HIT Consultant: AI and Health Care – Will It Lead to Renaissance or Revolution?
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents a potentially monumental shift in the history of health care and all human civilization. Will it lead to enhanced work processes and efficiencies that will slash costs and elevate the standard of patient care? Or will it lead to a Darwinian rationing of care and the devaluation of humans versus data?
At DSS, we are at the forefront of this debate. HIT Consultant has published an exclusive editorial by Robert L. Gordon III, our senior strategic leader for AI and digital innovation, which closely examines the AI crossroads facing us today.
Rob discusses how the rise of AI would seem to bring numerous benefits to health care, such as true precision medical care, dynamic forecasting, and advanced precision analytics. Yet, how will these powerful new tools coexist with existing challenges such as medical data privacy, meaningful use regulations, and the move to value-based care?
Traditional AI vs. Generative Equals Game Changer
To understand the challenge, it’s essential to grasp the distinctions between traditional AI and generative AI. Traditional AI is rule-based and involves algorithms programmed for specific tasks. The results are derived from specific pre-defined rules and logic for solving problems.
An example would be how DSS leverages Emotion AI to support the mental health care needs of Veterans and their families. Emotion AI has the potential to directly support specific VA suicide prevention efforts, especially the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line (VCL).
On the other hand, generative AI has become widely available for the first time. Generative AI technology can create content – including text, video, audio, images, computer code, and more – by processing and fine-tuning vast amounts of training data and generating new, original content based on similar characteristics. Large language models (LLMs) are based on this, and they are not bound to specific applications.
Potentially Different Paths
These technological advancements in generative AI can potentially revolutionize medical practices and healthcare.
For instance, the advanced reasoning of AI applied to rapidly synthesizing and comprehending large quantities of medical literature can offer new insights into patient care; likewise, personalized data models can enable researchers to glean tailored treatments more suited to patient needs.
Multimodal AI systems capable of processing and interpreting various data, from genetic information and imaging to behavioral factors and complex charts, can guide practitioners to make more informed decisions.
Yet, AI’s rapid advancement poses complex challenges with significant societal and policy implications that can determine the path toward an AI renaissance or revolution. One of the most critical challenges is ensuring AI’s ethical and responsible use.
Alignment issues and privacy, security, and surveillance concerns augur the potential for significant misuse of the technology to affect healthcare development and delivery adversely. Misinformation and disinformation spread using deepfakes, and hallucinations continue to be an ongoing concern.
Generative AI commoditizes the processing power to enable truly personalized medicine, but it also risks making technology more central to the mission of health care than what’s best for the patient. Can we find a way to achieve holistic, human-centric care while keeping human professionals at the center of health care delivery?
Or can we have both a renaissance and a revolution where we balance the disruptive revolutionary aspects of AI with a renaissance of securing a collaborative, human-centered, and ethical health care delivery system?
That’s the outcome we’re working towards at DSS. For decades, we’ve been at the forefront of software development that improves care delivery to millions of Veterans. We’ll continue working for an AI renaissance that keeps humanity at the center of health care technology and holistic, healthy communities.
To learn more about how DSS is a catalyst for care innovation and digital transformation for the VA, click here.