\n<\/p>\n
To Save Patients from Extreme Heat, a Hospital Is Turning to AI<\/p>\n
AI could be used to comb through electronic health records and warn vulnerable people about dangerous heat waves<\/p>\n
Tourists try to escape the effects of a heat wave in Washington, D.C., last week.<\/p>\n
Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
CLIMATEWIRE | When extreme heat hits the Boston area, emergency departments are packed with people who are dehydrated, experiencing kidney or heart problems, or are having heat cramps.<\/p>\n
Now a health care system that serves 2.5 million patients across Massachusetts is turning to artificial intelligence for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stress of the heat exacerbates those conditions, and we\u2019ll see a 10 percent jump of people in the emergency department not just for heat illness, but also weakness or syncope or other conditions due to the heat,\u201d said Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer at Mass General Brigham, the nonprofit academic health system that is working on a new alert system to warn people about the dangers of heat waves.<\/p>\n
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In February, MGB was one of five applicants to join a Sustainability Accelerator run by IBM. The program seeks to help communities facing environmental and economic stress through technology. It had received more than 100 proposals for how to use AI to advance climate sustainability and resilience.<\/p>\n
The idea is simple: Use AI to comb through electronic health records to find patients who have health conditions or take medications that might make them particularly vulnerable to heat. The AI program would warn them when a heat wave is coming and tell patients how to protect themselves so they don\u2019t end up in an emergency room. The tool would include security features to protect patient health information.<\/p>\n
Ideally, the combination of personalized information, real-time heat data, and “actionable messages” will help empower patients to protect themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think patients will pay more attention if it is their doctor, their hospital saying, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re at risk and here\u2019s what to do,\u2019 than if they just see on the news that it will be hot tomorrow,\u201d Biddinger said.<\/p>\n
Heat kills an estimated 2,300 people every year in the United States, more than any other type of extreme weather event, and results in the hospitalization of thousands of others. Those numbers are expected to increase as climate change turbocharges temperatures, with one estimate calculating that emergency rooms could be inundated with an additional 235,000 visitors each summer. The same report, by the Center for American Progress, estimated that health care costs related to extreme heat would amount to $1 billion annually.<\/p>\n
Mass General Brigham offers training for doctors and nurses about how climate change could affect patients. Some particularly vulnerable patients with complex or overlapping medical conditions are assigned case workers to discuss those risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as we want our patients to control their blood sugar if they have diabetes or not be exposed to poor air quality if they have a respiratory disease, trying to help them protect themselves from heat by communicating when they are at high risk is a health care responsibility, and we are trying to do better,\u201d Biddinger said.<\/p>\n
But proactively warning patients is a tall order for humans to do on their own.<\/p>\n
Patients with complicated medical conditions are assigned care managers, who follow patients more closely and will contact them before a heat wave strikes to \u201csupport their health.\u201d But there\u2019s not enough staff to reach everyone who has a heart or kidney condition, or those whose homes might not have air conditioning.<\/p>\n
The AI program is still being developed, but Biddinger said he envisions it having a chatbot function, so patients can ask questions when they receive an alert.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur primary care doctors are so overwhelmed these days, and we don\u2019t want them to be stuck on hold waiting for their doctor when we can use AI to help them identify cooling centers or public places with air conditioning where they can go to stay cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The AI alert system is meant to be a pilot program so the technology can be developed with IBM over the next two years. If it works, it could be shared with other hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not being developed as a profits-driven product. It\u2019s meant to be a service to the community that health centers across the country could use to support their patients, too,\u201d Biddinger said.<\/p>\n
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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