Can AI Predict the Future for the Healthcare Industry?

As Director of Operations for OPTICS for Healthcare, I spend a lot of time thinking about our AI-native platform and its Agentic AI components. I work with an incredible team of people, including the OPTICS Advisory Board, who are all invested in making the future of healthcare better for the healthcare professionals on the front line and the executives who manage the bottom line.

As a team, we believe that it is possible for AI to predict the future in healthcare, at least when it comes to workplace violence and the cascading financial impact of this epidemic. Our platform operates on the premise that the first step to predicting potential future benefits or consequences is to assess your current state.

With that thought in mind, I took some time over the Christmas Holiday to use AI to assess the current state of the healthcare industry, relative to the growing problem of workplace violence. My own current state assessment used the numerous articles from the OPTICS Newsroom, something we launched in July.

I asked AI to summarize every single article we've posted in the OPTICS Newsroom since we launched. If you haven't been following these stories week by week, the picture that emerges is genuinely alarming.

The Numbers Tell a Devastating Story

Healthcare workers represent just 10% of the American workforce, yet they suffer 48% of all workplace violence injuries—five times the rate of other workers. Eight in ten nurses have experienced workplace violence within the past year. Not over a career. In the last twelve months.

At one medical center alone, there were 402 violent incidents in 2024, with 81% involving assaults against hospital employees—more than one assault every single day. At another, the workforce collapsed from 2,297 employees in 2013 to just 1,433 today while violence escalated.

The Human Cost is Staggering

Behind these statistics are real people. Kileigh Shelton, a newly graduated nurse in Tennessee, was pulled to the ground by her hair during a patient assault and ended up crying on the bathroom floor. "I didn't go into this to be assaulted," she said.

Iowa psychiatric nurse Lora Smith lost her pregnancy after a patient assault. Travis Dunn, an emergency room technician, was hospitalized with a skull fracture and brain bleed. A postpartum nurse was allegedly choked by a visitor, and another patient entered the emergency department with a loaded firearm making death threats.

The System is Responding—Slowly

Some encouraging developments are happening. California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington have mandated detailed workplace violence prevention plans. The bipartisan Save Healthcare Workers Act would establish federal penalties including up to 10-year prison sentences for assaulting hospital staff.

UNC-Chapel Hill launched an innovative simulation training program using professional actors to help nurses practice de-escalation—a recognition that traditional classroom training isn't enough.

Institutional Failures Persist

What troubles me most is the pattern of inadequate institutional response. Nurses repeatedly tell us that when they report violence, leadership either minimizes it or does nothing. In one instance, union leaders had to demand transparency after administrators downplayed an assault. In another, nurses held a candlelight vigil because management wasn't listening.

The understaffing crisis isn't helping. When facilities operate with 37% fewer employees while patient volumes remain steady, something has to give. And what's giving is both the safety of healthcare workers and their ability to provide quality patient care.

What This Means

Healthcare workplace violence isn't just a few isolated incidents. It's a systemic crisis affecting retention, recruitment, and the sustainability of our healthcare system itself. The question isn't whether we have a problem. The question is whether we're finally ready to treat it like the emergency it is.

Why I'm Proud of What We're Building

This is exactly why I'm so proud of the work our OPTICS team and Board of Advisors have been doing. We built this AI-driven platform specifically to address this $30 billion crisis. OPTICS simplifies workplace violence prevention by providing healthcare organizations with systematic risk assessments, evidence-based policy development, and compliance management tools. Instead of reacting after incidents happen, we help facilities identify vulnerabilities before someone gets hurt, develop clear action plans with frontline workers, and track whether interventions actually work. We're providing a comprehensive, proactive framework that transforms how healthcare organizations approach this crisis. Nurses and healthcare workers deserve real solutions, and that's what we're committed to delivering. 

I, personally, am looking forward to a time when the OPTICS Newsroom is full of stories about healthcare organizations that have substantially decreased the number of  workplace violence incidents they see each year. I’m hopeful that we’ll start to hear stories about legislative changes and institutional strategies that address workplace violence prevention with earnest transparency. When these efforts are focused by the organizational features of OPTICS for Healthcare, we can flip the script on workplace violence statistics. Our heroes on the front lines deserve safer work environments.

About Erin Parker

Erin Parker is OPTICS’ Director of Operations, overseeing and managing the company's day-to-day operations, ensuring that OPTICS’ technology and product support resources facilitate an exceptional customer experience. She brings 25 years of experience managing digital publishing products, online education and training programs, for The Grandview Group, The American Psychological Association, and Reed-Elsevier.