There has been much discussion lately about the many ways artificial intelligence will affect senior care — and healthcare in general.
A new report from the editors at Health IT Analytics describes a dozen leading areas where changes will take place. The top three are especially germane to the senior living and care sector.
Leading the charge is clinical decision support.
“Because AI tools can process larger amounts of data more efficiently than other tools while allowing stakeholders to pull fine-grained insights, they have significant potential to transform clinical decision-making,” the report notes.
Following closely is the integration of AI in drug discovery and development. The story notes that this trend will continue to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. As a result, new remedies and treatment for many aging-related problems will be available sooner than otherwise might have been possible.
Rounding out the top three are electronic health records.
“AI tools are key to addressing these issues and giving providers back their time so that they can focus on patients,” the story notes.
Similarly, AI can also aid in legacy data conversions when organizations transition to new EHR platforms. Advanced analytics solutions also will become more central to using newer types of patient data, the authors add.
The report highlights AI’s likely impact in nine other areas, including operational management, patient engagement, predictive analytics, remote patient monitoring, revenue cycle management and robotics. The full article can be seen here.
AI clearly has a bright future as its capabilities continue to advance and grow.
It is positioned to help improve patient outcomes, increase safety, reduce human error and lower caregiving costs — while also revealing new opportunities.
Experts caution that although AI in healthcare has gained significant traction, the irreplaceable value of human skills, particularly empathy and compassion, are still needed and greatly valued in healthcare settings. That will be especially the case for senior living and care, where human touch is often viewed as the most important tool of all.
