Medicaid has become the center of a fierce political struggle as Republican lawmakers promote deep cuts to help reduce taxes. President Donald Trump and Republican leaders aim to cut Medicaid spending $880 billion Over the next decade, cut approximately 10% of the planned budget. However, the consequences can be serious as Medicaid provides health coverage to approximately 83 million low-income Americans, including older and disabled people.
To ensure the future of Medicaid, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a potential healthcare cost solution. Today, AI-driven predictive analytics enables healthcare providers to identify high-risk patients before they need emergency care.
“As Medicaid faces budget constraints, AI can reduce costs without sacrificing quality,” he said. Grace Chang, CEO and Founder Kintsugi,tell me. “Inefficiency (such as a missed diagnosis or poor follow-up of the patient) is often invisible but expensive. AI can mark patients at risk of overuse or non-compliance with medications – bleeding from the system, but can be addressed with the right tools. ”
California-based AI Healthcare startup Kintsugi Automatically screening of patients with depression and anxiety using voice biomarkers can help reduce clinicians’ evaluation time. Chang asserts that most healthcare systems are already understaffed and AI can help those who need attention most in the most important situations.
According to the founders, the real risk of not using AI to solve the most difficult problems in healthcare is “We are not going to use it to bridge the critical care gap.”
How AI usually reduces Medicaid and health care costs
Inefficiency in administrative accounts for a large proportion of health care costs. However, a study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) estimates that AI can save the healthcare industry $150 billion per year By simplifying these processes. same, National Bureau of Economic Research It is estimated that AI automation will save $20 billion to $360 billion in health care spending over the next four years. Today, AI plays an important role in Medicaid and healthcare by predicting disease outbreaks and demographic shifts, allowing for proactive allocation of resources. The technology also helps enhance predictive analytics to predict patient outcomes, resulting in more effective treatment strategies and improved preventive care. In addition, artificial intelligence can advance personalized medicine and tailor treatments to individual patients for better results.
Leveraging recent technological innovations, several AI-driven healthcare startups are at the forefront of improving AI adoption of Medicaid to accelerate diagnosis and improve treatment outcomes. For example, based on Boston Quantification Radiological efficiency is being improved through an AI-based platform to optimize MRI and CT scanner utilization. AI can identify bottlenecks in the imaging workflow, reducing patient waiting time and improving scanner throughput and hospital revenue.
“The health system, especially those who serve Medicaid people, is asked to do more with fewer measures. They need to do more scans to make up for the reality of lower profit margins,” he said. Robert MacDougall, Co-founder of Quantivly,tell me. “Operational AI in medical imaging can help manage throughput without putting pressure on employees. AI can be deployed in areas such as scheduling, where coordination tasks are too complex to be managed manually by anyone.”
According to MacDougall, most scheduling systems ignore key factors that affect scan duration, such as scanner hardware, protocol complexity, patient mobility, and sedation needs. Managing these variables in real time is beyond human capabilities, making AI an important tool for optimizing scheduling and efficiency, and helping hospitals with the bottom line.
Similarly, AI-powered drug management platform Appear Help reduce prescription errors by optimizing medication regimens and labeling unnecessary medications. “AI can quickly connect various datasets (patient’s medical history, SDOH data and clinical/medical literature) to make personalized recommendations for each patient,” Yoona Kim, CEO and Founder of Arine,explain.
She added that if patients are prescribed a new drug without considering its potential negative impact on existing situations, AI can ask questions in real time to prevent complications before leading to an emergency department visit. “AI can automate repetitive tasks (e.g., documents, abstracts), but when it comes to patient care, we need to control clinicians,” he said. explain gold.
Given the potential of AI to improve healthcare efficiency and outcomes, will legislators prioritize their adoption, or will budget constraints and fiscal policy go beyond the scope? How this debate goes on remains to be seen.
“The purpose of operating AI is to expand access by improving the way resources are used. If we can scan more patients on the same device without increasing the burden on employees, we are improving access, especially in areas with insufficient resources. The key is productivity, not limitations,” he said. MacDougall emphasize.
