University Health officials passed their first policy on artificial intelligence on Tuesday, providing a framework for adopting AI-powered technology across the system\u2019s hospitals and clinics.<\/p>\n
Artificial intelligence is already everywhere at University Health\u2019s main hospital in the South Texas Medical Center. From assisting radiologists in detecting breast cancer and transcribing conversations between doctors and patients, to the cleaning robots that sweep the hospital\u2019s floors, the technology is increasingly ubiquitous at not just University Health but most large hospital systems in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome organizations are way ahead of others. We\u2019re pretty far along in our AI journey,\u201d Bill Phillips, chief operating officer at University Health, said after the Tuesday board of managers meetings. \u201cAbout three years ago, we really started getting deep into it and starting to map out how we wanted to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n
University Health, Bexar County\u2019s public hospital system, is undergoing a $1.7 billion expansion<\/a> as it opens three new hospitals and two clinics across San Antonio.\u00a0The main hospital has seen an explosion in patient volumes over the last decade. <\/p>\n Health care systems across the U.S. are integrating artificial intelligence in every level of their operations: direct care to patients, like assisting doctors in making diagnoses, predicting patient outcomes and personalizing treatment plans; medical devices and diagnostic technology, like CT scans at University Health that can more effectively detect strokes; assisting administrative tasks like scheduling; and a whole lot more<\/a>. <\/p>\n Medical vendors are increasingly pushing AI-powered technology and devices, Phillips said, prompting the need for some guardrails.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to separate what\u2019s really applicable, what really works,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s not all equal.\u201d<\/p>\n The new policy conveys the health system\u2019s goal of using artificial intelligence to:<\/p>\n Reduce hospitalizations through predictive analysis and chronic disease management, improve patient monitoring to prevent complications;<\/p>\n Support the hospital\u2019s workflow by decreasing administrative burdens and streamlining workflows;<\/p>\n Reinforce clinical judgements and decision making by doctors and other personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most importantly, though, the policy makes it clear that artificial intelligence will only be used at the hospital system to augment \u2014 not replace \u2014 clinical decisions from human health care personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n