Artificial intelligence holds great promise for transforming health care effectiveness and efficiency, particularly for populations with limited access to care, including people who receive safety-net services and in rural areas. Health artificial intelligence (Health AI) has the potential to make care more predictive, prevention-oriented, and personalized. When properly designed and deployed, Health AI could address persistent challenges faced by underserved populations, such as lack of access to care, high rates of chronic disease, poor health literacy, and social determinants of health.
Yet, Health AI must be ethically and thoughtfully integrated into safety-net service settings to keep human relationships and patient well-being central to care, and to ensure that these technologies do not overlook population-specific needs nor exacerbate inequities. There is a balance between leveraging rapid technological advances and taking the time to ensure such advances drive improved health outcomes for all.
With support from the Episcopal Health Foundation, the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin developed a study and strategy paper identifying the most effective, actionable opportunities to introduce and integrate Health AI into care, especially in safety-net and rural services.