Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- Major tech companies, including Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft, will showcase AI tools at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas, aimed at reducing administrative burdens for healthcare professionals.
- A survey revealed clinicians spend nearly 28 hours weekly on administrative tasks, with 91% optimistic about AI’s potential to simplify these duties.
- Nvidia’s generative AI tools and partnerships with healthcare firms highlight the industry’s shift towards technology adoption, despite historical reluctance.
Detailed news
Next week, a multitude of technology companies, including Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft, will convene in Las Vegas to exhibit artificial intelligence tools that they claim will save physicians and nurses invaluable time.
This year, the health-care technology conference HLTH is anticipated to attract over 12,000 industry executives, with the official start date being Sunday. CNBC will be operating on the ground. The primary focus of this year’s conference will be the use of AI tools to alleviate administrative burdens, as indicated by the speaking agenda and subsequent announcements.
Physicians and nurses are accountable for an abundance of documentation as they strive to maintain patient records, interact with insurance providers, and adhere to regulatory requirements. In part due to the isolated nature of health data and its storage across multiple vendors and formats, these tasks are frequently manual and time-consuming.
The challenging administrative burden is a significant contributor to burnout in the industry, and it is a contributing factor to the anticipated nationwide scarcity of 100,000 health-care workers by 2028, as per consulting firm Mercer. In an effort to secure a portion of a market that is projected to exceed $6.8 trillion in spending by the conclusion of the decade, technology companies assert that their generative AI tools can be beneficial.
Google, for example, has mentioned that it is utilizing AI to alleviate the administrative burden in order to increase its client base in the health care sector.
In a trial capacity during HLTH last year, the company introduced Vertex AI Search for Healthcare, which was made generally available on Thursday. Vertex AI Search for Healthcare enables developers to create tools that assist physicians in conducting rapid searches of information across diverse medical records, according to Google. Google has also announced the availability of new features in its Healthcare Data Engine, which assists organizations in the development of the platforms necessary to facilitate generative AI.
Google disclosed the findings of a survey on Thursday, which indicated that clinicians allocate nearly 28 hours per week to administrative duties. The survey revealed that 80% of providers reported that this clerical work detracts from their time with patients, and 91% expressed their optimism regarding the potential of AI to simplify these tasks.
Similarly, Microsoft on October 11 announced a suite of tools that are designed to reduce the administrative burden of clinicians. These tools include medical imaging models, a health-care agent service, and an automated documentation solution for nurses. The majority of these tools are still in the early phases of development.
Nuance Communications, Microsoft’s subsidiary, which it acquired in 2021 for $16 billion, already provides physicians with an automated documentation tool. DAX Copilot, an AI-powered tool, transcribes patients’ encounters with their physicians and converts them into clinical notes and summaries. The objective is to eliminate the necessity for physicians to manually generate these notes.
Microsoft is developing a distinct tool for nurses that is specifically designed to accommodate their workflows, as nurses and physicians create distinct forms of documentation during their shifts.
The HLTH conference will also feature Nuance’s competitors, including Abridge, which has raised over $460 million, and Suki, which has raised $165 million, as well as AI scribe tools like DAX Copilot, which have experienced an exponential increase in prominence this year.
In March, Dr. Shiv Rao, the CEO and founder of Abridge, stated to CNBC that the health-care industry has rapidly adopted this new form of clinical documentation, which he described as “historic.” That same month, Abridge secured a highly sought-after investment from Nvidia’s venture capital arm.
Also, Nvidia is preparing to resolve the burdens of doctors and nurses at HLTH.
The keynote address on Monday will be delivered by Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care. Powell will discuss how the implementation of generative AI will enable healthcare professionals to “dedicate more time to patient care,” as stated on the conference website.
The models that support OpenAI’s ChatGPT and comparable applications are developed and deployed using Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs). Because of this, Nvidia has been one of the primary beneficiaries of the AI growth. Last year, the stock tripled, and Nvidia shares have increased by over 150% year-to-date.
In the past few years, the organization has been steadily expanding its presence in the healthcare sector. It provides a variety of AI tools that are applicable to medical imaging, genomics, drug discovery, and medical devices. GE HealthCar and Johnson & Johnson were among the companies with which Nvidia announced expanded partnerships in March.
Although the health-care sector has historically been reluctant to implement new technology, the popularity of administrative AI tools has been undeniable since ChatGPT emerged two years ago.
However, numerous health systems are currently in the preliminary phases of assessing vendors and instruments, and they will be visiting the HLTH exhibition floor. It will be necessary for technology companies to demonstrate their ability to address one of the most intricate issues in the field of healthcare.
Source: CNBC News
