Will ChatGPT Replace Your Doctor? No, But Here’s How AI Is Being Used in Healthcare
Key takeaways:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing healthcare. It's improving the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of medical work.
AI-powered healthcare apps and devices are already used to detect conditions, assist in cancer detection, and analyze medical images for diagnoses.
AI in healthcare can help limit medical errors and potentially cut costs. But, it should be used in combination with human judgment and an understanding of the technology’s limitations.
Table of contents
Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently gone from the stuff of science fiction to the driving power behind potentially history-making tools. With the introduction of ChatGPT and other similar AI tools, this technology has gone mainstream. In addition to potential creative or business uses, there’s another area where AI sparks an interest: healthcare.
Given the current explosion of interest, many people are asking how AI can be used in healthcare. Can it help improve how providers treat their patients? And will AI ever replace your doctor?
How is artificial intelligence being used in healthcare?
AI is rapidly transforming healthcare by enhancing the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of medical work. From improving diagnosis to assisting in drug development, AI has already proven to be a valuable tool for healthcare providers, researchers, and patients alike.
In the future, AI may very well discover medications. And, these systems may help identify which groups of people would benefit most from taking them. Healthcare providers, too, might get suggestions from AI about what to prescribe and how to manage their patients' health conditions
What AI healthcare apps are available?
So far, the FDA has approved over 500 health-related devices, apps, and software platforms that use AI for patient care.
A few things these apps are able to do include:
Using AI algorithms to collect and analyze health data
Providing real-time monitoring
Offering recommendations to healthcare providers for treatment adjustments
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Some examples of AI healthcare apps and devices that are currently available include:
Smartwatches that can alert people to abnormal heart rhythms
Software that can help identify possible cancer during a colonoscopy
Software that provides insights to help identify possible cancer from images collected during MRIs and other tests
Devices that can analyze sleep data to help providers identify possible sleep problems, such as sleep apnea
What are the benefits of AI in healthcare?
AI has a number of potential benefits when it comes to healthcare, such as:
Enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of current medical processes
Aiding in early detection of health conditions
Reducing medical errors
Assisting providers in making faster and more informed decisions when treating health conditions
Improving healthcare access, especially for underserved communities
Lowering healthcare costs
Using AI in healthcare may help people get faster responses on medical tests and exams. This could help you and your provider have discussions about diagnoses or treatment options sooner.
AI may also help providers personalize treatment plans for their patients faster and monitor how well they’re working. This can help improve health outcomes for more people.
Does AI solve problems in healthcare?
Yes, AI can help solve problems in healthcare. Many problems happen on a larger scale, and the average person may not be aware of them. But solving these problems benefits everyone.
One of the largest issues in healthcare is the large amount of medical data healthcare providers must review every day. This process can take time, especially with more complex health conditions like cancer. And humans being humans, providers can miss things. AI can help speed up data processing and help catch things a provider may miss.
Another area where AI can step in and help is dealing with tedious administrative tasks. Healthcare professionals spend a lot of time on what you might call “busy work.” This might include processing insurance claims and maintaining accurate medical records. Now, AI can help speed up these tasks and lighten the workload. This allows your healthcare team to spend more quality time with you rather than their computer screen.
Does AI make healthcare more accessible?
It can. AI can help make healthcare more accessible by supporting healthcare providers. This is especially important in areas with a shortage of providers. In one case, an AI system helped providers identify people due for colonoscopies to screen for colorectal cancer. Of the people identified by AI, nearly 70% agreed to go for the procedure and 8% were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Without AI support, it would have taken longer for providers to identify people due for the screening. And there likely would have been a delay in diagnosis and treatment for those with cancer. In this instance, AI helped get people care sooner.
AI may also help offer additional services to people. This may include:
Answering specific medical questions
Providing basic counseling
Helping coordinate appointments
Translating information into other languages
Having AI available to help with these types of tasks can help reduce the overall workload of the healthcare team. This, in turn, can allow them to concentrate on more difficult clinical work that requires a trained professional’s judgment or oversight.
Does AI reduce costs in healthcare?
AI has the potential to reduce healthcare costs by helping providers give more efficient care. For example, if AI helps better predict people at risk of developing heart disease, action can be taken earlier. Long-term, this could help a person avoid more serious (and expensive) complications, like heart attacks. In turn, this can lower their healthcare costs.
Are there risks in relying on AI in healthcare?
Yes, there are risks associated with relying solely on AI in healthcare. For instance, AI models can be biased and lead to incorrect or incomplete diagnoses. This can be especially true in communities of color.
AI relies on massive amounts of data to work. If that data is representative of only some of the population, those not equally represented in the data may not get proper care. For instance, an AI’s data that’s based on information from primarily white people may not provide accurate information for people of other races. In particular, some AI systems have been inaccurate when attempting to detect skin cancer in people who have darker skin tones.
It’s also important to know that the AI tools that are available to the public — such as ChatGPT — aren’t always accurate when it comes to health questions. So healthcare professionals should be very cautious and selective about which AI systems they use. And, keep in mind, although these tools can be helpful when doing your own research, your provider or pharmacist should still be the primary person you go to with health questions.
Healthcare providers need to understand the limitations of AI and only use it in combination with their clinical judgment. They should take into consideration how the AI works and what data it bases its recommendations upon. These are important factors when it comes to limiting risks with AI in healthcare.
Will AI replace your doctor or pharmacist?
No, ChatGPT and other AI tools won’t replace your doctor, pharmacist, and other healthcare team members. While AI can assist healthcare providers in their decision-making processes, it's unlikely that it will completely replace them. Healthcare professionals bring a human touch and are critical in providing personalized care that AI can’t replicate.
The potential of AI to help make medical decisions can bring both excitement and worry. And concerning stories about AI chatbots giving bad, or perhaps even harmful, medical advice can stoke our fears. After all, people want to make sure there’s a person guiding their care — not just a robot.
Ultimately, AI is just another tool, like a calculator. It can help people do their jobs better and faster. Healthcare professionals will likely come to use AI daily to help their patients. And if done right, you won't know AI was involved in your care at all.
The bottom line
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by improving health outcomes and reducing costs. Many healthcare-related AI apps and devices have been approved by the FDA and are already being used. There are risks associated with relying only on AI for medical decisions. But using it as a tool in combination with human oversight can help limit these risks. So it's important for healthcare providers to understand both the strengths and limitations of using AI to help them care for people safely.
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