Demystifying AI in Healthcare
Part one of a four-part series sharing perspectives on several of the most pertinent considerations related to the use of AI in healthcare – transparency, privacy and security, and sophistication.
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised significant concerns among many, particularly as it pertains to its application in healthcare management and delivery. Policymakers are seeing the need to regulate the use of AI in healthcare, while key healthcare stakeholders are pursuing AI-powered solutions mainly to improve operations and reduce costs. However, despite concerns surrounding the implications of its widespread adoption, AI is poised to cause sweeping changes across the healthcare industry that, if employed correctly, can alleviate many challenges in the sector and provide innovative and improved patient care. As technology advances and integrations become more common, healthcare organizations worldwide are increasingly incorporating AI into all aspects of their business. This mandates them to respond to regulations from a variety of governments and institutions in real-time, necessitating a global perspective.
The significant benefits AI offers to healthcare and life science companies positions AI-enhanced tools as differentiators for the future business landscape of healthcare, and organizations must prepare to embrace AI integration to remain relevant and profitable.
Q3 2024 Healthcare Quarter in Review
AI is not new to the healthcare sector, as 38 percent of physicians reported using AI in their jobs in August 2023, and two-thirds of the same population studied reported that they saw advantages to using AI in healthcare.[1] However, with the rapid growth of AI in recent years, its increasing abilities have signaled concern about its treatment of sensitive data compounded by a perceived threat to job security, prompting increased regulation at the state and federal levels. Within the past two years alone, Congress has introduced seven bills to protect sensitive health care data from AI.[2] For instance, the UPHOLD Privacy Act of 2023 is designed to complement and go beyond the Healthcare Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by restricting the collection, retention, use, and disclosure of personal health data by certain parties not covered by HIPAA; in turn these restrictions would limit the use of AI with regards to said data.[3]
As this oversight continues to become more prominent, stakeholders in the healthcare industry must discern how to best take advantage of AI applications while also navigating increased political, regulatory, and public scrutiny. To effectively do so and leverage AI, healthcare organizations must implement robust policies and procedures that govern responsible use of AI, employ tailored education and communication strategies to ensure transparency about their use of AI to allay patient/member concerns, and verify that their use of AI is not creating or exacerbating bias in models, reports, and decision-making processes.
Pertinent Considerations on Health Care AI Use
Transparency
At this point in time, transparency in the healthcare industry is widely expected and is increasingly a top priority among policymakers and regulators looking to improve care management and delivery. Healthcare organizations must proactively work to alleviate concerns about the application of AI technologies by disclosing its use and providing transparency about its functions. This can be done starting at the source: utilizing internal communication and data governance strategies before reaching stakeholders. By ensuring internal alignment on the issue, healthcare organizations can present themselves and communicate effectively as experts on the functions, construction, and data sources associated with AI-aided models and applications.
Transparency can help to alleviate internal and external concerns about the use of AI, allowing healthcare organizations to better navigate the current complex political landscape surrounding AI. Notably, in March, UC Health held a briefing on the intersection of AI and health as part of a series of Congressional briefings designed to help policymakers understand the implications associated with emerging AI technology.[4] The briefing emphasized the importance of the transparent use of AI to ensure providers have information available to them about how and on who AI tools were tested against, the results, and the information it relied on for generation.[5] By employing transparent practices for AI application, healthcare organizations can better ensure internal understanding, prompting more effective AI education, implementation, and compliance with state and federal regulations.
Privacy & Security
Privacy and security are essential to the successful application of AI in healthcare. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 37 percent of Americans think using AI in health care would compromise the security of patients’ medical records, citing privacy and security concerns.[6] In response to these concerns, healthcare organizations should implement guardrails to ensure that personal and healthcare data is lawfully used.
