Becker's Hospital Review

102 Executive Briefing Sponsored by: I n recent years, consumer expectations have changed dramatically across industries, healthcare included. Unfortunately, when it comes to meeting these new expectations, the healthcare sector has lagged other sectors, like retail and e-commerce. Some might say that healthcare is better at telling patients what they should do than engaging with them in a consumer-friendly way to improve their health. The good news is that human- centered technology has the potential to bring a consumer- centric experience to healthcare. Becker's Hospital Review recently spoke with Ray Costantini, MD, CEO and co-founder of Bright.md, about care automation and artificial intelligence. He shared how these technologies can improve patient access to care, help healthcare systems compete for new patients (and retain existing ones), reduce physician burnout and generate cost savings for health systems. Shifting patient expectations are forcing health systems to rethink care delivery Whether consumers are buying products or services, they expect the process to be convenient, accessible and easy. This has not always been the case in healthcare, but in recent years, patients' options have broadened. In the past, people relied solely on physician's offices and hospitals for their healthcare needs. Today, however, healthcare is no longer sequestered to traditional providers. Retailers like Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Amazon are all offering medical care to customers, as are direct-to-consumer healthcare apps. "For the first time in my professional life, healthcare delivery systems are being forced to think differently about their competitive landscape," Dr. Costantini said. "New competitors are pushing healthcare systems to look beyond traditional approaches to care delivery. The healthcare sector is starting to think about the digital tools that are available, and the types of experiences consumers expect." Healthcare can learn from ineffective digital transformations is other industries Historically, healthcare has been strongly anchored in its bricks and mortar infrastructure. The shift to a more progressive mindset is an interesting one. "It's kind of like watching Blockbuster evolve into the digital future," said Dr. Costantini. Blockbuster Online tried to use its bricks and mortar stores to position itself against Netflix. Consumers could reserve movies online and then pick them up at the stores. "Blockbuster thought that process would be more appealing to customers than waiting for Netflix to mail movies to them," Dr. Costantini said. "I think, in some ways, healthcare is doing the same thing. Patients can register for their appointments online, but then they need to be seen in an in-person setting. Healthcare systems have a tendency to try and use the assets they have, rather than reinventing the care-delivery process." Clinicians will adopt care automation and AI solutions when they are deployed thoughtfully Although healthcare has a reputation of being a lagging industry in terms of technology adoption, Dr. Costantini feels that assessment is unfair. "I think the issue is the way technology has been introduced into healthcare. Doctors aren't averse to technology . . . technology is accepted when it makes clinicians' lives better and simplifies the care delivery process," he said. However, to date, many of the artificial intelligence solutions in healthcare have been built in ways that increase the burden on clinicians. For example, the data entry process for all patient visits has become onerous, yet the benefits are evident for only a small number of patient visits. Dr. Costantini observed, "When I was a resident, there was an expression, 'When you hear hoof beats, think horses first, not zebras.' AI has been built in healthcare to identify, diagnose and treat zebras. Yet, 99 percent of care delivery is for horses. If a solution creates a burden for 99 percent of the cases and can potentially help 1 percent of the cases, clinicians aren't likely to adopt it." All clinicians want to deliver better care, but they're also drowning in work. They need to see far more patients each day than in years past. In this environment, the answer to driving technology adoption and user engagement is to use AI in ways that can streamline clinicians' workflow and make their jobs easier. This means organizing and displaying the information that providers need and making it actionable. Artificial intelligence has tremendous promise for aiding medical decision making, but the technology isn't mature enough yet. "Before AI can be trusted with actual decision Care automation — Hype or a healthcare delivery revolution?

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