Transforming Global Health: The Impact of AI and Emerging Technologies on Healthcare Delivery

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Venky Ananth, EVP and Global Head of Healthcare, Infosys

How have recent technological advancements contributed to significant improvements in global health outcomes?

Healthcare is undergoing a transformation, where cutting-edge technology and advanced algorithms are reshaping how we diagnose, treat, and manage an individual’s health. From enhancing diagnostic accuracy, driving connected care to automating routine tasks and streamlining administrative processes, technology is driving unprecedented improvements in care accessibility, efficiency and effectiveness. This in turn is influencing health outcomes too.

Technologies like AI and ML are optimizing resource use, reducing manual administrative process overheads thereby accelerating and improving patient care. For instance, traditionally, prior authorizations were time-consuming, leading to treatment delays. However, with AI solutions, these approvals can now be processed much faster, allowing patients to get timely care. Further, particularly for chronic care management, digital health solutions such as AI, IOT are helping drive insights continuously to control/prevent health issues as well as reduce hospital admissions and re-admissions.

As a result, global health outcomes are improving, healthcare providers, payers are operating more efficiently, and the overall healthcare system is evolving to become more responsive, capable, and patient centered for the masses.

In what ways are AI and machine learning currently being utilized to transform healthcare delivery?

Today, Healthcare industry generates the highest amount of data as compared to others with multi-disciplinary complex business processes that drive lot of manual inefficient workflows throughout member care journey. The highly regulated environment of this industry also drives the need for agility in business and IT solutions. AI can help improve efficiencies and enable operational excellence by unifying and digitizing the workflows, driving timely insights and bringing in automations. Thus AI solutions are utilized for reduction of manual work flows and paper-trails through automation in the business core processes and to improve overall process turnaround time. For clinicians AI solutions are helping reduce their administrative tasks so that they can focus on core clinical tasks.

With complex care coordination processes across payer and providers, often care efficiencies are impacted. AI solutions can help drive automations through clinical documents digitization, standardization as well as help drive efficient clinical decisions including prior-authorizations. AI solutions are currently being used to improve the care accessibility and efficiency through accelerated authorizations, data insights driven health risk assessments and driving remote patient monitoring or telehealth scenarios as well for generating health insights through monitoring.

What are the most promising AI-driven innovations in diagnostics and treatment, and how do they compare to traditional methods?

With AI-driven innovations, there is a paradigm shift in detection and treatment of various diseases. It is changing the game by analyzing complex data from various sources, including medical histories, lab results, and imaging studies. Diagnosing a disease is considered a reactive process where healthcare providers wait for symptoms to arise and are often diagnosed only after they have progressed, which delays treatment and worsens outcomes. But with AI, there are algorithms that can detect patterns in medical images more quickly and accurately. For example, MIT researchers have developed a deep learning system to predict breast cancer risk from mammograms years before it develops. It further revolutionizes the treatment front as well, leading to prompt and accurate treatment.

How is Infosys addressing the challenge of equitable access to healthcare through its technology solutions?

With digital health solutions including AI-augmented care management, overall accessibility to care has improved a lot for all geographical patient population. AI-led solutions are helping drive population insights across various dimensions of clinical as well as social determinants which in turn is helping drive the whole person unbiased care. At Infosys we are providing solutions and services around telehealth/digital health which help improve and expand care accessibility. We have been working on AI solutions for care plan management however our AI solutions are also supported with Responsible AI guardrails that help ensure fairness and inclusivity in the clinical/care recommendation engines.

How do regulatory complexities impact the adoption of new technologies in healthcare, and what can be done to navigate these challenges?

Regulatory complexities act as both a safeguard and a barrier, playing pivotal role in shaping the adoption of new technologies in healthcare. Healthcare organizations must navigate a maze of regulations, such as HIPAA, FDA guidelines, and AI Laws that can create a substantial compliance burden.

Balancing innovation with regulatory compliance is essential for advancing healthcare technologies. By engaging with regulators early, adopting agile practices, collaborating with stakeholders, investing in education, and leveraging technology, healthcare organizations can navigate the complexities of regulation while fostering an environment conducive to innovation. This approach not only enhances patient care but also positions organizations to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape.

What emerging technologies do you foresee having the most significant impact on global health in the next decade?

We have come a long way since the first vaccine was developed in the 18th century. Today, we have smart bandages equipped with sensors that aid in wound healing. Considering the incredible advancements we have made, it’s truly exciting to envision where technology will lead us next. The possibilities for improving healthcare and patient outcomes are limitless.

Looking ahead, we can anticipate that healthcare will continue to evolve, becoming even more accessible to everyone. Innovations such as AI, VR/AR, 3D-printing, blockchain and robotics are set to further transform healthcare significantly by enhancing diagnostic precision, personalizing treatments, and improving patient care. These advancements will not only enhance the way care is delivered but also improve patient experiences and outcomes across the continuum of care.

How is Infosys adapting its healthcare solutions to meet the growing demand for personalized and transparent healthcare experiences?

At Infosys, our mission is ‘Delivering Harmony in Healthcare’. Our solutions around connected care ecosystem, patient engagement and transparency of care are helping drive this mission through digitization, unifying care coordination and building connected experiences. Technology advancements such as AI and Gen AI, AR/VR, etc. are helping boost personalized patient centric care. Our strategies aim to be aligned with all the technology advancements in healthcare including being AI-First and emerging tech solutions. Our Innovation Labs focus on building emerging tech solutions with Human-Centered-Design approach in our healthcare solutions. In our AI-First strategy for healthcare we are driving personalization solutions right from plan recommendations to clinical recommendations around triage, authorizations as well as care plans by leveraging patient data insights. We are bringing in transparent experiences through member touchpoints management as well as Responsible-AI guardrails.