How are healthcare providers who have adopted AI really using it? A new Medscape/HIMSS survey found that most providers are using AI for administrative tasks, while medical image analysis is also one of the top AI use cases.
AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, but many industry observers have been frustrated with the slow pace of clinical adoption.
- Implementation challenges, regulatory issues, and lack of reimbursement are among the reasons keeping more healthcare providers from embracing the technology.
But the Medscape/HIMSS survey shows some early successes for AI … as well as lingering questions.
- Researchers surveyed a total of 846 people in the U.S. who were either executive or clinical leaders, practicing physicians or nurses, or IT professionals, and whose practices were already using AI in some way.
The top four tasks for which AI is being used were administrative rather than clinical, with image analysis occupying the fifth spot …
- Transcribing patient notes (36%).
- Transcribing business meetings (32%).
- Creating routine patient communications (29%).
- Performing patient record-keeping (27%).
- Analyzing medical images (26%).
The survey also analyzed attitudes toward AI, finding …
- 57% said AI helped them be more efficient and productive.
- But lower marks were given for reducing staff hours (10%) and lowering costs (31%).
- AI got the highest marks for helping with transcription of business meetings (77%) and patient notes (73%), reviewing medical literature (72%), and medical image analysis (70%).
The findings track well with developments at last week’s RSNA 2024, where AI algorithms dedicated to non-clinical tasks like radiology report generation, scheduling, and operation analysis showed growing prominence.
- Indeed, many AI developers have specifically targeted the non-clinical space, both because commercialization is easier (FDA authorization is not typically needed) and because doctors often say they need more help with administrative rather than clinical tasks.
The Takeaway
While it’s easy to be impatient with AI’s slow uptake, the Medscape/HIMSS survey shows that AI adoption is indeed occurring at medical practices. And while image analysis was radiology’s first AI use case, speeding up workflow and administrative tasks may end up being the technology’s most impactful application.
