There is no doubt artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming our world. I am reminded of this in my own life every day. Siri can tell me anything I need to know in a matter of seconds, Waze tells me the fastest route to get where I need to go, and Uber matches me with a ride when I don’t want to drive. My children are digital natives who don’t remember a time when you had to consult with a paper map if you got lost. It amazes me how quickly AI has changed the way we go about our lives, helping to make us faster and more efficient.
As I walked around the massive show floor at HIMSS19 in Orlando, Florida last month, it was clear that artificial intelligence (AI), consumerism and consumer engagement are also the new normal for health care. As AI matures, it is poised to touch nearly every area of health care from clinical decision support and operational efficiencies to patient engagement. AI and other technology is also helping providers transition from traditional care models to meet the demands of value-based care and consumerism. A study from NRC Health and CHRISTUS Health reveals that convenience is now the number one factor that influences a consumer’s decision in a care provider. Virtual health, online and mobile offerings, wearables, sensors and other digital technologies are necessary tools for empowering consumers and clinicians in this changing landscape.
Additionally, data science and increasing partnerships are driving innovation in many industries. For example, supermarket chain Kroger Co. has teamed up with robotics company Nuro to offer self-driving vehicle grocery delivery at some of its locations. At the store, employees receive customers’ online or mobile app orders and load the self-driving vehicles with the selected items. When it arrives at the delivery destination, customers get an alert and a code to unlock the vehicle. As this represents a new frontier in the grocery shopping experience, partnerships in health care are also creating significant innovations and solutions that could revolutionize the entire industry.
In the latest edition of Perspectives, we focus on the ways that organizations are adapting to and embracing new technology and ideas to move forward in this dynamic era of health care. Intermountain Healthcare and Royal Free London Group are standardizing their methods of care to provide better outcomes and streamline costs. Children’s Hospital of Orange County is using data analytics to better predict which patients are at risk for readmission. Also in this issue, we get a look at how Geisinger is using food as medicine for type 2 diabetes patients and drastically reducing the cost of managing this chronic condition.
Agility is crucial as we adapt to the technological, financial and cultural shifts that are shaping the industry. While these are challenging times, they are also exciting times. The current transformation in the business of health and care has set us on a journey toward a not too distance future in which AI, consumerism, data analytics and unconventional partnerships will be fixtures of the health care operating model. As we continue our pursuit of smarter care and better outcomes, we must prepare ourselves for what’s next.
Perspectives is a digital content destination that examines health care’s most pressing and important topics. The latest set of articles focusing on value in health care, as well as past content, is available at Cerner.com/Perspectives.
