AI the Most Important Change in Health Care Since Introduction of the MRI, Say Experts

February 7, 2021 – Artificial Intelligence is the most important technological change in health care since the introduction of the MRI, experts said at a Thursday panel discussion about European tech sponsored by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

AI will not be replacing doctors and nurses, but empowering decision-maker with new resources, according to those participating in the discussion on “How Can Europe Enhance the Benefits of AI-Enabled Health Care?”

For example, pharmaceutical companies are using AI for the speedy development of vaccines, panelists said. Additionally, AI is helping address the uneven ratio of skilled doctors to patients, assist health-care professionals in complex procedures, and deliver personalized health care to patients.

Yet, for AI technologies to reach their potential, European Union actors need to create regulations governing transparency, they said.

How AI works in healthcare

AI works through big collections of data that validate algorithms. These help explain certain solutions and detect anomalies in the data set of patients.

But algorithm-creation needs to be held to higher standards than they are currently. Systemic errors can easily enter in on a large scale, said Elmar Kotter, chairperson of the eHealth and Informatics Subcommittee of the European Society of Radiologists.

AI should have been used more during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Maria Manuel Marques, on the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age.

AI helps treat more patients at a faster rate, and with consistency and agility, said Chris Walker, chair of the working group on digital health for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. It helps provide new insights and improve treatment by allowing early-stage treatment of diseases.

Europe faces great challenges because of people’s misconception of what AI can do, panelists said. It is not to replacing doctors and nurses, but empowering with decision-making resources.

More trust would come if companies would conduct safe experimentation by testing and showing examples of how AI can improve the life of health care workers and patients, said Marques.

Regulations of data is crucial for hospitals to trust the products. Moreover, patients must have privacy with their information. Regulations will help them understand what’s been done in the manufacture of AI system, and to what use data will be put.

Ander Elustondo Jauregui, policy officer for Digital Health, added that data quality was an important indicator of the maturity of an AI system. That providing assurances for doctors, he said.