From ambient scribbing tools to clinical decision support, AI is becoming an important part of the healthcare workplace. However, healthcare workers are still learning best practices when it comes to leveraging AI.
During a panel discussion on Thursday at the MedCity Invest Digital Health Conference in Dallas, three medical executives shared their number one heart for them as they deployed AI products in their workplace. The session was moderated by Keith J. Figlioli, managing partner at LRVHealth.
For some executives, adopting AI tools is important. But to adopt these tools, workers must trust them, according to Dr. Steve Miff, president and CEO of Parkland Clinical Innovation Centre. Building trust requires a robust AI evaluation framework. These tools “can't become black boxes either,” he said, so “it's important to provide the insights and additional real-time information behind these outputs and algorithms.” Furthermore, automating the monitoring of AI models is essential.
“Opening the gate gives you dozens of different AI models. The question I'm asking is, “How do you keep up with consistent monitoring of this as an organization?” So, I've focused on developing algorithms and methods that allow you to actually monitor the performance of these models in real time. It actually builds trust with the team and knows that someone or group is looking at them continuously and warns them if something is on track,” he said.
He added that there is often “resistance” when new tools are introduced, as there is still concern among frontline staff that AI will cause them to lose their jobs.
Jess Botros, vice president of IT strategy and operations at Ardent Health, pointed out that the system clinicians want their patients to spend as much time as possible and have the right tools in their hands. However, there is a lot of responsibility when it comes to AI deployment.
“To do this the right way, you need to organize your home from a trustworthy perspective and from a data perspective,” she said. “You think about the impact of change management, make sure people are really together and you really understand why we're doing what we're trying to do. That's going to be very important.”
Meanwhile, Abhinav Shashank, CEO and co-founder of Innovaccer, highlighted the importance of interoperability. The healthcare industry should be working to connect existing systems and build new ones. He emphasized that many of the biggest challenges in healthcare, such as the handling of claims and the transition to value-based care, stem from broken information flows.
“Good software is going to be built all over the US, and all we need to do is create a system that connects these things and makes them work really well. [that] If we work together we'll be in a better place than we're basically trying to get 20 new things,” he said.
