“There has been less focus on AI [artificial intelligence] trained on clinician data that health care systems and insurers could use to manage clinicians’ practice. But clinicians have reason to worry about becoming AI “data subjects.” Quantification of clinician practice could help health care systems improve quality of care and facilitate documentation to support transparency and utilization review, and physicians should take the lead in helping to achieve those aims (one of us holds equity in medical AI companies). But medical AI tools, including those that are introduced with a goal of improving patient care, also create a glide path … Read More
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An AI companion is just a phone call away for residents of this senior living community—and their mental health is improving as a result “Residents of a nonprofit senior living community in Riverdale, N.Y., took part in a recent pilot study to determine whether calls from a virtual companion named Meela would alleviate depression and loneliness. [..] Research shows that phone calls with an empathetic listener can help reduce loneliness among older adults, leading to improved mental health. In-person interactions are even more effective. But nursing-home residents don’t always get many visits or calls. The first Meela test phase, involving 23 RiverSpring … Read More
A disease doesn’t have to be real to cause worldwide damage “While I am deeply concerned about the long-term existential threat of AI and synthetic biology to create new or modified pathogens, my extensive experience detecting and controlling outbreaks around the world makes me fear a more immediate threat: a rogue actor using existing AI tools to simulate a bioterrorism attack that would destabilize a region or the world. [..] Freely available AI tools now permit people to create “deepfakes” that are almost impossible for a person to differentiate from reality without special tools. It’s not simply a question of whether … Read More
New systems for documenting outpatient visits are adding features and moving into hospitals; ‘we are just scratching the surface’ Excerpt – “We are just scratching the surface of what this technology can do,” says Dr. Lance Owens, regional chief medical information officer at University of Michigan Health, which uses Microsoft’s DAX Copilot ambient-listening technology. “I see it being able to provide insights about the patient that the human mind just can’t do in a reasonable time.” By connecting older data with new information in the medical record, for instance, the technology could help make sure that an incidental finding years ago was followed … Read More
“A wave of new ventures is no doubt poised to deliver fresh possibilities in DTC [direct-to-consumer] health care. However, Big Tech is uniquely positioned to scale their own DTC health care services rapidly and efficiently or can choose to provide the technological backbone for traditional HCOs [health care organizations] or new entrant startups. Big Tech platforms have hundreds of millions of users and access to hyperpersonalized data from search, social media interactions, mobility data, and LLM [large language model] engagement. Google Search has long been a de facto patient decision support tool for diagnosis and more, well before being tuned … Read More
“To paraphrase health policy expert Timothy Hoff, there is a fight going on for the soul of health care, and primary care is at the center of the struggle. In the United States, we face an unresolved tension between two conflicting visions: Does our society want an empathetic, highly relational care delivery system built around primary care and trusting relationships, or, as Hoff puts it, “a more efficient, convenient, and highly transactional care delivery system, impersonal and built on algorithms, health care corporations, and technology”? [..] Increasingly, health care organizations and information technology vendors, recognizing the need to better support … Read More
“Modern medicine is compartmentalized, which can work for acute injuries. But chronic conditions demand cross-specialty coordination. Inflammation, diet and stress are intertwined. AI’s broad-based knowledge provided the holistic lens I needed. [..] A study of 2008 data found that chronic pain costs today’s U.S. economy about $900 billion a year, adjusted for inflation. That’s more than heart disease and cancer combined, according to the National Academy of Medicine. One in 5 American adults—50 million people—live with chronic pain. Our healthcare system is great at treating broken bones but falters when dealing with lingering aches and fatigue. Who unifies the data from … Read More
Experts predicted that artificial intelligence would steal radiology jobs. But at the Mayo Clinic, the technology has been more friend than foe. Excerpt – radiologists [..] are still in high demand. A recent study from the American College of Radiology projected a steadily growing work force through 2055. [..] in recent years, they [radiologists] have begun using A.I. [artificial intelligence] to sharpen images, automate routine tasks, identify medical abnormalities and predict disease. A.I. can also serve as “a second set of eyes.” “But would it replace radiologists? We didn’t think so,” said Dr. Matthew Callstrom, the Mayo Clinic’s chair of radiology, … Read More
“The process of extracting systemic health insights by analyzing ocular data, including retinal images with AI, is referred to as oculomics. We define prescreening as a preliminary assessment of disease or potential disease in asymptomatic individuals. Healthcare From the Eye (Topcon Healthcare Inc) prescreening is utilization of retinal images to identify ocular or systemic disease or potential disease in asymptomatic individuals in a coordinated care system that includes eye care professionals (ECPs), primary care professionals (PCPs), and specialty care professionals using secure and responsible technology. It offers the potential for rapid, cost-effective, and accessible prescreening for a wide range of devastating diseases. Such … Read More
How the “opinionated” chatbots destroyed AI’s potential, and how we can fix it “Recently, after an update that was supposed to make ChatGPT “better at guiding conversations toward productive outcomes,” according to release notes from OpenAI, the bot couldn’t stop telling users how brilliant their bad ideas were. ChatGPT reportedly told one person that their plan to sell literal “shit on a stick” was “not just smart—it’s genius.” Many more examples cropped up, and OpenAI rolled back the product in response, explaining in a blog post that “the update we removed was overly flattering or agreeable—often described as sycophantic.” The … Read More