Health IT

How AI is applied to the data breach landscape

It's hard to ignore how much hype AI is getting in healthcare. Companies are touting how artificial intelligence can be applied to various areas of the healthcare space. But where does it fit in when it comes to data breach prevention?

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Nowadays, the term “artificial intelligence” is being tossed around more than ever in healthcare. It’s being applied to everything from patient scheduling to waste and inefficiency. A report from Accenture even highlighted the 10 AI applications that are poised to have the greatest value in healthcare by 2026.

One lesser emphasized area where machine learning and AI can be applied is the data breach landscape.

“Oftentimes when it comes to cybersecurity and AI, we think, ‘What are the risks?'” Robert Lord, cofounder and president of Protenus, said in a recent phone interview. “There are important ethical concerns.”

The Baltimore, Maryland-based company’s solution assists hospitals by detecting privacy breaches in real time.

But what people forget is that AI can also have a significant impact on healthcare data breach prevention, Lord added.

On that note, artificial intelligence is not a replacement for human beings. Rather, it can act as an extension of people, augmenting their skills and abilities.

Utilizing AI, for example, can make experts more efficient. They can use machine learning techniques to audit every practice and pinpoint when hospital staff members are deviating from their normal behavior. Whereas before this was a manual process, experts can now leverage predictive analytics to understand the patterns of past behaviors and use them to prevent repeat offenders.

On top of that, machine learning tools can assist professionals in identifying potential false positives.

Protenus is putting these techniques to use every day, and its customers include everyone from large academic medical centers to small standalone hospitals, Lord said.

The power of these approaches is noteworthy, and Protenus is constantly working to improve them. But ultimately, Lord said it all comes back to whether they’re helping one person: the patient.

“We can talk about techniques all day,” he said. “What’s really important is: How does it impact the lives of our patients?”

At the end of the day, AI shouldn’t be technology for technology’s sake — it should be part of a constant effort to better patients’ experiences.

Photo: John Lund, Getty Images

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