Health IT

Connected health care workflows: From chore to core patient care

Tech

February 12, 2026

Today’s clinicians are spending more time documenting care than delivering it. This reality is not lost on health care providers, many of whom feel burnt out and unfulfilled by this overwhelming administrative burden. The digitization of health care, which once felt like a promise of efficiency, has pulled clinicians away from patients and toward screens. The problem isn’t technology itself; it’s the result of poorly designed siloed solutions and disconnected …

Physician resilience: Why systems matter more than heroism

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Tech

February 11, 2026

Medicine has always loved the story of the hero.

The physician who pushes through exhaustion. The one who catches the rare diagnosis at the last second. The colleague who seems to carry an impossible load without ever dropping the ball.

But after years of watching which physicians actually thrive, not just survive, I have come to believe we have been telling the wrong story.

The doctors who perform at the highest level over …

Validating AI in health care: the role of real-world evidence

Jeanna Blitz, MD

Tech

February 11, 2026

Before complex medical interventions ever reach patients, their effectiveness must be scientifically proven through rigorous testing in controlled settings such as laboratories and research facilities. But ensuring effectiveness doesn’t stop there. The process of assessing a medical treatment’s usefulness is multilayered and requires investigation that goes well beyond the laboratory. It must also assess how the treatment fares in day-to-day clinical practice for a wide variety of patients. Now, as …

Iterative mindset versus AI and GLP-1s: Why shortcuts weaken the brain

Martha Rosenberg

Tech

February 10, 2026

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the biggest economic craze since cryptocurrencies, and GLP-1 agonists are the biggest health craze since statins. But are they as good for users as producers and Wall Street? Will they implode like their predecessors?

We spoke with behavior change expert Kyra Bobinet, MD, author of Unstoppable Brain: The New Neuroscience That Frees Us From Failure, Eases Our Stress, and Creates Lasting Change. She maintains that both …

Why AI in health care is the only fix for physician shortages

John C. Hagan III, MD

Physician

February 4, 2026

Archimedes said “Eureka,” the ladies at The Knights of Columbus Hall say “Bingo,” and as an ophthalmologist, I say “This is a real eye-opener.” You may or may not recall my exasperated September/October 2025 editorial. The title is self-explanatory: “You have sudden onset of chest pain? The doctor can see you in five months: The travesty of physician unavailability.” Many of you share my pain and concern. In post-publication discussions …

Why voicemail in outpatient care is failing patients and staff

Dan Ouellet

Tech

February 2, 2026

Voicemail has quietly become one of the most fragile points in outpatient care, not because clinicians or staff are failing, but because the system itself no longer fits the reality of modern health care.

Every day, patients call clinics with legitimate needs: appointment requests, medication questions, post-procedure concerns, insurance clarifications. When no one answers, they are routed to voicemail and asked to leave a message. From that moment on, the system …

Building a clinical simulation app without an MD: a developer’s guide

Helena Kaso, MPA

Tech

February 1, 2026

I am not a doctor. I am a software developer who taught herself mobile development while working full-time and raising two kids. But I built a clinical simulation app used by medical students, and here is how I made sure it is actually clinically sound.

The credibility problem

When you don’t have an MD, you can’t rely on intuition or clinical experience. Every design decision has to be defensible, referenced, and auditable. …

AI-enabled clinical data abstraction: a nurse’s perspective

Pamela Ashenfelter, RN

Tech

January 27, 2026

I’ve spent more than 30 years in nursing, and in recent years my work has shifted to something most people never think about: clinical data abstraction. My job is to review the medical record and extract the pieces of information that clinical registries rely on for research, quality reporting, regulatory requirements, and everyday decision-making. It’s specialized work that depends on clinical judgment, a deep understanding of clinical documentation in the …

Agentic AI in medicine: the danger of automating the doctor

Shiv K. Goel, MD

Tech

January 26, 2026

“Can AI scale in medicine?” is the wrong question.

The real question is: Can AI protect the soul of medicine while people who have never sat with our patients decide their fate?

