At the 8th Annual Becker's Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Meeting, Sundar Subramanian, Enterprise Digital Solutions Leader, PwC Strategy&, facilitated a panel discussion on the potential of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Panelists included:
- Craig Richardville, chief digital and information officer, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health
- Pamela Landis, senior vice president and digital engagement leader at Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health
The group highlighted the importance of AI in improving patient experience, reducing costs and simplifying processes. However, they also acknowledged challenges, such as the risk of AI "hallucinations" and the lack of explainability in AI decisions. The panelists emphasized the need for a clear, ethical framework and potential regulation in the use of AI, as well as the importance of partnerships with technology providers and other health systems. They concluded by expressing hope that AI could lead to significant transformations in healthcare in the next five to 10 years.
Editor's note: Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
Key takeaways:
1: Lack of transparency and potential bias are risks associated with AI technology.
Craig Richardville: “It has some limitations that humans have as well. There’s some built-in bias… and certainly in our world, that’s something we want to make sure we can mitigate and minimize.”
2: As adoption of AI increases, ethical frameworks for the technology are essential.
Pamela Landis: "We have to ensure when we adopt these technologies, we as healthcare providers and health systems have a really clear ethical framework around that...Regulation will come into place. When we're building and thinking about innovation here, we should have a framework that we're bumping up against all the time to make sure our guardrails are appropriate enough but also don't constrict us too much."
3: AI has the potential to bring about revolutionary changes in healthcare — and leaders have high hopes.
CR: "I think it has the potential to make a super material change — a revolution. I would hope in five years, nobody in this room can even imagine the change we've made. If you go back even just a year ago, I don't think many people would've expected the impact generative AI has had in such a short period of time, let alone its potential and the many investments in creating companies or products to try to harness it."