3 ways AI can serve as a safety net to help hospitals reduce adverse events - MedCity News

Human error is a troubling problem in healthcare for hospitals, healthcare providers, and for patients and their families. A report published by The BMJ last year noted that medical errors claim 250,000 lives each year, making it the third leading cause of death in the U.S. The need to address this issue in a meaningful way has led to the development of numerous clinical decision support tools and efforts to improve care team communication. Artificial intelligence can play a critical role in improving patient safety as well. In a talk at SXSW in Austin this week on the future of AI, Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research Laboratory Technical Fellow and managing director, highlighted a few examples of how AI can be used to learn from adverse events and prevent them. Horvitz said he was excited by the potential applications from AI's adoption in healthcare, especially applications where it could protect and assist physicians, much like a safety net.