Today, AI has gone mainstream, impacting organizations of all sizes and industries, and board directors are taking note. Per a recent National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) survey, nearly one-third (30%) of directors believe AI will be one of the most significant trends impacting their organizations this year, on par with other major trends including cybersecurity threats and geopolitical volatility.
There’s no doubt AI can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health care boards of all sizes and types. However, due to the health care industry’s unique nature and complex regulatory landscape, there are also inherent risks. Health care boards must strike the right balance between embracing innovation and ensuring safety and security.
Benefits of Leveraging AI in the Health Care Boardroom
Today, forward-thinking health care boards are leveraging AI for a wide range of use cases – from new director onboarding and meeting preparation to drafting meeting minutes and ensuring regulatory compliance – and everything in between. While the benefits vary depending on the application, AI can fundamentally deliver some significant advantages to health care boards.
Enhanced efficiency and productivity
AI tools can handle routine tasks, analyze data, and summarize lengthy information. For instance, health care board directors can use AI to summarize detailed reports. This allows them to spend less time preparing for board meetings and more time engaging in productive discussions and making decisions that drive positive outcomes for their organizations.
Data-driven insights
To make informed, impactful decisions, health care board directors must be skilled at recognizing current trends and anticipating future ones. AI tools enable directors to uncover insights that might otherwise go unnoticed. For example, a health care board may identify a growing trend of certain populations using specific services. They can use these insights to make more strategic, data-based decisions.
Increased consistency, accuracy, and compliance
Board directors are human, and mistakes happen. AI tools can review written reports and data, minimizing human error and ensuring information is accurate, consistent, and compliant.
Quick access to critical information
Health care board directors are often faced with an overwhelming amount of data, content, and other information. When they need information, they must sift through these resources to find what they’re looking for. Secure AI tools can retrieve relevant documents and data points, which makes information more accessible when needed.
Unique Considerations for Health Care Boards
Health care boards that adopt AI can experience large gains in terms of productivity, insights, and efficiency. As such, it’s no wonder a growing number of boards are exploring ways to leverage AI in their operations.
However, AI isn’t without risks. The risks are especially high for health care organizations that must navigate HIPAA and other regulatory compliance – or face steep penalties and long-term reputational damage.
Health care organizations handle sensitive patient information daily. While health care boards need access to certain information to carry out their responsibilities, they must prioritize security and compliance to safeguard that sensitive information.
Health care boards must choose their AI tools wisely. Publicly accessible tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini shouldn’t be used to augment or support health care board governance activities. These tools are powered by large language models (LLM) that ingest all user inputs, including data and content, for future training and outputs. If a health care board member uploads or shares confidential data or sensitive content with one of these tools, they must assume it may later become available to others.
Instead, health care boards and directors should seek AI tools within secure and private solutions. One example is a digital board portal like OnBoard.
Ideally, a board portal provider should have accreditations or certified compliance with widely accepted data and privacy standards – as well as those that are unique to the healthcare industry. This includes standards such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO-27001, ISO-27701, and GDPR. U.S.-based health care boards must also ensure their AI tools comply with HIPAA regulations.
Finding the Right Balance Between Opportunity and Risks
AI presents tremendous opportunities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of board activities that happen during and between board meetings. However, health care boards must also be mindful of the risks, particularly around safety and HIPAA compliance.
This may seem like an impossible balancing act. However, with a board management solution like OnBoard, health care boards can harness the potential of AI – while properly managing its risks.