As more Americans turn to large language models for health advice, health systems across the country are focusing on and even rolling out their own branded chatbots to take advantage of this popular tool and drive more people to their services. But the emerging trend raises immediate questions and concerns about the country’s complex and generally underperforming health care system.
Executives tout the new offerings as convenience for patients, meeting people where they are and providing services with digital equity. They also suggest that chatbots will be a safer alternative to the commercial versions that people use now.
“We are at an inflection point in healthcare,” said Allon Bloch, CEO of clinical AI company K Health. “Demand is accelerating and patients are already using AI to manage their lives.”
K Health is working with partner Hartford HealthCare in Connecticut to roll it out PatientGPT chatbot to tens of thousands of existing patients.
“The question is not whether AI will shape healthcare, but how we do it in a secure, transparent way in a healthcare system that connects to your medical records and your care team. PatientGPT represents that turning point,” said Bloch.
But some experts are wary of the rollouts, raising concerns about whether chatbots are ready for such branded debuts, whether there’s enough monitoring, what accountability will look like, and whether it’s actually an answer to the care problems patients are raising.
While these risks and questions are intertwined, the benefits for patients are still hypothetical. “It’s a tempting idea,” says Adam Rodman, MD, a clinical reasoning researcher and internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He informed about this to Stat News. However, there is still no evidence that integrating chatbots into healthcare systems improves patient outcomes. “We’re not there yet,” he said.
