AI biases and blind spots

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Nov 26, 2024 View in browser   By Daniel Payne, Erin Schumaker and Ruth Reader PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for Thanksgiving this Thursday and Friday but back to our normal schedule on Monday, Dec. 2. EXAM ROOM Patients are more open to AI care after being reminded of how fallible human clinicians can be. | AP Health providers might want to be transparent about their biases and blind spots with patients when they suggest using artificial intelligence in their care. Patients were more open to AI tools being incorporated into their care after being reminded of how fallible human clinicians can be, according to new research from Lehigh and Seattle universities published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. The researchers found that among nearly 1,900 participants, patients rated AI systems as having greater integrity than human clinicians when they were shown infographics about bias or discussed a time when they were negatively impacted by bias. Even so: Patients still preferred human care over AI, even after discussing potential biases. And researchers have repeatedly shown that AI systems are rarely bias-free. The data used to train algorithms and people who develop and test them can significantly change their outputs. Why it matters: Researchers, clinicians and developers say it’s increasingly important to understand how humans interact with AI systems — beyond how the systems themselves work. Asking for patient consent to use AI in their care is standard practice for some providers. Gaining patient acceptance of the tools to improve their care is crucial to implementing the technology — which health care providers are heavily investing in. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Boston, Mass. | Aimee Schumaker This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Do you know who’s in the running to be President-elect Donald Trump’s AI czar — or how that might affect the health sector? Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.    REGISTER NOW: As the 118th Congress ends, major decisions loom, including healthcare appropriations. Key focus: site neutrality. Can aligning hospital and clinic costs cut federal spending, reflect physician costs, and lower patient expenses? Join policymakers and providers to discuss.     OPERATING ROOM Robotic surgery could hold big benefits for patients. | NYU Langone Health Surgeons at NYU Langone have successfully completed the nation’s first double-lung transplant performed entirely by robotic arms. How it worked: Surgeons used the da Vinci Xi robotic system, which makes more precise incisions than possible with human hands, to transplant two donor lungs into a 57-year-old woman. The patient had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that makes it difficult to breathe. The minimally invasive procedure, which took place in October, comes one month after NYU surgeons performed the U.S.’ first fully robotic single-lung transplant. By the numbers: NYU surgeons already perform 2,000 partially robotic surgeries yearly. Why it matters: “This approach to lung transplantation requires smaller incisions for the patient and is an overall less invasive approach compared to the traditional open chest procedure,” Dr. Stephanie Chang, who led the surgery and is surgical director for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute’s lung transplant program, said in a statement. Less invasive surgery could yield big benefits for patients, potentially shortening hospitalizations, reducing infection risk, reducing post-surgery pain and shortening recovery time.   Want to know what's really happening with Congress's make-or-break spending fights? Get daily insider analysis of Hill negotiations, funding deadlines, and breaking developments—free in your inbox with Inside Congress. Subscribe now.     WASHINGTON WATCH Data collection is key to the CDC's effort to combat loneliness. | Win McNamee/Getty Images CDC Director Mandy Cohen laid out her agency's role in addressing the nation's loneliness epidemic during a talk on Monday in New York City. Two of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's priorities this year were improving mental health and supporting young families, Cohen explained, both of which are related to loneliness. "We know that folks' mental health has been strained," she said. Data collection, including quantifying loneliness and evaluating the evidence to address it, is where the CDC can help. The agency is running surveys on whose mental health is suffering and what's straining it, Cohen said. Researchers are also gathering evidence on what works to combat loneliness and the many health problems associated with it, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression and anxiety. "The important part is for us to make sure that we are continuing to ask the question, so we're surfacing the issue, and then mapping good evidence to try to solve it," Cohen said. Big picture: Cohen's remarks follow public health advisories Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued on youth mental health, social media, loneliness and parental well-being. His most recent report found that 4 in 10 parents say they’re so stressed they can’t function most days. What's next: Last week, President-elect Donald Trump picked replacements for Cohen and Murthy, nominating Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) as CDC director and Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general. But the Republican governing trifecta doesn't mean the issue will disappear. Loneliness has been a bipartisan concern thus far, with Republicans, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood, championing the issue.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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