AI in Healthcare: From Hype to Game Changing Reality

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BusinessTech Africa Spoke with Margot Brews, Head of Health Risk Management Strategy at Momentum Health Solutions regarding the growth of Ai, and closing the gaps in Health-care services.

With reflection of the challenges in the global and African Health-Care sector, with rising costs and a growing shortage in health-care professionals and funding for new equipment, I asked Margot if she believed if Ai held real-life solutions and also what type of regulatory controls were in place to ensure that Ai health-care services would provide ethical and accurate solutions that will be beneficial for the public.

Margot believes that the healthcare sector has been on the cusp of substantial reform for quite some time and that the introduction and application of artificial intelligence (Ai) across various healthcare disciplines will stand out as one of the most revolutionary eras in the industry.

“we are also one of the most highly regulated industries when it comes to personal health data security and we are certain that we have addressed concerns regarding data safety and so the ethics of use of that data in Ai applications is assured.” Margot says.

This rapidly evolving field has been lauded as the key to unlocking greater quality in healthcare services, introducing more efficient protocols and treatment pathways, as well as considerably increasing access to healthcare across all demographics.

When we place this in a local context, taking into consideration that steps to implement the NHI are already in motion, AI will be critical in helping implement specific elements, such as public health interventions. She cites an example from the University of Pretoria utilising Ai to address the great need for more breast imaging in early breast cancer detection. The University is using mobile imaging devices in the field combined with an Ai diagnostic tool that is making the process way more accessible to the greater community at a much lower cost than standard screening that for many has previously been an inaccessible service.

Looking at the medical schemes sector in South Africa, the industry aims to ultimately improve health outcomes for members and in doing so, encourage and maintain a better quality of life. AI has assisted Momentum Health Solutions in evaluating the delivery of healthcare in the future with clear goals that include increasing access to quality healthcare, and utilising the unmatched innovation that AI offers in assessing member profiles more comprehensively. This is to ensure that we are not only providing a service, but actually understanding in the broadest terms possible what type of care a member requires and partnering with them on that journey.

Margot Says that “Momentum has an incentivised well-being program called Multiply that provides input into healthcare based on a member’s activity and lifestyle data as well as the data received from healthcare practitioners.” The data is then processed via a machine learning Ai programme that provides pattern detection that otherwise may not have been seen.”

These, according to Brews,provide a predictive analytics lens that leads to preventative actions being taken timeously and well-being suggestions or early treatments being provided to the member. Members are also incentivised to participate in well-being programs and preventative actions via either cash or an increase in their medical savings.

Margot says that Momentum are seeing results with preventative action decreasing incidents of illness and reducing medical treatment averages across their membership. This is also impacting the increases in contributions with the average increase running below industry averages for the past few years, and longer term believes this can be reduced further.

One area where Ai is playing a greater role in reducing medical care costs is by identifying fraudulent activity by health-care providers. With over 300 000 members it is imperative that fraudulent claims are avoided and that this in turn helps to keep premiums lower.

AI is certainly the most effective solution in the 21st century when investigating ways to solve the ongoing healthcare crisis, particularly in South Africa, where immense disparity exists between the public and private sectors. Leveraging AI, both from a medical scheme provider perspective and more broadly, will not only empower current and future workforces within the sector, but will also create greater opportunity for improved healthcare services that can be sustained. When implemented and utilised for the benefit of all, AI has the potential to be South Africa’s healthcare redeemer and an essential component in the National Health Care delivery system in South Africa.

As Ai applications develop, it is also equally important that the healthcare industry starts to collaborate more to ensure that accuracy and ethics are core to any systems. Critical issues around data to ensure that there are externally validating data utilised, and being clear about the intended use of AI will help to assure safety and facilitate proper regulation.

A commitment to data quality, such as rigorously evaluating systems pre-release, is vital to ensuring systems do not amplify biases and errors and provide solutions that are not only more affordable than current healthcare but also accurate, providing quality diagnostic and preventative health-care.