Sheba Medical Center Demonstrates the Value of GenAI in Healthcare

As more healthcare organizations implement or test generative AI applications, assessing their impact on clinician productivity and quality of care, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, addressing a global shortage of mental health professionals, partnered with Microsoft and KPMG to develop a generative AI platform that has demonstrated highly accurate diagnostic skills.

A new McKinsey study of healthcare organizations—including payers, providers, and healthcare services and technology groups—found that 29% have already implemented generative AI capabilities, with an additional 43% pursuing proof-of-concept for generative AI. About 60% of those who have implemented generative AI solutions are either already seeing a positive return on investment or expect to see one, with the majority of respondents (73%) believing that clinician and clinician productivity is an area where generative AI can have the greatest value.

Increasing the productivity of the health care workforce is particularly important in the field of mental health. As of December 2023, more than half (169 million) of the U.S. population lives in a mental health worker shortage area, up from 118 million in 2019. Twenty-three percent of all American adults had a mental illness in 2022, and nearly half of those did not receive treatment. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, while the number of adult psychiatrists is expected to decline by 20% by 2030, demand for their services is expected to increase by 3%, creating a shortage of more than 12,000 fully qualified psychiatrists.

A significant contributor to this challenge is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, which currently affects more than 300 million people worldwide. In the U.S., PTSD affects an estimated 3.5% of adults each year, resulting in $232 billion in total annual expenditures. It is estimated that one in 11 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lifetime.

The Psychiatry Department of the Sheba Medical Center, located in Ramat Gan, Israel, has been treating PTSD for many years. However, the ongoing war with the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah has dramatically increased the number of soldiers and civilians experiencing traumatic events or situations. These include hostages returning from captivity and their family members, wounded soldiers and civilians and their family members, some of the more than 200,000 people evacuated and displaced from their homes near Israel’s southern and northern borders, and survivors of massacres and rocket attacks.

To better manage the new influx of people with PTSD, depression and anxiety, Sheba psychiatrists developed “Liv,” an LLM-based platform that offers an interactive interface and personalized patient experience with voice and written communication. In an early test, Liv correctly diagnosed patients 94% of the time and was slightly more accurate than psychiatrists in assessing the severity of the condition (81% vs. 79%). The generative AI platform also outperformed doctors in determining the right medication to treat patients, and received high marks for the quality of its engagement.

Liv demonstrates the value of using generative AI to scale and scale triage, improve the quality and personalization of care, and address staffing shortages in healthcare systems. In the context of the global mental health crisis, generative AI platforms like Liv could provide much-needed assistance beyond psychiatrists.

The 2023 Board Certified PAs by Specialty Annual Report statistical profile shows that 33.4% of physician assistants or PAs see patients requiring mental health care on a daily basis, and 26.7% of PAs initiate treatment for mental health conditions. “PAs are at the forefront of caring for patients with mental health issues,” the report concluded, also showing that 59% of PAs in family/general practice have daily encounters with patients requiring mental health care.

Liv is one of several digital health initiatives being driven by Sheba’s local innovation incubator, the ARC (accelerate, redesign, collaboration) Innovation Center. Launched in 2019, ARC now boasts 100 startups in its network, startups that have raised a combined $1.37 billion through December of last year. It has a number of strategic corporate partners and international collaborations with healthcare organizations on co-development, data sharing and pilots. In addition, ARC has established a growing global “future of health” community and innovation hubs in Ottawa, Chicago and London, with more planned in Bahrain, Melbourne and Nantes.

ARC is the product of a long tradition of healthcare innovation at Sheba, a tradition that has a clear impact not only on quality of care but also on the bottom line. For example, Innovalve Bio Medical — founded in Sheba in 2018 — was acquired last month by Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) for an estimated $300 million. Innovalve is the developer of a minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve replacement device, and its CEO credited the speed of the product development to the company’s location at Sheba Medical Center.

The digital transformation of healthcare that Sheba is spearheading and her pioneering use of AI does not necessarily mean replacing doctors, nurses, and physician assistants. Liv is an example of the wise and responsible use of new technology to help overworked and burned-out healthcare workers. It is not meant to replace the human touch that is so important in all healthcare disciplines, but is perhaps most valuable in improving mental health. The bonds that form between therapists and patients are especially important for the long-term success of treatment in a country that continues to suffer from collective trauma, a highly stressful condition with no end in sight.

In a recent report on the bonds formed between dedicated therapists and wounded soldiers at the Sheba Back to Life rehabilitation unit, the hospital quoted a soldier who has been in Sheba for three and a half months: “I feel stronger than I did before my accident. There is something special about this country. We stand and fight for the country we love. We are one family, we are together and we are strong. October 7th touched everyone, we all lost someone, every person. We just want to protect our country and we are doing everything we can to do that.”