I wrote a bit about the systematic issues preventing promising AI research from moving to production in medicine, including a very brief history of MYCIN: https://blog.cardiogr.am/three-challenges-for-artificial-int...

I think now really is different. Part of that is algorithmic advances like deep learning, as shown in this Nature paper.

An even larger part of it is that the financial incentives are flipping due to value-based care. In 1979, a hospital that implemented an expert system for accurate diagnosis may, paradoxically, see its revenue fall. Nowadays, with ACOs, risk-based contracting, and bundled payments, the financial incentives create tailwinds rather than headwinds for large-scale adoption of AI in medicine.

Contrary to popular belief, the medical system can absorb new techniques very quickly--when incentives are aligned. And they are now becoming aligned.