Preventing, identifying, and resolving medical issues early produces better patient outcomes. Yet, healthcare providers in the U.S. continue to be in short supply, and finding potential diseases early takes meticulous care. Artificial intelligence (AI) is positively impacting patient outcomes by mining big data that humans cannot possibly do.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence mimics human cognitive functions and can perform many of the mundane jobs traditionally done by medical professionals. Although some artificial intelligence seems to learn as it goes along, this process is typically still controlled by humans.

The main goal of artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry is to automate certain processes. Where artificial intelligence is getting the most use is in medical coding to perform audits and spot errors. Even the best medical assistants can make a mistake, so artificial intelligence can quickly recognize and correct it. Artificial intelligence is also helping identify disease and stop pandemics.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

With the current staffing shortages, artificial intelligence is providing much needed help as baby boomers retire in large numbers. Long working hours and workplace stress create a perfect environment for unnecessary human error.

Humans are capable of detecting patterns in data, but intelligent machines do this work faster and more accurately, especially when the data sets contain many variables. Artificial intelligence is helping in healthcare by detecting patterns that signal a potential disease or other health problem far earlier than many of the most skilled physicians can do. It is also identifying mistakes in medical coding before a patient is overbilled.

Artificial intelligence processes vast quantities of historical data utilizing statistical models that quickly pinpoint patterns in the data. Then the intelligent machines process new data in contrast to the historical models to identify similarities that humans may miss. Healthcare providers are experimenting with this technology by scanning medical images and analyzing potential diagnoses based on a large number of similar pictures.

With this analysis of data, human physicians can be more confident in their decision making. Determining the right diagnosis and finding the right treatment quicker.

How Artificial Intelligence is Improving Patient Outcomes

Artificial intelligence can do more than pinpoint existing health issues. It can predict emerging problems. Machine learning algorithms identify potential problems by analyzing a wide array of data inputs long before a human could know about them. This makes treatments more effective and less expensive. One of the machines on the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare is Watson, a super computer created by IBM.

Watson & The Medical Industry?

IBM created Watson to revolutionize the way businesses uses artificial intelligence to increase productivity, provide answers that humans can understand, manage data, and provide outcomes from that data. Watson was put to the test in the medical industry in an effort to be a support system to clinical decision making. A medical professional will pose a set of symptoms and Watson will review its library of medical information and mine patient data to form a hypothesis. Watson can access electronic medical records, research materials, clinical studies, and journal articles to test medical hypotheses. With the help of Watson, medical professionals can better predict emerging problems and health epidemics before they become pandemics.

Artificial Intelligence in Other Sectors of the Healthcare Industry

Machine-learning algorithms are producing viable results at other points along the healthcare value chain. Some are predicting how long a procedure will take, or the durability of imaging devices. This helps prevent waste by creating treatment schedules that optimize scarce human talent and technological resources.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Assisting

Medical assisting has a strong history in identifying root causes of injury and disease. This includes identifying the dangers behind different types of cancer to the identification of infectious disease trends. Medical assistants have saved lives and provided information that helped guide safer disease prevention.

Medical professionals are even beginning to focus on how artificial intelligence can recognize child abuse when not specifically identified by physicians. Artificial intelligence can be updated to spot these nuances even if medical professionals fail to. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that medical assistants will one day be taken over by computers. The fact remains that humans are necessary to decipher trends even if computers do identify them, and some trends could go completely unnoticed without human input.

Big data is the key to today’s advances. Consuming vast quantities of historical and real-time information enables more accurate artificial intelligence models, which ultimately leads to better preventive care. Healthcare providers will benefit from these advancements by staying up-to-date on the technology and its uses.

Are you ready to learn more about how artificial intelligence is helping medical assistants? Meridian College offers hands–on Medical Assistant training from experienced school faculty who know how to prepare you for the daily challenges you’ll face on the job. From assisting doctors with patients to important administrative tasks, our experienced Medical Assistant program teachers will train you for a rewarding new career.

Contact Meridian College today to learn more about becoming a medical assistant.