The global demand for artificial intelligence in health care is projected to reach $5.5 billion by 2022, according to a report released by Arcluster, a market research firm based in Singapore.

The market analysis, titled Worldwide Healthcare AI Market (2017 – 2022), predicts that AI will pick up acceptance within the health care sector as a greater number of medical professionals and institutions express interest in adopting digital health care solutions, systems and services.

The result of this uptake in AI technology will increase operational efficiencies as well as enhance and quicken care, particularly for medical imaging and diagnostics, emergency room and hospital management, and drug discovery.

The report breaks down market sizes on the basis of revenue by solution type, which includes lifestyle management and monitoring; data and risk analytics; medical imaging and diagnostics; mental health; virtual assistants; emergency room and hospital management; drug discovery; nutrition; wearables; and others.

Research and development in AI has become a major priority among many tech companies and providers in health care. Many medical institutions in Korea, for instance, are currently testing Lunit INSIGHT AI imaging biomarker tech for diagnostic imaging.

In addition, Hitachi and Partners Connected are assessing the use of AI for predicting readmission rates among heart failure patients, and the first AI center for neurology has opened in Beijing.