Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Mark Dallas

Keywords

artificial intelligence, healthcare, electronic health record, AI, machine learning, United States, health system, doctor, patient, artificial general intelligence

Abstract

Technology has played an immense role in the evolution of healthcare delivery for the United States and on an international scale. Today, perhaps no innovation offers more potential than artificial intelligence. Utilizing machine intelligence as opposed to human intelligence for the purposes of planning, offering solutions, and providing insights, AI has the ability to alter traditional dynamics between doctors, patients, and administrators; this reality is now producing both elation at artificial intelligence's medical promise and uncertainty regarding its capacity in current systems. Nevertheless, current trends reveal that interest in AI among healthcare stakeholders is continuously increasing, and with the current COVID-19 pandemic highlighting institutional flaws, it is reasonable to assume that many industry changes proposed by artificial intelligence will be further considered in the coming years. Therefore, this research aims to assess the changes proposed by AI and how they might impact relations between doctors, patients, administrators, and other relevant parties. It ultimately finds that the U.S. cannot certify artificial intelligence as its definitive future for healthcare, nor should it overlook other viable options to better health services, so long as a firm definition of AI is not clarified and the understructure of the American healthcare system - mainly represented through electronic health records - lingers behind those achieved in Europe and Asia. The research culminates in recommendations for addressing barriers to achieving healthcare AI so that, if AI tools can one day integrate into medical practices, an optimal relationship may flourish between technology and healthcare.

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.