It’s safe to say most of the focus on AI in healthcare concerns the myriad ways new AI tools can enhance clinical diagnoses and decision making. But there’s no shortage of changes underway on other healthcare fronts, as well.
A recent article on the senior care sector, for example, lays out the range of uses to which AI is being put in the name of compensating for a frequent lack of access to post-acute specialists.
“Clinical decision support tools that use AI can supplement the experience and judgment of staff when a specialist isn’t available – e.g., learning from data inputs and trends to enhance diagnosis, treatment suggestions, and even alerting clinicians to medication interactions. AI can also be used to derive key insights from healthcare and data stored in EMRs, payer claims files, consumer wearables, and government databases to improve care and control costs,” explained Rebecca E. Gwilt, partner and co-founder at Nixon Gwilt Law.
At the same time, AI is also having an impact on the daily living experiences of senior care facility residents.
For example, keeping residents mentally active.
“The mental engagement that happens when interacting with (AI-driven) smart speakers is fun,” noted Mark Gray, Founder and CEO of Constant Companion a provider of AI-powered voice and video solutions. “But it also keeps us mentally sharp and engages our brain. Engagement is huge and does so much for us at any age. There’s been lots of use of smart speakers and video products this last year. We all need connection, and I think that those are the things that people think about first – being able to call and see family.”
Further behind the scenes, AI is also changing the way senior care facilities are managed from an infrastructural perspective.
Frank Sullivan, Chief Business Development Officer at BrainBox AI, an AI HVAC provider, points to reductions in both energy expenditures and facility carbon footprint with his company’s technology.
“We strongly believe that advanced technologies, such as those driven by AI, deliver the best of both worlds: increased sustainability and financial gain,” Sullivan said.
Given the range of possibilities, it’s not surprising that stakeholders are advising careful planning for facilities managers interested in tapping new AI.
Rebecca Gwilt, for example, suggests that facilities take a multi-step approach to considering AI: first identify the problem at hand, then go looking for a solution.
“There are a lot of exciting innovations out there, but ultimately you should be thinking about tech as an investment that pays dividends, financial or otherwise,” she advised.