A federal law requires that health information be easy to exchange by the end of this year. The development of standardized application programming interfaces, or APIs, will go a long way toward making that possible. Care providers, health plans, and software vendors should take several steps to capitalize on the opportunities that they will generate.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the delivery of health care continues to grow rapidly. Access to patient medical data is often central to the use of AI in the delivery of health care. As the exchange of medical information between patients, physicians, and the care team through AI products increases, protecting an individual's information and privacy becomes even more important.
In the past, legislative attempts to curb health care spending have primarily focused on prices, payers, and providing health care to the uninsured and been subject to the usual partisanship that dooms most legislation to failure. A focus by legislators instead on technology solutions might lessen the partisan divide and result in meaningful legislation.
As the inaugural chief data scientist for Stanford Health Care, Nigam Shah will lead an effort to advance the use of artificial intelligence in patient care and hospital administration.