AI promises to streamline operations and reduce inefficiencies in medtech, which experts hope will ease health professionals’ workloads and enable patient-centred care.
Estimates suggest that medtech companies lose 4% of their annual revenue as a result of inefficiencies, with physician burnout being a significant factor. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), 48.2% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout in 2023 while a recent report from the UK’s General Medical Council found that 21% of doctors had been at ‘high risk’ of burnout last year.
Demanding workloads and low satisfaction rates in workplaces have driven a shortage of health professionals, and research by the AMA predicts that the US will see a shortage ranging between 54,100 and 139,000 physicians by 2033.
However, healthcare is “poised to be a major driver” behind AI development, according to the 2024 edition of GlobalData’s AI in Healthcare report, and experts believe it will ease some of the industry’s pressures.
GlobalData is Medical Device Network’s parent company.
“The integration of AI in healthcare delivery is not just about automation but it is also about creating a more human-centred approach to medicine,” said Joselia Carlos, senior medical device analyst at GlobalData. “When physicians are liberated from routine tasks, they can spend more meaningful time with patients, which ultimately results in better diagnoses, treatment plans, and patient satisfaction.”
The AI market was valued at $103bn in 2023, and GlobalData projects that the sector will grow at a compound annual rate of 39% between then and 2030, surpassing a value of $1tn. Although AI technology is still in its infancy, it is already playing a role in drug development, and it has also shown promise in medical diagnostics, enhancing surgical precision and results analysis.
AI automation of such tasks could improve the standard of care available to patients and further serve to reduce the burden on health professionals.
“This, in turn, would enable them to focus on what they do best – developing the patient-doctor bond and providing quality healthcare service,” said Carlos.
Considering the range of applications of AI technology in healthcare, she also points to the wealth of unused data accumulated by hospitals.
“Approximately 30% of the world’s data is created within hospitals, but an alarming 90% of this data goes unused, which is resulting in healthcare providers missing the opportunity to harness insights that could lead to more efficient operations and improved patient care,” she said.
“Hospitals are data-rich environments, and leveraging AI algorithms to process and analyse this information can pave the way for enhanced patient care and operational efficiencies.”
Using the data is a challenge, however, and data privacy is one of the stumbling blocks of the AI revolution. Accurate AI models require access to large amounts of data which, in healthcare, is usually personal and confidential. This is complicated further by differing international regulations around data privacy, limiting collaborative potential.
Of this, the AI in Healthcare report stated: “Developing new data-sharing regulations and methods that preserve privacy is essential for the widespread adoption of AI applications in healthcare.”
