Re:IBM’s Watson Now A Second-Year Med Student
by nradov on Friday May 27, 2011 @01:39AM
(#2590547)
Here is a list of the most common diagnoses from a few years ago.
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/natstats/commdx/table2a....
Doctors already do quite well diagnosing those in almost all cases so there isn't much room to improve on the diagnostic side. Once the doctor takes the patient history, observes the symptoms, and reviews the lab results then the diagnosis is usually fairly obvious (to an experienced professional). If the doctor had to enter all her detailed observations into a computer it would just slow the process down and increase costs.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:IBM’s Watson Now A Second-Year Med Student
by w1ntermute on Friday May 27, 2011 @02:00AM
(#2590570)
> If the doctor had to enter all her detailed observations into a computer it would just slow the process down and increase costs.
On the other hand, paying someone working for/requiring much less money/training than the doctor (say, a BS & $20 or $30/hour) to enter the data would lower the overall costs, would it not?
No that really wouldn't lower overall costs because it wouldn't immediately add much value in most cases. There would be some long term value later since that additional coded clinical data could be mined for clinical research to determine which treatments are most effective. But no one is willing to pay an additional $10 (or whatever) per patient encounter to get that data.
Re:IBM’s Watson Now A Second-Year Med Student
by w1ntermute on Friday May 27, 2011 @10:38AM
(#2591591)
If there wasn't so much bureaucratic red tape surrounding the healthcare industry, that would be a great opportunity for an enterpreneur. Correcting the smallest inefficiencies can dramatically increase profit.