AI and Public Health Series: Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-enabled medical technologies and processes hold the potential to significantly improve individual patient care and public health. This R Street series explores how AI/ML systems are already advancing medical capabilities and health outcomes in important ways.
The Profound Potential for AI-Enabled Health
While definitions vary, AI generally involves the exhibition of learning and problem-solving by a machine. ML is an approach to AI that involves a process by which a computer, using large amounts of data, can train and improve an algorithm or model without step-by-step human involvement. AI/ML systems are constantly learning and improving through ongoing experiments and new data inputs.
As these systems become more advanced and data science grows more sophisticated, the ramifications for public health could be profound. Some analysts argue that AI/ML presents “a once-in-a-century opportunity” and estimate that the technology could generate $60 billion to $110 billion a year in economic value across life sciences and various subsectors, which “promises unquantifiable effects on human health and well-being.” Other medical science experts have estimated that “widespread AI adoption within the next five years using the technology available today could result in savings of 5% to 10% of healthcare spending, or $200 to $360 billion annually.”
Policymakers Take Notice
A major 2022 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and National Academy of Medicine examined the potential for AI to address various challenges in the U.S. health care system, including demographic shifts, burgeoning costs, and other problems that “illustrate the critical need to better address the effectiveness and efficiency of our nation’s health care delivery systems.” The Biden administration also issued a major executive order on AI last year that highlighted the opportunity to “[a]dvance the responsible use of AI in healthcare and the development of affordable and life-saving drugs.” This series will explore these opportunities in more detail.
When considering the role of public policy for AI/ML-enabled technologies, it is important to identify the trade-offs associated with various proposed or existing rules. Safeguards are needed, but when lawmakers contemplate policies for AI, they must keep in mind the potential unintended effects of regulation. The question they should be asking themselves is: Will the policies we are considering—or those that already exist—hold back promising new algorithmic innovations and treatments that could improve or even save lives?
For example, at a recent R Street Institute event, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) noted that AI holds the potential to achieve administrative savings for federal health insurance programs or, better yet, reduce the number of people dependent on them by identifying and treating ailments sooner. This is important because federal healthcare spending accounted for 29 percent of net federal outlays in fiscal year 2023.
Flexible, bottom-up public policies are essential if our nation hopes to maximize health outcomes while also making care more affordable. In 2023, Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, released the “Framework for the Future of AI.” “A sweeping, one-size-fits-all approach for regulating AI will not work and will stifle, not foster, innovation,” Cassidy argued. “Likewise, we must adapt our current frameworks to leverage the benefits and mitigate the risks of how AI is applied to achieve certain goals. And only if our current frameworks are unable to accommodate continually changing AI, should Congress look to create new ones or modernize existing ones,” he concluded.
Letting Technology Work Its Magic
Fear-based policies that delay innovations could limit AI’s potential to advance meaningful health outcomes. As Sen. Cassidy suggests, policymakers should tap existing rules and regulations to address concerns as needed and work to also understand how those policies—or newly proposed rules—could compromise health outcomes and cost savings.
We hold the power in our hands to significantly expand the horizons of human health and well-being with the power of path-breaking AI innovations. This series will explain how it can happen—if we let it.
- Part 1: How AI Can Advance Medical Knowledge and Improve the Patient Experience
- Part 2: How AI Can Help Tackle Major Causes of Suffering and Death
- Part 3: How AI Can Revolutionize Drug Discovery
Coming Soon:
- How AI Can Make Healthcare More Affordable and Accessible
- How the FDA Is Approaching AI/ML-Enabled Medical Devices