Health care AI – Focus on Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand, with their ageing populations and advanced healthcare systems, have been quick to embrace AI technologies to enhance patient care and improve overall health outcomes.

However, its existing healthcare AI industry remains negligible compared to other developed nations, local AI research in Australia attracted a mere 0.9% of total government grant funding.

The areas in which developments are being made are:

a) Da Vinci Surgical System – is a robotic assisted surgical platform used in a number of hospitals in Australia and the USA.  Surgeons control a robotic arm for procedures such as colorectal surgeries.

b) Rehabilitation - used in physiotherapy to assist patients in regaining mobility. The more complex robotics include exoskeletons that not only assist with rehabilitation exercises but also provide targeted assistance and feedback.

c) Elderly care - used in physiotherapy to assist patients in regaining mobility. The more complex robotics include exoskeletons that not only assist with rehabilitation exercises but also provide targeted assistance and feedback.

d) Virtual assistants - these systems engage with patients to assist in providing information, schedule appointments, offer medication reminders.

Labour market

As people start living longer, older adults are entering aged care homes at a later stage.  Home support is a valuable tool in delaying the need for residential aged care facilities and lessen the burden on the public finances.  Both governments have put in place plans to increase the wages for aged care workers with the New Zealand Labour party committing $50m NZD per year from 2021.  

This could increase the care rates across the sector and filter into claims for future care.  I would recommend compensators keep a close eye on any developments in this area and try to identify any trends that may seek to significantly increase the recoverable care rate.

Regulation

At the moment there is no legislation, in Australia, requiring clinicians to notify patients if they are using AI in their treatment or care.  With the growth in robotics in surgery and AI likely to play a greater role in the future legislators will be required, in the not so distant future, to address concerns about privacy, accuracy, reliability and safety.  The legal professional will also need to consider who is liable for when things go wrong for example a mistake made by a robotic surgeon.  

Regulation of AI in healthcare may be a growing field in both jurisdictions and as a starting point I would recommend following closely the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which is due to be enacted, in the European Union in 2024.  

National Policy Roadmap for Articifical Intelligence in Health Care (AAIH)

The lack of investment in AI within the health care sector has been recognised and the AAIH produced a report which set out 16 recommendations across 5 priority areas;

• Safety, equality, ethics and security;
• Workfore;
• Consumer;
• Industry;
• Research.

Some of the key recommendations include;

• The development of a national clinical AI procurement guidelines.
• Allow ethical and consented access to clinical data o encourage AI development.
• Develop a National AI Capability Centre in Healthcare to bring products to market.
• Ensure the workforce can engage safely and responsibly with AI.

The ANZ region has some catching up to do with other western countries. At the moment it is lagging behind but the next few years could be an exciting chapter in the development and evolution of health care in the region. Insurers and lawyers should keep a close eye on developments as it could have a significant impact on claim costs as highlighted in article dated 28 November 2023 and also any product liability issues that may arise. While that article focused on claims in the UK, similar risks are likely to arise in the ANZ region.

View the AAIH report here