Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is betting big on the proliferating trends of digitization, robotics, machine learning, and big data. With the digital disruption, globally, the volume of data across the industries is increasing at an exponential rate, somewhere around double every two years. Artificial Intelligence has walked quite far, driven by the rising needs to acquire meaningful insights from this ever-increasing data flow, almost across all the industries. Artificial intelligence is running quite well in the C-suite priority list and looks quite deterministic to acquire the leading position. According to estimates “Artificial Intelligence gathered a revenue of USD 8 billion in 2015, and is forecast to surpass a market value of USD 45 billion by 2020.”
When we talk about healthcare, AI has already generated a heavy momentum in this space by embarking its presence in various healthcare operations and is slated to unlock a series of potential opportunities over the coming years. It is estimated that over eight years down the line, i.e. by 2025, Healthcare artificial intelligence market will penetrate every sphere of the medical space, enabling a complete patient-centric model.
The digital transformation in healthcare is providing a major push to the artificial intelligence in healthcare market adoption rate. Digital health market, which is projected to surpass a revenue of USD 379 billion by 2024, will have a direct influence on the AI in healthcare industry trends. With the large pool of data from various sources such as EHRs (Electronic Health Records), Wearable devices, mobiles, health & fitness apps, etc. there is an evolving need to derive insights from these facts & figures to enable a better healthcare decision making. Machine learning tools examine and analyze these medical records and data to enable the designing of better diagnosis and treatment models for the patients.
The healthcare IT industry will also be noticeably impacted by the growing adoption of AI in healthcare. Looking at the pace at which AI is taking over the functions in the medical space, the jobs which are performed by the humans will also soon be passed on in the hands of Artificial Intelligence, driven by the highly efficient work implementation by this technology. In response to this fact, the rapid growth in the service robotics market is worth noticing. The computers fueled by AI are self-programmed, and at this rate of technology development, the machine language is projected to reach a complexity level which would eventually bypass the human understating capability.
Despite the challenges, it imposes on the future job scenario in the medical space, artificial intelligence has a long way to go via its ability to amplify the value for both the practitioners as well as the patients. Artificial intelligence in healthcare market not only improves the care delivery but also aids in better clinical decisions. The optimal treatment designing for the patients can be well achieved by deploying AI in healthcare. Moreover, the probability of misdiagnosis (10%-20%) during the treatment process of the patients, has been put forward as a major threat to the patient’s life. AI in healthcare can address this problem by analyzing the data of the patients by enabling accurate diagnosis and treatment method.
IT giants such as Google, IBM, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have already made a footprint in the deployment of artificial intelligence in healthcare market. Google’s Deepmind health project, for instance, is used for data mining of the medical records to enable better and faster health services. Google’s Deepmind also announced its latest five-year agreement with a UK NHS (National Health Service) trust, in which the latter will give its data access to Google for the development of the healthcare app, Streams. Streams is basically an app to alert the doctors or the nurses about a patient’s condition, in the form of a news and can enable a prompt necessary action.
IBM Watson is also penetrating deep in the ocean of opportunities via deployment of artificial intelligence in healthcare market. Oncology treatment is a major field being addressed by IBM Watson which suggests personalized treatments based on the complete data analysis of the patients. Another algorithm launched by IBM called ‘Medical Sieve’ is also envisioned to enable better clinical decisions in the cardiology and radiology fields. Microsoft, on the other hand, has also announced about its initiatives revolving around artificial intelligence in healthcare market, which will focus on oncology and radiology.
The expanding precision medicine market will also generate huge demand for deploying artificial intelligence in healthcare to identify patterns in medical records and huge genetic information base. It is estimated that almost half of the US population takes one prescribed medicine, and the probability of these drugs intake is ought to rise in the coming years, taking into consideration the frequency of chronic ailments and the increasing geriatric population base.
The rising healthcare costs have also boosted the adoption of artificial intelligence in healthcare market. US annual healthcare spending comes close to approximately USD 3 trillion. Healthcare expenditure is estimated to account for approximately 18% of the US GDP by 2018. The continuous efforts by the healthcare providers to lower the rising costs will increase the enhancement of artificial intelligence in healthcare market.
The active partaking of the technology firms worldwide will bring a revolutionary change in the way the medical industry is perceived in future against how it has been perceived so far. Companies are investing heavily in AI to stay ahead of the competition in terms of technologically advanced services and solutions. For instance, the latest announcement by Practo, a Bangalore-based online healthcare firm, to spend USD 55 million in Artificial Intelligence defines the level of participation and its huge betting on artificial intelligence in healthcare market.
The AI technology is on the verge of transforming the global healthcare industry, with its ability to enable an affordable, accessible, and accurate medical care. Global Market Insights, Inc. has a report titled “Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market Size By Application (Medical Imaging & Diagnosis, Drug Discovery, Therapy Planning, Hospital Workflow), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 – 2024” available at https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-artificial-intelligence-market