Part 1: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Digital Health Care

By Dr. Michal Carmi - Part 1:

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Digital Health Care

Examining the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Medical disposition and Remote Medicine using the analytical tools of Management Theories

(Virtual/Remote/Tele-medicine)

Part A - Introduction (will focus on disruptive technologies and the strategic inflection point)

Part B - The Transformative Change in Remote Medicine from a managerial perspective (Examines the dimensions of change in healthcare organizations based on different managerial approaches and models)

Introduction

The medical field, already at the core of the digital vortex, is one of the facets of life poised to undergo the most profound changes during the post-digital transformation. This immense leap forward will propel medicine to new frontiers of capabilities and achievements. The gap between the medicine we know today and the medicine that will be based on and driven by the achievements and capabilities of artificial intelligence is akin to the gap between the medicine of early humans and the medicine of today. This change is sweeping through the healthcare system, driven by the immense capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI).? AI is active, proactive, invasive, communicative, responsive, has unimaginable processing power, demonstrates human-like thinking and empathy, has scientific capabilities, and will ultimately have the potential to transform the medical apparatus from the ground up. The various medical organizations, as social systems, will undergo a revolutionary change that will alter the physical conditions of their operation, working conditions, human environment, structure and power model, procedures and policies, and even the DNA of organizational culture. On a practical level, in addition to the leap in medical science, knowledge, and practice, the digital transformation also brings challenges and disruptions for medical organizations due to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) that such a change brings with it.

The digital transformation of healthcare is rapidly reshaping medical organizations, with AI playing a central role. This concise article, divided into two parts —Part A and Part B— explores the organizational impact of AI from a change management perspective. It focuses on virtual platforms known as telemedicine, virtual care, and remote treatment, etc., as these platforms serve as key technology in the digital transformation of healthcare services. This field will be examined from the perspective of both the opportunities and disruptions it presents for medical organizations, through the lens of various management theories.

Disruptive Technologies in Medicine

Background

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing medicine. It analyzes vast amounts of complex medical data, leading to improved diagnostic accuracy, faster results, personalized diagnoses and treatments, and automated medical processes. The progress is evident, as in the use of AI-powered wearable devices and sensors that continuously monitor patients' vital signs and health data, enabling preventive medicine by identifying potential problems early for timely intervention. AI is also fostering a new era of communicative medicine. AI-powered virtual assistants and chatbots provide patients with 24/7 access to information and support. They can answer questions about health conditions and medications, schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and manage health records. Personalization, a major advantage of AI in general, extends to medicine as well. AI analyzes patient data to develop personalized treatment plans, ensuring patients receive the most effective care possible. The integration process of virtual technologies received an unexpected boost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical establishment, like other institutions, was compelled to significantly accelerate the adoption of tools and technologies that enable the provision of remote digital health services.

The impact of AI on telemedicine is significant, particularly in expanding access to care. Telemedicine allows people in remote or underserved areas to receive care more easily. AI can further bridge this gap by providing language translation services and facilitating consultations with specialists from anywhere in the world. AI's ability to identify patterns and disease progression invisible to the human eye allows for earlier detection and more effective treatment, such as automated disease diagnosis. Generative AI, characterized by its multi-modality and human-like output processing capabilities, plays a prominent role in the analysis of medical images for the early detection of diseases, such as cancer, with a particular focus on skin cancer.

Within the framework of contemporary technologies, robotics is emerging as a game-changing entity, rapidly transforming medicine and evolving beyond a mere tool to becoming a potential disruptor capable of replacing skilled human roles, including those of surgeons and assistants. Its integration into healthcare systems enhances the quality of care by reducing risks and improving the outcomes of surgeries and treatments. Robotics achieves this through more precise surgeries that minimize human error and maximize microscopic accuracy. From an organizational perspective, robotics boosts efficiency and productivity in tasks such as inventory management, cleaning and disinfecting operating rooms, and conducting repetitive physiotherapy treatments. Additionally, telerobotics allows for remote treatments, further expanding its impact.

Digital health care extensively utilizes software and hardware, making significant use of the Internet of (Medical) Things (IoMT). Most healthcare organizations are already connected to this growing digital ecosystem, which allows devices to communicate with each other. A major benefit is that technology plays a key role in enabling healthcare systems to provide efficient care to an aging population at the lowest possible cost. On a broader scale, the IoMT has also been instrumental in supporting public health responses to COVID-19. While challenges remain, including privacy and security concerns, the use of digital technologies in smart devices to provide smart healthcare is well underway, with expectations for dramatic increases in innovation[1].

Telemedicine is further transformed by the integration of drones into the healthcare system. This aerial dimension brings with it innovative opportunities to improve patient care, increase efficiency and access to medical services, through the rapid and efficient delivery of medical equipment, drugs and samples for testing to difficult-to-reach areas, the ability to respond to emergencies and reach the scene quickly, monitoring and collecting data in areas affected by epidemics or infectious diseases, without endangering the health of medical teams, and the rapid and efficient transfer of medical information between different healthcare facilities.

