Robots Predicted to be Performing 85% of surgeries by 2025
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: July 11, 2018
AI Medical Diagnosis APP Gets Better Exam Mark Than Doctors
Exploding AI Medical Market Predicted to Hit US$12.15 Billion by 2023
Robots Predicted to be Performing 85% of surgeries by 2025
On June 28, 2018, Forbes ran a story with the headline reading, “This AI Just Beat Human Doctors on a Clinical Exam MD.”
The story by Parmy Olson, tells how an artificial intelligence application created by Babylon Health scored on a standard British test designed to grade the diagnostic ability of doctors in training. For the last five years the average passing grade has been 72%. Babylon Health’s artificial intelligence powered software performed ten points above the average coming in at 82%.
At the beginning of 2018 Research House Frost & Sullivan made some predictions. The one that perhaps best defines future shock is that by 2025, 85% of surgical procedures are likely to be done by robots. Over the next two to three years Frost & Sullivan also predict that AI platforms in medical imaging will increase productivity by 10-15%.
Babylon Health was founded five years ago and has raised US$85 million for research and development. Babylon has developed an intriguing mix of AI and human diagnosis that could if adopted drive down overall health care costs by using its diagnostic apps to pre-screen patients and suggest what’s wrong, while leaving the final diagnosis in the hands of a living breathing MD.
While at first this may seem like an episode of Star Trek, the service is real enough. The company’s largest and most important client to date is the British National Health Service which has allowed 26 thousand patients to transfer from the standard GP based service to Babylon. Another 20,000 are on a waiting list.
In a typical scenario a Babylon patient will describe symptoms to a diagnostic engine which will then suggest a probable diagnosis. Then there is the video call between doctor and patient. While the interview is going on the app automatically records and transcribes the interview. The patients face is analyzed to determine if he or she is feeling confused, worried or normal, according to the movements of 117 muscles located in the nose, lips or eyebrows. At the end of the consultation the live doctor will, if necessary send a prescription to the patients pharmacy.
The software also creates a digital twin of the patient and the company believes the twin will be used to determine what medical problems will develop in the future. All of this should help make healthcare timelier and more affordable.
Babylon’s business model is to sell its services to health care providers such as government Medicare systems or health insurance companies. The company also sells its consulting service to individuals and offers access to software that individuals can use to investigate an ailment. Babylon intends to launch in the US, during 2019.
Forbes sums up recent market activity like this, “Investment in the AI medical market is pouring in, from tech giants like IBM’s Watson, Alphabet and Philips to pharmaceutical companies and swiftly proliferating start-ups. The market for artificial intelligence in health care and the life sciences is projected to grow by 40 percent a year, to $6.6 billion in 2021, according to estimates from Frost & Sullivan.”
In March of this year research house Mordor Intelligence predicted that by 2023 the global artificial intelligence in medicine market would reach US$ 12.15 Billion. The report, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Market-by Application and Geography-Growth, Trends, and forecasts (2018-2023) details how AI is moving into the medical workplace providing faster and more efficient medical care.
While AI can be used to manage patient records and other types of data the real payoff for AI in medical applications comes in reducing human error. When AI systems have been used in image labelling, error rates have been reduced from 28.5% to 2.5%.
According to Mordor, the artificial intelligence in medicine market will grow from US$1.6 billion in 2017 to US$12.5 billion by 2023, a CAGR of 40.15% from 2018 to 2023. A number of factors are driving the market and can be divided into two categories. On the one hand there is the increased efficiency which AI systems offer providing a more efficient diagnosis. This also applies to patient data management. Both of these, better diagnosis and better data management, will help drive down the cost of medical treatment.
The flip side of the coin is the high cost of error. According to the Mordor report preventable medical mistakes result in roughly 210,000 deaths per year. Diagnostic mistakes account for roughly 440,000 deaths per year. And finally, medical mistakes cost the healthcare industry approximately US$1 trillion per year.
As well as the companies listed above other key players developing artificial intelligence and deep learning medical applications include: Intel; Microsoft, Siemens and General Electric.
With a market value that is growing at 40% CAGR a year, the AI in medical applications market is a developing sector that retail investors should take a good look at. It is a market driven by demographic factors, as the baby boomers continue to age they will require more medical attention, and efficiency. Any technology that cuts medical costs will be highly valued.
While there are no sure bets in the stock market, one AI diagnosis company that you should take a look at is the Montreal-based Diagnos. Diagnos has specialized in developing a proprietary technology, CARA, computer assisted retinal analysis that uses enhanced retinal digital images to detect the initial stages of diabetic retinopathy.
The retina is at the back of the eye and it is the only place where doctors can observe veins and arteries and detect early diabetes. Diabetes can lead to blindness if untreated and early detection can prevent 85-90% of vision loss. The process is simple. An image of the eye is taken and then image can then be analyzed.
CARA has been used to diagnose 222,034 patients at last count, in 16 countries, using 131 screening sites. In early June, The Montreal Gazette ran a story on Diagnos’ setting up its first Canadian pilot project at the Centre hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal (CHUM). Diagnos is a company on the move and with its shares, (TSXV: ADK) closing at $0.06 on July 10, 2018, an attractive entry point into the explosive AI medical market.
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FULL DISCLOSURE: Diagnos is a paid client of Momentum PR.
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