AI Medical Assistants Have Arrived! Part 2

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Hello again friends and colleagues,

First of all, thank you for 2,500 subscribers!

In Part 1 of this article, I recapped some of my early thinking about AI Medical Assistants and used it as a context for introducing the new crop of products announced by Amazon and Microsoft/OpenAI/EPIC. I emphasized that healthcare organizations need more than just a strategy. This generational technology shift requires a reimagined blueprint for a new care delivery structure and workflows that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the risks. This blueprint mandates extensive planning, workforce upskilling, and transparent communication and culture change. It is a task for the top-level leadership at every healthcare organization.

As we segue into Part 2, we will focus on the immediate horizon—the next 3 to 6 months. We'll examine the expected impact of AI on the three domains of care delivery: the healing relationship, clinical knowledge, and regulatory functions. We will explore the impact on healthcare systems, health plans, and academic medical centers.

Why focus on 3-6 months? Because the rate of technological change has 10X over the past year! In terms of technological change, a 3-6 months plan is today's equivalent of a five-year strategic plan! For a graphic depiction, today's fastest computers are ONE BILLION times faster than those from just 30 years ago. These are the machines used to train today's AI and their rate of progress shows no sign of slowing. For more information on this point, see my recent post.

Actions for the Next 3-6 Months

Intensive Planning: The Immediate Roadmap

The integration of AI into care delivery is going to be a very complex process, with numerous moving parts. Within the next 3-6 months, action should not be assigned to regular committee meetings. This must be a high-stakes, executive-level discussion, involving multi-disciplinary effort from administration, clinical leaders, and technology experts. Workshops and retreats can be used to generate creative problem-solving tactics, ensuring that the roadmap evolves to include various perspectives. Planning and implementation much be Agile!

Quick Wins Through Workforce Upskilling

AI-enabled care delivery redesign is going to be a marathon not a sprint, and everyone has to be brought along. Staff are the backbone of any healthcare system, and their upskilling is not just a 'nice to have'; it's a business imperative. In the next 3-6 months, you'll want to fast-track some "quick win" training initiatives. The idea is not to churn out experts but to foster a baseline understanding of AI technologies. Pilot programs, simulation exercises, and even AI mentorship programs can quickly elevate a team's readiness for what's coming.

Immediate Transparency: Stop the Rumor Mill

Information vacuums are dangerous. In the absence of clear communication, staff, clinicians, and even the patient community might fill the gaps with speculations, fears, and misinformation. Consequently, a concerted effort must be made to ensure transparent communication in the next 3-6 months. This goes beyond sending out a newsletter or hosting a webinar. Interactive communication sessions, employee suggestion boxes for AI questions, and perhaps an internal "AI Transformation Dashboard" can all serve to demystify the transition and give everyone a vested interest in its success. Job security will have to be honestly addressed outright!

The Immediate Impact of AI: A 3D View

Enhanced Healing Relationships

AI can quickly become a clinician's best friend, especially when it comes to patient communication. AI assistants can facilitate conversations, help explain diagnoses in layman's terms, and provide educational material on demand. They aren't here to replace clinicians but to enhance the quality of interaction between clinician and patient. Within the next 3-6 months, the role of AI in enhancing patient/clinician interactions will be a key factor for its broader acceptance.

Clinical Knowledge: A Global Database in Your Pocket

The next 3-6 months will see AI become an essential partner in clinical decision-making. With access to real-time, evidence-based data and guidelines, these AI tools can save time and improve outcomes. AI can swiftly analyze complex medical data sets, present differential diagnosis options, and even suggest treatment plans based on cutting-edge research. While the final say remains in the hands of the human clinician, AI serves as an invaluable cognitive multiplier. Imagine the positive shift in patient outcomes when totality of patient-specific information and scientific evidence can be brought to bear on each medical decision!

Administrative and Regulatory Support

The burden of healthcare regulatory compliance is a nightmare navigated daily by clinicians and administrative staff alike. In the coming months, expect to see AI tackle this problem head-on, from automating billing and coding processes to ensuring that patient documentation meets regulatory standards. Not only can this reduce clerical errors, but it can also streamline workflows and save valuable time. All of this contributes to healthcare providers' ability to do what they trained for—caring for patients, not shuffling papers.

AI Integration Across Different Healthcare Entities: A Leadership Perspective

Healthcare Systems

The role of leadership in large healthcare systems cannot be overstated. Executive commitment to AI adoption isn't optional; it's a non-negotiable must-for survival, to put it bluntly. Pilot programs that test the water for larger-scale integration should be on every executive's action list for the next 3-6 months. This goes beyond mere experimentation and gets into the realm of organizational change management. Identifying AI champions in every departments, rolling out limited-scope projects, and closely monitoring performance metrics will all be key activities.

Health Plans

In the short-term, the insurance sector will likely see the most disruption of any in healthcare because of the time and resources dedicated to AI-automatable tasks. Within the next 3-6 months, health plans can initiate AI-powered risk assessment models, personalized wellness programs, and even automated claim adjudication. It's time for health plans to shift from being financial gatekeepers to becoming active partners in healthcare delivery. This will involve strategic collaborations with technology providers, partnership with care delivery organizations, and a keen understanding of the regulatory landscape.

Academic Medical Institutions

These centers of education, research, and care delivery have a unique role and responsibility. Not only will they train the next generation of healthcare providers, but they have a major role to play in upskilling the large numbers of practicing clinicians. In the next 3-6 months, leadership in academic institutions should be focused on two key areas: curricular integration of AI and fostering research in AI applications for healthcare. Encouraging student-led AI projects, incentivizing faculty research, and forming alliances with tech companies for early-stage pilots can build the foundations of future healthcare.

Conclusion

As we look ahead to the immediate future, it's abundantly clear: The integration of AI into healthcare is not just inevitable; it's imminent. With a clear blueprint that incorporates intensive planning, workforce upskilling, and culture change, healthcare organizations can turn AI integration from challenge to huge opportunities. It's not about painting a rosy picture of what healthcare could be, but rather about making actionable changes that make a real difference in how healthcare is delivered.

I am working with a few organizations on developing the AI Integration Blueprint. Would love to hear how your organizations is tackling AI Integration in the comments below or reach out to schedule some 1:1 time.

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See you next week,

Sam