3D printing is a groundbreaking tool in medicine, renowned for its rapid production of personalized medical components. This capability not only reduces the time from design to final product but also enhances the customization of patient treatments, leading to significant cost savings and increased organizational efficiency. This technology overcomes barriers of time and distance by enabling the remote fabrication of implants and on-demand production of customized surgical instruments and other medical devices. It contributes significantly to telemedicine by improving the scope and quality of healthcare services delivered remotely. The rapid and on-site production of tailor-made medical devices minimizes the need for in-person visits and addresses logistical and transportation challenges. This localized, rapid production offers immense promise for healthcare providers, especially in areas with limited resources. By integrating 3D printing with remote medicine, healthcare professionals can significantly expand their reach and provide more personalized, timely, and effective care. Additionally, the field of bioprinting, which involves printing living cells to create tissues and organs, offers revolutionary possibilities for medical treatments, including organ and tissue regeneration.

While artificial intelligence offers immense potential for improvement in healthcare, it also comes with its own set of significant hurdles. Among these are data privacy and security, which are paramount. AI systems rely on vast amounts of sensitive medical data, and protecting this data from unauthorized access is crucial. Another major concern is algorithmic bias, which can lead to unfair or inaccurate results. Additionally, human-AI interaction requires careful design to ensure effective communication and positive patient experiences with digital medicine, ultimately leading to more accurate and effective care.

Organizations have long recognized the importance of being change-oriented and data-driven by leveraging AI for optimal results. However, the current evolution of AI towards a more communicative, reflective, and intelligent state represents a true strategic inflection point, with its potential for progress being unstoppable.

Health Care is at an Inflection Point

"Strategic inflection point" is a term typically used to describe a particular time when a significant change emerges in a business’s competitive environment. This change, often driven by transformative technologies, can rapidly affect an industry. Businesses that can adapt efficiently to such changes have a better chance of surviving and either retaining or increasing their market share compared to those that cannot pivot effectively. The concept of a strategic inflection point, popularized in the early 1990s by Andrew Grove, then CEO of Intel Corp., is derived from the idea of an inflection point in finance but refers specifically to a shift in a business’s strategy in response to changes in the industry environment. This could lead, along with challenges, to potential opportunities[2].

Unprecedented healthcare innovation, along with exponential advancements in software and hardware, places healthcare at a critical inflection point. These rapidly accelerating innovations are reshaping the entire industry. The disruptive effects of technological innovation are present across all facets of our lives, and the implications for health care are significant. Over the last few decades, cost curves have dramatically declined, and groundbreaking new treatments have become commercially scalable, leading to significant changes within the industry. This means revamping how patients get treated with digital tools. By offering virtual medical consultations, the goal is to make healthcare more accessible and efficient, allowing doctors to switch gears from just reacting to problems to focusing on preventing them[3].

As mentioned, AI-driven medicine has the potential to transform the very boundaries of medicine as we currently perceive them, but, along with the great promise, the digital transformation also brings with it challenges and disruptions for medical organizations, due to the ambiguity, complexity, uncertainty, and volatility (Vuca) that such a change brings with it. VUCA, an acronym derived from the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus[4], describes the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of general situations. It has been adopted in management theories to describe the disruptions that strategic leadership in organizations must address. This conceptual tool highlights the challenges organizations face when making decisions, planning, managing risks, driving change, and solving problems in environments characterized by:

Volatility: The rapid and unpredictable nature of change.

Uncertainty: The unpredictability of events and issues.

Complexity: The entangled forces and issues that obscure cause-and-effect relationships.

Ambiguity: The unclear realities and potential misunderstandings arising from mixed messages.

Beyond AI, other transformative technologies are also being implemented in the medical world, reshaping the medical landscape, and creating an advanced, sophisticated, and virtual ecosystem. This shift fundamentally changes medical organizations due to their functioning as social systems. As such, these organizations are experiencing revolutionary changes across all aspects of their operations, including physical layout, operational conditions, working environments, human interactions, structures, power dynamics, procedures, policies, and even their core organizational culture.

In conclusion

In the post-digital era, where technologies develop exponentially, frequent disruptions occur, creating a "strategic inflection point" for healthcare organizations. These disruptions compel organizations to adapt their business strategies and reorient both their patient interactions and workforce engagements. Digital medicine, in particular, enables a redefinition of both the essence and content of healthcare services, as well as their accessibility and the nature of patient interactions, such as remote patient monitoring allowing for proactive care and early intervention. These technologies are so radical that they open up a vast array of business, operational, and professional possibilities, so extensive that over time, healthcare organizations may undergo a business pivot that aligns with this "new medicine", which transcends traditional time-space limitations and incorporates state-of-the-art technologies such as proactive and communicative artificial intelligence, wearable computing, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), robotics, drones, and more.

This first part (Part A) introduced some of the disruptive technologies and the strategic inflection point. The next part (Part B) will focus on The Transformative Change in Remote Medicine from a managerial perspective (will examine the dimensions of change in healthcare organizations based on different managerial approaches and models)

[1] Goldman Sachs. (2022, 5 25). Health Care at an Inflection Point. Retrieved from https://www.gsam.com/content/gsam/us/en/institutions/market-insights/gsam-connect/2022/health-care-at-an-inflection-point.html

[2] DIONGSON, D. (23, 3 15). TheStreet. Retrieved from What is a strategic inflection point? Definition & examples: https://www.thestreet.com/dictionary/strategic-inflection-point

[3] Goldman Sachs. (2022, 5 25). Health Care at an Inflection Point. Retrieved from https://www.gsam.com/content/gsam/us/en/institutions/market-insights/gsam-connect/2022/health-care-at-an-inflection-point.html

[4] Bennis, Warren;?Nanus, Burt?(1985).?Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. Harper & Row.?ISBN?9780060152468.