Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the healthcare landscape, prompting vital discussions about its potential benefits, limitations, and the best ways to integrate it effectively. As we see an increasing number of organizations exploring AI-driven solutions, understanding the terminology, applications, and strategic considerations becomes essential for healthcare leaders and practitioners alike. This article aims to demystify AI in healthcare, highlight successful implementations, and offer guidance on making informed decisions about adopting this powerful technology.
Background
The surge of AI advancements in 2023 has brought the technology into the limelight, raising important questions about its role in supporting healthcare systems. When deployed thoughtfully and in suitable contexts, AI can help address many of the sector’s longstanding challenges, from improving patient outcomes to streamlining administrative processes. To assist healthcare organizations in navigating this complex environment, this primer provides clear explanations of AI terminology, showcases real-world examples, and offers practical tips for implementation. It is designed for board members, clinicians, and all stakeholders interested in understanding how AI can be harnessed to enhance healthcare delivery. For a historical perspective on AI’s early days in medicine, see this overview of AI’s initial applications in healthcare.
Demystifying AI in Healthcare: The Jargon Buster
Understanding the language of AI is crucial for making informed decisions. Here, we clarify key terms and concepts, with practical examples relevant to healthcare settings.
The Basics
- Automation / Robotic Process Automation (RPA): This involves specialized software executing repetitive tasks based on predefined workflows created by humans. Tasks like appointment reminders, notifying patients of missed visits, or processing receipts are common examples. In healthcare, automation supports patient monitoring, medication management, and administrative duties in hospitals and clinics.
- Algorithm: A set of explicit rules or procedures that an AI system uses to perform specific tasks such as detecting patterns, generating insights, or making predictions.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): The ability of a computer system to imitate human cognitive functions, including learning, reasoning, visual perception, and language comprehension. By leveraging mathematical models and pattern recognition, AI can simulate decision-making processes, assist diagnostics, and personalize treatment plans.
- Data: All types of information that can be analyzed for insights, including numbers, text, images, videos, and sounds. In healthcare, data encompasses patient records, clinical notes, lab results, and real-time health monitoring outputs.
- Machine Learning (ML): A subset of AI focused on systems that automatically learn from data to improve performance without being explicitly programmed. ML can identify complex patterns, forecast disease progression, and optimize clinical workflows.
- Model: A trained algorithm that recognizes patterns in data to make predictions or decisions without ongoing human input.
- Prompt (Engineering): The input—such as questions or commands—used to elicit responses from an AI model, facilitating human-AI interaction.
Interpreting Models
- Accuracy: A measure of how often an AI model’s predictions are correct across all cases, indicating overall correctness. It is most meaningful when classes are balanced but can be misleading if data is skewed.
- Bias: Systematic prejudice in AI results caused by flawed assumptions or unrepresentative training data, which can reinforce social inequalities. For example, pulse oximeters have been shown to be less accurate for individuals with darker skin tones, highlighting potential biases.
- Explainability: The extent to which AI decisions can be understood by humans. For instance, an AI model recommending surgical interventions should be able to justify its reasoning.
- Explainable AI (XAI): AI systems designed so that their decision-making processes are transparent and understandable to users.
- Model Drift: The decline in an AI model’s predictive accuracy over time due to changes in data patterns or environments, such as shifts in patient demographics or clinical practices.
- Precision: The proportion of positive predictions that are correct, reflecting the accuracy of positive classifications.
- Scalability: The ability of an AI system to handle increasing data volume and complexity without loss of performance.
- Sensitivity (Recall): The ability of an AI model to correctly identify true positive cases, important in screening for rare conditions.
- Specificity: The capacity of a model to accurately identify true negatives, reducing false alarms.
- Training a Model: The process of teaching an AI system to recognize patterns through exposure to curated data, such as clinical information used to improve diagnostic accuracy.
Types of Data
- Big Data: Large, complex datasets that surpass traditional processing capacities, including genetic information, medical histories, and lifestyle data used for personalized medicine.
- Structured Data: Organized information formatted in clear rows and columns, like electronic health records (EHRs) with standardized fields such as age, diagnosis codes, and vitals.
- Synthetic Data: Artificially generated data that mimics real data patterns, often used to train models while protecting patient privacy.
- Test Data: Separate datasets used to validate the performance of AI models after training.
- Training Data: Data utilized to teach AI systems to recognize patterns and make predictions.
- Unstructured Data: Unorganized information such as clinical notes, images, and audio recordings, which require advanced analysis techniques.
- Validation Data: Unseen data used to evaluate how well an AI model generalizes to new, real-world cases.
Types of Machine Learning
- Artificial Neural Networks: Algorithms inspired by the human brain’s structure that process complex data to recognize intricate patterns.
