Atlantic Health System held their 2023 Research Symposium featuring a panel on the opportunities and challenges of AI use in healthcare with our Managing Director, Dr. Tara Bishop.
The Research Symposium showcased the latest research developments from across Atlantic Health System including in the areas of oncology, cardiology, neuroscience, medicine, pediatrics, and nursing. This year’s event featured a panel discussion about Artificial Intelligence in Medicine with Dr. Suja Mathew, Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer, Atlantic Health System moderating. Panelists included Sunil Dadlani, Executive Vice President, Chief Information and Digital Transformation Officer, Atlantic Health System, Dr. Devon Klein, Chairperson, Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Overlook Medical Center, Atlantic Health System, Dr. Tara Bishop, Founder and Managing Partner, Black Opal Ventures, and Elad Walach, Chief Executive Officer, Aidoc.
Lunch sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb
The panelists brought diverse perspectives to the discussion of AI’s use in clinical settings. Together, they summarized their view on where it is, where it is headed, and what we should be thinking more carefully about. Here are our key takeaways from the panel:
AI solutions are difficult to navigate for customers. The panelists agreed that health systems find AI difficult to navigate. In Elad’s experience as CEO of Aidoc, he saw that health systems had difficulty consuming the multitude of AI augmented care pathways, inspiring a pivot for the company to begin thinking about AI consolidation. Aidoc developed an enterprise platform to provide a unified layer for AI solutions, akin to Netflix for AI solutions. As a radiologist, Devon spoke of the importance of this technology in his workflow.
Accountability is critical for AI adoption. The panel agreed that AI is not going to replace humans in the clinical setting anytime soon. Sunil emphasized that AI in clinical settings requires a human-centric design and clinicians should play a dominant role in defining where and how AI is used in the future. Tara said, “If a medical error occurs or a bad outcome occurs, who is responsible for that? Can you, for example, sue an algorithm? Maybe. We haven’t yet seen that, but these are questions that will be coming up.”
While AI is not replacing clinicians, it is filling key gaps in our healthcare system today. Elad brought up the trend of reduction in specialization, where he believes AI has the potential to fill key knowledge gaps for these people. Devon argued that we should not overlook the issue of worker shortage, particularly in radiology, echoing the sentiment that AI can give training physicians and generalists more confidence to manage the increasing volume of cases.
Now more than ever, it is important to demonstrate measured value and impact across patients, clinicians, and hospital systems. Tara spoke of exciting developments for the business case of AI like reimbursement, changes in clinical guidelines, and standards of care, which can serve as important tailwinds driving innovation. Elad shared excitement about this development, mentioning their work with Atlantic Health System to prove that with their technology, radiologists could get to potentially positive cases faster.
Privacy, accuracy, and representation of data are top priorities for key stakeholders. Tara said that bias is a risk and can be driven by non-representative data streams, some of which is being addressed by early-stage companies that are looking to assess underlying bias of data sources. Sunil noted “Yes, it is a matter of time and in the very near future where AI will become part of the standard of care. I wouldn’t be surprised once it becomes part of the standard of care[...], there will be AI consent that will be mandated.”
In summary, the panelists provided important guidance and perspectives on the ever-evolving landscape of AI use in clinical settings. While the future of these applications is less than certain, there is an incredible promise for technology to drive critical changes across healthcare. For health systems, the panelists recommended a big-picture strategy across service lines and different care settings to ensure carefully constructed governance and ROI.
The Research Symposium showcased the latest research developments from across Atlantic Health System including in the areas of oncology, cardiology, neuroscience, medicine, pediatrics, and nursing. Black Opal Ventures aims to improve health outcomes for all by investing in companies at the collision of healthcare and technology.