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MedTech
6 minutes read

The Practical Applications of Home Health AI Technology 

By Robert Kazmi
By Robert Kazmi
MedTech
6 minutes read

Home health AI technology is getting more capable, more affordable, and used with greater frequency to improve patient outcomes. Like most other industries, healthcare is experiencing a period of rapid digital transformation as health care providers and other industry players leverage HiTech innovations to widen patient access and improve care. 

Artificial Intelligence is playing a significant role in this technical transformation by helping doctors diagnose diseases earlier, assisting in surgeries, and aiding drug discovery efforts. While most of the public focuses on these impressive capabilities, Artificial Intelligence also significantly impacts home health services.

This post will examine the various ways AI is being used in home health care. 

Home Health Care and Artificial Intelligence 

As life expectancy rises and the elderly population grows, home health services are critical to ease the strain on healthcare providers and care resources. Artificial Intelligence plays a critical role in providing support to family caregivers, home health workers, and seniors living independently. 

If your organization is interested in building a custom healthcare software solution using Artificial Intelligence to address home health needs, here are the ways that AI is already being successfully used in home health care settings: 

  • Wearables 
  • Virtual nurse assistants 
  • Voice assistants 

Wearables 

Wearable technology has been popular with consumers for several years, but when combined with AI technology, wearables become a powerful home health care tool. AI-powered wearables capture health data in real-time and analyze patient health metrics to look for patterns that could indicate problems. 

Analyzing patient metrics in real-time helps health professionals assist patients in preventing severe conditions like diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and it also helps doctors monitor patients that are dealing with chronic illnesses or recovering from a procedure. AI tools can also notify medical staff when human intervention is necessary, even if the monitored patient cannot call for help. 

In addition, remote patient monitoring powered by AI technology enables healthcare providers to provide ongoing patient care without wasting valuable space in their hospitals and facilities. As the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated repeatedly, hospital space is a precious resource that can quickly evaporate when demand rises. 

Wearable technology in the home health care setting enables elderly people to be more independent with the confidence that their physician is actively monitoring their health status. This would not be possible without the power of Artificial Intelligence. 

Virtual Nurse Assistants 

Nurse assistants are vital to patient care and daily healthcare operations. Virtual nurse assistants powered by Artificial Intelligence free up clinical resources and expand patient access to health information and care. AI-powered nurse assistants use similar technology to cutting-edge phone chatbots. They are available 24/7 and can manage a large population of clinical patients. 

Virtual nurse assistants are typically used to call patients to check in with how they are feeling, provide care instructions, refill medications, and answer common questions about their care. These AI-powered tools can also take patients’ calls and route them to the appropriate doctor or care provider to handle any specific inquiry a patient may have. 

Healthcare providers use virtual nurse assistants to help boost patient engagement with their health care. In addition, virtual nurse assistants can help patients with chronic conditions manage their health to prevent their conditions from worsening. 

Virtual nurse assistants remove barriers to health care access and empower patients to unlock the benefits of home health care. They also help healthcare providers reduce clinical costs and invest more financial resources in care over administrative concerns. 

Voice Assistants 

One of the most important uses of AI in home health care is voice assistants. Loneliness is a growing problem for people of all ages, but chronic loneliness is especially an issue for elderly people who live independently. As the healthcare industry improves patient outcomes and life expectancy continues to rise, more elderly people will live independently. 

Loneliness is a significant part of mental health issues. Unfortunately, despite increased awareness of mental health issues and loneliness, this aspect of health care tends to get overlooked by many. AI-powered voice assistants can help reduce loneliness. 

Using natural language processing and other AI-powered algorithms, modern voice assistants can carry a conversation naturally. These voice assistants are similar to the virtual nurse assistant, except voice assistants can be placed in a patient’s home to provide a semblance of companionship, actively monitor a patient’s mental health, and provide emergency services in the event a person has fallen down and can’t reach a phone. 

The Challenges of Home Health Care and AI

AI is a great technology capable of various vital tasks. As we have covered, AI is already being used in multiple ways to provide home health care. However, there are challenges associated with AI-powered home health care. 

The major concerns patients have is privacy and lack of human touch. Voice assistants and wearables are capable of collecting an enormous amount of information. In addition, people have concerns over privacy and security measures. Therefore, healthcare providers that use home health tools must ensure that they provide a secure experience to their patients. 

Lack of human touch is an increasing concern with people as technology improves. This criticism is not only geared toward AI, but when handling such a sensitive issue like health care, it gets most of the attention when it comes to inhuman behavior. 

The lack of human touch is a valid patient concern, and providers must work hard to demonstrate that AI solutions are being used to improve care, communication, and access. 

Final Thoughts 

AI-powered tools improve home health care for many people who live at home and deal with chronic conditions. These tools continue to improve, but there are already several ways in which AI is used in home health care to improve outcomes. If you want to learn more about what it takes to build a home health AI application, reach out to an experienced app development partner.

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