AI innovator talks about personalized treatment, improving telehealth and ethics
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered. And many healthcare professionals are exploring what exactly AI can do and deploying systems to help healthcare systems manage care and patients manage their health.
Dr. Renee Dua is the founder of Heal, a home visiting company in New York City, and founder of Together by Renee, an app for healthcare assistants that uses generative AI.
Together by Renee is free and intended to help everyone – especially older Americans and their caregivers – manage treatments, medications and everyday health care. The app has been tested and vetted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the AARP.
Dua believes AI has the ability to create personalized treatment without a doctor’s office being present. She also believes that AI can encourage innovation in telemedicine and has strong opinions on the ethics of AI in healthcare.
Healthcare IT news spoke with Dua to discuss these topics and give her a detailed insight into the AI-powered Together by Renee app.
Q. You say AI has the ability to create personalized treatment when a doctor is not present. Please provide some more information.
A. The potential of AI in creating personalized treatments in the absence of a doctor’s office will represent significant advances in healthcare. AI can analyze vast amounts of medical data, including patient histories from various sources, research studies, and current treatment protocols, to provide customized healthcare recommendations.
For example, AI algorithms can predict individual health risks by analyzing patterns in a person’s medical history, lifestyle and genetic information. This enables proactive and preventive care, allowing early intervention for potential health problems.
AI-powered platforms can also provide real-time monitoring and advice, especially for chronic conditions that require ongoing management. By integrating data from remote monitoring devices and mobile applications, AI can continuously analyze health statistics and alert patients and healthcare providers to any changes and trends.
This option is especially beneficial for disadvantaged patients or for those in remote or underserved areas where access to healthcare is limited.
Additionally, AI supports mental health treatment by identifying speech patterns that may indicate mental health issues. Through natural language processing, AI can detect signs of depression, anxiety and other conditions, enabling early intervention. This application is becoming increasingly important as mental health issues become more prevalent and healthcare systems struggle with limited resources.
Q. In what ways can AI drive innovation in telemedicine? And what would be the expected results?
A. AI is poised to drive significant innovation in telemedicine and improve healthcare in numerous ways. First, AI can improve diagnostic accuracy in telemedicine settings. By analyzing medical images and patient data, AI algorithms can help healthcare providers diagnose diseases more accurately and quickly, even when they are not physically present with the patient.
This is particularly useful in specialties such as radiology and pathology, where AI can enhance the expertise of medical professionals.
AI can personalize telemedicine experiences for patients. By analyzing patient data, AI can tailor healthcare recommendations, making them more relevant and effective for individual patients. This personalization can improve patient engagement and adherence to treatment plans, leading to better health outcomes.
AI can also streamline administrative tasks in telemedicine, such as scheduling appointments, refilling prescriptions, and following up with patients. Automating these tasks can reduce the burden on healthcare providers and support staff, allowing them to focus more on patient care and support an already problematic staffing model.
Additionally, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 patient support, answer questions and provide guidance, which is especially helpful in managing chronic conditions.
Q. You have strong opinions on the ethics of AI in healthcare. Please spell them out.
A. The use of AI in healthcare raises several ethical considerations that need to be addressed. Most important is the issue of privacy and data security. AI systems require access to large amounts of personal health information and it is critical to ensure that this data is treated securely and confidentially.
There is also a need for transparency about how AI algorithms use this data and make decisions, especially in diagnostic and treatment recommendations.
Another ethical problem is the potential for bias in AI algorithms. If the data used to train these algorithms is not diverse, the AI can develop biases that lead to unequal treatment of different demographic groups. Ensuring that AI systems are trained on diverse data sets is essential to prevent such biases and promote equitable healthcare.
Finally, there is the issue of liability. When AI systems are used in healthcare decision-making, it can be unclear who is responsible for the outcomes: the healthcare provider, the AI developers, or the AI system itself.
Establishing clear liability guidelines is critical to ensuring that patients’ rights are protected and that there is recourse in the event of error or malpractice. At this time, AI should only be used as a support to assist the doctor or healthcare provider.
Q. Please describe what Together by Renee is, how it works and who uses it.
A. Together by Renee is a health app that uses AI to revolutionize task management in healthcare, especially for older adults, people with chronic diseases, and their caregivers. This app is an example of how AI can simplify and improve healthcare.
The app uses generative AI to manage various healthcare tasks effortlessly. It can measure vital signs such as blood pressure through simple actions such as taking a selfie or using voice recognition to detect early symptoms of depression and anxiety.
By scanning videos of pill bottles, Together can build your health profile and know your medical conditions, doctors and medication dosages. This innovative approach provides an easy and… non-invasive monitoring of health conditions, making it highly accessible to users, especially the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
It also enables Together to proactively share prescriptive insights with users on necessary tests such as imaging and blood tests.
Additionally, Together by Renee helps schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and manage healthcare tasks without the need for typing or data entry, using just the smartphone camera and voice recognition. This functionality makes the app particularly useful for overwhelmed caregivers, providing them with a convenient and efficient tool to manage the health of their loved ones.
Outdated systems, complicated benefits, and fragmented care create a cumbersome and stressful experience for older Americans and their caregivers. This not only leads to a staggering $240 billion in higher healthcare costs and $500 billion in lost productivity each year, but also allows easily treatable diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type II diabetes and mental health problems to go untreated.
Our mission with Together is to unify every aspect of healthcare, from vital monitoring to mental health detection, into one intuitive platform. The potential impact is enormous, especially for the nearly 100 million Americans over 50 who live with more than two chronic diseases and the 53 million caregivers who often feel overwhelmed.
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