Artificial intelligence (AI) is making an appearance in countless industries, which is allowing researchers and scientists to make state-of-the-art advances. AI has become a stronger presence in medicine and is even being used in practice settings such as heart health.
AI is now assisting doctors and health care providers in preventing heart disease, which is one of the leading health conditions in the nation. As we all know, preventive medicine can sustain a person’s quality-of-life while significantly reducing costs by avoiding diseases altogether. This is one of the reasons insurance companies and health care organizations are contributing more of their resources to the development of preventive programming.
While preventive programming can take many forms, AI is focusing on the use of data to sidestep chronic health conditions. AI is currently being used to collect a person’s demographic information (data such as age, genetic variation, race, height, and weight) along with their other health conditions and past medical procedures. The AI will separate this information from anything that can be traced back to the patient, such as name, address, and social security
number. This technology then adds each patient’s outcomes – details about whether someone has a heart condition – to create a database that any provider can search and readily use in practice.
By using this technology, providers can make informed treatment-related decisions based on a much larger pool of information. This helps providers stay consistently up to date with new research, so their perspective can include more than just the patients they have personally treated. This gives doctors more insight into specific scenarios that lead someone to develop heart disease.
It’s crucial that doctors have extensive training so they can make appropriate recommendations as a result of this information. However, this is just another example of how technology can be used to enhance the medical treatment process from start to finish.
Insurers should encourage health care organizations to utilize such sophisticated technology, since it allows them to make large steps in the realm of preventive medicine and heart health. In addition, it is wise for insurers to forge partnerships with providers who feel strongly about using this technology, since it is reflected in the cost-effectiveness and quality of care they provide.