{"id":54794,"date":"2019-12-08T10:13:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T10:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/?post_type=spotlight-fadyjameel&p=54794"},"modified":"2021-04-18T11:33:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T11:33:09","slug":"ai-in-healthcare-a-quiet-revolution-about-to-get-loud","status":"publish","type":"spotlight-fadyjameel","link":"https:\/\/alj.com\/en\/spotlight-by-fady-jameel\/ai-in-healthcare-a-quiet-revolution-about-to-get-loud\/","title":{"rendered":"AI in healthcare: a quiet revolution about to get loud"},"content":{"rendered":"

How artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform the global healthcare industry.\u00a0<\/h4>\n

By Fady Jameel<\/a>, Deputy President and Vice Chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to my second \u2018Spotlight\u2019 article, where I\u2019d like to explore another of our biggest challenges, and one I am passionate about.<\/p>\n

Around the world, industries and professions are facing upheaval and disruption on an extraordinary scale.\u00a0 The advance of artificial intelligence (AI) looks set to pose questions that go to the heart of 21st<\/sup>-Century society: workforces are being reorganized, jobs restructured and working patterns reimagined.<\/p>\n

\"106\u00a0But what, exactly, is AI?\u00a0 While it is a term that can be difficult to define, a common interpretation is \u201ccomputers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behavior, such as analysis and learning\u201d<\/em>.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 And while its precise definition may be up for discussion, one thing is universally accepted: AI will have a truly transformative impact on healthcare. \u00a0According to technology and big data consultancy, CB Insights, \u201cnearly every area across the [healthcare] industry will be impacted by the technology\u2019s rise\u201d.<\/em>[2]<\/a> \u00a0Indeed, 2016 saw some 106 start-ups entering this transformative space.<\/p>\n

AI\u2019s key advantage is being able to analyze huge quantities of data at a speed far quicker \u2013 and often with far greater accuracy \u2013 than any human could ever hope to achieve.\u00a0 It is this \u2018data-crunching\u2019 and deep analysis ability that will, inevitably, lead to extraordinary changes in the sector, both in private and indeed public health approaches.<\/p>\n

Already, healthcare AI start-ups raised at least US$ 4.3 billion in funding[3]<\/a> between 2013 and 2018.\u00a0 That figure surpasses every other industry making AI-related deals.\u00a0 By 2024, Morgan Stanley estimates the global market for AI in healthcare could reach US$ 10 billion.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Changes underway<\/h2>\n

Today, the first signs of AI\u2019s impact in healthcare are already becoming apparent \u2013 and the potential advances available are significantly greater than anything delivered in recent decades.\u00a0 But only the very surface has been scratched so far.\u00a0 \u201cWe are only at the beginning of seeing how it will impact patient care,\u201d<\/em> [5]<\/a> says the UK\u2019s Academy of Royal Medical Colleges.<\/p>\n

A recent Accenture report estimated that the top 10 healthcare applications where AI could deliver the \u201cgreatest near-term impact\u201d could save the US healthcare system alone US$ 150 billion per year by 2026.[6]<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

These applications include robot-assisted orthopedic surgery (savings of US$ 40 billion), virtual nursing assistants (US$ 20 billion) and dosage error reductions (US$ 16 billion).\u00a0 With figures like that, the transformative potential of AI in healthcare over the next 20 or 30 years is without precedent.<\/p>\n

\"Top\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assessing AI\u2019s early impact<\/h2>\n

There are already countless early signs of what AI could achieve, with Google and its parent company Alphabet among those pushing for further development.\u00a0 As a statement of intent, it has made a string of significant appointments, including former Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg as the head of its Google Health initiative.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 It is developing a range of new technologies, such as using machine learning to forecast the \u201clength of a patient\u2019s hospital stay\u2026 and the likelihood of death\u201d.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Elsewhere, Google\u2019s DeepMind has taught machines to read retinal scans with at least as much accuracy as an experienced junior doctor.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Other real-world interventions powered by AI include AI-assisted robotic surgery, which is no longer a futuristic sci-fi dream but an area of healthcare where AI is already delivering significant benefits. \u00a0They include a 21% reduction in a patient\u2019s hospital stay[10]<\/a> and five times fewer complications compared to surgeons operating alone.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

