#18 – AI Innovations in Healthcare: Insights from Gen AI Startup Leaders

Introduction

In the latest episode of the Healthcare AI for Dummies series, host Missy Krasner delves into the world of generative AI startups in healthcare. Featuring esteemed guests Dr. Khan Siddiqui, founder of HOPPR, and Mike Bourke, founder of Tramplain AI, this episode offers a deep dive into building AI solutions for clinical and contact center applications.

Backgrounds of the Guests

Dr. Khan Siddiqui began his career as a radiologist, with academic positions at UC Maryland and Johns Hopkins. His work in computer vision and machine learning led him to Microsoft, where he spearheaded their first healthcare AI team. His entrepreneurial journey includes founding Higgy and contributing to Hyperfine, known for its portable MRI scanner. Currently, Dr. Siddiqui is focused on HOPPR, which aims to automate and improve radiology workflows using AI.

Mike Bourke has a long history in the contact center industry, having held significant roles at companies like Five9, Aspect, and Albaria. His experience spans product management, innovation, and general management. At Tramplain AI, Bourke is developing AI solutions tailored for healthcare contact centers, aiming to enhance efficiency and customer service.

AI in Clinical Settings

Dr. Siddiqui’s journey underscores the pressing need for AI in radiology. The increasing volume of imaging studies and the shortage of radiologists worldwide necessitate innovative solutions. HOPPR’s approach is unique in that it builds a generalized AI model to interpret various medical images, significantly reducing the need for multiple disease-specific models. This API-based model integrates seamlessly with existing PACS systems, ensuring widespread adoption without disrupting current workflows.

AI in Contact Centers

Bourke’s Tramplain AI addresses the complexities faced by healthcare contact centers. These centers struggle with high agent turnover, extensive training times, and the need to reference multiple documents and systems. By implementing AI for real-time transcription, generative responses, and process automation, Tramplain AI aims to enhance both agent efficiency and customer satisfaction. Bourke emphasizes the importance of a hybrid approach, where AI assists but does not entirely replace human agents, ensuring empathy and nuanced understanding in patient interactions.

Approaches to Building AI Solutions

The discussion highlighted two distinct approaches to AI in healthcare. Dr. Siddiqui is building proprietary models tailored to medical imaging’s specific needs, ensuring high accuracy and compliance with FDA standards. In contrast, Bourke leverages existing large language models (LLMs) and builds layers of functionality on top, ensuring flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Predictions for the Future

Looking ahead, both experts foresee significant advancements in AI capabilities. Dr. Siddiqui anticipates breakthroughs in compute efficiency and model performance, potentially enabling highly complex tasks like generating full-length movies from text prompts. Bourke envisions a future where AI seamlessly integrates into contact center operations, minimizing wait times and enhancing the overall patient experience.

Conclusion

The insights from Dr. Khan Siddiqui and Mike Bourke provide a glimpse into the transformative potential of AI in healthcare. As technology rapidly advances, the innovative solutions being developed today will pave the way for a more efficient and effective healthcare system tomorrow.