Meeting topic: "Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare."

On December 8, 2025, a meeting of the Student Scientific Circle was held at the Department of Economics and Management of the Kursk State Medical University, dedicated to one of the most pressing topics in modern healthcare – the digital transformation of the industry. Meeting topic: "Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare."

The event was moderated by the Acting Head of the Department, Associate Professor Olga Vladimirovna Vlasova.

The meeting took the form of a lively discussion, where key technological trends were examined through the lens of economic efficiency and practical feasibility.

Third-year student of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Valeria Gulyaeva, presented a report on "The Economic Efficiency of Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring." Participants discussed how remote consultations and continuous monitoring of patient indicators not only increase the accessibility of medical care, especially in remote regions, but also lead to significant cost savings. Specifically, they reduce patient transportation costs, alleviate the burden on inpatient facilities, and by preventing complications through early problem detection, they lower the cost of further treatment. The importance of proper pricing and insurance models for telemedicine services to ensure the sustainability of this approach was noted.

Maria Samarina (4th year, Faculty of Economics and Management) addressed the issue of implementing artificial intelligence in diagnostics. This topic sparked the most heated debate. Students analyzed whether the high initial investments in developing and implementing AI algorithms for analyzing MRI, CT, or X-ray images are justified by the potential benefits. The benefits identified included increased speed and accuracy of diagnosis (especially in the early stages of diseases), reduced workload for radiologists, and minimization of the subjective factor. The discussion concluded that artificial intelligence is not a replacement for a specialist but a powerful assistant tool, and the economic effect is most evident when solutions are scaled.

In her presentation, fourth-year student of the Faculty of Economics, Yulia Ovsienko, presented an analysis of blockchain technology application in medical data management, focusing in detail on the key challenges and prospects in this field. SSC members considered blockchain not just as a technology for cryptocurrencies but also as a reliable tool for creating a unified, secure, and tamper-proof patient medical history. The advantages discussed included secure data exchange between clinics, elimination of duplicate tests, and enhanced confidentiality. The economic effect was linked to reduced administrative costs, increased trust in the system, and the creation of a foundation for personalized medicine.

Following the meeting, the students concluded that future healthcare managers need to possess digital literacy to make informed decisions about technology implementation, evaluating them not only from a medical but also from a financial and economic perspective.