Helping Caregivers Tap AI’s Vast Capabilities to Advance Health

America’s hospitals and health systems are incubators of innovation, ideas and medical progress as they are constantly striving to improve patient care and advance health.

Today, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform each and every aspect of health care delivery, from the simplest administrative task to the most complex clinical procedures, while improving organizational and patient care outcomes at lower costs. According to a recent survey, 85% of health system leaders cited AI as the “most exciting emerging technology for health care.”

AI is already transforming health care delivery at every level, including easing appointment scheduling and discharge, augmenting diagnostic decisions and streamlining resource allocation, just to name a few. Tapping AI’s potential to elevate health care delivery to new heights requires planning, vision and commitment.

A recent Market Insights report from the AHA Center for Health Innovation, “Building and Implementing an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan for Health Care,” provides health care leaders with an important starting point, a playbook for allocating resources and a road map for hospital and health care executives looking to expand their adoption of AI’s capabilities.

The report reveals the three pillars of successful AI integration — making sure the right people, processes and technology are in place — and explains the purpose of each as hospitals and health systems grow more fully into the world of AI. At the same time, the report highlights how challenges related to data privacy, bias and the need for human expertise must be addressed to implement AI responsibly and effectively.

Importantly, the report gives real-life examples from seven hospitals and health systems that are navigating the opportunities and challenges of AI to transform health care delivery for their patients and communities. While each organization approached its AI action plan differently, they each put the foundational building blocks in place and then overlaid that foundation with a structured, systematic approach to identifying, vetting and executing AI pilots and projects.

AI is not the wave of the future. It is here now and already transforming care and care delivery. AI can help caregivers manage disease and chronic conditions, promote wellness, and achieve efficiency and affordability. And while individual hospitals and health systems will proceed at their own pace, weaving AI-assisted methods and procedures into their care delivery in ways that work best for their organization and the patients they serve, this report provides the foundational building blocks for many institutions who want to create an effective AI action plan.

Health care is and will always be about people caring for people. As hospitals and health systems continue to “redefine the H,” an important part of their efforts to make care more convenient and coordinated will be building and implementing an AI action plan.