Looking into the future of healthcare for 2018, PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Health Research Institute's annual industry issues report expects “persistent risks and uncertainties," according to a recent article by HealthExec. 

According the article, the 2018 PwC report elaborates on 12 issues organized into the following three categories: opportunities for cross-sector collaboration, strategic investments and creating efficiencies in healthcare.  

“In the face of an unsettled environment, the health industry could come out the other side of 2018 stronger and more creative, helping solve some of the nation’s most pressing health issues and becoming more engaged with their patients and consumers than before,” the annual report stated. 

Especially relevant for medical imaging, artificial intelligence (AI) is the most notable challenge and opportunity listed for healthcare in 2018. As slowly moves into back office and supply chain, AI is a top investment, according to HealthExec. 

"That investment is happening today; minimizing the use of manual labor when you could use a computer to create a better, faster, safer approach,” Gurpreet Singh, U.S. health service sector leader for PwC, told HealthExec.  

Though there is a great concern among a majority of health imaging professionals about the impact AI will have in improving patient care and potentially replacing the need for human expertise, Singh explained to HealthExec that AI's role in directly evaluating and diagnosing patients "will take some time."

See the entire article for more information and last year's "Top 5 issues" report here.