What if we tell you there is a way you could receive quality health care and quicker services at affordable costs? Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Well, you can witness this with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The healthcare industry is growing as well as developing at a rapid pace. However, the industry is also facing certain challenges like deficit of qualified staff, a growing share of aging population, and rising costs. Artificial intelligence has become very useful when it comes to handling such challenges.
AI in the healthcare sector is projected to attain a market value of around USD 188 billion by the year 2030. This figure showcases the rising demand of AI in this evolving sector.
Artificial Intelligence has gone on to become an essential aspect of the healthcare sector, bringing positive changes and aiding the sector in various ways. As per recent research 38% of healthcare providers rely on computer assisted diagnostics because AI reduces the incidences of misdiagnoses and allows healthcare professionals to offer better patient care by streamlining and analyzing large data sets and predicting precise outcomes.
Still wondering what the use case of AI is in the healthcare industry? This article will get into the key applications. Let’s explore!
The Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Before exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare, you should have a clear knowledge of its benefits. Here are a few major ones:
- Quicker Data Analysis
To provide the right health care service, there is a need to review a patient’s medical records and understand the past health conditions. AI technology can facilitate effective and faster analysis than humans. Resultantly, healthcare professionals can arrive at a diagnosis in much less time and make crucial decisions efficiently.
- Precise & Real-Time Data
People nowadays are witnessing critical health issues that need to be diagnosed and addressed quickly and accurately. The situation can worsen even more if there are delays. That’s where Artificial Intelligence can eliminate the wait time by providing real-time and precise data and help healthcare providers deliver the required treatment faster.
- Low Medical Errors
When medical data entry and documentation are done manually, there are high chances of errors. However, leveraging AI technology can help automate processes and reduce the risk of errors. So, you can expect accurate documentation and better patient care outcomes.
- Enhanced Patient Care
This technology can provide quality assistance with administrative tasks. By automating tasks like data entry and maintaining records, it can free medical professionals and enable them to focus more on patient care. As a result, delivering enhanced care and increasing the satisfaction of the patients become easy.
The Use Cases of Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector
- Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics enables medical professionals to analyze the specific needs of the patients and forecast disease progression. Also, by analyzing data like generic data and patient history, AI can make predictions relating to patients who are at high risk of developing certain medical conditions.
All these can help in the effective management of chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Through smart wearables, the technology can enable healthcare providers to continuously monitor the patients and provide them with personalized care services. Also, AI algorithms can predict the likelihood of patient readmissions and help improve overall outcomes.
- Drug Discovery and Development
Traditionally, it takes several months or even years to discover a new drug. Apart from being time-consuming, it is also an expensive process. However, the emergence of AI can accelerate the process and speed up the launch of new medications.
This technology has the potential to analyze the structures of different chemical compounds and predict how they will interact. So, the pharma companies make use of the technology to analyze large datasets of chemical compounds and determine the right candidate with therapeutic potential. Moreover, AI can even assist in the development of personalized medicines through the analysis of patient-specific data.
- Robotic Surgery
Have you heard of robots performing critical surgeries in advanced hospitals? Well, you must have. This exciting development is possible due to AI in healthcare. AI allows surgical robots to perform complex operations with greater control and precision.
As a result, you can be rest assured of enhanced patient outcomes and reduced recovery times. Moreover, it can even lower the risk of complications. Today, AI-powered robots are mainly being used in areas like heart valve repairs, prostatectomies, and hysterectomies.
- Virtual Health Assistants
Reaching out to the medical professionals may not be possible in certain situations. That is where the AI technology comes to help. AI-centred virtual health assistants are enhancing patient interaction like never before. They can help answer basic health-related queries. Also, artificial intelligence can be used to provide medical reminders and book appointments.
AI chatbots can be employed to assess potential symptoms and deliver initial recommendations before the patient visits the medical experts. This approach can minimize the need for frequent visits to the clinics. Moreover, virtual health assistants can enhance patient engagement while lowering the burden on healthcare staff.
AI also facilitates remote patient monitoring. By using healthcare applications and wearable devices, the technology allows remote monitoring of patients. The data collected by the apps or devices can provide updates relating to the health conditions of patients in real-time. As a result, the medical professionals can provide appropriate care on time.
- Medical Documentation
AI comes with the capability to process and understand human language through NLP. This ability of the technology is bringing about a significant transformation in healthcare research and documentation.
Medical professionals usually spend a lot of time in documenting the patient visits. However, with the AI-powered NLP tools, this task becomes relatively easier. Today, doctors are able to transcribe speech into notes. As a result, it can enable healthcare service providers to save more time and focus on the delivery of better care to patients.
AI also offers quality support to the field of medical research. NLP can efficiently process a large volume of medical literature and clinical data and sift through them. It can also extract the necessary information in much less time. All of these can help medical experts explore new areas, identify key trends, and complete their research papers faster.
- Medical Diagnostics
Artificial Intelligence algorithms play a crucial role in analyzing radiological images like MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays. The remarkable precision with which the technology performs the analysis makes it an ideal tool for the healthcare sector. This technology can enable radiologists to easily identify potential abnormalities that may not be detectable by naked human eyes.
In recent times, medical professionals have made use of AI tools to detect different cancers in the early stages. From lung cancer to breast cancer, the technology can help in the treatment of all cancers. By analyzing huge amounts of data in much less time, AI allows faster diagnosis and helps initiate treatment before the disease gets complicated.
- Personalized Treatment Plans
The needs of patients undoubtedly differ. To remain competitive in the evolving healthcare landscape, medical professionals strive to deliver personalized care services. That is where AI technology comes to help.
AI makes it possible to analyze the health data of individuals, including their treatment history, genetics, and lifestyle. Based on such analysis of the AI tools, healthcare professionals can provide personalized treatment plans. As a result, improving patient care outcomes becomes simple and easy.
- Administrative Task Automation
It is no surprise that healthcare professionals need to perform a lot of administrative tasks besides delivering patient care. AI tools can help automate routine functions like billing, scheduling, and management of patient health records.
The AI-powered systems have the potential to automate billing procedures, lower the time spent on manual data entry, and enhance accuracy. It allows for lowering potential billing errors and minimizing administrative costs. Moreover, AI tools can assist with the optimization of staff schedules. By predicting the time of high patient influx, medical facilities can improve their staffing levels while lowering staff burnout and meeting patient needs.
Wrapping Up
The use of AI in the medical sector is gaining more and more popularity in recent times. The future of this evolving technology seems to be quite promising. By now, you must be well aware of the role of AI in bringing about a revolution in the industry.
From facilitating accurate medical diagnostics to speeding up the drug development process, the technology can assist the healthcare sector in several ways. It is time to make the most of this beneficial technology and stand out in the competitive landscape. Partner with the professionals in the industry and skyrocket your business success.