- Reinforcement Learning: A method where AI learns optimal actions through trial and error, guided by feedback, useful in personalized treatment optimization.
- Semi-supervised Learning: Combines a small amount of labeled data with large unlabeled datasets to improve learning efficiency, valuable when labeling is costly.
- Supervised Learning: Uses labeled datasets to train algorithms for tasks like disease diagnosis from medical images.
- Unsupervised Learning: Finds hidden patterns within unlabeled data, such as clustering patients based on symptoms.
Types of Models
- Deep Learning Models: Advanced neural networks capable of processing vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, increasingly used in pathology and radiology.
- Foundation Models: Large, pre-trained models adaptable to various tasks, exemplified by language models like ChatGPT.
- Human-in-the-Loop: Systems where humans and AI collaborate, with humans guiding, training, or validating AI outputs to improve accuracy.
- Large Language Models (LLMs): AI models that understand and generate human language, supporting clinical decision-making and patient communication.
- Multimodal Models: Combine different data types, such as images and text, to improve diagnostic accuracy, like integrating radiology images with patient history.
Applications of AI
- AI Hallucination: When AI generates false or misleading information that appears factual, which can have serious implications, such as recommending incorrect medications.
- Ambient AI: Invisible, background AI that monitors environments in real time to enhance patient safety and operational efficiency without direct user intervention.
- Computer Vision: Enables machines to interpret visual data, such as detecting diabetic retinopathy from retinal scans.
- Decision Support Systems: Tools that analyze complex data to assist clinicians in making informed decisions, like diagnosing from imaging.
- Digital Twins: Virtual models of physical objects or systems, used in simulating patient responses or optimizing treatment strategies.
- Generative AI (Gen AI): Capable of creating new content such as synthetic biological data or training simulations.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): Empowers computers to understand and process human language, extracting valuable information from clinical narratives.
- Predictive Analytics: Uses historical data to forecast future health outcomes, aiding proactive intervention strategies.
How the Healthcare System is Using AI
AI’s versatility is evident across clinical and administrative domains, from reducing appointment no-shows to streamlining wound care. Implementations not only improve efficiency but also foster equitable access and better patient outcomes. For example, many NHS trusts are deploying AI tools to predict patient attendance, thereby reducing missed appointments. To explore the history of AI’s initial healthcare applications, see this comprehensive overview.
Reducing DNAs and Last-Minute Cancellations
Background
Mid and South Essex (MSE) NHS Foundation Trust serves approximately 1.2 million residents. Its current no-show and cancellation rate hovers around 8%, slightly above the national average. These missed appointments are particularly problematic for patients balancing work and caregiving responsibilities, often from marginalized communities, exacerbating health inequalities. Data shows that appointment adherence is lower in deprived populations, underscoring the need for targeted solutions.
Previous Approaches
Traditionally, practices relied on blanket reminders—letters, SMS, calls—to prompt attendance. However, these generic methods do not account for individual patient behaviors or barriers. Manual review of past attendance records by staff is resource-intensive, often leading to overbooking as a mitigation strategy, which can be inefficient and disruptive.
Solution
Mid and South Essex introduced Deep Medical, an AI-powered system that predicts patient no-shows and cancellations within 48 hours. The system integrates structured data, like demographics and appointment history, with unstructured data from electronic health records, using a model based on deep learning and supervised machine learning techniques. This approach enables personalized reminders and appointment management, and flags vulnerable patients at risk of non-compliance for clinical follow-up.
The model is continuously refined through training, validation, and testing phases to ensure high accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and specificity. It helps healthcare teams understand patient engagement patterns and develop tailored communication strategies, ultimately reducing missed appointments. The pilot demonstrated a 50% reduction in DNA rates when patients were contacted proactively two to three weeks before their visits, and it is projected to enable thousands of additional patient visits annually, significantly boosting throughput.
Top Tips
Healthcare leaders should ensure clarity about the model’s specificity and sensitivity, assess the validity of training data within their local context, and routinely audit the system to prevent bias and drift.
Transforming Wound Care
Background
In North Cumbria, managing complex wounds accounts for approximately half of community nursing workloads, costing around £41.7 million annually. Previously, wound assessment was subjective, relying on manual measurements, photographs sent to specialists, and inconsistent documentation, which hindered effective care and tracking.
Previous Approaches
Nurses manually measured wounds with tape, and complex cases required sending photos for remote expert advice, delaying treatment. The lack of standardized assessment and record-keeping led to variability and potential inaccuracies, affecting healing outcomes.
