As founding member of the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) EFA participated in the leadership meeting that was held in connection with EPF’s Annual General Meeting 2024. The event served to learn and discuss the potential and challenges brought by artificial intelligence (AI) when applied to health and disease prevention.
AI is progressively and at a high pace being used for public health policies and to provide care. While there is not a clear definition of AI but rather a group of technologies and solutions being nurtured by it, AI in healthcare is being used to support medical diagnosis or decisions, based performance of technologies that can handle great amounts of data and develop accurate algorithms. Some applications include reading CT scans that help in anticipating disease development, or prescribing medicines in a more personalised way based on the patients’ data to get optimal treatment and results.
During the EPF AI Leadership meeting, EPF members such as EFA, heard expert panellists’ discussions on how AI can be embedded in healthcare systems, from the development of clinical trials to prescribing decisions. A consensus emerged on the need for EU regulation to have responsible use of AI, one that facilitates patients’ lives, that operates with ethics and protects from harmful practices.
The discussions shown the way of how much needed the work of patient organisations in the development of digital health is and specifically on AI, around developing the technology itself but also informing individual patients about the benefits and risks linked to it.
Read more about the AI Leadership event in EPFs website.