Eye on AI: Health care
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- You might notice something different the next time you go to the doctor's office. Right now, health care leaders are developing new ways to improve doctor-patient care. CBS 58's Pavlina Osta finds out more and how AI could save you money in the long run.
"Any doctor who could be replaced by a computer deserves to be replaced by a computer," said Dr. Bradley Crotty. "The issue is we are running into a math problem where doctor time and availability is becoming more scarce."
Dr. Bradley Crotty is the chief digital officer for the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, he's also the interim president of Inception Health.
"We're using AI in a couple of different areas one is to help clinicians and patients focus on each other and not the electronic health record and the computer.”
Like many industries an integration is relatively new, but Dr. Crotty and his team are already piloting AI in the office.
“Patients may start to see that we have an ambient recording where an AI tool is helping to record the conversation and create the note for the workflow, it helps the patient and it helps the clinician work together that's an example where you can see it in the office today," said Dr. Crotty.
Dr. Brian Kay is the chief strategy officer at Rogers Behavior Health and says AI can predict the risk of suicide with inpatient care adults.
"When we start applying AI to it [the models] and start looking at different data that's contributing to suicide risk, we start uncovering things that may have not been associated in the literature previously," said Dr. Kay. "Where it gets really exciting is you can build different models with that of starting to associate risk with an individual so you can build different interventions and more personalized interventions."
AI has gotten a bad reputation in recent years for misinformation. Dr. Kay says that's something they are keeping a close eye on.
"We always ensure that there is intent, so our docs are reviewing it before anything makes its way into the medical record. So we put some of those guardrails in there to make sure there's a human touch," Dr. Kay said.
Dr. Crotty says one hope with AI is that it will make health care more affordable.
"That's where we have to get. We have to be using technology to drive down the cost of care," Dr. Crotty said.
Dr. Crotty says the health care industry is integrating AI at a slower pace than other fields out of caution, but ultimately wants to see AI bring back face-to-face doctor-patient interactions and create a better support system for patients after they leave the hospital.
"It should be a tool that helps us all do a better job at a lower cost," said Dr. Crotty.