Sixty years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was a theme dominated by science fiction as well as some noble attempts at generating machine learning. One such attempt was made in 1969 with Shakey the Robot, the first mobile robot able to make decisions (though it could take up to an hour for Shakey to plan its next move). We’ve certainly come a long way since then. Now AI processes include successfully completing advanced analytics, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML). The global race is on to fund and develop new AI solutions that will benefit established and emerging markets, education, financial services, and healthcare—just to name a few effected parties. AI already works in the background of our daily lives and will continue to progress as an integral part of operations across sectors. In regards to healthcare, AI has the potential to not only help you treat patients better but to modernize the operations side of your practice. These new technologies assist with administrative tasks, diagnosis, treatment, and medical procedures. Read on to learn details about how to improve your medical practice with artificial intelligence.
AI for Administrative Tasks
One Harvard Business Review article discusses the experience of “physician burn-out”. Physicians report spending two hours on electronic documentation for every one hour spent with a patient. This burn-out has contributed to higher physician turnover rates and lower revenue from not being able to see as many patients—the national consequence of which is $4.6 billion in costs. AI can help reverse this trend. In addition to direct reporting on patients, there are a series of other repetitive and mundane tasks required to run a practice that can be completed using AI. The following tools could improve your patient communications and patient outcomes while simultaneously allowing you to take on more clients and stay organized.
Improve Your Medical Practice with Artificial Intelligence in Billing
In 2017, human error and inefficient coding in billing processes resulted in $36.21 billion in wrongful payments. Many medical practices have already turned to AI to help streamline and correct their billing processes. The most useful way to implement AI for this use is through natural language processing (NLP). This is the ability for computers to understand human text and speech. It involves coding processes that translate patient record information into codes which then send billing to patients, insurance companies, or third-party payers. Relevant data is extracted from electronic health records (EHR) and then coded for billing. Some EHR sections are free-text based and NLP has the power to code this free-text as well. Human error is reduced, it’s time efficient, and it’s cost effective as expensive errors are avoided. Examples of software used by small and mid-sized practices include CureMD EMR and PracticeSuite. Most billing platforms include other management features as well.
Improve Your Medical Practice with Artificial Intelligence in Appointment Management
Using AI powered appointment management systems results in fewer no-shows and cancelled appointments. It also has the capability to engage patients on a deeper level as AI powered chatboxes are available 24/7 to answer questions and communicate with patients based on their preferences rather than using a one-size-fits-all method of communication. For one doctor’s office in Arizona, using a chatbox increased patient response by 30%. AI powered chatboxes use machine learning and NLP in a variety of ways.
For example, an article from Dental Economics highlights the use of AI powered SMS messaging. Patients are able to automatically schedule appointments through the SMS system which collects information from patients through texting or email—whatever the patient’s preferred platform is. It can send appointment reminders, give patients the option to reschedule appointments themselves, give pre-visit instructions, and follow-up with post-visit surveys or education materials. Intelligent chatbots are also able to answer patient questions at any time of the day. If a patient needs directions or is concerned about any symptoms, they will be able to ask their medical provider’s chatbox for info at their convenience. They don’t have to wait for the office to open the next day. Some popular appointment management AI software includes Nuance Appointment Management and SR Health.
Ambient Clinical Intelligence (ACI)
Ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) is a revolutionary new tool that is meant to transform the patient-doctor interaction and clinical documentation. Nuance and Microsoft have introduced a screen that uses ACI and can be set up in exam rooms to capture patient-doctor conversations using conversational AI, machine learning, NLP, and cloud computing. This is more beneficial than a virtual scribe service because the AI tech can contextualize the conversation to document care. This produces diagnostic guidance for the doctor without requiring the doctor to take their attention away from the patient.
ACI can highlight diagnoses that might be overlooked since it has access to patient medical history and symptoms. It can also discover unfavorable drug interactions in prescribed medications and suggest alternatives. During an appointment, doctors can ask to see patient medical history, test results, order medications, and schedule appointments using voice commands. ACI creates a summary of the visit afterwards which doctors can review, edit, and then submit in the patient’s electronic health record (EHR). This can help reduce the physician burn-out mentioned previously, improves the patient-doctor relationship, and provides informed suggestions for the doctor.
In order to be accepted by patients, ACI technology will have to comply with HIPAA privacy standards. Privacy must be a top concern in total system functionality with patients giving consent for use. If their data is ever going to be used for research or other reasons, the data must be anonymized and the reason clearly defined as clinical in nature.
AI for Diagnosis and Treatment
Artificial intelligence has taken the medical imaging community by storm as radiologists and pathologists are realizing the potential of AI to identify patterns and abnormalities in images and suggest both diagnostic and treatment options. The healthcare community does not believe that AI will replace radiologists but will rather be able to enhance the use of medical imaging to improve patient care.
In 2015, Stanford released an article about their efforts toward developing “precision health” solutions that would take patient data and apply it to tech that would be able to suggest diagnoses and also predict the best treatments based on a patient’s unique situation. Precision health use can also predict what conditions patients are at risk of developing using machine learning (ML). Patient lifestyle, environment, and genetics are taken into consideration to produce better patient outcomes. Precision medicine is used throughout the healthcare ecosystem today, from discovering new cancer treatments to ensuring better therapy for chronic diseases. Lifestyle and genetic data can be collected through wearable devises and screenings and then entered into AI-enabled databases. Patient EHR data can be anonymized and shared between physicians and institutions. The EHR system was introduced into healthcare partly for this purpose.
Another way that precision medicine can improve your medical practice with artificial intelligence is that it encourages (and relies on) deeper patient engagement. Patients must contribute their data in order to build a base from which predictions can be pulled. Treatments and predictions from these results are much more targeted which ultimately involves the patient more in their own treatment and reduces the effect of patients feeling like they are being given a one-size-fits-all solution.
AI for Medical Procedures and Equipment
AI use for actual procedures is becoming especially commonplace in dentistry and optometry. In optometry, advances in glaucoma detection and retinal surgery are, in part, thanks to advances in robotics AI. In dentistry, augmented reality (AR) is commonly used with implant procedures. Its use has been predicted to expand into restorative surgery, orthodontics, and beyond. AI is also increasingly used in dental radiology to identify caries on radiographic images and make suggestions.
Robotics-assisted surgery is also becoming more popular as it allows doctors to be more precise and use smaller tools. It is estimated that robot-assisted surgery will create a national savings of $40 billion annually by 2026. In addition to added monetary value, robotics-assisted surgeries can also shorten a patient’s hospital stay by 21% since the robot is able to make procedural decisions based on individual patient data. They can also draw on data from previous successful surgeries to help guide surgeons. In robotics-assisted surgeries, it is reported that there are 5 times fewer complications. The abilities of these tools are a far cry from their ancestor, Shakey the Robot!
As medical practices work hard to modernize and improve, they will greatly benefit from using AI in both management and treatment. While a lot of this technology is newer, it has already proven to be helpful in improving patient outcomes and streamlining business processes. And it will only get better from here. The challenge for healthcare professionals will be learning to strike a balance between technology and human interaction as the options to use tech grow exponentially.
