Accenture has a deep bench when it comes to healthcare expertise. And the consulting giant keeps a keen eye on healthcare information technology and the trends surrounding this IT. This is why Healthcare IT News turned to Accenture for its view of trends in health IT this year and beyond. Dr. Kaveh Safavi, senior managing director, head of global health practice, at Accenture, offers his analysis and predictions, focusing on AI and emerging technologies. Accenture recently polled healthcare executives on trends they see on the rise in 2020.

These benefits will accrue incrementally, from automated operations, precision surgery, and preventive intervention (thanks to predictive diagnostics), but within a decade they will fundamentally reshape the healthcare landscape as we know it. "It's going to take years to get the full promise, but it does bring a particular tool into the dialogue that was never before available," says Kaveh Safavi, head of Accenture's global health practice. Safavi expects that AI applications may help solve the dilemma of what's known as the "iron triangle" in healthcare, in which three interlocking factors--access, affordability, and effectiveness--require inevitable and often negative trade-offs. Trying to improve one factor usually harms another, he explains. But AI has the potential to short-circuit the traditional methods to cut costs, improve treatment, and bolster accessibility in tandem.

From hospital care to clinical research, drug development and insurance, AI applications are revolutionizing how the health sector works to reduce spending and improve patient outcomes. The total public and private sector investment in healthcare AI is stunning: All told, it is expected to reach $6.6 billion by 2021, according to some estimates. Even more staggering, Accenture predicts that the top AI applications may result in annual savings of $150 billion by 2026. These benefits will accrue incrementally, from automated operations, precision surgery, and preventive medical intervention (thanks to predictive diagnostics), but within a decade they will fundamentally reshape the healthcare landscape as we know it. "It's going to take years to get the full promise, but it does bring a particular tool into the dialogue that was never before available," says Kaveh Safavi, head of Accenture's global health practice.

Despite a growing interest in artificial intelligence, most healthcare organizations still lack the tools necessary to ensure responsible use of such technologies, finds a report from Accenture Health. According to the report, Digital Health Technology Vision 2018, 81% of healthcare executives said they are not yet prepared to face the societal and liability issues needed to explain their AI systems' decisions. Additionally, while 86% of respondents said that their organizations are using data to drive automated decision-making, the same proportion (86%) report they have not invested in the capabilities needed to verify data sources across their most critical systems. Kaveh Safavi, head of Accenture's health practice, observed that the current lack of AI data verification investment activity is exposing healthcare organizations to inaccurate, manipulated and biased data that can lead to corrupted insights and skewed results. "The 86% figure is critical," he stated, "given that 24% of executives also said that they have been the target of adversarial AI behaviors, such as falsified location data or bot fraud on more than one occasion." On a positive note, the study found that 73% of respondents plan to develop internal ethical standards for AI to ensure that their systems act responsibly.

Many health organizations lack the capabilities needed to ensure that their artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) systems act accurately, responsibly, and transparently, according to a new study. Accenture's Digital Health Technology Vision 2018 report identified a range of issues related to the aggressive adoption of AI and the greater role it plays in healthcare decision making, and counseled the need for organizations to instill trust and transparency into the design of their technology systems. The study also explored five trends facing healthcare over the next three years as technology becomes an intrinsic part of care delivery. "We see these technology trends in two categories--'enablers' and'consequences' (the first three being'enablers' and the last two'consequences')--as emerging technologies enable the system to help people in new ways but also introduce new issues as technology becomes deeply intertwined in our lives and in our care," says Kaveh Safavi, MD, JD, head of Accenture's global health practice. Some of the report's most interesting findings focus on the consequences of the greater role that technology--particularly intelligent technology such as AI--plays in healthcare decision making.

The vast majority of healthcare organizations lack the capabilities needed to ensure that their artificial intelligence systems act accurately, responsibly and transparently, finds a new survey by consulting and professional services firm Accenture. AI has the potential to be a transformative technology in healthcare. In the Accenture survey, 80 percent of health executives agree that within the next two years, AI will work next to humans in their organization, as a coworker, collaborator and trusted advisor. However, 81 percent of health executives say their organizations are not prepared to face the societal and liability issues that will require them to explain their AI-based actions and decisions, should issues arise, according to Accenture's Digital Health Technology Vision 2018 report. With the increasing role that AI will play in healthcare decision-making, organizations need to carefully consider the responsibility and liability of the actions their systems take on their behalf, contends Accenture.

With its acquisition of artificial intelligence and machine learning developer HeavyWater, Black Knight is turning to its Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistant to streamline the mortgage process, with an immediate focus on the originations sector. The company, which acquired the Philadelphia-based startup late last week, aims to eventually get to a place where tech can guide and advise underwriters on potential opportunities and in decision making, according to Rich Gagliano, president of Black Knight's Origination Technologies division. "AIVA makes the decisions and recommends actually a conclusion, the operator can agree or disagree, and as a result of that two things happen: that activity or that job task gets done, and in certain situations, creates a reinforcement learning for AIVA," said Soofi Safavi, CEO of HeavyWater. "That activity ultimately will be shadowed by AIVA to be able to actually give her the same level of cognition that a human expert has," he added. Though AIVA's primary focus for the short term will be on the originations sector, it will also eventually support mortgage servicing.

Black Knight has acquired HeavyWater, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the mortgage industry, and plans to incorporate the startup's borrower data verification and other automation capabilities into its existing product suite. "AI, machine learning and neural network solutions are the future of delivering enhanced productivity and capabilities to our clients, and we are very excited about the potential HeavyWater has to offer," Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour said in a press release. "Now, with HeavyWater a part of Black Knight, we'll be able to apply this groundbreaking technology at scale and pursue our shared goal of transforming the industry." The acquisition price was not disclosed. HeavyWater has been using its AIVA technology to help lenders verify income, assets and insurance.

Black Knight Inc., a Jacksonville-based firm with a $1 billion in annual sales analyzing mortgages for large banks, says it has agreed to purchase HeavyWater, a University City Science Center-based, two-year-old firm that is developing AIVA ("Ava,") an "artificial intelligence and machine learning" mortgage lending system to speed loan approvals, from founder Soofi Safavi. Safavi will remain in charge of the 14-person group, which he said plans to hire 5 more people by June 19. Black Knight said in a statement that it will use and improve AIVA -- the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistant -- to "read, comprehend and draw conclusions based on context to mimic cognitive thinking and build expertise," and that it will also make the technology available to clients as a way to speed mortgage approvals and boost accuracy in verifying income, assets and insurance coverage. "Artificial intelligence, machine learning and neural network solutions are the future," and Heavy Water will help make that happen for Black Knight clients, said that company's CEO, Anthony Jabbour, in a statement. Safavi served as chief technology officer at Radian, the Philadelphia mortgage insurer, before starting HeavyWater in September of 2015.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Late one evening, Gunjan Bhardwaj got a phone call from his friend and mentor -- a call that would change his career. Not long after, Bhardwaj spent days in the hospital, as his friend underwent painful chemotherapy. As a former consultant at Ernst and Young and Boston Consulting Group, Bhardwaj understood the flow of information in the Internet age. He knew artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning were capable of digesting large data sets and arriving at powerful connections and insights. What Bhardwaj didn't understand was, why health-care information to help his friend wasn't available.