While significant progress has been made, a fully AI-driven healthcare system remains a distant goal. However, even with ongoing challenges and limitations, AI has already begun to reshape the healthcare industry in profound and meaningful ways.
California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species. The virus, also known as Type A H5N1, was detected for the first time in U.S. dairy cattle in March. Since then, bird flu has been confirmed in at least 866 herds in 16 states. More than 60 people in eight states have been infected, with mostly mild illnesses, according to the CDC. One person in Louisiana has been hospitalized with the nation's first known severe illness caused by the virus.
Technology breakthroughs, legislative changes and a shift toward patient-centered treatment are all driving the U.S. healthcare sector's extraordinary evolution.
"The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act will better support veterans, caregivers and survivors by improving access to VA health care and benefits, expanding long-term care programs, strengthening programs for student veterans and military family members and more," Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
While "prescribing" food is far from the norm, the next administration could change that. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been a fierce critic of pharmaceuticals and America's reliance on processed foods. He's called for a policy overhaul to crack down on things like food dyes and other additives while elevating nutritious options.