In London, a DeepMind tool analyzes live health data to determine patients that may be at risk of a fatal loss of kidney function.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 As early as 2017, the American Cancer Society was seeing AI being harnessed to review and translate mammograms with 99% accuracy and at 30 times the speed of humans \u2013 almost instantly eliminating the longstanding false result rate that saw one in two healthy women being told they have cancer.[13]<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Machine learning is also being introduced in the assessment of embryo potential during in-vitro fertilization (IVF),[14]<\/a> while researchers at University College Hospital in London suggest they have found a way to save up to GB\u00a3 3 million per year after an algorithm assessing 22,000 patient appointment records successfully identified 90% of patients who would not attend their next appointment.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

AI can also help to manage staffing issues.\u00a0 Unlike human staff, virtual nursing assistants have the advantage of never tiring \u2013 even when working 24\/7.\u00a0 They can already answer questions, monitor patients and provide quick answers.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AI\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image analysis is another field showing extraordinary space for AI-powered improvements.<\/p>\n

Researchers at MIT have been part of a team that has developed an algorithm capable of analyzing 3D scans up to 1,000 times faster than humans.[17]<\/a>\u00a0 Given the time-consuming nature of this work, this is a particularly striking advance.<\/p>\n

There is also potential for voice-to-text translations to reduce the administrative burden facing doctors by automating the ordering of tests, the writing of notes and the prescribing of medicines.<\/p>\n

What is coming next?<\/h2>\n

It is difficult to assess the pace of the current advances.\u00a0 For many, the potential impact of AI in healthcare appears to be arriving at a mind-boggling speed.\u00a0 Yet seasoned observers suggest the real change \u2013 and its accompanying benefits \u2013 is still to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which is the coordinating body for the UK and Ireland\u2019s 24 medical royal colleges and faculties, says that \u201clooking further into the future, AI systems may exhibit increasing autonomy and independence\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Providing scope to cover for labor shortages is one impact expected over the next decade.\u00a0 By 2026, estimates in a recent Accenture report suggest that AI will address 20% of unmet clinical demand.[18]<\/a>\u00a0 It will soon be able to help medical professionals with their decision-making by evaluating diagnostic images and creating treatment plans, before eventually progressing to tasks such as diagnostics without user input \u2013 although these advances are still thought to \u201cremain far down the road\u201d.[19]<\/a><\/p>\n

Whatever vision the future holds, one thing is abundantly clear.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAI is not an innovation coming down the pipe \u2013 it\u2019s here. \u00a0It\u2019s in our call centers, our homes and now, in our healthcare. \u00a0Those who seize the AI opportunity and embrace these applications to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care will be the ones to leapfrog competitors.<\/em>\u201d[20]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But we also need to consider the patient: the \u2018consumer\u2019.\u00a0 A 2018 Accenture analysis showed that change and the perceptions impacting rapid patient adoption of AI treatment are still uncertain, with issues of personal care and data security highlighted.<\/p>\n

\"Reasons\u00a0<\/p>\n

J-Clinic and its work<\/h2>\n

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT<\/a>), the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health (J-Clinic<\/a>) was established in late 2018, specifically to leverage the potential of AI to transform healthcare as we know it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hassan Left-to-Right: Philip A. Sharp, Chair, J-Clinic Advisory Board; Hassan Jameel<\/a>, President Saudi Arabia, Community Jameel; Rafael Riff, MOT President and myself, Fady Jameel<\/a>, President International, Community Jameel, at the MIT-J-Clinic launch event in Boston, September 2018.<\/p>\n

\nThe fourth major collaborative effort between MIT and Community Jameel<\/a> is a key part of the MIT Quest for Intelligence.<\/a> \u00a0It aims to harness AI and machine learning to revolutionize disease prevention, detection and treatment.\u00a0 Its remit includes:At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT<\/a>), the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health (J-Clinic<\/a>) was established in late 2018, specifically to leverage the potential of AI to transform healthcare as we know it.\u00a0<\/p>\n