Technology is Quickly Changing Our Healthcare
As I do each year, I went to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) last week to see how technology is impacting healthcare and my overall impression was . . . the way we administer healthcare is changing – fast! Technology, which at past shows has shown promise and caused excitement, just didn’t seem quite ready for prime time. This year it seems to be maturing and is beginning to thrust itself into how we administer healthcare, whether we like it or not.
The way we gather health information, whether to populate and build AI databases or collect it from each of us, is gaining momentum and it’s making a difference. Let’s focus on AI for a minute. AI started to permeate CES about 3 years ago and I would say this time more than 90% of the exhibitors had some reference to AI in their booths and advertising. It’s gone from asking Google or Siri a simple question to asking AI to do analysis or write articles. At CES this year, devices seemed to become intuitive and to give guidance based on gathered health information. Here’s how I think about AI as it applies to our healthcare: more than a decade ago companies who had fleets of 18 wheelers, which were powered by $100,000 (or more) engines, found that recording hour after hour of information about different systems in the engine - oil pressure, manifold pressure, cylinder temperature etc. - would help them identify problems before they caused a breakdown. As communication improved, they would transmit this information in real time and could alert the driver to get the truck to a mechanic. As systems got better, they found they could identify small changes in the information that in and of themselves would not be a reason to pull over or seek a mechanic but would indicate a need for some preventative maintenance. Even more recently, they can compare months of real time data against that of other engines and identify commonalities and trends and recommend some increased preventive action in some system. My lifetime interest in the internal combustion engine alerted me to this whole process and, while this is maybe an overly simplistic way to help me understand AI in healthcare, I see this same progress playing out in our healthcare’s use of sensors, medical devices, and AI.
Vendors at CES displayed an advancement in the accuracy of collecting personal health data - take the health data collection ability in wearable rings. They went from rings that took information periodically that you had to download manually, to devices that you could use an app to see the information immediately. It looks at your health information, compares it to huge databases, and develops a plan for you to get healthier, based on your own personal physical condition and your current information. It will even tell you when you should act and talk with your doctor or go to the ER.
There were mirrors that you look at that could evaluate your moods or identify stress. Their claim was that the more you used the mirror the better it could evaluate your present condition. There are sensors that you attach in your toilet that can evaluate your gut health and, again, compile historical information so that changes could be detected, evaluated and health changes suggested. Even apps that could take videos of the way you walk, the tempo and movement of your gait and identify weaknesses or misalignments. There didn’t seem to be any boundaries on where devices could gather information about you and using AI identify health problems and/or ways you can improve your health.
In one of the sessions a speaker stated that she expected AI to take 2 or 3 years to begin to impact healthcare and how she was wrong. Doctors are already using AI to summarize health data from a visit, nurses are using it to speed up the preparation of the information required when their shift ends, and the new nurse was taking over. Just like the internet, AI can be used for great good and can be our enemy, it will be a challenge to decide what guidelines will be needed to ensure these tools aren’t hurtful.
Another thing I saw was all the devices that helped people with disabilities and helped prolong our years of being active. I tried on and walked with devices that you strapped to your lower legs and fastened on to special shoes that analyzed your walking style and then powered each shoe to help you take steps. It was an amazing experience, and I could instantly see how it would greatly expand my walking distance. There were cameras that could decipher sign language into the spoken word and could even read lips. There was radar enabled walking “canes” that would avoid obstacles. There were so many devices that could help us prolong our health span.
I could go on and on, but my basic evaluation is that technology is going to have a huge impact on our healthcare going forward and it’s happening fast. Our challenge is how should our government and the private sector oversee the innovation and implementation of these new tools, especially AI. In one of the sessions a panelist said that there are many different types of healthcare systems in the world, and we need to recognize that how these new innovations are implemented will often be different in each system. I will be interested in how our country chooses to treat these powerful changes and will strive to keep you up to date on these choices and these life-changing technologies.
Best, Thair