Nearly 20 years ago (2007) Microsoft rolled out Health Vault, a web-based system to store personal health records. Last week Microsoft followed up with Copilot Health, an Artificial Intelligence AI concierge doctor as it calls it. The following was reported by the Wall Street Journal:
The company on Thursday unveiled Copilot Health, a feature within the Copilot app that lets the chatbot dispense personalized healthcare advice informed by the user’s disease history, test results, medications, doctors’ visit notes and biometric data as recorded by wearable devices.
The service could especially benefit those managing chronic medical conditions, executives said. The tool can plug into information from more than 50,000 U.S. hospitals and provider organizations, including lab results from those institutions or through Function Health.
One question that advocates and consumers have is whether their data is secure and private. Microsoft says the data is encrypted and firewalled away from the rest of the Copilot app to satisfy privacy concerns. Users must authenticate their identity through the service Clear the vendor HealthEx uploads data from hospital and laboratory records. Consumers can manage and even delete their records later if they choose.
Microsoft has gradually been building its AI health capabilities with the goal of reaching “medical superintelligence,” which Suleyman defines as AI that can provide high-quality insights across medical disciplines.
The company last year showed off a tool it developed that it said could diagnose disease with a significantly higher accuracy rate than a group of doctors and do so at a fraction of the cost. In the fall, it showcased a new collaboration with Harvard Medical School to respond to queries about healthcare topics within Copilot.
Microsoft reported the initiative was developed with internal clinicians, its team of engineers and a panel of 230 doctors to provide medical expertise and safety feedback. While this is welcome news, it remains to be seen what benefit it will provide.
American health care is episodic (as is most of the world’s). Patients may go to the doctor once a year for a checkup, or maybe not. They may get bloodwork done once a year (or maybe not). They often do not see their doctors again unless a heath concern arises. Once they develop a chronic condition, they may periodically see their doctor twice a year for renewed prescriptions. They are not continuously monitored, however. Rather, they may be monitored once or twice a year. Even with continual monitoring through Copilot Health, real time updates will have to wait for updates from the physician’s office to order blood tests, take blood pressure and update physician’s notes. Without continual input, patients cannot expect continual outputs. How does the app work? For instance, it is not yet clear from the article whether consumers can input personal observations, like “my stomach has been hurting lately. What might the cause be?” or “there is a weird bump on my back that appears to be growing.” Consumers can upload data from Fitbit and Apple Watch apps. I wonder if this data is more robust than how many steps you took last week as opposed to your daily blood pressure and blood glucose readings. Public health advocates are bound to complain about false positives and all the worried well trekking to their doctors to inquire about things their Copilot Health advised them on. That will require additional checkups and more doctor’s time. These worries are not to say Copilot Health is a bad idea. However, it does raise questions about how AI should reshape our health care system and the role AI should play. Currently, AI is shaping up to be little more than a curious entertainment app tacked onto our same old, convoluted health care system that already frustrates patients.
One curious finding was in the comments to the WSJ article, which were decidedly negative. Most either did not trust Microsoft to get it right, did not trust Microsoft not to share or resell your information. Many only wanted to discuss their health conditions with their doctors.
Read more at WSJ: Microsoft’s New AI Health Tool Can Read Your Medical Records and Give Advice