How Bullish Are Healthcare Stakeholders on Artificial Intelligence?

A report on how artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve across multiple sectors reveals that the adoption of AI-based programs in healthcare has significantly increased over the last few years, though industry stakeholders believe more could be happening, faster.

Findings from KPMG’s report—“Living in an AI World: Achievements and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Across Five Industries”—do reveal that AI is already transforming the healthcare industry. And it’s impact—both good, in terms of patient care and operational efficiencies; and bad, as some believe it is contributing to higher healthcare costs—is only just beginning, researchers stated.

The report included responses from 751 insiders representing five industries, including healthcare, who shared their views the future of AI in their sectors, and the steps they are taking to maximize its benefits and mitigate its challenges.

While just over half—53 percent—of respondents say that the healthcare industry is ahead of most others in AI adoption, they nevertheless believe it needs to happen much faster, the survey data revealed. Just more than one-third of healthcare industry executives (37 percent) believe the pace at which they are implementing AI is too slow, due to countervailing factors around training, cost and privacy, among others. But their impatience is a clear sign that they appreciate the current impact of AI, as well as its vast potential for transforming many facets of healthcare, KPMG researchers stressed.

 “The pace with which hospital systems have adopted AI and automation programs has dramatically increased since 2017,” said Melissa Edwards, managing director, digital enablement, KPMG. “Virtually all major healthcare providers are moving ahead with pilots or programs in these areas. The medical literature is showing support of AI’s power as a tool to help clinicians.”

What’s more, according to an overwhelming majority of healthcare respondents (89 percent), AI is already creating efficiencies in their systems, and 91 percent believe it is increasing patient access to care. According to Edwards: “My general observation is that more of the AI-related services and solutions being advanced in healthcare today are largely in the clinical, patient-facing space. Basic forms of automation are proving to be the ‘gateway drug’ to advanced forms of AI – such as scanning documents to determine the urgency of a referral. Applying AI to make earlier diagnoses of critical illnesses is a key area.”

Survey respondents feel similarly. More than two-thirds (68 percent) are confident AI will eventually be effective in diagnosing patient illnesses and conditions, with 47 percent believing that diagnostics will have a significant impact soon – within the next two years. They also anticipate gains in process automation, with 40 percent seeing x-rays and CT scans being handled robotically.

At the same time, an array of challenges in this space still do exist. One is in the area of talent. To date, only 47 percent of healthcare insiders say their organizations offer AI training courses to employees, which is substantially lower than some of the other industries surveyed. This could be why just 67 percent of healthcare insiders say their employees support AI adoption, the lowest ranking of any industry.

Another major barrier is cost. Not long ago, healthcare systems were required to make significant capital investments to meet electronic health record (EHR) requirements. Adding further to the IT budget to get AI off the ground requires even more of an investment, and insiders who may already feel budget-burdened may be slower to allocate full funding for AI. This could help explain why more than half of executives, 54 percent, believe that AI to date has actually increased rather than decreased the overall cost of healthcare.

As Edwards explained, healthcare decision-makers are still struggling to determine where to place their AI best bets: “The question is, ‘Where do I put my AI efforts to get the greatest gain for the business? Trying to assess what ROI will look like is a very relevant point as they embark on their AI journey.”

Further, given the highly sensitive nature of patient medical records, a large number of insiders—75 percent—have concerns that AI could threaten the security and privacy of patient data. Relatedly, 86 percent say their organizations are taking care to protect patient privacy as it implements AI.

Nevertheless, stakeholder are bullish on the future and believe that AI will prove beneficial to healthcare in several different areas.  Ninety percent of healthcare respondents believe AI technology will improve the patient experience and anticipate seeing the greatest impact on diagnostics (47 percent), electronic records management (41 percent) and various robotic tasks (40 percent).