Use of AI in Healthcare Picking Up Momentum, Report Shows

Interest in artificial intelligence (AI) is soaring in the healthcare industry, according to a recent Optum survey of 500 US healthcare executives from hospitals, health plans, life sciences organizations, and pharmaceutical and device companies.

The survey found an 88% increase this year in the number of healthcare leaders who said their organizations are implementing an AI strategy compared to 2018. Sixty-two percent of the respondents said they had implemented such a strategy, up from 33% last year.

The average organization expected to invest $39.7 million in AI over the next 5 years ― $7.3 million more than was estimated last year, Optum found.

Many respondents also anticipated a return on investment (ROI) in the near term. Fifty percent of the healthcare executives said they expect to see ROI on their AI applications within 3 years, compared to 31% in 2018. That includes 55% of hospitals and 52% of health insurers.

The healthcare leaders showed a clear preference for administrative over clinical AI applications. Of the top-ranked applications in the survey, 4 of 5 were administrative, and 50% of the respondents said their organizations will invest first in automating business processes, such as administrative tasks or customer service.

More than a third of the organizations (36%) will invest in personalizing clinical care recommendations, such as drug therapies, and the same percentage also will invest in accelerating research for new therapeutic or clinical discoveries, according to the report.

Many of the healthcare executives said they hoped to use AI to solve operational challenges, such as automating prior authorizations (51%), managing electronic health records (45%), and selecting appropriate care settings (38%).

About half of the respondents expected AI to create more work opportunities. Most of the executives agreed that hiring people with experience in AI technology is a priority for their organization.

There was also broad agreement that up to 50% of new roles for employees will require experience working with AI and that their employees are not being trained fast enough in this area.

Most news reports about AI and machine learning focus on how the new technology is starting to improve clinical care.