The promise of artificial intelligence in healthcare has been clear for years, but the healthcare industry is just starting to realize it large-scale implementations.
Many issues need to be resolved before large-scale implementation can be achieved. Michael Meucci, president and CEO of Arcadia, a health data platform company, works on some of these issues every day.
Meucci envisions better integration of artificial intelligence and workflow, and sees a holistic view of the patient as a cornerstone AI applications. These imperatives, along with reducing tensions in the artificial intelligence lifecycle, will be the top three priorities for hospitals and health systems in 2025, he said.
Question: You say that influencing AI numbers through workflow integration will be a major task in healthcare in 2025. Please expand on this point.
AND. While pilot programs have demonstrated the potential of AI, true integration into everyday workflows remains infrequent, and scaling effective applications of AI remains a top priority for 2025. For AI to truly reshape healthcare, it must become a seamless part of care teams’ workflows, moving from isolated systems to integrated, useful tools at the point of care.
By embedding AI in workflows, healthcare organizations can move from passive AI – such as listening to their surroundings or automatic note-taking – to lively decision support that physicians can trust and rely on.
The effectiveness of AI depends on its ability to support, rather than interrupt, clinical processes. Incorporating artificial intelligence into real-time decision-making processes at the point of care involves creating systems in which physicians do not have to deviate from their routine activities or rely on additional tools.
Instead, physicians should be able to access AI-powered information directly within their existing interfaces and processes – for example, in electronic health records. AI should serve as a noiseless partner, empowering clinical teams without requiring additional steps.
For healthcare leaders, the call to action is clear: prioritize investments that improve workflow integration over siled ones Artificial intelligence features. Building infrastructure that facilitates the availability of artificial intelligence in real time and directly used in clinical operations will provide lasting benefits.
As these systems mature, they will ultimately lead to an era of scaled AI deployments, moving AI from a novelty to a critical, reliable resource embedded in the fabric of healthcare delivery.
Q. You indicate the need for a holistic view of the patient as the basis for the employ of artificial intelligence throughout the enterprise. What will it look like?
AND. In 2025, a truly holistic view of the patient will be the basis for AI applications that will enable all staff to support deeper, holistic patient interactions. Achieving this requires a hearty data infrastructure that harmonizes data sources such as clinical data, claims data, and social determinants of health data so that AI can draw insights that support patient-centered care, regardless of who is interacting with patient.
A comprehensive and longitudinal view of the patient enhances the value of AI by providing a reliable foundation of patient data that everyone across the enterprise can consistently trust and leverage. For example, this single view allows AI to generate recommendations tailored to the patient’s full medical and social context.
Imagine an AI-powered call center where staff can view not only a patient’s insurance benefits but also relevant health information, such as health care gaps, enabling agents to answer questions and take action, such as urging a patient to undergo screening, with empathy and precision.
A holistic approach means that whether a patient interacts with clinical staff, support staff or even financial services providers, they receive informed support tailored to their unique health journey.
To make this vision a reality, Healthcare leaders must prioritize data standardization and invest in systems that promote scalable, real-time access to data. With these investments, healthcare organizations can enable every employee to serve as a well-informed point of contact in patient care.
This paradigm shift – where everyone has access to patient knowledge – improves the patient experience by transforming all interactions into opportunities for proactive, patient-centered care management.
Question: You anticipate that vendor organizations will work to reduce the push-pull tension throughout the AI lifecycle. Please explain.
AND. Healthcare organizations find themselves caught between a sturdy push to adopt AI systems and significant internal resistance due to regulatory, ethical and logistical concerns. This push-pull tension reflects a broader industry conflict of pushing AI advances while encountering obstacles that ponderous implementation.
To overcome this problem in 2025, healthcare leaders must adopt strategies that simultaneously drive AI innovation and improve governance, regulatory compliance and risk management, establishing AI as a core element of their operations without creating additional obstacles.
Acceleration AI must be purposeful and focused on high-impact tasks that can be automated to free up human resources for higher-value work. Healthcare managers should start by identifying low-value, time-consuming tasks that can be taken over by AI, such as data entry or basic patient queries.
Delegating such tasks to AI allows clinicians and their staff to focus on convoluted patient-facing interactions. Strategic automation of repetitive functions will assist organizations raise productivity and reinvest profits into increasing the reach and effectiveness of AI systems across the enterprise.