Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly taken global industries by storm, and the healthcare and wellness field is no exception to this wave of technology. In 2021, the market for AI in healthcare was valued at 11 billion USD, but by 2023, it’s estimated that the market could be worth 188 billion USD, showcasing the immense potential for AI’s use in wellness. AI has various applications in the health sector, but it primarily serves to boost and streamline procedures and improve the overall system’s efficiency.

AI’s transformative power in the industry can pave the way for more accurate and personalized treatments, improved preventive care, and more efficient ways of performing tasks for speedier care. There are many ways AI can be harnessed in medicine, and the possibilities are only continuing to grow. Here are some of the ways AI is transforming the health and wellness industry:

Personalized treatments

The health and wellness industry has been shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach to care to using more tailored plans to address the specific needs of patients. This is especially apparent in modern obesity management, where patients receive guidance from medical professionals regarding their diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress management, genetics, and other health-influencing factors. Because obesity is a complex ailment affected by various aspects depending on the person, personalized treatment plans can target more areas of a person’s wellness to make the treatment more effective.

AI can play a major role in personalizing care for patients with obesity. It’s capable of analyzing complex variables and processing large data sets, pointing out patterns in a patient’s health data that a human may not notice. This allows professionals to determine more comprehensive treatments for them. They can tailor diet and exercise plans around the person’s wellness and lifestyle or advise them on sustainably building health habits. AI can also provide guidance for prescribing the right weight loss medication; depending on the information analyzed by AI, a professional might decide to prescribe a patient on-label or off-label weight loss medication. Many popular drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro are prescribed for type-2 diabetes treatment but are often used off-label for weight loss due to their efficacy. With the help of AI, professionals can make smarter choices on how to treat obesity and personalize treatment plans for more effective weight loss and sustainable results.

Streamlining tasks

Healthcare professionals perform various tasks and procedures regarding patient data and information to ensure precise care for patients. However, many of these tasks take up much time and effort, veering focus away from administering comprehensive and prompt care. AI programs, specifically generative AI models like ChatGPT, can streamline these procedures and act as an assistant to medical professionals. Menial tasks can be automated and deliver results in seconds, and its human-like responses to a wide range of queries and instructions make it easy to navigate and understand for both professionals and patients.

Using generative AI tools, medical professionals can get assistance with things like medical recordkeeping, medical writing and documentation, treatment recommendations, and more. By promptly summarizing and correcting medical notes, professionals can easily make sense of a patient’s symptoms and diagnosis based on the compiled information generated by the AI. The human-like language of these AI models can also give suggestions on how doctors can explain medical terms and procedures in a way a patient can easily understand and process. Both professionals and patients can benefit from receiving access to relevant medical information and resources through AI, encouraging constant learning and increased awareness, respectively. AI cuts through excess time and effort when performing regular tasks, allowing professionals to zero in on providing care to patients without compromising the accuracy of data.

Disease prediciton

The healthcare field has made significant strides toward reducing mortality rates of various diseases and vastly improving the efficacy of cures and treatments. However, there are still challenges and hurdles in the early prediction and prevention of health issues, such as heart disease. The deadliness of heart disease is often difficult to gauge as factors like the type of heart disease, its severity, and the individual’s overall health must be taken into consideration to make an accurate diagnosis. As such, exploring and using hybrid machine learning techniques can help in effective heart disease prediction.

Hybrid techniques excel in amalgamating the strengths of multiple models to gather and transform relevant data into algorithms that machine learning algorithms can utilize. The maximized power of multiple models can surpass the strength of individual models, allowing for more robust and accurate heart disease prediction. With hybrid machine learning techniques, a clinical decision support system may be developed for the early detection of heart disease. Doctors can use this system to identify patients with a higher risk of developing heart disease and provide them with preventive care. Though there’s still much to be done to ensure that these models and techniques can provide accurate information on a patient’s risk of heart disease, AI and machine learning may continue to prove useful for predicting and preventing conditions.

Boosting medical startups

Medical startups have been instrumental in revolutionizing access to quality healthcare, disrupting and shifting the traditional healthcare model through technology. Whether through providing telehealth services and virtual health consultations or creating wearable tech for fitness and wellness, these smaller businesses provide innovative solutions to benefit a modern customer base. AI is also a prominent feature of these companies’ services, but it can also be used to improve business practices for startups in the industry.

AI can be used to generate business plans for medical startups. AI algorithms analyze healthcare regulations, patient demographics, and market opportunities for medical startups. These AI-generated business plans can aid in pointing out issues or roadblocks for the company that can be addressed, boosting productivity and reducing downtimes. Medical startups can focus on providing efficient services and care to their customers.

AI still has much room for growth in the healthcare system. But with continued development, its integration into the health and wellness industry will flourish even further.