Kate Ruder
When Judith Miller had routine blood work carried out in July, she obtained a cellphone alert the identical day that her lab outcomes have been posted on-line. So, when her physician messaged her the subsequent day that her total assessments have been effective, Miller wrote again to ask in regards to the elevated carbon dioxide and low anion hole listed within the report.
While the 76-year-old Milwaukee resident waited to listen to again, Miller did one thing sufferers more and more do after they can’t attain their well being care crew. She put her take a look at outcomes into Claude and requested the AI assistant to guage the information.
“Claude helped give me a clear understanding of the abnormalities,” Miller mentioned. The generative AI mannequin didn’t report something alarming, so she wasn’t anxious whereas ready to listen to again from her physician, she mentioned.
Patients have unprecedented entry to their medical information, usually via on-line affected person portals akin to MyChart, as a result of federal regulation requires well being organizations to instantly launch digital well being info, akin to notes on physician visits and take a look at outcomes. A study revealed in 2023 discovered that 96% of sufferers surveyed need quick entry to their information, even when their supplier hasn’t reviewed them.
And many sufferers are utilizing giant language fashions, or LLMs, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, to interpret their information. That assist comes with some threat, although. Physicians and affected person advocates warn that AI chatbots can produce flawed solutions and that delicate medical info may not stay personal.
Yet, most adults are cautious about AI and well being. Fifty-six % of those that use or work together with AI should not assured that info offered by AI chatbots is correct, in line with a 2024 KFF poll. KFF is a well being info nonprofit that features KFF Health News.
“LLMs are theoretically very powerful and they can give great advice, but they can also give truly terrible advice depending on how they’re prompted,” mentioned Adam Rodman, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts and the chair of a steering group on generative AI at Harvard Medical School.
Justin Honce, a neuroradiologist at UCHealth in Colorado, mentioned it may be very tough for sufferers who should not medically educated to know whether or not AI chatbots make errors.
“Ultimately, it’s just the need for caution overall with LLMs. With the latest models, these concerns are continuing to get less and less of an issue but have not been entirely resolved,” Honce mentioned.
Rodman has seen a surge in AI use amongst his sufferers up to now six months. In one case, a affected person took a screenshot of his hospital lab outcomes on MyChart then uploaded them to ChatGPT to arrange questions forward of his appointment. Rodman mentioned he welcomes sufferers’ displaying him how they use AI, and that their analysis creates a chance for dialogue.
Roughly 1 in 7 adults over 50 use AI to obtain well being info, in line with a current ballot from the University of Michigan, whereas 1 in 4 adults below age 30 achieve this, in line with the KFF ballot.
Using the web to advocate for higher look after oneself isn’t new. Patients have historically used web sites akin to WebMD, PubMed, or Google to seek for the newest analysis and have sought recommendation from different sufferers on social media platforms like Facebook or Reddit. But AI chatbots’ capability to generate personalised suggestions or second opinions in seconds is novel.
Liz Salmi, communications and affected person initiatives director at OpenNotes, an educational lab at Beth Israel Deaconess that advocates for transparency in well being care, had questioned how good AI is at interpretation, particularly for sufferers.
In a proof-of-concept study revealed this yr, Salmi and colleagues analyzed the accuracy of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini responses to sufferers’ questions on a scientific be aware. All three AI fashions carried out properly, however how sufferers framed their questions mattered, Salmi mentioned. For instance, telling the AI chatbot to tackle the persona of a clinician and asking it one query at a time improved the accuracy of its responses.
Privacy is a priority, Salmi mentioned, so it’s important to take away private info like your title or Social Security quantity from prompts. Data goes on to tech firms which have developed AI fashions, Rodman mentioned, including that he’s not conscious of any that adjust to federal privateness regulation or take into account affected person security. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, warned on a podcast last month about placing private info into ChatGPT.
“Many people who are new to using large language models might not know about hallucinations,” Salmi mentioned, referring to a response that will seem wise however is inaccurate. For instance, OpenAI’s Whisper, an AI-assisted transcription instrument utilized in hospitals, launched an imaginary medical therapy right into a transcript, in line with a report by The Associated Press.
Using generative AI calls for a brand new sort of digital well being literacy that features asking questions in a specific approach, verifying responses with different AI fashions, speaking to your well being care crew, and defending your privateness on-line, mentioned Salmi and Dave deBronkart, a most cancers survivor and affected person advocate who writes a blog dedicated to sufferers’ use of AI.
Patients aren’t the one ones utilizing AI to clarify take a look at outcomes. Stanford Health Care has launched an AI assistant that helps its physicians draft interpretations of scientific assessments and lab outcomes to ship to sufferers. Colorado researchers studied the accuracy of ChatGPT-generated summaries of 30 radiology experiences, together with 4 sufferers’ satisfaction with them. Of the 118 legitimate responses from sufferers, 108 indicated the ChatGPT summaries clarified particulars in regards to the authentic report.
But ChatGPT typically overemphasized or underemphasized findings, and a small however important variety of responses indicated sufferers have been extra confused after studying the summaries, mentioned Honce, who participated in the preprint study.
Meanwhile, after 4 weeks and a few follow-up messages from Miller in MyChart, Miller’s physician ordered a repeat of her blood work and an extra take a look at that Miller recommended. The outcomes got here again regular. Miller was relieved and mentioned she was higher knowledgeable due to her AI inquiries.
“It’s a very important tool in that regard,” Miller mentioned. “It helps me organize my questions and do my research and level the playing field.”
KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working applications at KFF—an impartial supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Learn extra about KFF.
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