Industry Watcher’s Digest
Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.
- Keep your eyes on California. This week Golden State legislators all but rubber-stamped a bill that, if passed into law, will make AI companies thoroughly safety-check their products before selling them. It would also arm the state’s attorney general to sue AI vendors for harms done. Numerous outlets note the pressure Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely face from Silicon Valley to veto the bill. But if he signs it, California “will become the standard-bearer for regulating a technology that has exploded in recent years,” New York Times tech-policy reporter Cecilia Kang predicts. Healthcare, of course, is high among the economic sectors whose world the figurative explosion has rocked.
- Don’t look away just yet. Much of what passes as tech-based care improvement in California these days is nothing more than “primitive but effective AI quackery” designed to help “greedy politicians, crooked physicians” and other cynical exploiters go about the business of “ripping you off.” That’s the opinion of Patrick Wagner, MD, a retired Sacramento surgeon. Writing in the right-leaning California Globe, Wagner adds that technology “continues to feverishly outpace the common sense, skill and judgment of American physicians. It is completely out of hand.” Read it and weep, leap or say something they’ll have to bleep.
- Mayo Clinic has more than 200 algorithms under development. The bounty shouldn’t really surprise anyone, given the institution’s tech-forward stance and 11 million patients with electronic records. Still, that’s a big number, considering the relative complexity behind the training, validation and testing of every AI model. “Technology and data-driven innovation are making it possible for us to solve some of the most complex medical problems in novel ways,” Mayo ophthalmologist Raymond Iezzi Jr., MD, tells the organization’s news division in an item posted Aug. 28.
- AI could just as easily solve healthcare disparities as worsen them. A former OpenAI executive makes the case this week in Newsweek. “To effectively treat diseases, it’s essential to understand how they manifest in different populations,” writes Zack Kass, who led go-to-market strategies at OpenAI before hanging out his shingle as an AI advisor. “AI has the potential to make medical research more inclusive, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for everyone.” Hear him out.
- It could also be a peacemaker between providers and payers. Wait. What? “Rather than embrace a strategy that relies on arcane tools of the past to torment one another, healthcare organizations today—health systems and health plans—are using AI in much more meaningful ways,” explains Michael Drescher, vice president of payer strategy at healthcare AI startup Xsolis. “These include avoiding unnecessary fights altogether and working more collaboratively in their shared clinical decision-making processes.” Legal Reader posted the piece Aug. 27.
- Executives and the directors who report to them get all the attention. What about the managers who report to the directors? They have a champion in McKinsey & Company. Asked how the rise of generative AI will affect middle managers in charge of knowledge workers, McKinsey partner Bryan Hancock reassures these anxious humans that they’ll remain important. “They’re managing a team of people whom they’re apprenticing, as well as managing the underlying tools that support the work,” Hancock points out. “If you think also about robotic team members, managers will still be needed to integrate information, to coach, to make things happen.”
- AI won’t replace medical coders or billing specialists. But those who use AI may well replace those who don’t. Sound familiar? AI can enable the entire clinical documentation integrity team to perform “at the top of their license” (by letting them focus on clinical judgement instead of sifting through documentation); find new revenue and capture meaningful codes (without adding additional resources); augment existing workflows (enabling a secondary review to complement concurrent CDI activities without ripping and replacing existing processes); and facilitate a pre-bill review. CDI expert Cassi Birnbaum lays all this out in the latest in her series on AI in that profession at ICD-10 Monitor.
- Gen AI jokes are lame. We already knew that. But get this: The technology may have a future as a comedy critic. Take it from American standup Viv Ford, who’s been running her material past ChatGPT for instant feedback. She’s found the stuff AI considers funny tends to be a dud with live audiences. But the jokes the bot finds offensive? They kill. “And sometimes ChatGPT will say ‘the joke is fine but could use some work’—in which case I toss it away and start again.” Get the story from the BBC. Seriously.
- Recent research in the news:
- University of Cologne: Artificial intelligence improves lung cancer diagnosis
- Uppsala University: AI can help identify molecules that could serve as new drugs for mental health disorders
- Maastricht University: Mapping the regulatory landscape for artificial intelligence in health within the European Union
- University of Cologne: Artificial intelligence improves lung cancer diagnosis
- AI funding news of note:
- From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.