Nvidia, Google, Microsoft and more are heading to Las Vegas to showcase AI tools for health

Nvidia, Google, Microsoft and dozens of other tech companies are descending on Las Vegas next week to show off prosthetic devices they say will save doctors and nurses valuable time.

Sunday is the official start of the healthcare technology conference called HLTH, which is expected to attract more than 12,000 industry leaders this year. CNBC will be on the floor. Based on the speaking schedule and announcements leading up to the conference, AI tools to overcome administrative burdens will be the star of this year’s show.

Doctors and nurses are responsible for a lot of paperwork as they work to maintain patient records, meet with insurance companies and comply with regulators. Often, these tasks are laboriously done manually, in part because health data is stored and stored in multiple vendors and formats.

Administrative workloads are a major cause of burnout in the industry, and are part of the reason a national shortage of 100,000 healthcare workers is expected by 2028, according to consulting firm Mercer. Tech companies, which are eager to target a market worth more than $6.8 trillion in consumption by the end of the decade, argue that their AI productivity tools can help.

For example, Google said it is working to expand its healthcare customer base by handling administrative workloads with AI.

On Thursday, the company announced the general availability of Vertex AI Search for Healthcare, which it introduced in a test mode during HLTH last year. Vertex AI Search for Healthcare allows developers to create tools to help doctors quickly search for information in various medical records, Google said. New features within the Google Healthcare Data Engine, which helps organizations build the platforms they need to support productive AI, are also now available, the company said.

Google on Thursday released the results of a study that says nurses spend about 28 hours a week on administrative tasks. In the survey, 80% of providers say this clerical work takes up their time with patients, and 91% say they feel good about using AI to reduce these tasks.

Similarly, Microsoft on Oct. 11 has announced its collection of tools aimed at reducing the administrative workload of nurses, including medical imaging templates, a healthcare agent service and an automated documentation solution for nurses, most of whom are still in the early stages. development.

Microsoft already offers an automation tool for doctors through its Nuance Communications division, which it has acquired with a $16 billion contract by 2021. The tool, called DAX Copilot, is use AI to document doctor and patient visits and turn them into medical notes and summaries. Ideally, this means that doctors don’t have to spend time writing these notes themselves.

Nurses and doctors fill out different types of paperwork during their shifts, so Microsoft says it’s creating a separate app for nurses that best suits their workflow.

AI authoring tools like DAX Copilot have exploded in popularity this year, and Nuance’s competitors, like Abridge, which reportedly raised more than $460 million, and Suki, which raised $165 million, will also attend the HLTH meeting.

Dr. Shiv Rao, founder and CEO of Abridge, told CNBC in March that the degree to which the healthcare industry has embraced this new type of clinical documentation feels “historic.” Abridge received a coveted investment from Nvidia’s venture capital in the same month.

Nvidia is preparing to handle the workload of doctors and nurses at HLTH.

Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, is giving a keynote speech on Monday that will explain how using artificial intelligence to help health professionals “dedicate more time to the care of patients,” according to the conference’s website.

Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, are used to create and run the models that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar applications. As a result, Nvidia has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI ​​boom. Shares of Nvidia are up more than 150% year to date, and the stock has tripled in the past year.

The company has been steadily making inroads into the healthcare sector in recent years, and offers a range of AI tools across medical devices, drug discovery, genomics and medical imaging. Nvidia also announced expanded partnerships with companies like Johnson & Johnson and GE Healthcare in March.

Although the healthcare industry has long been slow to adopt new technology, the buzz around AI management tools has been undeniable since ChatGPT exploded two years ago.

However, many health systems are still in the process of testing equipment and vendors, and will be making the rounds on the HLTH exhibit floor. Technology companies will have to prove that they have the chops to tackle one of the most complex problems in health care.