collaboration with Parkland informaticists, have developed an AI-driven predictive model that predicts for individual COVID-19 exposure risk, based on population density and their proximity to positive cases.

A healthcare system in which stakeholders share, adopt and apply medical knowledge in real time enables improved care, accelerated workflows, streamlined business processes and a better balance of resources with demand.

The UK and the EU should 'work as one' to further the deployment of AI in healthcare, writes Dr Layla McCay, director of international relations at the NHS Confederation.