Is your health data unstructured? Enabling AI-powered Health care future

Many businesses are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to cut operational costs, boost efficiency, increase revenue, and enhance customer experiences. To maximize these advantages, companies should consider integrating a wide array of smart technologies, such as machine learning and natural language processing, into their processes and products. Even organizations that are just starting to explore AI can still reap significant benefits.

If you were to ask a hospital IT executive how much of their data needs updating, most would say a large portion or even most of it. Conversely, if you asked a practice manager or doctor about the amount of health data requiring modification, they might respond with confusion, asking, “What do you mean?”

The truth is, many doctors, nurses, and practice managers are not particularly concerned with the data structure itself. What really matters is their ability to extract value from both structured and unstructured data within their organizations.

In the healthcare sector, the focus is predominantly on unstructured data. Our systems and software must be equipped to process this unstructured data if we are to embrace an AI-driven future in healthcare. Indeed, the evolution of an AI-centric healthcare environment relies on both structured and unstructured data.

Research also indicates that AI does not always excel when operating independently. While AI technologies can efficiently handle lower-level, repetitive tasks, businesses often see the most significant performance gains when humans and machines collaborate effectively.

To harness the power of this technology, it’s essential to think about AI augmentation instead of viewing it as a replacement for human capabilities. Many healthcare providers are hesitant about AI systems because they recognize that their existing data quality might not be up to par. Implementing AI could expose shortcomings in their data, leading to further challenges.

Technology should not be seen as a panacea for operational issues; rather, it is a tool that can amplify an organization’s existing state. If your organization is producing high-quality health data, then the AI-powered future can drive remarkable successes. However, if your health data is lacking in quality, these new AI solutions may merely highlight how the organization operates.

This is a critical lesson learned from the Electronic Health Record (EHR) experience. Healthcare organizations with ineffective workflows believed that implementing an EHR would resolve their workflow problems, rather than realizing that EHR systems often end up exposing these issues.

In essence, technology highlights and accelerates your current operational state. It rarely fixes problems on its own. Organizations must first address their workflows and then leverage technology to streamline and enhance those processes.