We may not always realize it, but so much of what we do in our day-to-day lives is augmented by AI. However we have yet to experience the full impact of this technology in the healthcare space. But many thought leaders, like Zack Kass, believe that the technological revolution in healthcare is just around the corner.
On a recent episode of the MEDITECH podcast, I had the chance to engage in a thought-provoking discussion with Kass, an AI futurist and speaker, delving into the ever-growing potential of AI to enhance patient care, impact strategic decision-making, and transform the scope of possibility within the healthcare industry.
Zack Kass will join the MEDITECH community at MEDITECH LIVE this September as a keynote speaker. He boasts over 14 years of experience in artificial intelligence, drawing on his time working for companies like Figure Eight and Lilt, and serving as the Former Head of GTM at OpenAI. His experience in AI and his passion for embracing technological advancements fuel his ability to help leaders around the globe successfully prepare for the rapidly approaching era of AI.
With AI there are concerns like ethical considerations, bias mitigation, and more that will inform future guidelines, regulations, and governance. It comes as no surprise that these concerns permeate the healthcare industry in particular as the wellbeing of patients remains front and center. Kass openly explores how these concerns manifest, and offers advice and insight that will enable leaders to benefit from the evolution of AI.
With both his parents being healthcare professionals, Kass understands the pace it can take for health systems to adopt change with the number of considerations that need to be examined. But, Kass believes we should not allow this past pattern to dictate how we operate in the future when it comes to embracing AI.
“We need to start challenging the technology companies and administrators to adopt this quickly to improve everyone’s outcomes,” explains Kass. He highlights the profound impact that healthcare IT companies can have on providers’ jobs by streamlining care delivery with technological advancements – improving all outcomes.
Driving trust in machine learning proves to be a central challenge in the adoption of these technologies, and Kass empowers healthcare leaders with his guidance on combating this setback. “Incremental improvements that have material outcomes are the easiest way to do this. Highest pain and lowest risk points. Documentation is a good example of this.”
Kass makes it clear that, unfortunately, most of what caregivers are doing today is not caregiving. But if there is a technology that can help ease the burden of administrative tasks, then only the highest value work would remain.
“With AI, we are going to redefine the importance of being a human in healthcare,” Kass explains. “What humans are doing and what only humans can do in the healthcare space is what machine learning and automation will allow them to do and do better.”
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