Digital Health
The healthcare sector is faced with challenges due to a shrinking healthcare workforce and a rise in chronic diseases that are worsening with demographic and epidemiological shifts. Digital health interventions and increasingly artificial intelligence (AI) are being identified as some of the potential solutions to address these challenges.
The ultimate aim of AI in healthcare is to improve the patient’s health outcomes and satisfaction, the overall population’s health, and the well-being of healthcare professionals. The applications of AI in healthcare services are vast and are expected to assist, automate, and augment several healthcare services. Like any other emerging innovation, AI in healthcare also comes with its own risks and requires regulatory controls. Current global regulations for AI, primarily focused on Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) within digital health, may be inadequate due to AI's autonomous and adaptive capabilities. Therefore, a global regulatory convergence for AI in healthcare, akin to the US-EU Trade and Technology Council's voluntary AI code of conduct, would benefit all nations.
The Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) conducted literature reviews to examine the current regulatory landscape for AI and identify gaps within the healthcare services sector in developed nations and the analysis revealed five major thematic issues concerning the use of AI in healthcare services, as illustrated in the figure below:
The Health Regulation Group (HRG), Ministry of Health and Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) then convened the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Roundtable for the Healthcare Sector in Singapore on 4 April 2024. A curated group of experts from the public sector, academia, medicine, law, industry, and patient representatives discussed the applications of AI in the healthcare sector and associated risks and challenges.