Can we predict the effects of artificial intelligence and virtual care on the health labour market?

Abstract

Australian society, as is observed globally, is undergoing a profound demographic shift with an ageing population imposing increasing demands on the health system. There is a well recognised association between an ageing population and the need for health and aged care. As such, the demand for high quality care services will grow necessitating the attraction, training and retention of workers supported by better use of technology and data. With increasing demand for a healthcare workforce of appropriate size and skill, attention has turned to new technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual care as potential ways of dealing with labour market supply constraints. While these new technologies are exciting at this point, they are nascent and there is not, as yet, clear evidence that they will have a major effect on health workforce requirements. It is too early to be optimistic regarding artificial intelligence technologies in healthcare, and virtual care still requires a workforce to underpin its operations. Cautious evaluation is necessary before artificial intelligence and virtual care become practical in more complex human healthcare tasks or can emulate the abilities of humans in delivering human centred healthcare.