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Healthcare is a realm where even the smallest decision can impact a person’s life or death. In recent years, the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare has been innovating quickly, transforming various aspects of the medical field. In terms of electronic health records (EHRs), integrating AI is one of the most significant advancements.
Compared to older, paper-based systems, EHRs have drastically changed how medical information is kept and can hold much more data than humans; but their progress is far from complete.
EHRs are patient medical records stored digitally, including a patient’s medical history, health-related information, and records of treatments. These records can also be accessed by various healthcare providers from different departments, allowing for more accurate communication and coordination between different treating teams. The benefits of applying AI to EHRs include enhancing data analysis and insights, which classify and organize patient data, accelerating digital health, improving personalized care, and helping decision support. Through a machine learning algorithm, AI can find patterns and trends, which could lead to the early detection of diseases, better diagnoses, and personalized treatments. They can also take a conversation between a doctor and a patient, deconstruct the text, and use it to fill in the relevant information in the patient’s EHR. In addition, doctors can be alerted when patients can use a preventative screening, vaccination, or checkup, which takes personalized healthcare to the next level.
Globally, the EHR market is thriving. In 2023, it was valued at USD 32.23 billion, with an anticipated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.43% from 2024 to 2030. North America (the U.S. and Canada) holds the largest share of the global EHR market, forecasted to reach USD 2.7 billion by 2024. However, East Asia is estimated to develop fastest, holding 22.4% of the global EHR market share in 2024. The growth in East Asia is linked to the area’s healthcare system becoming digitally integrated due to the rising demand for high-quality services. Specifically, Singapore is one of the significant users of AI in healthcare worldwide, investing in AI to enhance data analytics and patient care. In addition, China’s healthcare AI boom is also strongly linked to the central government, which aims for China to become the world’s leading AI innovation center by 2030, accompanied by free public healthcare. To keep healthcare costs low and improve patient outcomes, hospitals in China are implementing AI-powered medical imaging systems for disease detection, drug discovery, chatbots, virtual assistants, remote patient monitoring systems, and more. China’s AI in healthcare is predicted to grow from USD 0.55 billion in 2022 to USD 11.91 billion by 2030.
Epic Systems Corporation is the largest EHR vendor, with nearly 38% of hospital installations and over 40 years of industry reputation. Epic is a healthcare software giant based in Verona, Wisconsin, whose technology is prevalent in hospitals and clinics worldwide. The company is integrating 100 new AI features, including generative AI that will help doctors revise message responses, letters, and instructions into plain language that patients can understand. Doctors can also use AI to automatically queue up orders for prescriptions and labs. These AI features aim to relieve clinicians’ documentation burden and bring evidence-based medical insights and research rights to doctors’ fingertips.
Regarding complications and challenges of integrating AI in EHRs, the most significant risk is data privacy and security; AI systems rely heavily on patient data, and sensitive information is a target for hackers. If AI systems are not appropriately protected, their data could become compromised. In addition, implementing AI solutions can be costly, and healthcare organizations must carefully evaluate costs.
Integrating AI with EHRs will revolutionize healthcare by enhancing accuracy, streamlining workflows, improving patient care, and helping decision support. The use, integration, and expansion of AI in electronic health records will continue to grow globally, with leading factors to help doctors and patients, as well as help store records more accurately and efficiently, paving the way for a healthier future for all.
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