Furthermore, healthcare organizations should be proactive and communicate with the public about their uses of AI to prevent avoidable public scrutiny about data privacy and security, allowing organizations to effectively carry out their objectives of improving and streamlining care delivery and creating operational efficiencies through the integration of innovative AI technology. Moreover, according to STAT News, health leaders and investors alike are realizing the importance of data privacy and security and are choosing to back startups that offer privacy and security services to bolster health AI products.[7]
Sophistication
As the use of AI becomes more widely adopted across various industries, healthcare organizations will simultaneously be expected to assume the responsibility of implementing governance measures that identify, mitigate, and prevent bias in AI systems. For healthcare organizations, adopting this governance is of particular importance as it promotes fairness in healthcare delivery, promoting more equitable health outcomes. For example, as it continues to develop its AI capabilities, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts has taken up an initiative to publish a health equity report to provide transparent reporting of its AI usage and health outcome results, claiming this is another way to hold themselves accountable.[8]
For AI-aided models and applications to become more sophisticated, they have to both mitigate existing bias and preclude the introduction of bias. As such, healthcare organizations must provide AI-aided models and applications with relevant data, diverse population representation, and improved machine learning techniques to ensure that bias is not intentionally or unintentionally baked into programs. These actions also promote transparency and proper, equitable use of AI. If healthcare organizations were to downplay the potential for AI-induced biases, they would risk exacerbating existing biases which could lead to suboptimal management of services and adverse outcomes.
Our Perspective
We believe in the potential of AI to revolutionize the management and delivery of healthcare by enabling health care practitioners to process and assimilate information, take appropriate actions, and understand the impact of those actions more quickly and efficiently. AI can also provide significant administrative relief to healthcare providers, payers, and regulators. All the above notwithstanding, health leaders looking to seize the breadth of potential opportunities – from improved patient outcomes to greater operational efficiencies – must first obtain a deeper understanding of the implications associated with AI and its application in healthcare. The accelerated AI adoption timeline and the aggressive regulatory stance of many countries underscore the responsibility of companies to evaluate risks and challenges not just at their headquarters but everywhere they have a presence, emphasizing the global impact of their decisions. Moreover, health leaders must recognize the importance of the critical enablers of AI in healthcare discussed in this piece – transparency, privacy and security, and sophistication.
FTI Consulting’s experts in healthcare, cybersecurity, analytics, risk management and strategic communications have kept a pulse on the topic of AI as it continues to evolve, and have closely engaged with payers, IT solution providers, Chambers of Commerce, and other key industry leaders to provide insights into how to maximize the value of and mitigate the risk associated with AI use. Our experts stand ready to help address the challenges outlined in this piece, with the ultimate goal of enabling healthcare organizations to realize their AI operation potential.
Looking Ahead
In the next installment of the series, we will explore the topic of transparency in-depth and address key considerations for healthcare organizations as they continue to adopt AI technology while navigating mounting public and regulatory pressure.
Katie Keim, a FTI Consulting Strategic Communications intern, contributed to this article.
FTI Consulting’s experts in health care, cybersecurity, analytics, risk management and strategic communications have kept a pulse on the topic of AI as it continues to evolve, and have closely engaged with payers, IT solution providers, Chambers of Commerce, and other key industry leaders to provide insights into how to maximize the value of and mitigate the risk associated with AI use. Our experts stand ready to help address the challenges outlined in this piece, with the ultimate goal of enabling health care organizations to realize their AI operation potential. Contact us here.
Related Expertise
[1] Andis Robeznieks, “Big majority of doctors see upsides to using health care AI,” American Medical Association (January 12, 2024), https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital/big-majority-doctors-see-upsides-using-health-care-ai
[2] “Artificial Intelligence Legislation Tracker,” Brennan Center for Justice (last updated October 1, 2024), https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/artificial-intelligence-legislation-tracker
[3] Id.
[4] “UC Health experts weigh in – navigating the future of AI with transparency and equity,” University of California Health (March 28, 2024), https://health.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-health-experts-weigh-navigating-future-ai-transparency-and-equity
[5] Id.
[6] Alec Tyson, Giancarlo Pasquini, Alison Spencer, Cary Funk, “60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care,” Pew Research Center (February 22, 2023), https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/02/22/60-of-americans-would-be-uncomfortable-with-provider-relying-on-ai-in-their-own-health-care/
[7] Mohana Ravindranath, “As AI marches into medicine, investors eye security, privacy startups,” STAT (March 18, 2024), https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/18/ai-health-medicine-investor-interest-security-privacy-startups/
[8] Rachel Coppola, “How a not-for-profit health plan is working to remove bias from AI,” Coverage (June 27, 2024), https://coverage.bluecrossma.com/article/how-not-profit-health-plan-working-remove-bias-ai
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