Artificial intelligence: Savvy hospitals are deploying AI and its technological brethren cognitive computing and machine learning in specific use cases at this point – while industry luminaries are predicting that their advancement will soon start happening more quickly than previously anticipated. "I've never in my career seen the acceleration of technology as fast as what we've witnessed in machine learning during the last two years," said Dale Sanders, executive vice president at Health Catalyst. Sanders, it's worth noting, has a U.S. Air Force background working on stacked neural networks and fuzzy logic, which used to be called deep learning, as well as serving as the CIO of both Northwestern University and national health system of the Cayman Islands. "The rate of improvement happening in machine learning," Sanders added, "is way beyond what Moore's Law is to chips." Hospitals already deploying AI As the next generation of both patients and caregivers – including clinicians, doctors, nurses, specialists, even executives and administrators – starts taking a foothold in the healthcare workforce, hospitals looking for a first-mover advantage already know that AI is on the verge of becoming a critical component across the entire organization, and not just IT. "AI and machine learning are exciting opportunities for us to accelerate," Carolinas HealthCare Chief Information and Analytics Officer Craig Richardville said.

Artificial intelligence: Savvy hospitals are deploying AI and its technological brethren cognitive computing and machine learning in specific use cases at this point – while industry luminaries are predicting that their advancement will soon start happening more quickly than previously anticipated. "I've never in my career seen the acceleration of technology as fast as what we've witnessed in machine learning during the last two years," said Dale Sanders, executive vice president at Health Catalyst. Sanders, it's worth noting, has a U.S. Air Force background working on stacked neural networks and fuzzy logic, which used to be called deep learning, as well as serving as the CIO of both Northwestern University and national health system of the Cayman Islands. "The rate of improvement happening in machine learning," Sanders added, "is way beyond what Moore's Law is to chips." Hospitals already deploying AI As the next generation of both patients and caregivers – including clinicians, doctors, nurses, specialists, even executives and administrators – starts taking a foothold in the healthcare workforce, hospitals looking for a first-mover advantage already know that AI is on the verge of becoming a critical component across the entire organization, and not just IT. "AI and machine learning are exciting opportunities for us to accelerate," Carolinas HealthCare Chief Information and Analytics Officer Craig Richardville said.

When IBM CEO Ginni Rometty delivered the opening keynote at HIMSS17 she effectively set the stage for artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and machine learning to be prevalent themes throughout the rest of the conference. Healthcare IT News asked our readers where they stand in terms of these initiatives. And we threw in a bonus question to figure out what their favorite part of HIMSS17 was. Some 70 percent of respondents are either actively planning or researching artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and machine learning technologies -- while 7 percent are rolling them out and 1 percent have already completed an implementation. A Sunday afternoon session featuring AI startups demonstrated the big promise of such tools as well as the persistent questions, skepticism and even fear when it comes to these emerging technologies.

Andrea: First and foremost, this is not an overnight deal rather it is a journey. Your road map and strategies must align with the objectives and use cases we identify as benefiting from these technologies and know that they will evolve. Benefiting from cognitive technologies require that you measure outcomes and continue to tune and train your systems and users. In fact, ensure that you plan to govern the tuning mechanisms and training sets closely whether human built or system generated. The competitive advantages that businesses stand to gain are undeniable and as these technologies continue to evolve they will take on a life of their own.

The year ahead offers some promising trends--and optimizing the full potential of digital health will be the key to real progress. One of the reasons that meaningful use has not been as successful as hoped is lack of an infrastructure to support patient engagement and data exchange capabilities. Building that infrastructure is key to making sustainable changes to care delivery and to achieving the full transition to value-based care. That is why technology will be the KEY driver of healthcare trends in 2016. In 2015, we saw great strides made by providers, payers, and pharmaceutical companies to change the way we deliver, access, and think about healthcare.

The arrival of artificial intelligence and its ilk -- cognitive computing, deep machine learning -- has felt like a vague distant future state for so long that it's tempting to think it's still decades away from practicable implementation at the point of care. And while many use cases today are admittedly still the exception rather than the norm, some examples are emerging to make major healthcare providers take note. Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, for instance, recently examined open source algorithms and machine learning tools in public health reporting: The tools bested human reviewers in detecting cancer using pathology reports and did so faster than people. Indeed, more and more leading health systems are looking at ways to harness the power of AI, cognitive computing and machine learning. "Our initial application of deep learning convinced me that these methods have great value to healthcare," said Andy Schuetz, a senior data scientist at Sutter Health's Research Development and Dissemination Group.

If you're checking into a plush hotel, you expect a warm welcome, but it could be soon be common to receive it from a cold robot. Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide and IBM have joined forces to trial a robot concierge named'Connie' at a hotel in Virginia. The humanoid uses IBM's AI platform called Watson to tell guests about local tourist attractions and hotel features, as well as giving them dining recommendations. Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide and IBM have joined forces to trial a robot concierge named'Connie' at a hotel in Virginia. The cyborg (pictured above) uses IBM's AI platform called Watson to tell guests about local tourist attractions and hotel features, as well as giving them dining recommendations It is the first time IBM has made a Watson-enabled robot for the hospitality market using the NAO humanoid robot, which has previously been used to play football and help teach lessons in schools.