Live medical consultations will return thanks to artificial intelligence; Read the analysis

Health spending around the world is increasing at a speed that can now be considered unsustainable. It is estimated that today, around 11% of global GDP It is spent on health care, an amount that is increasing by US$500 billion every year. In the United States alone, health spending is expected to reach $12 trillion annually by 2040.

The blame for this increase is often attributed to an aging population and chronic diseases, but another factor has increasingly emerged as the villain: High administrative costs For the health system. Research published in the magazine Health Affairs It is estimated that about 15 to 30 percent of total health care spending in the United States goes to administrative functions, and half of that amount goes to unnecessary bureaucracy.

The good news is that soon, most of these bureaucratic tasks will be automated or radically reduced with the arrival of algorithms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) In health. Some recent examples have brought hope to thousands of Brazilian doctors who spend much of their day filling out medical forms and records, a complaint often related to rising cases of the disease. Burnt In the profession.

Research from the UK published last month found that using generative AI algorithms reduces the time surgeons need to write a medical report and describe surgery from 7 minutes to 5 seconds. The same study also analyzed surgeons’ support for the use of these algorithms and found that in only 3% of cases there was dissatisfaction with obstetric AI assistance.

Another bureaucracy that will be radically reduced is the need for doctors to enter information into the electronic medical record, which typically takes a significant portion of time during clinical consultations. There are already pilot projects in US hospitals offering the use of algorithms that “listen” to the conversation between doctors and patients and automatically populate the electronic medical record, without the need for doctors to write.

These innovations will allow healthcare professionals to spend less time on bureaucracy and more time with their patients. Live clinical consultations will once again become a reality. Human health is increasingly coming, with the help of an unexpected partner: artificial intelligence algorithms.