Hospitals Become Test Labs For AI

Northwestern Medicine's Samir Abboud reviewing a chest X-ray with the help of Al.NATE RYAN FOR WSJIn a carefully honed routine, aided by voice dictation, he could finish writing an X-ray report in as little as 75 seconds.Then the Chicago-based health system rolled out generative artificial intelligence in 2024 that can analyze patient scans and write reports. Abboud, who checks the AI work for potential changes, said reviews have sped up to about 45 seconds.The result was breathtaking—and startling. "It was the first time I felt like there was a clock on my career," Abboud said.Still, he said humans are a necessary part of the process. And reading scans faster came with benefits, too."There's hundreds of patients waiting for our read, and any one of them could be one that's actively dying," Abboud said.Big hospital systems have become the proving ground for widespread AI adoption, testing what the technology can do, but also revealing—sometimes via alarming mishaps—where it falls flat.Among health systems, 27% are paying for commercial AI licenses, triple the rate across the U.S. economy, according to a Menlo Ventures and Morning Consult survey.While the aging population's healthcare needs rise, hospitals are looking for ways to deal with persistent worker shortages that can burn out clinicians and delay care. They are also looking for efficiency while cuts to Medicaid loom.AI has especially broken through in some of the least flashy, but most labor-intensive, hospital tasks: taking notes, fielding patient phone calls and dealing with insurance claims.These tasks are often "labor-dependent, with the same rote process done thousands of times," said Rupal Malani, a senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey who advises health systems on AI implementation.