Creating impact with AI in isolated communities

05/10/24 • 50 min

Episode 4: Creating real impact with AI in isolated communities

In this episode, Dino, a pioneer in the digital health landscape, shares his insights on how digital solutions and AI are revolutionizing the healthcare industry. He discusses the critical challenges such as overcrowded healthcare facilities and the urgent need for support for healthcare professionals. Dino’s extensive work at Audere focuses on utilizing digital tools to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes, particularly in underserved communities.

Key Topics:

Digital Solutions for Overcrowded Healthcare Facilities: Dino explores how digital health can alleviate pressure on healthcare systems.
AI Tools in Healthcare: The role of AI and language models in enhancing diagnostic and conversational capabilities in healthcare settings.
Building Trust and Reliability: The importance of trust in technology, especially large language models, and how it's achieved through rigorous data handling and prompt engineering.
Partnerships and Local Collaboration: How forming strong local partnerships contributes to the successful implementation of technology solutions in healthcare.
Regulatory Support and Technology Verification: The necessity of regulatory backing in ensuring the safety and efficacy of new technologies.

Impactful Insights:

Improving access to rapid diagnostic testing through digital tools and AI.
Enhancing patient-provider conversations with advanced language models to make healthcare more accessible and efficient.
The significance of trust, reliability, and local partnerships in implementing successful digital health solutions.
Utilization of specific data sets and prompt engineering to enhance the accuracy and relevance of responses from large language models.
The role of specialization and niche focus in addressing particular healthcare and technology challenges.

Links

Audere

Episode 4: Creating real impact with AI in isolated communities

Key Topics:

Digital Solutions for Overcrowded Healthcare Facilities: Dino explores how digital health can alleviate pressure on healthcare systems.
AI Tools in Healthcare: The role of AI and language models in enhancing diagnostic and conversational capabilities in healthcare settings.
Building Trust and Reliability: The importance of trust in technology, especially large language models, and how it's achieved through rigorous data handling and prompt engineering.
Partnerships and Local Collaboration: How forming strong local partnerships contributes to the successful implementation of technology solutions in healthcare.
Regulatory Support and Technology Verification: The necessity of regulatory backing in ensuring the safety and efficacy of new technologies.

Impactful Insights:

Improving access to rapid diagnostic testing through digital tools and AI.
Enhancing patient-provider conversations with advanced language models to make healthcare more accessible and efficient.
The significance of trust, reliability, and local partnerships in implementing successful digital health solutions.
Utilization of specific data sets and prompt engineering to enhance the accuracy and relevance of responses from large language models.
The role of specialization and niche focus in addressing particular healthcare and technology challenges.

Links

Audere

Previous Episode

Bridging the Gap: The Last Mile of Healthcare with Bilal Mateen, Digital Square @ PATH

Episode 3: How do we meaningfully bridge policy and real impact at the last mile of healthcare.

Shubs Upadhyay interviews Bilal Mateen, Executive Director of Digital Square at PATH about digital health challenges and successes in underserved communities. They explore the importance of safety, regulatory considerations, and the need for inclusive data sets and data infrastructure. The discussion also covers the role of community health workers and the impact of AI and large language models in healthcare.

Addendum : [As of October 2024 Bilal is now Chief AI Officer at PATH]

Key Topics:

Digital Public Goods: Exploring how digital solutions can be accessible public goods.
Health Data Poverty: Discussing how this issue affects global health equity.
The importance of strong data infrastructure
Regulatory challenges : Bilal explores some of the work that still needs to be done
AI in Healthcare: Insights on the use of AI and large language models to improve healthcare outcomes.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Background
05:06 Digital Public Goods
07:04 How Health Data Poverty Plays Out
08:59 Reaching the Last Mile of Healthcare
15:47 AI and Large Language Models in Healthcare
29:00 Investing in Data Science Ecosystems and Regulatory Frameworks
32:59 More Global Representation in Regulation
37:03 Considering Local Nuances in AI Deployment
39:12 Divergent Approaches to Regulating LLMs
45:28 Regulation of LLMs as Medical Devices
48:40 Recommendations to Innovators about Healthcare Regulation

Links:

AMIE paper by Alan Karthikesalingam et al
Digitalsquare.org
Audere Website
Viamo Canada Call Centre
Siontis et al Paper on Diagnostic test comparisons

Next Episode

What is the right approach for regulation and evaluation of digital health technologies?

Episode 5: What is the right approach for regulation and evaluation of digital health technologies?

In this conversation, Shubs Upadhyay interviews Stephen Gilbert, a professor of medical device regulatory science, about the challenges and successes of digital health regulation and implementation.

They discuss the need for flexibility in regulation, the importance of feedback from clinicians and patients, and the evaluation of digital health technologies. They also explore the concept of suites or groupings of digital devices and the need for regulatory approaches that acknowledge their flexibility. Gilbert emphasizes the need for regulation to adapt to the changing landscape of digital health and to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

Stephen also talks about what health system leaders, policy makers and developers can learn from the challenges of the DiGA fast track reimbursement framework in Germany, the PECAN framework in France and what is coming in the UK. As well as calling out the stark differences in approach from the FDA and the EU, Stephen helps understand the deeper reasons for the different approaches.

On evaluation of effectivenss, Stephen emphasizes the importance of integrating different technologies into a cohesive system rather than treating them as isolated tools. The discussion also highlights the role of regulation in facilitating interoperability and promoting the use of digital technologies in healthcare.

A great section on the need for long-term thinking on exactly how we want to transform healthcare delivery, setting clear goals, and continuous feedback loops is emphasized, along with the recognition that digital transformation in healthcare requires investment, embedding and time to get back the ROI.

Takeaways

Flexibility is crucial in digital health regulation to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of technology and healthcare.
Feedback from clinicians and patients should be actively encouraged and integrated into the regulatory process.
The evaluation of digital health technologies should consider their unique characteristics and the need for holistic assessment.
Regulatory approaches should acknowledge the flexibility and groupings of digital devices, such as suites, to ensure they are fit for purpose.
Digital healthcare involves the integration of various technologies, such as teleconsultation and remote monitoring, into a cohesive system.
Regulation plays a crucial role in promoting interoperability and facilitating the use of digital technologies in healthcare.
Long-term thinking and clear goals are necessary for effective digital transformation in healthcare.
Continuous feedback loops and monitoring are essential for evaluating the effectiveness of digital health tools.
Investment is required for digital transformation in healthcare, and initial costs may be higher before yielding dividends.

Links to papers mentioned:

Paper on regulation, reimbursement approach: flexible groupings
Paper on regulation, reimbursement approach: flexible suites of technologies
A/B testing framework mentioned here

Stephen Gilbert, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology (Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health), leads a multidisciplinary team specializing in regulatory science for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices. With over 15 years of expertise in clinical research, computational biology, and regulatory science, he is committed to advancing digital health innovation and governance.