Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more than a buzzword in the healthcare industry; it represents a ground-breaking potential to transform healthcare in ways that optimize clinical outcomes, mitigate costs, and improve access to care. However, the actualization of AI’s latent potential in the healthcare sector hinges significantly on the alignment and cooperation between diverse stakeholders.
Stakeholders, in this context, are a diverse group that includes but is not limited to patients, providers, researchers, policymakers, business stakeholders and tech players. This broad stakeholder pool necessitates a harmonized approach to enable AI to improve health outcomes globally.
Nevertheless, achieving this coordination and cooperation presents a unique challenge—stakeholder alignment. It’s essential to design and integrate AI solutions that are in sync with the stakeholders’ needs, necessitating an unprecedented level of coordination and cooperation.
The potential implications of successfully addressing this challenge are manifold:
Development of Targeted AI Solutions: Stakeholder alignment can help develop AI solutions tailored to specific populations, especially in low-resource settings.
Global Equity in Health Outcomes: AI can significantly contribute to achieving universal access to quality healthcare, a key goal of healthcare.
However, an in-depth analysis of the adoption of AI in healthcare reveals the need to ensure stakeholder alignment and the implications of not facilitating stakeholder alignment which can lead to the following challenges in healthcare AI adoption:
Potential lack of trust: Trust is essential for the successful adoption of any new technology, and AI is no exception. If stakeholders can’t align and decide on the accuracy, reliability, and safety of AI systems, they will be reluctant to adopt them. This is especially true in the healthcare industry, where trust is paramount. Stakeholders’ mistrust of AI can deter its adoption.
Bias: Another challenge to the adoption of AI in healthcare is the potential for bias. AI systems can harbour biases if trained with data that doesn’t represent all demographics, leading to discriminatory outcomes. Consequently, AI systems are more likely to misdiagnose patients of certain races or ethnicities. The need for alignment across all sectors for effective data sharing to train the systems cannot be overemphasized.
Regulatory uncertainty: The regulatory landscape for AI in healthcare is still evolving, which can create uncertainty. For example, it is not yet clear which regulations apply to which AI systems, or how these regulations will be enforced. This uncertainty can slow down the introduction of more effective AI systems into healthcare hence the need for cross-sector collaboration.
To tackle these challenges head-on, a shared forum for effective stakeholder engagement is required. This shared platform can promote a common understanding of AI’s benefits and risks and foster transparent AI development and adoption processes.
A proven approach to achieving stakeholder alignment is to adopt the Five Cs of Stakeholder Alignment:
- Communication: Keeping stakeholders informed about AI’s progress.
- Cooperation: Collaborating to develop and adopt AI solutions that meet everyone’s needs.
- Compensation: Rewarding stakeholders for their contributions to AI.
- Commitment: Maintaining a focus on the long-term success of AI in healthcare.
- Compliance: Ensuring all AI solutions meet relevant regulations.
This blueprint can help navigate the intricate landscape of AI in healthcare, where stakeholders are in the thousands and development costs run into billions.
In light of complex dynamics, it is important to adopt an action plan that will foster purposeful collaboration between stakeholders. The action plan will:
- Develop a common forum for stakeholder discussions.
- Create a common understanding of AI’s benefits and risks.
- Establish clear and transparent processes for AI’s development and adoption.
- Implement the Five Cs of Stakeholder alignment.
- Monitor the progress of stakeholder alignment continuously.
The alignment of stakeholders is not just a minor hurdle; it’s a significant pivot upon which the success of AI in healthcare depends. But through concerted efforts, this challenge can be addressed. As stakeholders, we can help AI reach its full potential and bring us one step closer to the promise of quality healthcare for all. This process, while complex, is an opportunity to usher in a new era of healthcare, driven by the revolutionary capabilities of AI.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-022-00621-w
