This audio is generated automatically. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Dive Summary:
- Healthcare executives are hopeful artificial intelligence and other digital tools can help the sector shift to proactively providing care and change an increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible healthcare system, according to a survey released Monday by Chartis.
- Nine in 10 leaders surveyed by the healthcare advisor said they are prioritizing digital and AI products to improve access to care, project and meet demand more accurately, and serve more patients.
- Executives are already moving forward with the implementation of these tools. For example, 17% of leaders reported that they had fully adopted AI-assisted clinical decision support products, while nearly half said they were in the pilot phase.
Diving information:
Nearly all respondents said the healthcare sector needs to fundamentally change the way it operates over the next five years – from reactively treating diseases to proactively managing patient health – to remain viable, according to the analysis, which surveyed 150 healthcare system executives in September.
Most leaders agreed that the country’s health system does not provide affordable care, while half said the industry does not offer timely and convenient access to primary or specialty care.
And these persistent challenges could worsen unless health systems make significant changes, the survey found. More than half of executives said financial pressures on suppliers will have eased in five years without reform.
Additionally, nearly half said clinical worker backlog and burnout among providers could worsen without changes.
“We may finally be at a tipping point if 90% of healthcare executives agree on the need for fundamental change,” report co-author Tom Kiesau, head of digital and artificial intelligence at Chartis, said in a statement.
Leaders Worry Health Care Challenges Will Worse Without Changes
Percentage of health system executives who believe elements of care delivery will improve, worsen, or stay the same over the next five years
But health system leaders are hopeful that digital health and artificial intelligence technologies can help. For example, 92% of respondents reported that it was very or somewhat important for their health systems to add or expand AI-supported care navigation and triage over the next five years, in an effort to ensure resources can meet patient demand.
Additionally, more than 90% said implementing referral management tools and AI capabilities was key. Nearly all health system leaders said they were prioritizing the use of AI to free up providers’ time so they can focus on patient care, rather than administrative work.
Meanwhile, executives say they are making progress in implementing digital technologies in their health systems. More than half reported that they had already implemented or piloted expansions of acute inpatient home care programs, and nearly two-thirds reported that they had done the same with non-acute home-based services.
According to the survey, health systems are also taking steps to implement AI. Nearly 40% said they are piloting AI-supported capability and reference management, while 17% reported they had already implemented these tools.
Additionally, 45% of respondents said they are testing AI triage and attention navigation products, and 11% have already adopted them.
