Healthcare AI newswatch: Surgical symphonies, integrated intelligence, generalist AI, more

Artificial intelligence AI in healthcare

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days. 

  • The use of AI by primary care providers is a hot topic. Which is to say Rock Health and the AAFP aren’t the only ones scrutinizing the field. A separate survey by the nonprofit innovation lab Phyx Primary Care finds ambient AI significantly cutting the time and burden long associated with documentation duties. Phyx also notes PCPs automatically relieved of those tasks feel less rushed. As a result they’re completing their visit notes on time and spending a lot less time after hours catching up. They’re also enjoying a meaningful reduction in burnout and an outsize boost in job satisfaction. “We hypothesize this is because burden relief and a sense of hope are both highly desired and way overdue,” Phyx analysts write in their survey report. “The richer the patient interaction, the richer the clinical note and the better the primary care experience.” The survey heard back from 116 PCPs who used an AI scribe for at least a month. Respondents represented small independent practices, primary care organizations and large health systems. Full report here. 
     
  • The surgeon is only one member of a team in the OR. This matters to those who’d like to perform surgery as a kind of symphony. One such healthcare professional is Robert Masson, MD. The Florida neurosurgeon leads a startup called eXeX, which leverages Apple Vision Pro to bring AI and mixed reality into the surgery suite during spinal reconstructions. His experience with healthcare AI is one of four spotlighted by Newsweek Feb. 24. The eXeX product gives users a real-time virtual checklist right at the operating table. This function in action, Masson tells the newsweekly, helps create a “stress-free, effortless team-flow state.” And by the way, Newsweek is hosting an awards program for AI innovators. Its AI Impact Awards will culminate with a summit in June. Learn more about that here. 
     
  • Healthcare AI can do more than just assist with clinical activities and administrative tasks. It can also help surveil diseases across populations, separate medical facts from popular falsehoods, detect health-insurance fraud and buttress healthcare cybersecurity. An industry expert blogs about these non-obvious use cases at StateTech, which is hosted by the tech vendor CDW. “There’s nothing easy or simple about change, and introducing AI into public health initiatives is no different,” writes CDW tech exec Peter Dunn. “But the genie is out of the bottle, and it can’t be put back in.” 
     
  • The emergence of generalist AI ‘marks a fundamental shift in medical technology.’ Unlike “narrow” AI systems designed to handle specific duties, generalist AI is characterized by “the ability to handle a variety of tasks with minimal or no reliance on specialized training or specially labeled data designed for each specific task.” The distinction and its ramifications for reimbursement are fleshed out in a paper published Feb. 26 in NPJ Digital Medicine. As U.S. healthcare continues striving to balance innovation with acceptable risk, the authors write, fresh goals must be calibrated to develop reimbursement models that “recognize the transformative potential of generalist AI while maintaining the highest standards of patient care and system sustainability.” The authors are Arjun Mahajan of Harvard and Dylan Powell of the University of Stirling in the U.K. Read the piece. 
     
  • And what are we talking about when we talk about integrated intelligence? A subject-matter expert at Medical Product Outsourcing answers with an illustrative example. Imagine a modern glucose monitoring system for managing diabetes, suggests the writer, Mike King. These sophisticated devices don’t just measure blood glucose levels, he continues. They also analyze patient activity patterns, meal timing and physiological responses to automatically adjust insulin delivery. “The system’s intelligence,” King explains, “comes from its ability to learn from individual patient experiences, aggregate data across user populations and continuously refine its algorithms for better outcomes.” The piece looks at how integrated intelligence may revamp the way medical devices are initially developed and continuously refined. Read it here. 
     
  • The world’s biggest supplier of software for managing customer relationships is expanding its healthcare AI offerings. Salesforce announced updates Feb. 28, saying its Agentforce for Health suite will help providers and payers build AI agents for all sorts of activities. These include checking coverage, facilitating prior authorizations, identifying clinical trial sites and, more broadly, easing the staffing shortage in healthcare. Salesforce says the system can “reason and take action, pulling information from an organization’s website, knowledge repository, EHR or approved scientific publications in real time to provide faster service.” The company has spread out its announcement in several items here. 
     
  • Watch for healthcare AI to combine with IoMT in new and exciting ways this year. The latter stands for the Internet of Medical Things. That’s the digital ecosystem that lets wireless and remote healthcare devices communicate online, allowing medical data to be analyzed quickly and nimbly. Its market is expected to grow from $79.6 billion last year to $97.7 billion this year. And it’s one of five AI innovations that, according to Forbes contributor and vendor CEO Alexander Podgornyy, will “redefine healthcare” in 2025. See what else makes his list here. 
     
  • Recent research in the news: 
     
  • Notable FDA approval activity:
     
  • Funding news of note:
     
  • From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
     

 

Dave Pearson
Dave Pearson

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.

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