How AI is being used to reduce healthcare costs by improving efficiency and reducing the number of unnecessary tests and procedures

By Ayush Atul Mishra

The healthcare industry is witnessing a dramatic shift from traditional methods to a more technologically advanced approach of providing health services to the patients. The pandemic has undoubtedly unveiled vulnerabilities in the existing health infrastructure and acted as a catalyst demanding upscaling of delivery of healthcare services. Moreover, during the pandemic, where the induced lockdown had restricted everything, numerous medical practitioners stopped face-to-face consultations to protect the public and healthcare workers from exposure. This is where new-age concepts, such as telemedicine,  acted as a boon giving a more viable platform for  physicians to provide chronic care for patients while maintaining a safe social distance. According to the World Health Organization, telemedicine is the practice of providing medical services remotely via electronic means to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease through research and evaluation. 

Though, over the past couple of years, as more and more people turned to telehealth services, access to new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and big data analytics,  has gained significant prominence in the healthcare system. Particularly, if we talk about AI, the smart technology has emerged as a promising solution for the healthcare sector in lowering healthcare costs, providing a more thorough diagnosis, identifying real time gaps in the health care infrastructure in various geographical belts of the country and much more. 

AI: A Solution for Healthcare Services

Healthcare consists of three segments: consultation, diagnostics, and medicine. And each segment plays a different role. Though, from the traditional time, healthcare has always been expensive as well as tedious, especially for rural people. However, with the emergence of AI, things have transformed. Today with the help of AI, we can easily identify the pockets serving better quality health services in the nearby vicinity. AI can further identify areas that require medical intervention or have poor healthcare structure, and teleconsultation can provide consultation benefits in that area. This is where the advent of telemedicine or teleconsultation setups has appeared as a significant solution and has reduced the cost of patients walking in the nearby city. Moreover, telemedicine also reduces the price of a patient traveling by providing their services over the call or via video consultation. 

By analyzing patient data and identifying people at low risk of getting a specific ailment, AI can help avoid unnecessary testing and treatments. For example, AI algorithms can assess a patient’s risk of getting a disease based on their medical history, family history, and lifestyle factors. This data can assist clinicians in determining which tests and procedures are required and which can be avoided, a typical example of machine learning Furthermore, AI can help enhance diagnostic test accuracy, decreasing the need for extra testing. AI algorithms, for instance, may analyze medical pictures such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs to detect probable abnormalities or indicators of disease. Physicians can make more accurate diagnoses and eliminate the need for extra testing if these abnormalities are detected efficiently. 

In addition, AI can also increase healthcare delivery efficiency, which can help to minimize expenses. AI-powered chatbots, for example, can be used to screen patients and provide basic medical advice, decreasing the stress on healthcare workers while improving the patient experience.. 

AI: A Ray of Hope for the Future

Over the years, AI has developed as a formidable tool due to technological innovation, with the potential to revolutionize the healthcare business by cutting costs, improving efficiency, and improving patient outcomes. Healthcare professionals can deliver better treatment to patients while lowering healthcare costs by utilizing AI to minimize the number of unneeded tests and procedures, enhance the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and predict health outcomes. As AI continues to evolve, it is set to become an even more essential tool in the fight against rising healthcare expenses. 

The author is co-founder and CEO, Tattvan E-Clinics

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