The employee deficit is one of the biggest challenges of the world’s health sector, and the key to lowering the cost of treatment and increasing access to health care will turn out to be AI solutions, according to a report by Deloitte. In 2019-2022, private equity investors allocated $31.5 billion to artificial intelligence in medicine.
Venture capital financing, considered a barometer of technology investments in the industry, reached a record result of $39.3 billion in 2021, and although in 2022 it included a 30% drop (up to $27.5 billion), this is still a result of stable growth in recent years, it was reported.
According to the authors of the 2024 Global Health Care Sector Outlook, the industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented transformation, driven by technological progress, demographic change and changing needs of patients, and the most important phenomena transforming health care include: the development of artificial intelligence, shortage of medical personnel and building resilience to climate change. Artificial intelligence will improve the administration, and in the long term it will revolutionize medical diagnostics, it is reported.
The biggest opportunity associated with artificial intelligence is its application in streamlining administrative tasks and reducing related expenditure. AI works well in creating documentation, handling pre-operative processes or analyzing insurance claims. The technology can also help predict patient outcomes based on their unique health profiles, recommend treatments, and alert doctors to risk factors such as allergies and anti-congested drugs. In turn, generative AI allows you to analyze diagnostic data from various sources, including electronic medical records and monitoring devices, worn by patients. This technology will play an important role in early disease detection, interpretation of imaging results, and identifying patients requiring the most urgent treatment, indicated.
“According to our observations, the pace and scope of AI deployment in healthcare will largely depend on the level of trust of physicians and patients. The priority for technology providers should therefore be to ensure the reliability of AI, while ensuring maximum data security, transparency of their collection and securing ethical issues. In order to increase trust among health care workers and patients, it will also be important to be transparent about the principles of algorithms,” said Associate Partner, Deloitte Digital Andrzej Skasko.
The research said in the report shows that the demand for medical personnel worldwide in 2030 is expected to be 84 million, nearly 30% more than in 2020. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, 10 million health workers will be missing worldwide.
WHO data in the report indicate that between 2030 and 2050, climate change could cause about a quarter of a million deaths annually globally. The crisis will affect primarily areas with poor health infrastructure, and they will experience up to 99% of diseases caused by the state of the environment. The challenges to health care will become increasingly geographically diverse due to factors such as rising water levels or rising temperatures. According to Deloitte’s analysis, climate change will also have a significant impact on health issues caused by the intensification of social problems related to economic equality, gender equality and the migration situation. Meanwhile, health care contributes to nearly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with G20 countries accounting for more than 75% of this amount.
The report indicates that the industry’s decarbonisation strategy should include 3 emission categories: at the facility level, generated when using energy purchased from external networks and from the supply chain. The industry must respond to such problems as the fact that approx. 15% of all medical waste generated is hazardous materials that can be infectious, toxic or radioactive.
Source: Deloitte and ISBnews
