With the demand for healthcare services growing daily because of an aging population and an explosion in chronic disease, experts are predicting huge shortages of nurses and significant shortages of physicians, in the coming years. Fortunately, a new survey finds that generative AI (artificial intelligence) is a set of tools that senior leaders of patient care organizations are planning to implement broadly in order to help address issues such intensifying clinician shortages.
Indeed, the survey of 300 c-suite patient care organizations by Accenture offers some hope for the future. That report, entitled “Gen AI amplified: Scaling productivity for healthcare providers,” and authored by managing director Tejash Shah, M.D., and senior managing director Kaveh Safavi, M.D., J.D., of Accenture Global Health, find that fully 77 percent of those leaders surveyed are hoping that generative AI will deliver significant productivity gains, even as 83 percent say that employee efficiency is a top priority.
Shah and Safavi identify four key elements that will be required for generative AI adoption to succeed in patient care organizations:
Ø Building a reinvention-ready digital core. “Scaling gen AI requires a robust digital infrastructure,” they write. “Healthcare providers need to prioritize cloud integration, data accessibility and governance to support organization-wide AI activities.”
Ø Strengthen data quality and strategy. “High-quality, centralized data is a prerequisite for reliable gen AI output,” the authors write. “A robust data foundation enhances predictive analytics” to fuel clinical and operational uses.
Ø Prioritize responsible and secure AI deployment. “As gen AI’s role in healthcare grows, securing data privacy and ensuring responsible AI use are moare more important than ever,” the authors emphasize.
Ø Forge strategic partnerships to accelerate innovation. “In-house resources alone cannot drive scaled gen AI,” they insist. “Strategi collaborations with technology leaders, academic institutions and service providers offer essential expertise, support and the ability to stay at the forefront of gen AI advancements.”
So what are the biggest opportunities for generative AI in patient care organizations? Among survey respondents, 83 percent cited “increase employee efficiency,” 82 percent said “drive revenue growth,” while only 18 percent cited “increase market share,” and only 17 percent said “improve medical decision making.”
And which outcomes do executives anticipate will be most positively impacted by the implementation of generative AI? The two overwhelming answers from survey respondents are “revenue growth” (82 percent) and “productivity gains” (77 percent).
And the report’s authors cite “five imperatives for a reinvention strategy”: “lead with value; understand and develop an AI-enabled, secure digital core; reinvent talent and ways of working; close the gap on responsible AI; drive continuous reinvention.”
