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Artificial Intelligence is Coming –

But Where and How Fast

Brent Johnson | Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is real. When I retired seven years ago, AI was barely heard of and its reality and impact was largely unknown. Now, every industry is being impacted by AI in a very real and big way. And with very few exceptions, it’s for the better. Even my grandchildren use AI for book reports and essays – is this ethical?

Artificial Intelligence is defined as the capability of machines to communicate with and imitate the capabilities of a human. Twenty years ago, it was known as “machine learning” but it has blossomed with so much more capability.

The healthcare supply chain is very complex and costly – seemingly the perfect industry to apply AI. But because the industry is so complex and large applying AI effectively may come with problems. We don’t run things like a business in healthcare very often. I suppose we will be some of the last adopters of AI.

The question for us, in the healthcare supply chain industry, is how AI will impact us and how fast. Is it in the experimental phase or is it shifting to be operational? It’s also a good analysis to look at which supply chain partners will use AI and for what.

Possible partners and their use of AI:

  • Suppliers
    • Avoid supply chain disruptions
    • Develop innovations of the future
    • Streamline demand forecasting
    • Improve market segmentation
    • Optimize product life-cycle management
  • Manufacturers
    • Accelerate drug discovery and product development
    • Automate logistics systems
    • Reduce cost and improve quality
    • Help with future growth and success
  • IDNs
    • Help with patient care – more accurate clinical imaging and diagnosis
    • Operating efficiency – reduce down time
    • Reassess risk management
    • Product standardization & database clean up
    • Improve processes
  • GPOs
    • Streamlined sourcing
    • Product standardization and data base synchronization
    • Supply chain integration
  • Distributors
    • Automated logistics
    • Product standardization

Are all impacts of AI beneficial? No. Some implementations are costly and there is often the potential for job loss. The fact is that AI will not solve all of our problems. Some AI applications are realistic, and some are speculative.

However, because of AI’s opportunity to reduce cost, improve processes and even contribute to patient care, it must be something that we embrace and apply where it makes sense. We should learn best practices of AI applications from others. It’s here to stay and grow!

Let’s not be the last industry to adopt Artificial Intelligence into our operations. It’s our opportunity and obligation.

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