The age of AI and evidence-based decision making in healthcare is upon us. HIMSS 2018 conference in Las Vegas indeed reaffirmed that statement, showcasing upcoming innovations to improve care automation and patient wellness. Almost all presentations included data visualizations; charts, and metrics that demonstrate how data drives their solutions and operations. This year's hot topics were once again AI, Blockchain, and Interoperability.
The performance-based model requires facilities to be transparent about their operations to determine quality scores based on metrics including readmission rates, deaths, and complications. Therefore, any improvement or intervention should have a positive, measurable impact on the quality ratings, patient satisfaction scores, and bottom line. AI's expected role in all of this is to help facilities improve patient care by revealing inefficiencies, enhancing medical diagnosis and predicting potential costly hazards to patients health, consequently, making healthcare more affordable for everyone. Big-name companies like Philips, IBM and Intel are indeed taking up their space in the AI innovation conversation, providing healthcare-specific solutions as well tools and technologies for developers to build and scale custom intelligent applications.
Once healthcare transitioned into the digital era, along with electronic medical records, data that reveals operational performance has become a significant facilitator in the decision-making processes. All the data that has been collected over the years now allow AI to be more productive and efficient. However, patient privacy, data ownership, data collection, and use raise a lot of ethical issues without strict guidelines and laws in place. The new GDPR guidelines that will be effective later this year in Europe will take a big leap towards giving users the control over their data while regulating the collection and use of it by other parties. In healthcare, patients will have full access to their health records, all tracking and data access will need to be opt-in, and patients will have controls to request the deletion of personal data or participate in specific research projects.
Ouva explicitly requests permission when tracking is required for a feature, for example wayfinding within a healthcare facility
At Ouva, we firmly believe that patient should have the full control of their experience and complete ownership of all associated data. Every step of the Ouva experience presents patients with commands to configure the extent of data collection and sharing with clear guidelines, complying with upcoming GDPR guidelines. We hope that the USA will soon follow the footsteps of EU and start enforcing much needed personal data protection laws and regulations to ensure the safety of each citizen's confidential information.
