Organizational readiness for artificial intelligence in health care: insights for decision-making and practice
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 3 December 2020
Issue publication date: 5 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises many expectations regarding its ability to profoundly transform health care delivery. There is an abundant literature on the technical performance of AI applications in many clinical fields (e.g. radiology, ophthalmology). This article aims to bring forward the importance of studying organizational readiness to integrate AI into health care delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
The reflection is based on our experience in digital health technologies, diffusion of innovations and healthcare organizations and systems. It provides insights into why and how organizational readiness should be carefully considered.
Findings
As an important step to ensure successful integration of AI and avoid unnecessary investments and costly failures, better consideration should be given to: (1) Needs and added-value assessment; (2) Workplace readiness: stakeholder acceptance and engagement; (3) Technology-organization alignment assessment and (4) Business plan: financing and investments. In summary, decision-makers and technology promoters should better address the complexity of AI and understand the systemic challenges raised by its implementation in healthcare organizations and systems.
Originality/value
Few studies have focused on the organizational issues raised by the integration of AI into clinical routine. The current context is marked by a perplexing gap between the willingness of decision-makers and technology promoters to capitalize on AI applications to improve health care delivery and the reality on the ground, where it is difficult to initiate the changes needed to realize their full benefits while avoiding their negative impacts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
H. Alami is supported by the “Canadian Institutes of Health Research's (CIHR) Health System Impact Fellowship”. This program is led by CIHR's Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (CIHR-IHSPR), in partnership with the Fonds de recherche du Québec –Santé (FRQS) and the Institut national d'excellence en santé et services sociaux (INESSS).The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the editorial team for their insightful comments and suggestions, as these comments and suggestions led to an improvement of the manuscript.Funding: Not applicable.Authors' contributions: HA and PL produced the first draft of this manuscript and received input from JLD, AM, CP, MS, RR, MPG, DR, and JPF. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable.Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Citation
Alami, H., Lehoux, P., Denis, J.-L., Motulsky, A., Petitgand, C., Savoldelli, M., Rouquet, R., Gagnon, M.-P., Roy, D. and Fortin, J.-P. (2021), "Organizational readiness for artificial intelligence in health care: insights for decision-making and practice", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 106-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-03-2020-0074
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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