Ruth here. On Monday, I sat down with the CEO of a health tech company and two health system executives to talk about how they’re using artificial intelligence to improve patient care. The conversation was off the record, so I can’t name names. But, I thought the insights from the conversation were useful enough to repeat here.
Both health systems are using LLMs to allow patients to query their medical record. They’ve set up an AI interface that lets patients log-on, ask questions, relay symptoms, and even get help with the droll task of managing their own day-to-day health like developing meal plans and menus. These health systems also pair this capability with 24-7 online urgent care.
They say this is increasing their ability to provide more access to care for patients, even though it’s not necessarily generating more paid-for appointments.
Where primary care once served as the main entrance to care, AI is increasingly becoming that front door. One in three adults have asked a chatbot about their physical or mental health in the last year, according to KFF data. But these systems aren’t the most reliable and are known to undertriage. It makes sense that health systems would want to build their own version and try to steer patients to use that instead of Chat.
What this does is create more connection between patients and their health system and potentially offers patients more value, they say. Through this chat interface, these two health systems are trying to make it easier for patients to get an immediate online appointment if they feel they need it. The hope is that this kind of interface will lower emergency room visits and increase patient participation in their own health, whether that means exercise, following a particular diet, or taking their pills as prescribed.
If this works, it might mean fewer visits or certainly, fewer big-ticket visits. That ultimately could eat into already thinning health system margins.
The health systems I talked to see it differently. If patients engage in their health more, it will mean less stress on the ER and potentially more inbound for obesity clinics, menopause practitioners, and behavioral health, among other specialists, they say.
“If they want bariatric surgery, we have that,” said one of the executives, meaning, they can do it all, from AI advice to weight management to something more invasive if necessary.
Essentially, they see AI as creating not only the connective tissue that can keep the health system connected to patients between visits, but also a way to funnel them to more (expensive) care. That has implications for health spending (specialty care is a driver of health spend) and value based care models for specialty care, but I’ll leave that for another day.
Now, onto the news of the week with Annalisa Merelli.
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Webinar Topic | Panelists’ | Timing | Registration |
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What will AI do for employer healthcare and benefits? | Nick Reber | May 19th, 2026 | |
The case for building an AI native electronic health record system | Sam O'Toole | May 21st, 2026 | |
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NEWS
Trump wants to rush access to psychedelics
The White House announced an executive order to accelerate research in innovative treatments for serious mental illnesses, with particular emphasis on psychedelic research. The order also provides $50 million in funding for states developing psychedelic treatment programs, and the promise that any effective treatment would be fast-tracked for approval.
“The president’s lenient tack on some mind-altering drugs ushers in a new world of right-wing drug policy. While the administration has emphasized hardline, militaristic tactics when it comes to fentanyl, its recent actions on “softer” drugs could represent a new era not just for Republican politics but also for American drug policy writ large,” writes addiction reporter Lev Facher at STAT.
The FDA is convening peptide panels
The FDA is convening panels later this year as it considers lifting restrictions on injectable peptides, which are mostly unapproved, illegal drugs that have become popular after trending on social media. Recently, RFK Jr. admitted to using them with success, and is keen on getting restrictions on the substances lifted.
Peptides seem to be popular, including among people otherwise resistant to taking medication. “It’s so difficult to convince some of these patients to take statins which have so many studies backing them, and yet they are open to going and injecting themselves with peptides,” Dr. Shaila Pai-Verma, an internal medicine doctor at a concierge practice in Chicago, told the WSJ’s Sumathi Reddy.