AMA looks to influence the discussion on AI capabilities
Physician group wants to influence the development of augmented intelligence so that it supports care and takes doctors’ needs into account.
Organizations are increasingly realizing that artificial intelligence will have a huge play in healthcare and are taking steps to ensure they’re at the table to set up parameters for its safe use.
Latest to stake a spot is the American Medical Association, which formally announced that it’s starting a Center for Digital Health and AI with the goals of ensuring that physicians’ needs are met by implementation of the technology and educating clinicians on its use.
The center, unveiled in mid-October, anticipates that augmented intelligence “will be a defining force in the future of healthcare,” said John Whyte, MD, AMA’s CEO and executive vice president.
The organization is the latest of several in the healthcare realm to grasp the impact that artificial intelligence is expected to have in improving patient care and industry operations. Earlier this year, The Joint Commission and the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) announced that they plan to work together to co-develop a suite of AI resources, such as playbooks, tools and a new certification program. And this summer, HL7 launched an Artificial Intelligence Office to establish standards for safe, trustworthy AI in healthcare and act as a convener to support technological transformation.
While there’s still concern about the safety of unbridled AI use, and the sustainability and reliability of AI projects, these emerging initiatives show base-level understanding of the need to put guardrails around early-stage use of the technology.
The AMA initiative
The physicians’ organization says the new AI center is intended to put physicians “at the center of shaping, guiding and implementing technologies transforming medicine.”
The intent of the center is to provide physician leadership and input on the development and use of AI and digital health tools. Without this input, new tools carry the risk of “creating unintended burdens and failing to reach their full potential.”
The initiative expects to embed physicians “throughout the lifecycle of technology development and deployment to ensure it fits into clinical workflow and physicians know how to utilize it.”
The AMA sees four central points of focus for the new center:
Policy and regulatory leadership to fashion benchmarks for safe and effective use of AI in medicine and digital health tools.
Clinical workflow integration so that AI and digital health tools work within clinical workflows, supporting improvement in both patient and clinical experience.
Education and training to better equip physicians and provider organizations to improve integration of AI into healthcare delivery.
Collaboration that creates partnerships among various players in the healthcare sector to drive innovation.
Growing demand among docs
The AMA has found a mixed bag of reactions from its membership about AI, embracing its use but worrying about how it will be used.
The AMA offers a differentiation between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence. The organization describes augmented Intelligence as a use of artificial intelligence that emphasizes AI’s assistive role. Thus, augmented intelligence is seen as using AI as an additional tool that enhances human thinking and reasoning. Clinicians tend to prefer this approach “because it emphasizes the importance of the human who is using the technology.”
Recent AMA surveys show that about two-thirds of physicians have incorporated AI-enabled tools into their practice. That same survey indicated a need for regulatory oversight and assurances of data privacy.
However, a quarter of physicians remain more concerned than excited about the potential of augmented intelligence in medical practice, according to a recent AMA survey. Their main worries are data privacy risks, and reliability and safety concerns. Clinicians fear that AI tools and platforms may not reach their full potential without sufficient input.
Federal government attention has increased recently, with the issuance of several executive orders and agency actions. A congressional report late last year conceded that “if AI is to be used safely and effectively in healthcare settings, ongoing oversight and regulatory efforts may need to be addressed by Congress and relevant federal regulatory bodies.”
Fred Bazzoli is the Editor in Chief of Health Data Managment.