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future health index report: how ai can improve patient wait times and access to care
"ai holds tremendous promise in terms of transformation of our healthcare system, both from the efficiency perspective and access perspective and also an outcomes perspective"
6 minute read
new future health index report shows an ai trust gap, but the technology can be a saving grace when addressing healthcare system concerns.
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both patients and healthcare workers alike know that the healthcare system has drastically changed in recent years. from long wait times to reduced time spent speaking with doctors, and the level of burnout experienced by nurses, physicians and others working in the health sector have all been amplified significantly.
these negative changes impact all canadians, and the new future health index report by philips canada shows just how dire the situation is.
one alarming statistic reveals that canada has the longest average wait time to see a specialist compared to the global average, indicating that in a country once praised for its universal healthcare plans, free comes with a price.
“increased wait times means less access to care,” says darran fischer, managing director at philips canada.
due to the high volume of patients and the increased backlog, healthcare workers are also negatively affected by the current state of the healthcare system.
“almost 48 per cent of health care practitioners indicate that they lose 45 minutes or more in a given shift, so administrative activity equals four plus working weeks per year.”
the devil’s in the data
between the aging population, rising chronic disease numbers, closing emergency facilities and a shortage of family doctors, people who need care in canada are facing a significant burden, and 71 per cent of people wait an average of 131 days to see a specialist.
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in that time, as many as 27 per cent of patients waiting to see a specialist saw their condition or health worsen, with 19 per cent having to be admitted to the hospital before their appointment for that same reason.
data insufficiencies in healthcare settings are also an issue. for example, incomplete or inaccessible patient data is a significant burden on healthcare workers, leading to them losing as many as four working weeks per year that could be spent directly helping patients.
the system is overwhelmed, and the reason why healthcare workers get into the field is being overshadowed by paperwork. for example, 34 per cent of people surveyed for the report spent more time on administrative work than patient care, which leads to poor staff retention because those who work in the sector are losing the joy and fulfillment of the job to crossing t’s and dotting i’s.
utilizing modern technology to address the issue
according to the report, better care is possible through the use of artificial intelligence (ai) in several ways.
“ai takes a tremendous opportunity in sort of task orientation, automation of tasks, right?” said fischer. “so, scheduling of patients and ensuring a sort of efficient scheduling and throughput into the system from an administrative perspective. that’s number one.”
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fischer goes on to note that it doesn’t stop there. ai has the potential to streamline various areas of healthcare that currently strain the system, its workers, and ultimately, patients. another area where ai could be beneficial is in imaging.
“number two, there’s a tremendous opportunity for ai to augment clinicians,” he said. “so, to be able to direct them into a specific area, whether it be on an image to sort of point them in the right direction to say, here’s where we see a challenge, and then let that physician radiologist take over and use their expertise to be able to diagnose the problem.”
fischer and the team at philips aim to bring their innovative technology to the forefront, helping to solve these problems and benefit both workers and patients.
“our ai-enabled mri machine and technology now enables scans to be up to three times faster with ai and smart speed that we have on our mris versus a conventional system that may have been installed several years ago,” he said. “speeding up the scan time means we can put more people through mris and ultimately speed up diagnosis.”
he goes on to note that technology could also be used in cancer diagnostics, utilizing digital pathology that works more efficiently.
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that said, even with the technology available, trust in ai, especially when it comes to health, isn’t exactly at its peak.
in ai we trust… or not
healthcare workers are far more inclined to seek help from ai to minimize burnout caused by administrative tasks, allowing them to spend more time with patients. the report notes that as many as 91 per cent see ai as a valuable tool to provide more accurate and timely medical interventions, with 90 per cent believing that automating repetitive tasks with ai is highly beneficial.
those working in healthcare also see ai as the next logical step in terms of expanding capacity to address wait times and allowing practitioners and workers to spend more time with patients at rates of 87 and 85 per cent, respectively.
“they can see the promise,” said fischer.
however, they are not completely without concerns. for example, many healthcare professionals believe that the technologies being designed aren’t equipped to meet their needs, indicating a gap between design and execution in these technologies. they are also worried about the legality of it all. after all, if ai gets it wrong, who’s accountable?
fischer goes on to note that, even with some concerns, it’s not necessarily a lack of trust coming from the business side, because “only 49 per cent of patients sort of share the same optimism.”
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the reasoning, as mentioned in the report, is related to concerns that healthcare will become too digital, with 51 per cent of patients worried that increased technology will result in less face time with their doctors.
garnering trust to implement beneficial technologies
getting people to trust ai hasn’t been difficult in a general sense. people use digital assistants and heavily rely on technologies such as gps, chatgpt, or even unlocking their phones using facial recognition, all of which utilize ai technology to some extent.
however, when it comes to their healthcare, it’s far outside of their comfort zone.
“we’ve grown up in a world where healthcare practitioners look after our health, right? so, with an aging population that’s used to seeing a doctor, seeing a nurse, being in a healthcare system, there is a comfort level with having a doctor, a nurse, et cetera at bedside, or a clinic consulting with a patient,” said fischer.
the solution? fusing the digital world and the old school way of medical care together to create a new, well-oiled machine.
“over time, as our healthcare system evolves, there may be more digitally-driven solutions for sure,” said fischer. “but right now, our report shows us that when paired with a healthcare practitioner, the confidence level increases significantly around the ai usage.”
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essentially, the doctor can’t be a computer, but to ensure that they can do the best they can and provide timely, accurate, and accessible care, the two can work together as a cohesive entity.
to ensure that this new route isn’t just paved with good intentions, healthcare professionals call for certain guardrails surrounding the use of ai in the system, allowing for a reliable technology to do what it does best: make things easier.
for example, transparency, evaluation, reliable support and scientific evidence are all important pieces, as well as legal liability, data bias and quality and guidelines. as long as all these factors are met with logical and viable ways forward, ai in canadian healthcare may be the technology the healthcare system needs to return to its once-envied way of operations.
“the message that we want to get out to canadians is that ai holds tremendous promise in terms of transformation of our healthcare system,” said fischer, “both from the efficiency perspective and access perspective and also an outcomes perspective.”
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