It seems we can't look or go anywhere without encountering AI in one form or another. The new logo for the Fibro Diva Report is AI generated. Our sponsor, 3 Gen Handbags and More, is a custom-made-upon-order purse company that features some AI designs. But did you realize that your healthcare may incorporate AI assistance? An article in the January 2024 issue of NIH: News In Health, "Artificial Intelligence and Your Health" discusses this issue.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) relates:

AI, widely discussed and prevalent in daily life, emulates human thinking. Machine learning, a key AI approach, aids in predictive modeling. AI enhances medical diagnostics, particularly in medical imaging, spotting subtle details. In healthcare, AI assists in identifying high-risk cases, like breast cancer, and tailoring treatments. Advanced chatbots, like ChatGPT, offer realistic conversations, addressing gaps in mental health care. Yet, caution is urged, as they lack true understanding and context. Ethical concerns arise, including biases from human data. Researchers explore AI's potential, emphasizing responsible development and training to overcome societal biases in machine learning.

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The American Medical Association calls for urgent legislative action to prevent impending 3.37% Medicare physician payment cuts in 2024, endangering patient care and physician practices. Multiple solutions exist, including bipartisan legislation and $2.2 billion in the Medicare Improvement Fund. The AMA emphasizes the need for prompt intervention to safeguard Medicare access.

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UL, a global safety science leader, announced on May 16, 2022, that Walgreens, an integrated healthcare pharmacy and retail leader, has earned a UL Verified Mark. This year, the UL Verified Mark will begin appearing on Walgreens brand vitamins and supplements. Ingredients listed on the product's nutritional, or supplement facts panel are now verified by UL – the first time the UL Verified Mark will appear on vitamin and supplement packaging.

State affirmative action bans are associated with a reduction in the percentage of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups at U.S. public medical schools. How this percentage may have been affected by state bans on affirmative action in public postsecondary institutions has received relatively little attention, according to a study published online May 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

This author has a college friend, ok she use to date my twin brother, who is a doctor. She spent many years in private practice and then as a Hospitalist. For the last 4 or 5 years she has been providing virtual medical care or telehealthcare. Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, preeminent treating physician, researcher and author in the areas of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue sydrome, has provided FM and CFS treatment via teleheath for years. When I first realized these two facts, I thought it would be a great service for those of disabled by Fibromyalgia. What, the ability to see our pain management providers without having to endure the flares resulting from travel to and sitting in the unnaturally cold office?!?! Welll back then my insurance did not cover telemedicine. Another beneficial side effect of the global pandemic is, the advancement in telemedicine via the growth of providers and the coverage by insurance.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has a new unit dedicated to building awareness virtual healthcare. HRSA introduces Telehealth.HHS.gov stating, "the Telehealth.HHS.gov website provides information for health care providers and patients about the latest federal efforts to support and promote virtual health care, known as telehealth." [1] Telehealth.HHS.gov defines virtual medicine or tellehealth as "the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to provide care when you and the doctor are not in the same place at the same time. If you have a phone or a device with internet access, you already have everything you need to get medical care or services through telehealth." [2]

A network of independently-contracted primary care doctors in California believes that telemedicine can be a vital healthcare tool for seniors. They report that telemedicine can save time, effort and money for older patients who may have limited mobility and/or stamina and income. [3] Healthcareitnews.com reports that telemedicine can assit in the care of people with disabilities and keeping them out of the hospital. [4]

Medical media company, Stat, addresses the obvious, the potential widening of healthcare disparities faced by racial groups, certain socialeconomic classes, and rural health consumers. Stat reports, "There’s no question that the expansion of telehealth could be a force for good. These changes may save lives during this [global pandemic] crisis by keeping patients out of health care settings where exposure to Covid-19 may be high. In the post-pandemic era, they could provide greater access and convenience for some patients. But they could also worsen health disparities down the road if not implemented carefully." [5]

Stat continues, "emphasis on expanding patient markets and responding to well-resourced consumers’ demand may put marginalized groups with poor health, no health insurance, or few digital resources at risk." [6] Besides the biases and prejuidices held by some healthcare providers, members of marginalized groups may face discrimination and healthcare disparities because patients themselves are relucant to deal with potetianl discrimnation and due to the very algorithms used to develop telehealth programs. Stat goes on to say "While doctors misuse of these algorithms is mitigated by clinical judgement and training, a patients’ uninformed use of such algorithms in lieu of seeking professional medical advice could be harmful. This is particularly true of patients who belong to social groups underrepresented in algorithmic data." [7]

On a personal note, this author has had telemedicine encounters during the current pandemic as a result of Shelter-in-Place orders and concern for potential exposure to COVID-19 in healthcare settings. Some encounters have been very good with the physician taking extended time to discuss my health and providing following up information via the My Chart app. Other encounters, not so much. These were frustrating as the physician hurried through the remote appointment and did not provide end of appointment summaries. This author has observed that the remote appointments were completely covered by my insurance, probably due to COVID, at no charge to me.

Endnotes:

[1] https://telehealth.hhs.gov/about/

[2] https://telehealth.hhs.gov/patients/understanding-telehealth/#what-does-telehealth-mean

[3] https://www.primecare.com/en/health-wellness/telehealth-older-adults.html

[4] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-tool-keep-people-disabilities-out-hospital

[5] https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/26/unless-its-done-carefully-the-rise-of-telehealth-could-widen-health-disparities/

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid.

Fibromyalgia advocate, Sabrina Johnson, has always been laser focused on the issue of pain management disparity among certain underserved groups, people of color and First Responders with Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain disorders. The one positive side effect of the current global pandemic is that has brought healthcare, and thus pain management, discrimination to the forefornt.

In a recent interview with HealthLine.com, Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, MPH, and adjunct professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, stated "there’s a history of doctors assuming Black patients are drug seeking." [1] Healthline continues their article on racial discrimination and pain mangement reporting "racial disparities in healthcare are particularly evident when it comes to treating pain. A 2016 study reported that Black Americans are less likely to be treated for pain, and when they do get treatment, they’re given a lower dose of pain medicine ... because beginning in medical school, some students hold false beliefs that Black people are biologically different from white people." [2]

Many non-Black Fibromyalgia advocates have scoffed at the idea that Black and other Fibromyalgia patients of color have issues specific to their race-related pain experience. Keisha Ray, PhD, an assistant professor at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Ray states, “Institutional racism in healthcare stops Black people from receiving good care that leads to good health outcomes.” This institutioinal racism doesn't stop at the thereshold of the doctor's office. Many Black and Latino people with Fibromyalgia have related over the last 28 years that they have been made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed at support grouop meetings. The fact that usually there are no support group meetings avaialbe in minority communities AND usually support groups are not lead by, facilitated by, people of color adds to this covert form of racism in pain management.

Endnotes

[1] www.healthline.com/health-news/the-discrimination-black-americans-face-when-it-comes-to-pain-management#Racial-bias-in-medical-care

[2] Ibid