McKinsey: Healthcare Will be Transformed by Gen AI
Generative AI will transform the healthcare industry, and organisations are already taking action on this front, a new report from McKinsey says.
The McKinsey research involved surveys in December 2023 and March this year, in which 100 US healthcare leaders were quizzed.
In the Q1 2024 survey, most respondents say their organisations are either already using gen AI tools or are testing them out.
Most of the surveyed respondents said these projects are in the proof-of-concept stage, as stakeholders weigh up ROI, risks, strategic priorities, governance and tech maturity.
Most respondents say their healthcare organisations are at least pursuing generative AI proofs of concept, if not already implementing the technology.
But there is still a proportion of respondents with no plans to pursue gen AI, or who are maintaining a wait-and-see approach.
Among those surveyed who are implementing Gen AI, 59% are already partnering with third-party vendors to develop customised solutions, and 24% report plans to build solutions in-house, while only 17% expect to buy off-the-shelf gen AI products.
Among those who haven’t yet implemented Gen AI, 41% say they intend to buy gen AI products, which may be driven by this population’s concerns with risk: 57% are not pursuing gen AI because of risk considerations and technology needs (29%).
Surveyed organisations that are already implementing Gen AI do so primarily through co-building partnerships, McKinsey found.
A key factor driving Gen AI projects is stakeholder confidence, with measurable positive impact most likely to draw investment. While the overall number of respondents who have implemented Gen AI remains small, among those who have, most are yet to calculate ROI, or are waiting on measurable results. But about 60% of those who have implemented gen AI solutions are either already seeing a positive ROI or expect to.
McKinsey: Gen AI has vast scope
McKinsey says Gen AI can create tremendous value in areas that could fundamentally improve patient experience and streamline operations. Specifically, clinician and clinical productivity is viewed by most as an area where it can have the highest value.
There are also expectations that Gen AI can improve patient and member engagement and experience, administrative efficiency and effectiveness, as well as quality of care.
Gen AI is thought to hold the highest potential value in improving clinical productivity, as well as patient engagement and experience.
The report is written by McKinsey New York partner, Jessica Lamb, who before joining the company conducted laboratory research in nanoparticle hyperthermia for cancer treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
Lamb says risk concerns and considerations top the list of scale-up challenges faced by surveyed leaders, regardless of whether they work at a payer, provider, or HST company.
She says this is likely to be due to the “untested nature of the technology, the investment needed to build capabilities, and uncertainty around regulations”.
She adds: “It signals the importance of governance and mitigation strategies to tackle the range of risk issues – from privacy to clinical outcomes – to ensure regulatory compliance and excellence in care.”
Other roadblocks are insufficient capability, data and tech infrastructure, and proof of value.
This, says McKinsey, demonstrates healthcare organisations’ limited tech readiness to deploy gen AI solutions and also to validate its capabilities.