This article explores the challenges and limitations of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. While AI algorithms offer potential benefits, such as predicting patient deterioration and automating tasks, their performance can decline over time and require constant monitoring. The article highlights the need for standardized evaluation and monitoring processes for AI products, as well as concerns about the cost and resources required to maintain these systems.
Preparing cancer patients for difficult decisions is an oncologist's job. They don't always remember to do it, however. At the University of Pennsylvania Health System, doctors are nudged to talk about a patient's treatment and end-of-life preferences by an artificially intelligent algorithm that predicts the chances of death. But it's far from being a set-it-and-forget-it tool.
A routine tech checkup revealed the algorithm decayed during the covid-19 pandemic, getting 7 percentage points worse at predicting who would die, according to a 2022 study. There were likely real-life impacts. Ravi Parikh, an Emory University oncologist who was the study's lead author, told KFF Health News the tool failed hundreds of times to prompt doctors to initiate that important discussion — possibly heading off unnecessary chemotherapy — with patients who needed it. He believes several algorithms designed to enhance medical care weakened during the pandemic, not just the one at Penn Medicine. “Many institutions are not routinely monitoring the performance” of their products, Parikh said. Algorithm glitches are one facet of a dilemma that computer scientists and doctors have long acknowledged but that is starting to puzzle hospital executives and researchers: Artificial intelligence systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and to keep them working well.“Everybody thinks that AI will help us with our access and capacity and improve care and so on,” said Nigam Shah, chief data scientist at Stanford Health Care. “All of that is nice and good, but if it increases the cost of care by 20%, is that viable?” Government officials worry hospitals lack the resources to put these technologies through their paces. “I have looked far and wide,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said at a recent agency panel on AI. “I do not believe there’s a single health system, in the United States, that’s capable of validating an AI algorithm that’s put into place in a clinical care system.
AI Healthcare Algorithms Monitoring Performance FDA Standards Cost
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
AI's 2024: Promise and Peril2024 marked a year of both remarkable progress and concerning challenges for artificial intelligence. While the field saw groundbreaking advancements and investments, ethical dilemmas and potential dangers came to light.
Read more »
Healthcare Freedom Act: A Big Push for HSAs and Trump's Healthcare AgendaA new bill introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) seeks to significantly expand health savings accounts (HSAs) as a core component of a broader healthcare reform agenda. The ‘Healthcare Freedom Act’ aims to reshape the American healthcare system by empowering individuals with greater control over their health spending.
Read more »
Book review: ‘Alaskan Woman Biologist’ navigates professional peril and makes scientific stridesMargaret F. Merritt writes about her many adventures throughout the state, from the Arctic coast to the shores of Southcentral Alaska.
Read more »
The Great Salt Lake's Peril: A Call to ActionThe Great Salt Lake is facing a severe crisis, with tangible effects already visible. Despite recent heavy snowfall providing temporary relief, experts warn that without swift action to limit water diversions and conserve water, the lake will collapse, causing irreparable damage to Utah's environment, economy, and culture.
Read more »
The Power and Peril of Invisibility: A Therapist's Journey Through DivorceThis poignant personal essay explores the author's experience of divorce in the aftermath of a high-profile celebrity relationship. Drawing on her expertise as a psychologist specializing in women's relationships, she delves into the concept of transference, the dynamic between therapist and patient, and the unique space of invisibility she cultivated in her professional life. The essay poignantly contrasts the anonymity she cherished as a therapist with the stark reality of her public divorce, prompting reflections on the complexities of human connection and the enduring power of vulnerability.
Read more »
Transgender people working in US government see peril under TrumpMany are now worried that the broad advances they achieved over the last decade will be reversed under President-elect Donald Trump.
Read more »