Solution
North Cumbria Integrated Care adopted Minuteful for Wound by Healthy.io, an AI-enabled digital tool that standardizes wound assessment through high-quality imagery and automated measurements. The app’s AI employs color recognition to accurately detect wound area and tissue types within seconds, using a smartphone camera. It also optimizes image quality by assessing lighting and technique, guiding clinicians through assessments aligned with best practices.
The system offers a live data portal, enabling clinical teams to monitor caseloads, identify deterioration, and intervene earlier. The continuous collection and analysis of wound data facilitate faster healing, reduce hospital admissions, and support self-care initiatives.
Outcomes
Since implementation, NCIC has seen improved data access, empowered junior staff with standardized assessment tools, and reduced administrative burdens. Patients benefit from faster healing times, fewer hospital visits, and minimized risks of infection and amputation. The partnership aims to expand digital wound management across primary and acute care, fostering collaborative, system-wide improvements.
Top Tips
Ensure your organization has the necessary IT infrastructure and staff training to maximize the benefits of digital wound care solutions.
Improving Patient Triage and Staff Efficiency
Background
Chapelford Medical Centre sought to modernize its patient triage process, aiming to deliver more accurate assessments and better resource allocation.
Previous Approaches
The practice used decision-tree-based questionnaires supported by automation, which lacked the ability to adapt dynamically or incorporate detailed clinical insights. The goal was to leverage AI to refine decision-making by analyzing both structured and unstructured patient data.
Solution
The integrated care platform Anima combines automation with AI modules. Patients complete questionnaires that inform triage, and AI analyzes both structured data (like medical history) and unstructured data (such as free-text responses). Using machine learning, the system predicts the most appropriate care pathway and continuously refines its recommendations based on outcomes, creating a feedback loop that enhances accuracy over time.
Outcomes
Since going live in August 2023, the practice plans to extend AI-supported triage across the primary care network. The system aims to streamline patient flow, reduce demand, and support clinicians in making the right decisions at the first point of contact. By empowering staff and optimizing workflows, the practice expects to improve patient access and clinician workload balance, all while maintaining safety and quality standards.
Top Tips
Clarify which parts of your process will be AI-enhanced, understand the safety considerations, and prepare for necessary staff training and system integration.
Transforming the Cataract Care Pathway
Background
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital faced long waiting times and limited capacity in its cataract surgery pathway, with high rates of missed appointments and in-person post-op visits.
Previous Approaches
Patients had to attend in-person pre-operative assessments, with no-shows reaching up to 50%. Post-surgery follow-ups required in-person visits four weeks later, adding to delays and resource strain.
Solution
The trust implemented Ufonia’s Dora, an AI-powered clinical assistant that conducts routine patient conversations via telephone, using natural language processing to interpret responses. Dora handles pre-operative screening, sends reminders, and performs post-operative checks, reducing the need for in-person visits. The system’s effectiveness was demonstrated by high call completion and agreement rates, and a significant drop in cancellations and unexpected management changes.
Outcomes
Deployment of Dora led to a 65% call completion rate, with over 90% agreement from clinical staff. The post-op cancellation rate decreased markedly, and the hospital was recognized as finalists in the HSJ Digital Awards 2024. The success paves the way for broader regional adoption and potential expansion into other pathways.
Top Tips
Ensure your organization has the necessary technical support and clear evaluation metrics to maximize the impact of AI tools like Dora.
To AI or Not to AI? Key Questions for Decision-Makers
Before integrating AI solutions, organizations must critically evaluate whether the technology aligns with their needs. Start by identifying the core challenge and assessing if AI offers a targeted, effective solution. For detailed guidance, consult our Scaling Innovation resource.
Questions to ask potential suppliers include:
- What specific problem does this AI aim to solve, and does that match your needs?
- Does the AI have regulatory approval or certifications relevant to your context?
- What evidence supports its effectiveness in real-world clinical environments? How does its performance compare to traditional methods?
- How representative is the training data cohort to your patient population? Are biases addressed?
- What implementation support is available? Will integration require significant system changes?
- Can the solution be scaled effectively within your existing infrastructure?
Engaging with experienced organizations that have adopted similar solutions can provide valuable insights.
Next Steps for AI Adoption
If an AI product appears promising, assemble a multidisciplinary team—including data specialists, clinicians, governance experts, and IT professionals—to evaluate feasibility. Resources such as the NHS AI Buyer’s Guide and guidance from NHS Digital can support this process. It is also essential to establish clear metrics for success and plan for ongoing monitoring to ensure safety, efficacy, and fairness.
For organizations interested in sharing their AI experiences or collaborating on future projects, contact Rezina Hakim at rezina.hakim@nhsconfed.org to contribute to the evolving landscape of digital health innovation.