In this episode, host Spencer Christensen and Sirona Medical CEO Cameron Andrews discuss why artificial intelligence (AI) has not helped radiology—until now.
The 52-minute podcast covers everything you wanted to know about AI and radiology, and answers pressing questions such as:
- Will AI Replace Doctors?
- Why is AI Necessary in Radiology?
- How Will Sirona Medical’s AI Improve Radiology Practices?
- What Technology Will Drive AI in Radiology?
- How Will AI in Radiology Help with Physician Burnout?
Many of us have seen enough “Black Mirror” episodes to be spooked into thinking that technology will make humanity superfluous. With AI, the elephant in the room is always, “Will it replace my job?” As a salve for this anxiety, Andrews insists that AI will not “replace” doctors. Instead, he says, AI will “augment” a doctor’s efforts to streamline value-based care.
Andrews says radiologists who prioritize downstream care over hours of administrative- and documentation-level tedium need AI. The truth of the matter is that despite being a $110B market, medical-imaging IT software is poorly designed and anachronistic. Coupled with physician shortages and higher case volume, radiology’s antiquated technology exacerbates physician burnout.
Andrews—who has had a court-side seat for radiology’s evolution (his grandfather—Dr. Kenneth Heithoff—founded one of the nation’s largest imaging practices)—believes 2023 is a prelude to a decade-long transformation of the software that powers healthcare. He also maintains that specialty-specific, AI-powered workflows will be the muscle that make physicians more efficient, valuable, and effective in ways that drop to the bottom line for the hospital or health system.
Sirona Medical is building a cloud-based platform that unifies radiology IT applications (e.g. worklist, viewer, and reporter–onto a single, streamlined Workspace). Andrews says this AI platform can analyze information by wading through hay in haystacks to help physicians find the needles. By eliminating administrative banality, radiologists can focus on making faster diagnoses and better decisions.