SmartBrief readers in August focused their attention on important ways the healthcare industry is growing and changing. They read articles about the rise of AI platforms and the implications, efforts to boost primary care investment and the effects of GLP-1 drugs on patient health.
Evolution of AI in healthcare
What happened: AI in healthcare has created a “parallel medical system” in which millions of Americans use the platforms to answer questions and even get diagnoses without a medical professional’s input, a STAT report said. Articles claimed that AI can outpace clinicians in certain areas, and companies such as Function Health, Oura, Doctronic and Ro are producing AI-driven platforms for services like laboratory tests and prescription refills. At the same time, researchers found that AI platforms struggle with key tasks like initial patient assessments, suggesting the need for careful oversight and regulation. ”When an AI system is wrong, responsibility disperses and, in practice, will often still fall on the clinician,” Arya Rao, a Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program candidate, and Harvard Medical School faculty member Marc Succi wrote in the STAT report.
What’s next: An Axios story ...