Topol: AI in early stages, but has potential to revolutionize healthcare

Emerging technology has the potential to add efficiency and effectiveness to healthcare, according to Eric Topol, MD. Capabilities such as artificial intelligence, polygenic risk scores and digital health technology can equip physicians to improve and reduce the cost of care, while enabling them to better connect with patients, said Topol, the founder and director of The Scripps Research Institute. Much of care today is not based on provable facts, Topol noted at Liberation 2019, the annual meeting of Medecision, in Frisco, Texas. He cited an article by Hannah Fry, MD, published last month in The New Yorker, which detailed research that found that, of every 1,000 people taking statins for heart conditions over five years, only 18 will avoid a major heart attack or stroke. "Patients and clinicians exist in a world of insufficient data," Topol said.