How health communication technology can leverage AI for more personalized content

Written by: Howard Rosen and William Hsu, PhD MBA

There is a lot of talk about AI and healthcare, with specific discussions on how AI will be used with health communication technology for more personalized content; more personalized care. More to the point, health communication technology will likely leverage AI to provide more personalized content in several areas, including:

1. Virtual health assistants: AI-powered virtual health assistants will be able to interact with patients in a conversational manner and provide personalized health advice based on their individual needs.
2. Telemedicine: AI algorithms will be used to analyze patient data and deliver customized health information and advice during virtual consultations with healthcare providers.
3. Personalized medicine: AI will be used to develop personalized treatment plans based on a patient's specific health needs and medical history.
4. Health monitoring: AI will be used to analyze data from wearable health devices and provide personalized health recommendations based on an individual's physical activity, sleep patterns, and other health metrics.

Back to the present, the first step in creating personalized communication content between patient and provider is to gather several varied sources of data about the patient.? These data include electronic medical records, continuously streaming or discrete data from wearable sensors and patient provided data. In addition, there are some data? that are not apparent or easily obtainable from the patient that AI can help.And given the variety of data and sources of data, they need to be validated to as to be data which can used towards actionable information

One way? to leverage AI for health communication is through? Natural Language Processing to analyze and understand patient language and preferences and to detect subtle nuances in tones and diction that could be indicative of depression - a condition that the patient did not explicitly mention. This insight can be used to personalize the communications with the patient who may be suffering from mental health issues. For example, Northwell Health, a large healthcare system in the US, has partnered with Cogito, a provider of AI-powered behavioral analytics technology, to use voice analysis to identify patients who may be struggling with depression or other hidden conditions. Cogito's technology uses natural language processing to analyze the nuances of a patient's voice during a phone conversation, such as tone, pace, and inflection, to detect changes that may indicate depression or other health issues.? With this technology, Northwell Health is able to provide earlier interventions and more effective care to patients who may be struggling with mental health issues.

Another, perhaps cumulative, approach? is? leveraging AI to generate predictive models for the patient from these data. The models are used to generate personalized health recommendations, care plans, and other content for patients based on their individual needs and circumstances.? An example, Wellframe's platform uses AI to analyze a patient's medical history and health data to create a personalized care plan, including reminders for taking medication, scheduling appointments, and following up with their healthcare provider. The platform also uses AI to monitor a patient's health status and provide real-time feedback and support to help them stay on track with their care plan.

These are just a few examples of how medical companies and hospitals are using AI today to create personalized communication between patients and providers and some hints of what may be around the corner. But to be clear, the use of AI type solutions is to enable patients and care providers, it’s not a solution in itself.The goal is to use AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery, helping to improve patient outcomes and enhance the overall quality of care.