By Meghmala
Digital tools for healthcare workers can help in estimating the treatment costs for patients.
A nationwide discussion centered on healthcare costs is currently trending. The expense of healthcare in America is a problem that impacts all of us due to growing premiums, the aging of the baby boomer generation, and diabetes, the most expensive disease in the world, which affects 10% of the US population. The adoption of recent and developing technologies in healthcare has in the past contributed to the rising prices. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, however, has the potential to reduce those expenses.
Healthcare is a very expensive sector of the economy, and expenditures are continuing to rise. According to World Book, healthcare accounted for 17.1% of the US GDP in 2014, an increase of 4% from 1995 and a continuous trend. Artificial intelligence in healthcare has the potential to significantly lower these rising costs while enhancing healthcare quality and accessibility. According to estimates, AI applications might save the US healthcare industry $150 billion yearly by 2026. Healthcare is presently the top industry investing in AI, which is not surprising.
Clinical documentation is one of the areas of healthcare where the use of artificial intelligence will have the biggest influence. AI can automate the laborious clinical documentation process and produce accurate and comprehensive reports, which helps to reduce physician mistakes in clinical documentation, an understandable but expensive healthcare problem. Much artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare programs are capable of completely enhancing human behavior and can carry out activities ranging from risk analysis to patient diagnosis. AI applications are shown to boost physician involvement and improve the quality of clinical documentation, which is a crucial factor in the quality and costs of healthcare.
The AI health sector is now undergoing a boom and is anticipated to grow into a $6.6 billion dollar industry by 2021 due to its enormous potential to reduce healthcare expenditures as well as access and quality. The fact that AI gives hospitals and physician practices a way to combat their rising operational and labor costs while enabling them to better perform crucial administrative functions quickly, accurately, and affordably explains this growth. The country and the world are currently experiencing a doctor and healthcare personnel shortage.
On Friday (Aug. 19), a digital calculator was introduced to assist healthcare professionals in better estimating the monthly treatment costs for cancer patients, taking into account criteria including their eligibility for government subsidy programs. It was created in collaboration with a group from the Bot MD artificial intelligence startup and the National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (NCIS). The calculator suitably named as the ‘ChemoCalc’, can be used by healthcare workers. All they have to do is to enter basic details and the treatment regimen of the patients. It will then compute the estimated expenditure of the treatment and the items like drugs and services required for the patient. This app is useful for patients as well, as they can submit claims better. Healthcare workers have the time to spend more time to spend with their patients and not worry about dealing with such large calculations. They have access online or through the mobile application.
The ChemoCalc app allows patients to know their estimated treatment costs, expenses, and any applicable government subsidies without any hassle. With this knowledge, they are able to plan and mobilize their resources to meet their financial needs.
