Health IT

The consequences of adopting AI in medicine

Tech
December 23, 2025

Across society, AI is being adopted at an staggering rate. In medicine in particular, AI is helping physicians analyze diagnostic tests, calculate disease risk, summarize patient history, and formulate treatment plans. Health care administrators are using AI to manage and optimize workflows. Insurance companies report that AI is improving consumer service, expediting claims, and detecting fraud. AI-assisted medical research is discovering new drugs to combat Parkinson’s, …

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AI in prior authorization: the new gatekeeper

Conditions
December 19, 2025

The denial came back in less than three seconds.

A physician had just submitted a renewal for a medication her patient had taken for years, one that kept her stable, out of the hospital, and able to function. She expected the usual wait time. Maybe an hour. Maybe a day.

Instead, an automated message appeared: “Denied: automated appropriateness determination.”

No reviewer. No rationale. No path for appeal. Only an algorithm, silent, opaque, and …

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Why AI in medicine elevates humanity instead of replacing it

Tech
December 13, 2025

When I trained in medicine, the learning path was predictable. Long nights of memorizing anatomy. Standing beside seasoned physicians in hospital hallways. Slowly absorbing the craft of diagnosis through repetition and proximity. It was an apprenticeship built on pattern recognition, intuition, and accumulated wisdom.

What I did not learn was how to practice medicine in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. That education came much later. It arrived quietly at …

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How algorithmic bias created a mental health crisis [PODCAST]

Podcast
December 10, 2025
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Health care executive Ronke Lawal discusses her article, “Digital mental health’s $20 billion blind spot.” Ronke explains how the booming digital mental health industry is systematically failing 40 percent of the U.S. …

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Innovation in medicine: 6 strategies for docs

Tech
November 21, 2025

Medicine thrives on structure. Protocols, guidelines, and standards safeguard patient outcomes and reduce error. Yet the same structure that preserves consistency can quietly suppress creativity.

For physicians who dream of improving systems, innovating within such rigid frameworks can feel like trying to work inside a box. But structure and creativity do not have to be opposites. Oftentimes, the struggle lies in how we spark creativity in a system built for safety.

The …

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AI in medical imaging: When algorithms block the view

Tech
November 18, 2025

He spent his youth memorizing lungs. That was how he learned chest X-rays, not by chasing abnormalities, but by studying thousands of perfectly normal films until his eyes could sense when something was ever so slightly wrong. “If you don’t know normal,” he would tell residents, “you’ll never understand abnormal.”

He was a chest physician, not a radiologist, yet his skill with chest imaging became legendary. At Taipei Veterans General Hospital, …

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Why clinicians must lead the health care tech revolution [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 14, 2025
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Health care executive Kimberly Smith discusses her article “Why clinicians must lead health care tech innovation.” Kimberly explains why clinicians, who are on the front lines of patient care, are in the …

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Why physicians must lead the vetting of medical AI [PODCAST]

Podcast
November 12, 2025
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Cardiologist Saurabh Gupta discusses his article “Physicians must lead the vetting of AI.” In this episode, Saurabh explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping medicine and why its future depends on physician leadership, …

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Physicians must lead the vetting of AI

Tech
November 11, 2025

Walking out of the cath lab one night after taking care of a patient with an acute myocardial infarction, a thought crossed my mind. In cardiology, we would never deploy a new device without vetting it. Before a stent ever touches a coronary artery, it undergoes bench testing, animal trials, and human studies to prove safety and efficacy. This process typically takes years, and in some cases, decades. Data points …

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Why Medicare must embrace AI support

Tech
November 10, 2025

America’s mental health system is failing its seniors, caught in a perfect storm of: a rapidly growing population, a severe shortage of geriatric psychiatrists, and a Medicare model buckling under the weight of chronic, costly conditions. For millions of older adults living with anxiety, depression, or isolation, the system offers little or no treatment; often, the nearest provider is hours away, and waitlists stretch for months. …

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Modernizing health care with AI and workflow

Tech
November 10, 2025

As a physician, I know all too well what clinicians in the U.S. today are up against. We’re being asked to do a lot more with a lot less. We’re tasked with producing more complete and accurate clinical documentation, reviewing endless notes, coding our own charts, and improving patient flow, all while providing the best patient experience and ensuring quality scores are optimal. All in a day’s work, right?

Our hippocratic …

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The human cost of health care automation

Physician
November 8, 2025

AI is rolling out in medicine faster than most of us can process. Ambient scribes documenting visits. Clinical decision support algorithms. Automated prior authorizations. The promises are compelling: reduced clerical burden, more face-time with patients, less burnout.

I wanted this. As a palliative care doctor and director of physician well-being at my institution, I’ve spent years watching colleagues drown in documentation and burn out from relentless task loads. When AI tools …

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How AI is changing medical education

Education
November 7, 2025

When I started medical school, I imagined long nights memorizing anatomy, shadowing physicians, and, eventually, walking hospital hallways in a white coat, trying to solve the intricate puzzles that patients carry in their bodies.

What I didn’t expect was that some of the most important lessons wouldn’t come from a professor or a textbook but from conversations about algorithms, data, and machines that learn.

Artificial intelligence felt distant at first, something for …

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How to adopt AI in health care responsibly

Tech
November 7, 2025

To give you an idea of how rapidly AI adoption has occurred, I recently reviewed the minutes of a company leadership meeting from last year. The topic of AI was almost entirely absent, receiving only minimal discussion. Compare that activity to today, where we’ve developed dozens of applications that actively utilize some form of AI, and hold daily meetings where it is the sole topic of discussion.

If your organization’s experience …

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Is it time for the VA to embrace virtual care?

Tech
November 6, 2025

Is it time for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to fully embrace virtual care?

The VA has long been one of America’s great health care innovators. From pioneering electronic health records to building one of the first truly integrated care systems, the VA has often been decades ahead of the private sector.

But today, the system is straining. Nearly 94 percent of VA facilities face physician shortages, and 79 …

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Ethical AI in mental health: 6 key lessons

Tech
October 28, 2025

As a founder developing AI systems for mental health support, I have wrestled with a fundamental question: How do we use AI to expand access while maintaining patient-provider trust? Building an AI Mental Health Copilot has shown me that the ethical challenges are as complex as the technical ones, and far more consequential. The mental health crisis demands innovation. AI copilots offer scalable, always-available support to bridge care gaps caused …

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AI companions and loneliness

Tech
October 26, 2025

Into this psychological wasteland, we’re now introducing AI companions as the solution. Meta’s personas, Character.AI’s virtual friends, and romantic chatbots; the market for artificial intimacy is exploding. The promise is seductive: connection without risk, companionship without effort, and validation on demand.

But here’s what these AI relationships actually do: They allow users to avoid the very challenges that build psychological resilience. Genuine relationships require vulnerability, the ability to tolerate conflict, and …

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ChatGPT in medicine: risks, benefits, and safer documentation strategies [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 21, 2025
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Family nurse practitioner Erica Dorn discusses her article “ChatGPT in health care: Risks, benefits, and safer options.” In this episode, Erica explains how clinicians are experimenting with ChatGPT to help with HPI …

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How Gen Z is reshaping health care through DIY approaches and digital tools [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 17, 2025
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Amanda Heidemann, family physician and senior clinical content consultant for clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health, discusses her article, “Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care.” Amanda explains how digital natives are …

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Ending monopolies is the first step toward true health care reform [PODCAST]

Podcast
October 15, 2025
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Health care data strategist Lee Ann McWhorter discusses her article “Why health care reform must start with ending monopolies.” Lee Ann explains how monopolistic control by entities like GPOs, PBMs, EHR vendors, …

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