Week 8 Discussion: Political Perspectives: Social Policy Programs and History Discussion

Technology is slowly revolutionizing the practice of medicine in the current decade. For example, recently, there has been a rise of Artificial intelligence (AI) that has given rise to applications for AI-powered personal Assistants. The AI-Powered Personal Assistant application program utilizes AI to understand voice commands and complete tasks. Technology applications include AI chatbots, conversational assistants, and virtual assistants. AI chatbots are computer programs that use websites, social media platforms, and messaging apps to facilitate communication by responding to inquiries or starting a discussion with users through text and voice interfaces (Jo, 2022). The AI virtual assistants help run the program by answering questions, scheduling appointments, and providing general information.

The technology would help improve the aging population’s health by setting reminders on when to take their medications and attend scheduled consultation appointments. In addition, the program can also allow the population to have virtual consultations regarding their health, which would help in early diagnosis and reduce complication rates (Jadczyk et al., 2021).The chatbots and conversational agents can provide a forum where the aging population can have different conversations on different topics, which can reduce levels of loneliness and depression. Furthermore, the programs’ virtual assistant can incorporate a health monitoring tool to help lower the aging population’s mortality by continuously monitoring their vitals and alerting healthcare providers when an emergency arises.

Using AI-powered personal Assistants has reduced costs and time wastage as patients can easily ask questions, have virtual consultations regarding a situation or experience, and get immediate feedback without visiting a healthcare facility (Jadczyk et al., 2021). The programs can also be used to monitor patients, follow up, schedule appointments, and answer medication questions, which can help lower the burden of chronic illnesses and the rate of untold complications. The three applications allow patients to interact with them freely and can help patients deal with anxiety, depression, and loneliness by providing a social companion.

However, using this technology has disadvantages, such as increased costs required to create, run, and provide backup for the programs. The programs may cause a misdiagnosis resulting from incomplete assessment of the patients as they are not physically present for examination and diagnostic procedures (Jadczyk et al., 2021). In addition, it may fail to fulfill patients’ satisfaction as it cannot show empathy or understand the complex questions asked. The programs have negatively impacted professional skills, resulting from reduced hospital visits and over-reliance on the program instead of healthcare providers, which may result in mistrust in the healthcare system.Lastly, the programs are prone to data hacking and lack medical-legal accountability.

Paying for the technological infrastructure should be a collective role. Healthcare facilities can fund the program to ensure that it meets the patient’s needs, trust, and satisfaction (Jadczyk et al., 2021). Healthcare providers should also be active to ensure that their professional skills are not undermined and that the program provides correct information. In addition, healthcare facilities can partner with technological companies to ensure the program runs smoothly, is free from interference, and meets patients’ satisfaction. Patients who are the actual consumers of the program should contribute to paying for the program through period subscriptions to ensure added benefits from the program.

The AI-personal assistant program applications can significantly help me as an aging service provider. For example, I can use the technology to remind my patients when to take their medicines, attend scheduled consultations and social meetings, and perform tasks (Ermolina et al., 2021). As a result, it can ease my workload and reduce errors that may result from forgetting. The chatbots and conversational agents can help maintain constant communication by monitoring patients’ vitals, which can alert me in an emergency or when I need to help a patient urgently. Lastly, the applications can also offer patients a sense of companionship through conversations and recommend entertainment options they can engage in, such as music and games, reducing loneliness.

References

Ermolina, A., & Tiberius, V. (2021). Voice-Controlled Intelligent Personal Assistants in Health Care: International Delphi Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(4), e25312. https://doi.org/10.2196/25312

Jadczyk, T., Wojakowski, W., Tendera, M., Henry, T. D., Egnaczyk, G., & Shreenivas, S. (2021). Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Patient Management at the Time of a Pandemic: The Role of Voice Technology. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), e22959. https://doi.org/10.2196/22959

Jo, H. (2022). Continuance intention to use artificial intelligence personal assistant: type, gender, and use experience. Heliyon, 8(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10662

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Initial Post

If your first name begins with the letters A–M: Topic 1 – Accountable Care Organization: Challenges, Goals, and Intended Outcomes

The accountable care organization (ACO) is a rapidly growing organizational model with the direct goals of improving patient outcomes and restraining healthcare costs. Using the learning materials to support your claims, respond to the following prompts in your original post.

• Explain what an ACO is as well as the healthcare professionals and organizations it includes.
• Describe the role of the ACO and its intended outcomes.
• Describe the challenges of achieving the overall goals of ACOs (such as multidisciplinary collaboration and reducing healthcare costs) or the implementation challenges of ACOs (such as the lack of technological systems to integrate communication among ACO professionals).
• Include an explanation of why the goals have been difficult to accomplish.
• Discuss why it has been difficult to implement ACO strategies.
• Discuss challenges and benefits an ACO would have on an aging service provider.

Your initial post should be 500 to 700 words, with one to two supporting references included.

If your first name begins with the letters N–Z: Topic 2 – Technology Uses in Caring for Aging Adults and Who Pays for It

Using the learning materials to support your claims, respond to the following prompts in your original post. For this discussion, focus on an emerging technology or trend, not a technological device. For example, one technological trend is the increasing availability of online ordering and delivery to the home.

• Research and present an emerging technology or trend worth investing in to improve future housing, healthcare, and/or technological advancements for aging individuals and their families in the United States.
• What are the positive and negative impacts this technology may have?
• When considering this technology or trend, who should pay for technological infrastructure in the healthcare system?
• How might technology assist you as an aging service provider to do your job (i.e., track trends, reduce labor costs, ensure efficiency, etc.)?

Your initial post should be 500 to 700 words, with one to two supporting references included.

Graduate Program in Health Administration Discussion Question Rubric

Note: The value of each of the criterion on this rubric represents a point range (example: 25–20 points, 20–15 points, 15–10 points, 10–0 points).