The Impact of Government Subsidies on the Diffusion of Artificial Intelligence in the Hospital Market

This study looks into the best approaches for government subsidies to promote the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in healthcare. It examines two different subsidy strategies and creates an evolutionary game model of AI medical technology diffusion in the context of a Barabási-Albert (BA) network. The two subsidy strategies are analyzed in detail, factoring in the maturity of the technology, the initial proportion of firms, and the initial proportion of hospitals. The study finds that: 1) Government subsidies fixed in advance negatively affect technology diffusion when the maturity of the technology is uncertain. 2) Increased proportion of high-share hospitals increased the spread of AI technology because the enhanced market share benefits the firms using AI technology which causes them to attract other firms to copy that strategy. 3) From the perspective of the uncertainty of effectiveness, the adaptive subsidies perform better than fixed subsidies across all scenarios. 4) A higher initial proportion of hospitals using AI results in greater spreads of AI technology. The governments are recommended to use adaptive subsidies and to focus support on hospitals in order to reduce the barriers to entry. The government should also provide infrastructure and establish more higher-level hospitals to allow for the more effective use of resources.