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While many say the technology will help clinicians improve care, the workforce shortage and other pressures may prompt healthcare leaders to use AI when they can’t find or afford providers. And consumers may even prefer that.
One of the enduring concerns with AI in healthcare is that it may someday replace the doctor or nurse. And while many experts say the technology is designed to help clinicians improve patient care, there may come a time when that prediction is true.
“We can’t hire our way out of the problem right now,” says Brian Anderson, MD, co-founder and CEO for the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), who warns that health systems won’t be able to find the doctors and nurses they need to keep pace with increased demand for services, especially from a growing senior population.
The reality is that the healthcare workforce shortage isn’t going to improve any time soon, and healthcare leaders will have to make some hard decisions over how and when care is provided, even as new technologies and strategies create opportunities for care outside the hospital, clinic, and doctor’s office. Healthcare sites are shutting down at an alarming pace because they can’t be staffed, while consumers are demanding access when and where they need it.
And if they can’t see a real doctor, maybe an AI program will do the job.
“We ultimately need to begin grappling with where is the appropriate place where providers aren’t in the loop” and AI can be used in their place, he says. “I think that’s going to be one of the real challenges.”
In some health systems, nurses are worried their jobs may be negatively affected by AI, and have lobbied for assurances from management.
At the recent HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum in Boston, Lee Schwamm, MD, SVP and chief digital health officer at the Yale New Haven Health System and associate dean of digital strategy and transformation at the Yale School of Medicine, said healthcare leaders may soon have to include AI in contract negotiations, especially in rural regions where the workforce shortage is particularly acute.
He and others at the forum noted that health systems and hospitals struggling to stay open might see a benefit in using AI platforms to replace clinicians they can’t afford or even find.
At the same time, a growing number of patients are saying they’d prefer an AI doctor to a real one, especially if it improves access and convenience and is covered by insurance.
According to a recent survey of 2,000 consumers by Customertimes, almost 40% say doctors will eventually be replaced by AI.
“The truth is that quality care in the U.S. is often a luxury, available primarily to those who can afford it”, Max Votek, a former pharmacist who co-founded the digital consulting firm. He noted 83 million Americans lack access to primary care services, while new patients wait an average of 26 days just to get in front of a doctor.
“AI will enable quicker access to doctors when time is critical and help reduce costs in many cases,” added Gilbert Merariu, CIO for the pharma research company PSL Group, in the Customertimes press release on the survey. “Consider low-income individuals who may not afford a doctor’s visit. With AI, they could chat with an AI that has all his historical medical info and already identify the possible next steps. Then a final review can be done by a DR (at a much lower cost and higher volume) to start his treatment. This would streamline the process and make healthcare more accessible.”
According to the survey, slightly less then half of those surveyed are optimistic about the adoption of AI in healthcare, while 17% fully trust and half somewhat trust AI-powered healthcare. Some 15% are willing to follow medical advice generated by AI, and another 25% would do so if that advice were free.
In addition, 58% said AI would ultimately benefit providers rather than patients, a nod to the belief that the technology can address many of the industry’s biggest pain points. Some 18% said AI will soon be better than humans in diagnosing and treating conditions, while 44% said that will take place “in a distant future.”
Most importantly, 57% of those surveyed said AI will lead to healthcare layoffs, while 13% said the technology will help save jobs. And 10% said AI should replace doctors in the foreseeable future—and another 28% said that will happen but shouldn’t.
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation at HealthLeaders.