Number crunchers at NTT DATA have found that although more than 80 per cent of health leaders claim to have a proper GenAI strategy, only 40 per cent believe it lines up with their broader business aims. Just over half rate their current GenAI efforts as high performing.
NTT DATA's report, based on input from 425 healthcare bigwigs in 33 countries, paints a mixed picture. GenAI is already offering better diagnostics, faster treatment access, and a few efficiency gains, but progress is held back by ancient infrastructure, fuzzy ethics, and compliance paranoia.
Nearly all those surveyed think GenAI can rev up research and development, cutting time to treatment and boosting diagnostics, predictive analysis and task automation. Meanwhile, 95 per cent seem convinced that the cloud is the best and cheapest way to run their GenAI tech.
Yet 75 per cent admit they haven't got the right people to work with the stuff properly, and 93 per cent are still fiddling with how GenAI is going to shift employee roles.
NTT DATA UK & Ireland chief technology officer Tom Winstanley said: “Our report analyses the importance of AI to healthcare, which has just been demonstrated in the contents of the UK Government’s latest 10 Year Health Plan for England. The plan aims to make the NHS the most AI-enabled health system in the world and calls for all hospitals to be fully adopt AI, driving the UK to the forefront of investment and adoption. To achieve this, it aims to support all doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals with trusted AI assistants, signalling a bridge across the skills gap exposed in the report, whilst securely leveraging the wealth of health data within the NHS.”
Despite all the noise, 91 per cent of healthcare execs are worried about data privacy breaches and misuse of protected health data, with only 42 per cent feeling confident about their current cybersecurity setups. Yet 87 per cent still reckon the benefits outweigh the risks, and 59 per cent are planning to splurge on GenAI in the next two years.
More than 90 per cent say their crusty old IT systems are getting in the way, while less than half say they’ve made proper investments in storage and processing for GenAI. Just 48 per cent have even bothered to check if their data and platforms are GenAI-ready.
Human-centric GenAI is being touted as a way to lighten the load for doctors and admin staff without compromising patient care. It can, allegedly, predict chronic conditions early and cut down the time wasted on pre-authorisation faff.
Coincidentally, NTT DATA is working with The Royal Marsden to build a fancy AI-powered radiology analysis service for cancer research. The project aims to push medical imaging into new territory and supposedly improve patient outcomes along the way.
NTT DATA UK & Ireland vice president for healthcare Flann Horgan said: “This partnership illustrates how AI technology can be harnessed for good. The ethical and secure use of AI in healthcare is central to our mission to build a smarter, healthier society, and this project is a blueprint for what responsible innovation looks like in practice. We are proud to support The Royal Marsden in pushing the boundaries of cancer research.”
NTT DATA North America senior vice president for healthcare Sundar Srinivasan added: “To achieve GenAI’s full potential in healthcare, organisations must align the technology to their business strategies, develop comprehensive workforce training, and implement multi-layered governance strategies that prioritise people and keep humans in the loop. It’s vital to transparently show how the technology benefits patients by complementing human workers.”
