AI can not only assist in training but can fill some of that gap, he argued. “AI is not an innovation coming down the pike,” he stated, “it’s here. Those who seize the AI opportunity and embrace these applications to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care will be the ones to leapfrog competitors.”

Numerous companies are stepping up to meet the challenge – and potentially profit from the opportunity. These include a number of the biggest global firms.

IBM's Watson, is now being applied to oncology and cancer.

IBM is also teaming with CVS Health to apply AI to the treatment of chronic disease, as well as working with Johnson & Johnson in drug development.

Microsoft has paired up with Scopis for its Holographic Navigation Platform with integrated Microsoft HoloLens technology. The platform is intended for use during open and minimally-invasive spinal procedures.

“Integrating mixed-reality tools into surgery is a huge technological advancement toward enhancing a surgeon’s vision and may provide greater benefits to patients,” Christian Woiciechowsky, chief of the Spinal Surgery Clinic at Vivantes Humboldt Hospital in Berlin, said in a statement.

Google's DeepMind has an app for patients seeking health data. It has also worked with the U.K. National Health Services to test its Streams AI app using information from those with acute kidney damage.

Intel just invested in Lumiata, which uses AI to find at-risk patients. Its Risk Matrix is an advanced predictive tool that calculates an individual's likely future health state based on associated clinical conditions or diagnoses.

"To deliver on the promise of value-based care, the industry desperately needs next-generation tools that can leverage the volume of health data that exists today, make sense of its complexity, and provide personalized, actionable, real-time insights," said Ash Damle, CEO and founder of Lumiata. "The Risk Matrix uses our medical AI engine to surface the most important insights in ways that fundamentally change the approach and economics of care management. It is a tool that can move us toward a world where health can be predicted with precision and speed."

GE Healthcare has begun to use AI for its medical imaging, medical diagnostics and patient monitoring systems. In May, it teamed up with Partners HealthCare in a ten-year arrangement designed to incorporate AI tools for population health, pathology and genomics. It is also working with Harvard hospitals to use AI to find abnormalities in scans – a potential boon to the radiological community.

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