What You Should Know:
– A new study by intelligent automation company ABBYY reveals that fear of missing out (FOMO) is a major factor driving AI investment in healthcare.
– The study reveals that 57% of global healthcare providers expressed concern that their organizations will fall behind if they don’t embrace AI.
Efficiency and Patient Service as Key Drivers
While FOMO plays a role, over half (52%) of healthcare leaders also cite increased efficiency and improved patient service as primary motivations for AI investment. Additional factors include customer expectations, proven results, and the need to stay competitive in the market.
Trust Issues Persist
However, the healthcare sector exhibits more skepticism towards AI compared to other industries. Only 77% of healthcare leaders trust AI to benefit their business, compared to 82% in financial services and 86% in IT and professional services. Concerns center around data reliability and accuracy, interpretation and analysis, cybersecurity, and potential misuse by employees.
Healthcare AI Investment on the Rise
Despite these concerns, 95% of healthcare leaders plan to increase AI budgets next year, with 60% expecting a significant increase of 11% to 30%. The most trusted AI tools in healthcare are Large Language Models (LLMs) and purpose-built AI like intelligent document processing (IDP). These also happen to be the most widely used AI tools in the sector.
Balancing LLM Potential with Purpose-Built Solutions
The healthcare industry’s confidence in LLMs despite their known limitations highlights a growing maturity in AI adoption. Organizations are increasingly combining LLMs with purpose-built tools like IDP and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to address specific business needs and enhance trust in LLM-powered solutions.
Ethical Use and Regulation
While 95% of healthcare IT leaders believe their employers are following AI regulations, only 53% have formal policies in place, and just 39% plan to implement them soon. This suggests a need for clearer guidance and policies on AI usage within the healthcare industry.
Key Areas of AI Adoption in Healthcare
The study also identifies the top departments where AI is currently being utilized in healthcare:
- Customer service (58%)
- Marketing (47%)
- Operations (40%)
- Procure to pay (31%)
- Finance and administration (29%)
- Compliance (26%)
“It’s interesting to see the healthcare sector’s faith in LLMs despite the initial skepticism towards their tendency to hallucinate or provide inaccurate results. This indicates that the market is maturing by incorporating purpose-built tools and systems like IDP and RAG into their AI strategy, using them to address specific business needs and enable more trust in LLM-powered solutions,” said Maxime Vermeir, Senior Director of AI Strategy at ABBYY.
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