Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, IoT May Change Healthcare in 2017

Artificial intelligence programs, the Internet of Things, and next-level big data analytics tools are likely to start producing a significant impact on healthcare delivery as early as 2017, say participants in a new Silicon Valley Bank survey. The poll, which includes responses from 122 health IT company founders, executives, and investors attending a recent event, indicates a general belief that big data will continue to be a primary driver of innovation in the healthcare industry, but may run into adoption challenges and regulatory hurdles in the near future. Forty-six percent of participants said that big data will have the greatest impact on healthcare over the next year, followed by 35 percent who believe artificial intelligence (AI) will be a major game-changer. AI tools may have a broad range of applications across the healthcare spectrum, including patient engagement and customer relations, chronic disease management, clinical decision support, and sophisticated big data mining and analytics for diagnostics, population health management, and financial modeling. Many current attempts to develop artificial intelligence for healthcare are based on semantic computing or cognitive computing techniques that require vast stores of big data to fuel algorithms that try to mimic the complexity and predictive capabilities of human thought.