Data Transformation to Advance AI/ML Research and Implementation in Primary Care

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in health care is accelerating at a breathtaking pace. As the largest health care delivery platform, primary care is where the power, opportunity, and future of AI/ML are most likely to be realized in the broadest and most ambitious scale. However, there is a relative lack of organized, open, large-scale primary care datasets to attract industry and academia in primary care-focused research and development. This article proposes a set of high-level considerations around the data transformation that is needed to enable the growth of AI/ML applications in primary care. These considerations call for automation of data collection, organization of fragmented data, identification of primary care-specific use cases, integration of AI/ML into human workflows, and surveillance for unintended consequences. By unlocking the power of its data, primary care can play a leading role in advancing health care AI/ML to support patients, clinicians, and the health of the nation.