Southeast Asian (SEA) nations are embracing medical AI to address challenges like increasing elderly populations, the surge in medical tourism, and expanding research endeavours. Investments in AI were expected to increase by 67% in 2023 within sectors ready to integrate AI, with healthcare being at the centre of it.
In addition, SEA patients seem prepared to receive care remotely; a study from Milieu Insights on telehealth services shows that 1 in 5 people across SEA have used telemedicine, reflecting a consistent trend of acceptance of this option.
New AI-powered telemedicine tools are emerging. These tools show even greater potential to dramatically improve patient care when healthcare professionals are unavailable or offline or when patients are otherwise unable or unwilling to visit a clinic or hospital.
Digitalisation can transform operations, reduce costs and improve the quality of patient services and care. By leveraging modern technology, healthcare organisations can enhance the entire healthcare service-delivery chain from diagnosis to post-care while improving the relationship between patients, caregivers and other leveraged partners.
Elevating patients and doctors' experience
Singapore's largest private healthcare operator IHH Healthcare is one institution that has made significant strides in its journey towards digitalisation and revolutionising healthcare delivery. By modernising its cloud platform, IHH Healthcare enhances its network of hospitals and clinics, delivering exceptional experiences for both patients and doctors beyond physical services.
Partnering with FPT Software, IHH Healthcare consolidated its data into a unified platform, launching two award-winning apps to address the provider's growing consumer base. The DigiHealth app helps patients manage appointments, view lab results, and access personal health profiles, while the DigiCare app provides doctors with real-time access to medical data and streamlined administrative tasks, allowing them to administer care more attentively.
Another solution to bridge the healthcare gap is virtual doctors or video consultations with doctors. Leveraging GenAI and LLM technologies, AI-powered tools like AI Medical Scribes will securely access medical histories and transcribe patient-doctor conversations without recording, generating accurate summaries.
These outputs then will be reviewed by doctors before being saved into EMR systems, transferring to digital health platforms like ePharmacies or digital Health insurance. This not only saves time but also provides crucial data for health management.
AI-driven diagnostics: Facilitating accurate remote assessment
AI has already been successfully used to diagnose a wide range of medical conditions. They can be trained on extensive datasets that include medical images like X-rays, MRI and CT scans, lab results, and medical records, and show great utility for remote use.
For example, an AI-powered wound assessment device called Wound Viewer was clinically validated in a trial involving 150 patients with different types of wounds. The device uses dedicated sensors and AI algorithms to remotely collect and analyze wound images to evaluate a wound's area, depth, and volume and provides classification based on the Wound Bed Preparation protocol. Wound Viewer's results were compared against physician-performed wound classification and tissue segmentation analysis, with a 97% accuracy rate achieved. The trial showed that remote wound assessment using AI technology is as effective as bedside examination, reducing the risk of human error while maintaining high-quality clinical data.
This and similar innovations could greatly enhance healthcare access, aiding providers in informed decision-making for timely and precise care. As healthcare providers expand virtual care options, AI-driven patient triage and diagnosis can establish efficient care pathways. This not only addresses health disparities and improves access but also enhances patient experiences and outcomes.
Smart patient monitoring: Real-time insights for improved care
Another promising area of innovation that merges telemedicine and AI are Smart Wearables and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM).
For instance, computer vision technology, a notable example of AI in real-life RPM situations, can be used to early detect the risk of falls for patients, such as slippery floors, strangled wires, non-place furniture, sharp objects, etc. Along with the detection from wearable devices or home sensors, computer-vision-aided cameras can hugely improve the care quality to patients by minimizing the chance of falls, one of the most popular reasons causing patients to go into severe conditions.
Advanced data analytics on lifestyle and behaviour are also considered a helpful and feasible application of AI. By continuously collecting data via smart wearable devices, smartphones, and sensors, AI-infused digital assistants can provide patients and their caregivers with more precise and on-time suggestions, which can improve patients' health quality in the long term.
Artificial intelligence and telemedicine will continue to be transformative forces for providing quality care in SEA. While the availability of healthcare is still a major challenge in many underserved areas, the further expansion of AI-equipped telemedicine could be a powerful tool to remedy this.
The post titled "Transforming healthcare in Southeast Asia: Empowering telemedicine with AI and Data" was authored by Chu Canh Chieu, Director of Global Healthcare Center, FPT Software
About the author
Chu Canh Chieu is Managing Director of Global Healthcare Center at FPT Software. Fresh out of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, he joined the company in 2006 as a developer before taking on multiple managerial roles. Chieu contributed significantly to laying the foundation for the company's strategic unit in healthcare solutions.
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