In the latest of a series of articles Alison Houghton, of Progress, discusses the ways in which technology can personalise the healthcare experience.
Population diversity has been a driving factor for information technology (IT) adoption. According to Our World in Data, new technology adoption and saturation is occurring at double-digit rates , e.g., in 2011 only 35% of Americans had a smartphone and eight years later nearly 81% of Americans have a smartphone. In comparison, the telephone was invented in Italy in 1849; the first US patient for the phone was granted 27 years later in 1876; and it took another century for the telephone to be widely adopted.
The speed of IT adoption coupled with saturation creates a potent brew for personalisation in healthcare. With a growing population that is hyper-diverse, personalisation is about building care models and solutions that enable inclusion and standardization. The healthcare industry, which is standards-based, has the optimal foundation for delivering personalisation that can improve patient experience and drive clinical outcomes.
“I Am Not a Number…”
We live in a world where every interaction is a data point that fuels algorithms that tailor information and resources to our unique wants and desires. As we move from volume to value, the drive to efficiency, standardization and modernization has created an unforeseen consequence—the indignation of patients being dehumanized to statistics.
Personalisation in healthcare is like the 1967 Ali vs Liston match–raw, powerful, and emotional. During the fight, Mohammed Ali kept screaming at Liston: “What’s my name?” Personalisation in healthcare answers: “What’s my name?”, which is a necessary question that establishes the human connection in how patients and providers interact.
Aldous Huxley wrote: If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely. When we strip away the data noise of our digital world, we are simply left with the basic and raw desire to be seen and heard as a unique individual, not a number. In the brave new world of digital connectivity, the seamless nature of algorithmic personalisation or being seen as different is a driving force in how many of us engage with our care providers.
The Role of AI/ML
The benefits of IT can be limitless however, the vastness of readily available information can be intimidating and daunting. In the last decade, healthcare has embraced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate processes, personalize care management and deliver new care models. Healthcare practioners and IT professionals are maximizing prodigious amounts of personal health information to deliver personalisation for behavior modification (e.g., medication and scheduling adherence).
Currently, the most successful adaption of AI/ML occurs when IT solutions are used to solve real-world healthcare pain-points. For example, chatbots can be used in personalized care management to deliver critical information to patients about their appointments, procedures or care. Chatbots can also be used to facilitate communications amongst caregivers and providers. When chatbots are layered with AI/ML, they can be used to ascertain the likelihood of what type of information the patient will need and what level of detail should be provided.
Personalisation to drive behavior modification can reduce recidivism due to drug dependence. Some healthcare organizations are utilizing AI/ML to tailor treatments to patients—anywhere, anytime—by using multiple patient data points such as type of drug dependency, race, age, postal code and socio-economic factors. These new behavior modification treatment models are using personalisation to uncover the public health ramifications of addiction for the individual and their communities. It should be noted that many of these personalized behavior treatment models are new, but the initial results are promising.
The Key to Inclusive Patient Care
Necessity is the mother of invention and for healthcare practioners, who are caught in a unique quagmire—high rates of clinician burn out coupled with a chronically ill population living longer—IT solutions with personalisation are a scalable necessity for delivering inclusive patient care across the continuum of care. As healthcare boldly combines IT solutions, clinical standards and bedside manner to create new care models to deliver real world results, healthcare organizations are in an enviable position of being innovators, not laggards.