Reducing clerical duties and paperwork will free healthcare staff to spend more time on clinical care

The efficiency and convenience that artificial intelligence (AI) has brought to various sectors is now reaching healthcare, promising transformative impacts across patient outcomes, clinical research and administrative processes. William Flanagan, co-founder and technology and commercial director at OpenSky, a pioneer in AI-driven digital transformation, shares insights into how generative AI is reshaping healthcare.

Unlocking new efficiencies in healthcare

“We are on the cusp of something that is really unveiling huge possibilities,” he asserts. Yet these possibilities must be underpinned with safety, privacy and ethical considerations.

Time saving and efficiency are common themes when it comes to the digital transformation of healthcare, but for such a resource-intensive and specialised sector, integrating novel technologies may present an organisational challenge. Reticence when it comes to embracing AI in the healthcare setting is completely understandable, Flanagan says.

“There is some trepidation but the way we see it is that it’s just another element of intelligent automation within the overall digital transformation agenda that’s already happening. We aren’t going to remove somebody from their role and put AI in its place.”

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On the contrary, strong expertise is required so that AI can be utilised to its full capabilities. “A poorly-trained AI model being used by somebody with insufficient expertise is not going to give you the results you need, certainly not in a healthcare setting. In this scenario what we are looking at is a tightly trained AI model that can augment existing systems that are already in place to enhance and improve existing automation.”

He maintains that harnessing the power of generative AI in existing applications while ensuring that sensitive healthcare data remains protected, can have “immediate results” with much lower than expected investment.

Flanagan is optimistic about the broad applications of AI in healthcare: “From reducing wait times and optimising treatment plans to managing healthcare resources more effectively, AI’s role is becoming increasingly fundamental.” He emphasises that AI does not replace human expertise but rather enhances it, providing tools that help healthcare professionals perform at their best.

Case studies

Flanagan highlights several scenarios where AI has already made significant strides: “Imagine the daily tasks in a hospital setting – scheduling, patient data processing and even preliminary diagnostics. Generative AI can streamline these processes, dramatically reducing the time spent on them.” By automating routine tasks, AI allows healthcare staff to devote more time to patient care and less to administrative duties.

This is just one case for generative AI within healthcare, but it is obvious that any development that saves a clinician’s time will be of immense value. OpenSky enables this but with the necessary security elements, Flanagan says. “This would only happen in accordance with a very strict set of guidelines that have been set out by us in conjunction with our customer. The information gleaned from those records is presented to the end-user in a very controlled way – you aren’t taking sensitive documentation and putting it into Chat GPT on the public internet or anything like that. You are using it in a very tight and controlled way where you can train your AI model to be very predictable and give you the answers you need,” he explains. “We are trying to free up people’s time so they are not spending hours and hours on clerical effort when that could be spent on the clinical side of things.”

Ethical considerations

As AI technology permeates healthcare, ethical considerations take centre stage. “The challenge lies in implementing AI solutions that respect patient confidentiality and ensure data integrity,” Flanagan notes. OpenSky follows stringent protocols to maintain the safety and privacy of health data, an approach that prevents unauthorised data usage and ensures AI interventions remain reliable and transparent.

Data governance is of paramount importance in healthcare, and data privacy legislation such as the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2 directive) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have posed challenges. But rather than being restrictive, these regulations should be viewed as an opportunity. Historically the health service has been slow to use its data, but this is slowly changing, encouraged by the imminent introduction of the European Union’s European Health Data Space (EHDS) and Ireland’s own health information bill.

With the introduction of further regulations, Flanagan sees a significant opportunity: “These regulations aren’t just hurdles; they guide us in creating a secure environment for using and sharing sensitive data responsibly.”

“People should look at data governance as an empowering thing because if you have a properly governed data ecosystem within your operation you can really start to harness the power of your open data,” Flanagan says.

Looking forward, Flanagan envisions an expanded role for AI in clinical research. “AI can analyse vast arrays of data to identify patterns that might go unnoticed by human researchers, accelerating the pace of medical breakthroughs,” he explains. This capability is crucial for developing new treatments and understanding complex medical conditions.

At the Future Health Summit this May, OpenSky will showcase how AI solutions enhance patient care through advanced data analysis and process automation. See futurehealthsummit.com for details