Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Others To Demo AI Healthcare Solutions in Las Vegas

Dozens of tech companies, including Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, and others, will converge on Las Vegas to present artificial intelligence solutions that they claim would save physicians and nurses a great deal of time.

HLTH, a healthcare technology conference that is anticipated to attract over 12,000 industry executives this year, officially begins on Sunday. AI methods to overcome administrative constraints will be the main attraction this year, according to the speaker schedule and statements made before the conference.

As they try to maintain patient records, communicate with insurance companies, and adhere to regulations, doctors and nurses are in charge of mounds of paperwork. Due in part to the fact that health data is fragmented and kept in many forms and suppliers, these duties are frequently laboriously manual.

A worldwide shortfall of 100,000 health care professionals is anticipated by 2028, in part due to the industry’s overwhelming administrative workload, which is a primary source of burnout, according to consultancy company Mercer. Tech businesses claim that their generative AI tools may help them gain a share of a market that might reach $6.8 trillion in expenditure by the end of the decade.

For example, Google stated that it is using AI to reduce administrative load in order to increase the number of its health-care clients.

Vertex AI Search for Healthcare, which the business first unveiled in a trial form at HLTH last year, will now be generally available, the firm revealed on Thursday. According to Google, Vertex AI Search for Healthcare enables developers to create solutions that assist physicians in doing speedy searches across various medical records. According to the corporation, Google’s Healthcare Data Engine now has new capabilities that assist businesses in creating the platforms required to enable generative AI.

According to survey data published by Google on Thursday, physicians devote about 28 hours each week on administrative duties. According to the poll, 91% of physicians expressed satisfaction with employing AI to expedite these duties, whereas 80% of clinicians stated that this administrative labour interferes with their time with patients.

Microsoft also unveiled on October 11 its suite of tools, the majority of which are still in the early phases of development, that are intended to reduce the administrative burden of physicians. These tools include medical imaging models, a health-care agent service, and an automated documentation solution for nurses.

Microsoft already provides a physician automated documentation tool through Nuance Communications, a firm it purchased in 2021 for $16 billion. DAX Copilot is an AI-powered application that transcribes doctor-patient encounters into clinical notes and summaries. This should ideally save doctors from having to spend time typing out these notes by hand.

Microsoft stated that it is developing a distinct application for nurses that is most appropriate for their workflows since physicians and nurses complete various kinds of paperwork throughout their shifts.

This year, the popularity of AI scribe tools like DAX Copilot has skyrocketed. Nuance’s rivals, including Abridge, which has allegedly received over $460 million, and Suki, which has garnered $165 million, will also be present at the HLTH conference.

In March, Abridge’s creator and CEO, Dr. Shiv Rao, told CNBC that the pace at which the medical community has embraced this new clinical record format felt “historic.” In the same month, Nvidia’s venture capital division made a highly sought-after investment in Abridge.

Additionally, Nvidia is preparing to handle the burden of HLTH’s physicians and nurses.

According to the conference website, Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, will give a keynote address on Monday on how generative AI would enable medical professionals to “dedicate more time to patient care.”

The models that drive OpenAI’s ChatGPT and related apps are developed and implemented using Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs. As a result, Nvidia has benefited greatly from the AI explosion. Nvidia’s stock quadrupled last year and is up more than 150% so far this year.

The business provides a variety of AI solutions for medical devices, drug development, genomics, and medical imaging, and it has been steadily expanding into the healthcare industry in recent years. In March, Nvidia also revealed enlarged alliances with businesses including GE HealthCare and Johnson & Johnson.

Even though the healthcare industry has a history of being sluggish to embrace new technology, since ChatGPT’s explosive rise two years ago, there has been no denying the excitement around administrative AI technologies.

They will be moving about the HLTH exhibition floor, but many health systems are still in the early phases of assessing suppliers and solutions. Tech firms will need to demonstrate that they are capable of handling one of the trickiest issues facing healthcare.