Kismet, a robot with rudimentary social skills.

The rise of artificial intelligence (which includes robotics) makes some  physicians nervous but Paul Balagot, chief experience officer (what a title!) at Precisioneffect, a  California healthcare marketing and advertising agency, says that AI could make life better for physicians by freeing up time for them to spend with individual patients.

“It’s an ever-evolving field. There’s a huge opportunity for artificial intelligence to transform healthcare,”  he says

He noted in an interview with FierceHealthcare that such companies as Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, IBM, Microsoft and others are investing in  healthcare AI  to help with tasks ranging from patient charting to decision support.

Mr. Balagot noted that AI could even, in Fierce’s paraphrase,  “help fix some of the problems created by technology that can lead to poor physician satisfaction, including time spent on electronic health records, payer requirements and government regulations.

“’I think AI is uniquely positioned to help streamline the business side,’ Mr. Balagot told the news service, by reducing administrative burden by, in Fierce’s words, “finding ways to establish prior authorizations, make work flow more efficient, take patients’ initial medical histories and help doctors mine data.”

And he noted that  AI holds the potential to let doctors find other, and possibly better, treatment options for patients.

To read more, please hit this link.