AI in Telehealth: Boosting Accuracy and Accessibility
The world of healthcare is moving towards an era where doctors are able to diagnose diseases with meticulous accuracy and patients are able to receive world-class healthcare services from the comfort of their homes. Artificial intelligence (AI) in telehealth is leading the charge, making high-quality healthcare more affordable and accessible for millions across the globe.
Exciting advancements in telehealth are impossible to imagine without machine learning (ML). Machine learning algorithms can be trained on vast amounts of data to identify patterns and make predictions that are used to develop AI-powered systems that can:
- Reduce the costs and frequency of doctor visits
- Assist clinicians with diagnosis and treatment planning
- Personalize recommendations and support for patients
- Automate administrative tasks so doctors can focus on patient care
- Track, identify, and monitor high-risk symptoms and complications
- Automate and streamline healthcare operations
- Increase the quality of patient care
Here are some of the key areas where AI is already helping to improve telehealth:
Virtual diagnosis
Providing an accurate diagnosis via telehealth can be challenging for even the most experienced clinicians, but AI is helping to improve the speed and accuracy of virtual diagnosis.
AI models can be trained with large datasets of medical records and images. The trained models are then used to help specialists diagnose patients faster and more accurately via telehealth. Along with the telehealth essential of a reliable video connection, this vast improvement in virtual diagnosis is especially beneficial to patients located in remote or hard to reach areas.
Healthcare wearables
Wearable devices can track a variety of health data, such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and activity levels. While no doctor has time to fully review the vast amounts of data a wearable can produce, AI-powered systems can easily pull out the key insights and patterns to provide doctors with actionable data on patients’ health and well-being.
Using telehealth solutions enabled by WebRTC, healthcare providers can directly interact with their patients in real time to address urgent medical issues and make informed medical decisions virtually.
Real-time transcription and translation
AI-powered speech-to-text technology allows for instant transcription of telehealth visits. This reduces the time needed for healthcare providers to take notes and provides a detailed and searchable record of the doctor/patient interaction. These transcripts also provide a rich source of data for medical AI to use in virtual diagnosis.
Real-time transcription also boosts accessibility by providing instant captioning that can assist those with hearing impairments. The live nature of AI-powered transcription also allows for real-time translation of spoken words, allowing healthcare providers to bridge language gaps without the need to learn new languages or use a translator.
Medical professional training
AI-powered systems can be used to train doctors and other medical professionals on new procedures and techniques while offering critical real-time support and feedback.
These systems can create accurate and dynamic simulations for complex procedures including heart and brain surgeries while allowing trainees to better understand their own procedural errors and improve based on the real-time feedback. This ultimately helps healthcare workers stay up-to-date on best practices, leading to better patient care.
Remote patient monitoring
AI-enabled remote patient monitoring helps doctors and caretakers view an individual’s health data remotely with real-time alerts.This is particularly helpful for patients who require post-surgical care orcontinuous care for chronic medical conditions as well as those in remote areas or too sick to travel for care.When combined with WebRTC-powered video, practitioners can enable instant telehealth checkups whenever needed based on monitoring data.
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)
As an industry within telehealth, the Internet of Medical Things (also known as IoMT) is an emerging specialized area that offers greater doctor-patient communication leveraging data-capturing and monitoring tools. These tools include the wearables and remote patient monitoring systems already discussed as well as more advanced medical devices—from infusion pumps to ingestible sensors and cameras.
Using the vast data sets generated by these connected medical devices, IoMT sets the stage for pinpoint accuracy in diagnosis while facilitating greater accessibility to better quality healthcare.
Conclusion
AI-powered telehealthpushes the limits of healthcare delivery by making it easy for doctors to gain data-backed insights about patients remotely. Combining AI’s ability to sift through vast amounts of data with telehealth’s ability to connect doctors to patients remotely in real time, AI-powered telehealth can help make the best care more affordable, accessible, and effective.
To learn more about AI in telehealth from industry experts, register for our upcoming webinar on November 14th here: Advances in AI and AR/VR for Telehealth: The Future of Healthcare Delivery.
