When patients with cancer and their oncologists talk about goals for treatment, it is called a serious illness conversation (SIC). These discussions can ensure that end-of-life treatments match patients’ wishes. Unfortunately, in many cases these conversations happen too late or not at all. Artificial intelligence(AI) can make it easier for oncologists to initiate these discussions.
Research by LDI Senior Fellow Ravi Parikh has shown that a machine-learning algorithm that identifies patients at higher risk of dying within a shorter time—in combination with behavioral nudges—can increase the rate at which doctors conduct SICs. Parikh built on that work in a New England Journal of Medicine AI study that examined how the machine learning-based behavioral intervention designed to motivate SICs affected health care spending at the end of life among patients who died.
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