Doctors Urge Hospitals to Become 'Artificial Intelligence Ready'

A group of doctors and data scientists is calling on hospitals to create clinical departments devoted to artificial intelligence (AI) to harness the power of the technology to transform patient care. While there have been many predictions of AI's potential to benefit healthcare delivery – from helping doctors perform surgery to catching cancer earlier – the technology's benefits so far have been blunted by inconsistent implementation, the researchers say. They outline a plan to make hospitals "AI ready," in a way they say would enhance both patient care and medical research. UVA Health's David J. Stone, MD, and colleagues from several other major medical centers have outlined their plan in a new article in the scientific journal BMJ Health & Care Informatics that was highlighted in the July 22 issue of the STAT health news site's Healthtech newsletter. They begin by offering a frank assessment of the current integration of AI in healthcare: "The reality of the available evidence increasingly leaves little room for optimism," they write.