⚕️ ChatGPT vs Clinicians

Plus: AI and Robotics, and more

December 13, 2023

Good Morning! We’re back with our mid-week edition of HealthTech updates for you.

In today’s newsletter, we are covering:

  • ChatGPT vs Clinicians In The World Of Medical Diagnosis

  • AI and Robotics: A Game Changer For Senior Care

  • Change on the Cards For Healthcare Leaders?

  • Cloud-based EHRs: The Next Frontier of Digital Transformation

TOP STORY
Showdown: ChatGPT vs Clinicians In The World Of Medical Diagnosis

Large language models (LLMs) can convincingly solve difficult diagnostic cases, pass licensing examinations, and communicate empathetically with patients.

  • 78.6% of medical experts preferred ChatGPT's answers to those of a physician.

  • The chatbot's responses were rated 3.6-times higher in quality and 9.8-times higher in empathy than those of the physicians.

All these findings suggest that they have an emergent understanding of clinical reasoning. But how does AI fare against human clinicians when it comes to medical diagnosis and clinical reasoning?

Turns out, in specific restricted scenarios, it could surpass the capabilities of clinicians!

What went down: Researchers from Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center conducted a study where they pitted ChatGPT-4 against clinicians. The researchers set up five diagnostic challenges and let GPT-4 and the human team duke it out. The AI had to estimate the likelihood of diseases before and after test results, just like the humans.

The AI was prompted to provide specific pretest and post-test probabilities for each case, and this process was repeated 100 times to account for the AI's stochastic (random) nature. The researchers also tasked the chatbot with updating its estimates in response to certain test results, such as mammography for breast cancer.

The results are in: GPT-4 aced the game when it came to negative test results! The AI chatbot performed better than human clinicians in estimating pretest and post-test probabilities after a negative test result in all five cases.

However, the large language model did not perform so well after a positive test result. While the AI was not perfect, its recommendations might enhance human diagnostic performance, especially when combining AI's probabilistic, narrative, and heuristic approaches to diagnosis.

ANALYSIS
AI and Robotics : A Game Changer For Senior Care

The US population is aging and senior care is in crisis. The elderly are in constant need of long-term healthcare and shortage of caregivers and physicians is likely to impact it.

  • Nearly 95% of adults 60 and older have at least one chronic condition, while nearly 80% have two or more.

  • The United States could see an estimated shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034, including shortfalls in both primary and specialty care.

Generative AI and robotics is taking centre stage amid staffing concerns and financial strain:

  • Cypress Living uses AI in helpdesk software, which has significantly augmented the work of the IT department. The organization is also testing an internally developed AI chatbot in Microsoft Teams for clinician decision support.

  • Presbyterian Senior Living is using robotics in its dining services, an innovation that stemmed out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • RiverSpring Living is using robotics to help with medication dosing and dispensing, and to assist with physical therapy through gait and balance monitoring. The organization also uses AI in telemedicine, entertainment and wayfinding.

What the future holds: The next two to three years will be central in creating guardrails for AI tools, especially with concerns about bias and data quality.  

AI will be key to improving senior care in two ways: automating back-end tasks, such as creating reports so that staff can focus on better care management; and personalizing care to improve resident engagement.

Read more about the top highlights from LeadingAge 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo here.

NEWS IN NUMBERS
Change on the Cards For Healthcare Leaders?

Healthcare executives have a pivotal role to play in the ever evolving healthcare landscape. Here’s what the future looks like:

  • 74% of healthcare executives said they are somewhat or extremely satisfied with their existing workplace.

  • 66% of executives said they intend to seek a new position, nearly two-thirds of whom would like to leave in the next 12 months, and 12% of whom want an immediate change.

  • 4 in 5 healthcare leaders have been approached with a different opportunity in the past six months but 62% of them said they did not pursue that opportunity.

  • 44% of senior leadership teams are facing shortages.

  • Nearly half of organizations say they find it extremely challenging to find quality candidates for executive roles. 

  • Despite uncertainties, 52% of healthcare executives expect better organizational health at their workplaces in the year to come. 

Read the full healthcare leadership trends report here.

ANALYSIS
Cloud-based EHRs: The Next Frontier of Digital Transformation

  • 90% of healthcare organizations have shifted to or are considering transitioning to cloud-based EHR.

  • The cloud services market is expected to reach $79.3 billion by 2027 due to the rise in acceptance of cloud among healthcare professionals.

Cloud-based EHRs offer scalability, allowing healthcare organizations to swiftly adjust IT resources to meet changing demands, reducing disaster recovery expenses, and accommodating increased data storage needs.

The cost-effectiveness of these systems is underscored by the requirement for fewer in-house IT staff, leading to substantial savings in salaries, benefits, and training expenses.

This article lists out the three crucial advantages of Cloud-based EHRs.

  1. Scalability : Cloud can scale processing power, data storage, and networking quickly, with little or no downtime.

  2. Cost effectiveness : Eliminates the upfront capital expenditures and ongoing maintenance costs associated with on-premises solutions.

  3. Accessibility : Allows users to access updated clinical data from multiple locations and platforms

Read the full feature that also dives into challenges of cloud-based EHRs and how to overcome them here.

SNIPPETS
What else is making news

  • Phelps Health is partnering with KeyCare, an Epic-based virtual care platform, to provide telehealth options to its patients. Phelps Health patients can receive virtual care anytime and anywhere across the U.S. and patients can access KeyCare through the Phelps MyChart portal.

  • Lawmakers stress data privacy in health AI oversight. Members of Congress hammered privacy concerns in a hearing as interest in artificial intelligence — which relies on patient information to train models — heats up.

  • Moon Surgical CEO Anne Osdoit is readying a soft tissue robot for launch. With support from J&J’s venture capital arm and chip maker Nvidia, Moon targets a soft tissue surgery market dominated by Intuitive Surgical.