Can AI Help Deliver on the Promise of Value-Based Care in Medicine?
To say that 2023 was a profoundly transformative year for AI in healthcare would be an understatement. Most significantly, 2023 was the year when, for the first time, generative AI (GAI) tools became widely available to businesses and consumers, and their impact and rate of adoption in healthcare and drug discovery have been unprecedented. Now, as GAI becomes more and more ubiquitous in medicine, will AI prove to be the launching pad for the much-talked-about Value-Based Care (VBC) model long sought after by the healthcare industry?
VBC is a macro trend that is moving U.S. healthcare from a system driven by volume, i.e., a “fee-for-service” model, to one driven by patient outcomes and care quality. VBC emphasizes and incentivizes overall health but also poses administrative, clinical, and financial challenges for healthcare payers, self-funded employers, and providers.
However, GAI is poised to change all that and perhaps finally deliver on VBC’s promise. AI has tremendous potential to address the technology challenges of VBC and empower healthcare’s transition from volume to value.
AI technology—with the ability to aggregate massive volumes of data, uncover analytic insights, streamline repetitive tasks, minimize errors, and improve care quality—is already improving our ability to offer better care at a lower cost, which will lead to a successful VBC future. This is made even more possible when you add the power and potential of GAI and Large Language Model (LLM) solutions into the model. Such applications are quite capable of improving efficiency and reducing administrative burdens for clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals. As GAI and LLM-driven tools become more sophisticated, they can take over repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as manual data entry and reporting. That frees up human resources to focus on patients’ and members’ needs – the cornerstone of VBC.
Bessemer Business Partners, in its recently published 2024 Healthcare and Life Sciences Predictions, stated it believes that “This year, we predict we’ll see continued iteration in VBC models focused on specialties like cardiology, neurology, nephrology, and oncology. Innovation will be propelled by evolving payment models and newly approved high-cost therapeutics and diagnostics. For example, we expect to see new companies rise to meet the need to diagnose patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases after a new wave of neurodegenerative drugs like Leqembi are widely available.”
However, as with much we have written about AI and healthcare, for VBC to live up to its potential, all of this must be approached with serious consideration of transparency and ethics. The stakes are extremely high in healthcare, so there must be accountability to ensure patient and member safety. In fact, Bessemer included on its list of predictions that “It’s conceivable that the next largest healthcare AI startup could be a compliance-focused platform for monitoring privacy, data, and model assets in the wild.”
How Damo Helps Bring Advanced AI Solutions to Healthcare
We share the belief in the transformative power of GAI, particularly in the areas of medical research and the delivery of healthcare.
However, Damo Consulting recognizes that digital maturity varies widely across enterprises and technology solution providers. We are proud to help clients develop digital transformation roadmaps that can be implemented with informed technology choices to meet organizational objectives.
We bring deep industry knowledge, market insights, and technology skills to help develop and implement enterprise digital roadmaps. The companies that we have recognized in the past with the DigiM Award and will do again with the 2023 nominees and recipients represent those that are leading the way with best-in-class programs for digital health, technology-led innovation, and organizational governance models to drive the healthcare industry’s transformation to a digital future.
Damo Consulting focuses exclusively on the healthcare market with a strong understanding of the provider and payer space. We make it our mission to explore, understand, and evaluate the most pressing issues at the intersection of healthcare and technology, specifically in the context of digital transformation in healthcare.
Rohit Mahajan is a Managing Partner with Damo Consulting. He has particular expertise in the development and design of innovative solutions for clients in Healthcare, Financial Services, Retail, Automotive, Manufacturing, and other industry segments.
Since 2012, Damo Consulting has been working with leading healthcare enterprises on technology strategy and digital transformation. The firm has worked with some of the leading technology firms and emerging health IT companies to transform their brands and accelerate growth. For more information, visit Damo Consulting.