The ADVOCATE program: an overview

The Trump administration recently launched the ADVOCATE program: Agentic AI-Enabled Cardiovascular Care Transformation. Run by ARPA-H, this initiative aims to build and deploy autonomous “clinical AI agents” for cardiovascular disease, with an FDA authorization pathway of …

The telehealth trap: Why single-service roles lead to burnout

Adam Carewe, MD

Physician

January 26, 2026

Across my career, including as CMIO of Kaiser Permanente’s Colorado medical group, I’ve had a front-row seat to how remote care and technology are reshaping clinical practice. I’ve also watched many colleagues make the shift to telehealth positions seeking flexibility and an escape from hospital and clinic burnout. These siloed jobs often lead to a different kind of burnout because they can be isolating, rote, and disconnected from actual systems …

Artificial intelligence demands that doctors become architects of digital health [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 23, 2026

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Family physician Tod Stillson discusses his article “Why AI in medicine elevates humanity instead of replacing it.” Tod explains how his career evolution revealed that artificial intelligence is not a threat to …

AI and moral development: How algorithms shape human character

Timothy Lesaca, MD

Physician

January 23, 2026

Most of us don’t notice moral development happening while it is happening. Moral character forms quietly, through repetition, through what we get used to doing and through what we slowly stop doing without much forethought.

Artificial intelligence matters from a moral perspective long before it ever potentially becomes conscious or autonomous. Although AI may or may not confront us with dramatic ethical dilemmas, it does change our moral lives in a …

Overcoming the economic barriers of fee-for-service medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 22, 2026

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Surgeon and health tech strategist Sarah Matt discusses her article “Why fee-for-service reform is needed.” Sarah analyzes the friction between efficient digital health tools and an outdated payment system that rewards activity …

Why tele-critical care fails the sickest ICU patients

Keith Corl, MD

Physician

January 20, 2026

Not long ago in a community intensive care unit (ICU) in a midsized American city, I cared for a sick young woman who had just delivered a baby. Part of the placenta, which is supposed to be fully expelled following delivery, remained in her uterus. This condition, known as “retained products of conception,” provided an opportunity for bacteria to infect the retained tissue. The infection spread from her uterus to …

FDA loosens AI oversight: What clinicians need to know about the 2026 guidance

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Policy

January 18, 2026

On January 6, 2026, the FDA announced revised guidance that loosens oversight for certain AI-enabled digital health products, most notably clinical decision support (CDS) software. The goal was to cut unnecessary regulation and promote innovation, accelerating time-to-market for tools positioned as clinical assistants rather than autonomous decision-makers.

At first glance, the change looks pragmatic, even overdue. For years, developers and clinicians alike have complained that prior FDA interpretations forced artificial …

Focusing on outcomes over novelty prevents AI failure in health care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

January 17, 2026

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Health care executive Dave Wessinger discusses their article “How to adopt AI in health care responsibly.” Dave explains why organizations must move beyond the hype of artificial intelligence to focus on measurable …

Will AI replace primary care physicians?

P. Dileep Kumar, MD, MBA

Tech

January 15, 2026

Primary care providers and primary care medicine are on the downswing in the U.S., burdened with increasing demands of documentation and numerous complicated quality programs in the face of rapidly diminishing reimbursements. While the tribe is disappearing fast, enter its newest nemesis: artificial intelligence (AI).

You might wonder why AI is detrimental to primary care and primary care physicians. The common notion is that physicians, including primary care physicians, will be …

AI in medicine: Why it won’t replace doctors but will redefine them

Tod Stillson, MD

Tech

January 12, 2026

I have spent my career practicing medicine in the real world: caring for patients, managing uncertainty, and making decisions where the stakes are personal and immediate. In recent years, I have also spent considerable time designing and deploying medical software that uses artificial intelligence in live clinical environments. Together, these experiences have reshaped how I think about the future of our profession.

That combination of experiences has led me to a …

Claude for Healthcare vs. administrative burden: a physician’s review

Shiv K. Goel, MD

Tech

January 12, 2026

Last week, I spent over two hours on a prior authorization for a patient who needed a medication she’d been stable on for years. Two hours of hold music, transferred calls, and faxed forms, while patients waited.

That same week, Anthropic announced Claude for Healthcare: An AI system that can verify coverage requirements, build claims appeals, and streamline prior authorizations in minutes. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health days earlier. Both promise to …

Why remote patient monitoring needs a preventive shift

Chris Darland

Tech

January 10, 2026

We’ve been thinking about remote patient monitoring (RPM) the wrong way.

Picture this. A patient comes home from the hospital after a cardiac scare. They’ve got a smart scale on their chest, maybe a blood pressure cuff on the counter, and a nurse scheduled to stop by later in the week. The care team, the patient, and the tech are all working together in the hopes that things don’t get worse.

The …

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