The Drivers of Acceptance of Artificial Intelligence-Powered Care Pathways Among Medical Professionals: Web-Based Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been proven beneficial in several health care areas. Nevertheless, the uptake of AI in health care delivery remains poor. Despite the fact that the acceptance of AI-based technologies among medical professionals is a key barrier to their implementation, knowledge about what informs such attitudes is scarce. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify and examine factors that influence the acceptability of AI-based technologies among medical professionals. METHODS: A survey was developed based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, which was extended by adding the predictor variables perceived trust, anxiety and innovativeness, and the moderator profession. The web-based survey was completed by 67 medical professionals in the Netherlands. The data were analyzed by performing a multiple linear regression analysis followed by a moderating analysis using the Hayes PROCESS macro (SPSS; version 26.0, IBM Corp). RESULTS: Multiple linear regression showed that the model explained 75.4% of the variance in the acceptance of AI-powered care pathways (adjusted R2=0.754; F9,0=22.548; P<.001). The variables medical performance expectancy (ß=.465; P<.001), effort expectancy (ß=-.215; P=.005), perceived trust (ß=.221; P=.007), nonmedical performance expectancy (ß=.172; P=.08), facilitating conditions (ß=-.160; P=.005), and professional identity (ß=.156; P=.06) were identified as significant predictors of acceptance. Social influence of patients (ß=.042; P=.63), anxiety (ß=.021; P=.84), and innovativeness (ß=.078; P=.30) were not identified as significant predictors. A moderating effect by gender was found between the relationship of facilitating conditions and acceptance (ß=-.406; P=.09). CONCLUSIONS: Medical performance expectancy was the most significant predictor of AI-powered care pathway acceptance among medical professionals. Nonmedical performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived trust, and professional identity were also found to significantly influence the acceptance of AI-powered care pathways. These factors should be addressed for successful implementation of AI-powered care pathways in health care delivery. The study was limited to medical professionals in the Netherlands, where uptake of AI technologies is still in an early stage. Follow-up multinational studies should further explore the predictors of acceptance of AI-powered care pathways over time, in different geographies, and with bigger samples.

Precision screening for familial hypercholesterolaemia: a machine learning study applied to electronic health encounter data.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular outcomes for people with familial hypercholesterolaemia can be improved with diagnosis and medical management. However, 90% of individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia remain undiagnosed in the USA. We aimed to accelerate early diagnosis and timely intervention for more than 1·3 million undiagnosed individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia at high risk for early heart attacks and strokes by applying machine learning to large health-care encounter datasets. METHODS: We trained the FIND FH machine learning model using deidentified health-care encounter data, including procedure and diagnostic codes, prescriptions, and laboratory findings, from 939 clinically diagnosed individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia (395 of whom had a molecular diagnosis) and 83 136 individuals presumed free of familial hypercholesterolaemia, sampled from four US institutions. The model was then applied to a national health-care encounter database (170 million individuals) and an integrated health-care delivery system dataset (174 000 individuals). Individuals used in model training and those evaluated by the model were required to have at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor (eg, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, or hyperlipidemia). A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996-compliant programme was developed to allow providers to receive identification of individuals likely to have familial hypercholesterolaemia in their practice. FINDINGS: Using a model with a measured precision (positive predictive value) of 0·85, recall (sensitivity) of 0·45, area under the precision-recall curve of 0·55, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0·89, we flagged 1 331 759 of 170 416 201 patients in the national database and 866 of 173 733 individuals in the health-care delivery system dataset as likely to have familial hypercholesterolaemia. Familial hypercholesterolaemia experts reviewed a sample of flagged individuals (45 from the national database and 103 from the health-care delivery system dataset) and applied clinical familial hypercholesterolaemia diagnostic criteria. Of those reviewed, 87% (95% Cl 73-100) in the national database and 77% (68-86) in the health-care delivery system dataset were categorised as having a high enough clinical suspicion of familial hypercholesterolaemia to warrant guideline-based clinical evaluation and treatment. INTERPRETATION: The FIND FH model successfully scans large, diverse, and disparate health-care encounter databases to identify individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia. FUNDING: The FH Foundation funded this study. Support was received from Amgen, Sanofi, and Regeneron.