In recent years, artificial intelligence has become increasingly integrated into the day-to-day lives of civilians worldwide. Its contributions to the field of healthcare alone have been tremendous, ranging from surgeries to chatbots to entire diagnostic systems.
AI’s versatility has proven to be an incredible tool for increasing healthcare accessibility - and as it continues to advance, it will play a significant role in disarming various obstacles that prevent patients from receiving the proper care they are owed.
Geographical disparities in medicine have been hard to overcome. For ages, people living in rural regions have had no choice but to settle for compromised healthcare due to providers mainly opting to practice in urban settings. In rural clinics, nurses and other providers have taken on the roles of physicians, diagnosing patients and prescribing their medications. Situations like these call for additional help - and thanks to AI, that help has become more readily available. Fortunately, the health problems of a rural community tend to have a pattern- they are relatively simple, repetitive, and can be treated with a few essential drugs. AI can use the data of a rural community, analyze the patterns and similarities, and assist nurses and others in the diagnostic process. Countries around the world have already implemented this in their rural regions.
In 1998, a computer-assisted diagnostic system called the Early Detection and Prevention System (EDPS) was developed in Bangalore, India for rural clinics without physicians. The rate of consistency between EDPS and actual physicians was 94% for 933 patients, and this percentage is sure to increase in the coming years. More recently, China has also been using AI to improve the quality of healthcare in the rural areas of the nation. They use an 11-pound diagnostic program which can run up to 11 tests, including blood pressure, electrocardiographs, and routine blood and urine analyses. Data from these tests can be uploaded to an online data analysis system and generate diagnoses for rural healthcare workers.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for cost-effective care has been on the forefront of many minds. The pandemic revealed the devastating effects of financial disparities and how those who couldn’t afford proper care were disproportionately affected. As the focus turns to making healthcare more affordable, AI has proven to be especially helpful.
Currently, administrative tasks in healthcare, such as coordinating all the tasks of a facility and managing patient records, make up about 30% of healthcare costs. These costs can be cut dramatically with the use of AI, ultimately making overall costs for patients more affordable. AI is also helping drug companies reduce costs- on average, it costs a company $359 million to develop a new drug and get it out to patients. AI can help in guiding the drug development and drug repurposing processes, thereby saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. This cut in costs within the supply chain itself will eventually be felt by patients, making proper healthcare more accessible and achievable.
Written by : Ria Velvadapu
Edited by : Manav Desai
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