Balancing the Role of Physicians and AI [Video]

AI development, implementation and insights entered into much of the conversation at the ViVE conference in Los Angeles. In a conversation with MedCity News Associate Editor Katie Adams, Smarter Technologies Chief Medical Officer Ruben Amarasingham, MD talked about the company’s larger goals for AI: to improve the accuracy of data and make healthcare less burdensome for physicians and clinicians.

Amarasingham pointed out that the company has received positive feedback from customers on how its technology has helped reduce the documentation burden for physicians. He also emphasized an important aspect of its technology is providing financial ROI to health systems, which have thin operating margins.

Acknowledging the concerns around how AI algorithms reach their conclusions, Amarasingham emphasized that Smarter Technologies’ approach is to provide transparency for that reasoning.

“I think the worry that people are having is, ‘Are these systems going to replace clinical judgement?’ One of the ways we’re approaching it is that these systems need to be very transparent about their reasoning.”

He explained:

“One of the remedies we’re pursuing aggressively at Smarter Technologies is very clear explanations of how did the AI came to this reasoning or rationale or suggestions for a clinical condition. … If we can recreate the way we think as a physician back to the physicians, that will create a lot of confidence and ability to check what the AI is saying and understand if it’s real or not.

“The second way is this concept called ‘human in the loop’ with AI systems which is, on our side having physicians and others who are in the loop of the output so it’s not just pure AI, it’s also clinicians in it. We’re finding for our partners, health systems this is one of the most important elements because they feel physicians are watching their back as well.”