MADISON, Wis. – On June 5, many of the nation’s leading experts on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care gathered at the United States capitol to discuss and debate the current state and critical next steps for this potentially transformative technology. Today, the summit organizers, UW Health and Epic, published a report detailing key recommendations for policymakers as they consider the future of AI in health care.
The event gathered approximately 25 health care leaders, representing providers, technology, academia and government, for a first-of-its-kind examination of AI topics through the lens of health care delivery. Following a robust discussion on the potential impact of AI on patient and provider experience, the group focused on the important partnership with policymakers.
The use of AI in health care is not new, but the number of use cases is growing and evolving rapidly, according to Chero Goswami, chief information and digital officer, UW Health.
Many physicians and nurses use AI to draft responses to patient questions in online portals and transcribe patient visits into visit summary notes. Diagnostic use cases for AI are expanding, such as evaluating large amounts of data to improve image analysis in radiology or predict which patients are at risk of falls.
“Through augmenting clinical care and automating some administrative tasks, AI has the potential to improve access to care and enhance the patient and provider experience, supporting the health care workforce, not replacing it,” he said. “With persistent health care workforce shortages, we need tools like AI to assist with the administrative burden that too often falls on those caring for our patients.”
The report called out several factors that health systems and policymakers need to consider as they wrestle with how best to integrate AI further into care settings.
First, health systems working to implement AI should prioritize alleviating workforce burdens and improving efficiency and patient outcomes, weaving the technology into existing systems rather than using it as a standalone tool.
Attendees also agreed that for health systems to test and scale AI, there should be a supportive infrastructure to make both technology and education available beyond metropolitan areas, for smaller or more rural health systems. This public health model should include shared resources and best practices, while also enabling local validation, a process that gives a health system the means to ensure AI tools work as accurately for their communities as they do for others, according to Seth Hain, senior vice president of research and development, Epic.
“Part of making AI available to everyone includes rolling it out in an equitable way for patients and care teams, ensuring organizations can evaluate and monitor it in the context of their patients and workflows,” Hain said.
The report underscores the need for federal regulations to balance space for innovation with safeguarding patient data and ensuring robust cybersecurity measures. For effective regulation, it is also essential to account for the workflow and users interacting with the AI-related functionality, according to Hain.
Finally, it will be important for regulatory bodies to tailor regulations to the type of AI being used and how it is being used. This ensures that AI in health care is appropriately governed and benefits both patients and providers.
“The rapid pace of AI development presents challenges for implementation, usage and regulation, but with collaboration across the health and technology sectors, alongside governmental partners, it is possible to enable this technology to provide positive outcomes in health care,” Goswami said.
About UW Health
UW Health is an integrated health system and academic medical center associated with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Dedicated to advancing patient care, research, education and community service, UW Health has more than 24,000 employees, including 1,900 physicians, in Wisconsin and Illinois. University of Wisconsin Hospitals has been rated the top hospital in Wisconsin 13 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.
