Even before the pandemic struck, technology offered vast potential to transform healthcare through initiatives such as digitizing patient records, streamlining communication between providers, and empowering people to monitor their own health through mobile apps and wearables. However, until the pandemic struck, the adoption of technological tools across the healthcare sector was sporadic, at least according to the findings of a study by the European Health Observatory.
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The study found that organizations had struggled with facilitating the shift to a more digital mindset. However, like many industries, once the pandemic hit, the healthcare sector was forced to undergo rapid change. Tools that had once been optional, such as virtual consultations, were now essential to getting the job done.
But unlike many industries that were able to simply restart once the worst of the pandemic lockdowns were over, the healthcare systems in many countries still face a mountain to climb. There are huge backlogs due to cancelled operations, delayed treatments, and conditions having gone undiagnosed for longer than usual. To illustrate the scale of the issue, one estimate from 2021 showed that five million people – or one person in every thirteen – were awaiting hospital treatment in the UK. Staffing pressures only compound the issue.
With healthcare professionals and patients alike having become more accustomed to technological tools like virtual consultations, it seems likely that we can now expect these solutions to become a more permanent fixture in the future. However, to see where the most significant opportunities in healthcare currently lie, follow the money. All paths lead to one answer - data.
The Allure Of Healthcare Data For Tech
The tech industry has long had a voracious appetite for data, so it’s hardly surprising that it’s now zooming in on healthcare. According to an analysis by the FT, the quantity of digital information in clinical systems is staggering, accounting for 30% of the world’s total data volume, and it’s increasing by over 50% year on year. In 2021, funding for digital health startups jumped by nearly 80% to exceed $40 billion. Among the biggest contributors to that sum are the venture arms of the big tech firms – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
Some of these interventions are already part of our everyday lives, thanks to mobile apps and wearable tech. Apple, for instance, collects a vast amount of consumer health data from users of its Apple Watch and Apple Health app. Alphabet, parent of Google, is seeking to improve medical research AI with its DeepMind subsidiary.
How is all this helping to address the post-pandemic healthcare crisis? Well, we can look to China, which is blazing a trail in the adoption of AI in healthcare technologies. AI is being used to help in analysis and diagnostics, as well as help in individual patient monitoring, identifying anomalies in the vital signs of patients with known medical conditions. In this way, AI is proving its ability to reduce the dependency on the physical presence of a healthcare worker.
Data Governance - The Fly In The Ointment
One big challenge facing the adoption of AI tools in healthcare is around the appropriate governance and control of the data in question. Inaccurate data used to train models could have severe human consequences, while the strict data protection rules and ethical considerations around patient data can be a minefield for AI innovators.
One potential solution to this challenge is using blockchain, which offers a highly effective way to authenticate data via a trustless network and keep records that can’t be manipulated. Oraichain is one project tackling the issue with its AI marketplace that offers a built-in Data Hub for AI providers to tap into. It works in tandem with a Labeling Hub to organize, pre-process, and standardize data for training and testing AI models. Any AI provider can create their own data lakes and data warehouses and use them in on-chain or off-chain AI algorithms.
End users – in this case, healthcare providers – can access the platform via a Request Hub, coming later in 2022, which will allow them to make a request for a particular AI solution, which AI practitioners then work to fulfil, offering an infinitely customizable solution, but with a rigorous, standardized process for handling the underlying data.
Tapping Into Existing Data
Although not explicitly an AI-focused project, Authtrail takes a slightly different approach to using blockchain as a kind of checkpoint for effective data management. Authtrail is a SaaS solution that plugs into an existing enterprise database architecture to aggregate data from wherever it usually resides. It’s then periodically hashed and anchored to the blockchain, providing an immutable record that cannot be edited.
Authtrail has already been put to use in a healthcare setting by Oxford University Hospitals in the UK. The healthcare provider used the platform to streamline its clinical and management audits. However, over time, the amount of trustworthy clinical data will increase, providing a rich source of information for training AI tools.
As such a rich source of data, it’s hardly surprising that tech is eager to make its mark on the healthcare sector. And right now, challenging as the pandemic has been, it’s created the impetus and necessity for technological change, creating the perfect circumstances for innovators.
