Fridays (with Benefits) - 5/3/19 - Will deep learning lead to the rise of Dr. Robot?

Mr. Robot is a popular TV show about a group of hackers who are trying to wipe out the world's debt problem through some digital anarchy. A novel idea, but probably not a realistic one. Maybe we won't see an effective Mr. Robot anytime soon, but what if health care providers started diving a little deeper into tech and data solutions?

Is DR. Robot on the way? Maybe not with an Oscar-winner leading the charge, but it looks like the health care world is ready to graduate from artificial intelligence (AI) into even stronger ways to revolutionize the industry. Let's dive in.

Deep learning offers lessons for healthcare - Bruce Shutan, Employee Benefit Adviser

Building off the tenets of AI and machine learning, deep learning tech processes gargantuan amounts of seemingly unrelated data and spots data patterns. Once identified, the platform then creates better prediction models for more proactive solutions.

What does this techno-babble have to do with health care? For starters, if deep learning platforms spot patterns in patient data, it could lead to earlier intervention of chronic diseases, potentially sparing them the physical and financial burden of a longer-term illness.

In other words, earlier treatments, fewer symptoms, lower costs for all involved.

Other potential health care benefits of deep learning include better medical imaging, more personalized treatment plans for specific patients, lowering the costs of drug discovery, and even improving the processing and paperwork routines.

According to the article, the health care industry is a perfect place to put deep learning tech to use. The author cites that a single hospital stay could potentially generate 100 pages of data. Multiply that by thousands of patients, and… well, you can see the need for a platform to make sense of it all to improve service on all levels of the experience.

The article goes on to discuss how data science isn't just going to help with the medical results and bottom lines, but also to make the entire experience, from diagnosis to final payment, more efficient, eliminating a lot of the friction and communication issues that can plague a lot of providers.

Of course, we can't cover the topic here. But if you're interested in doctors bringing a little science fiction into our health care reality, this is a must-read article that shows why Mr. Robot might be a little closer to real than we think.

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