Is AI the Third Person in the Doctor–Patient Relationship?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize health care delivery, generate groundbreaking advances in medicine research, and contribute to better and faster innovation. These advancements will also have a significant and fundamental impact on the patient–health care provider (HCP) relationship that we will all face directly and/or when taking care of a loved one.

Effective communication is the key to every successful relationship. The growth of new technologies and platforms used by both patients and HCPs democratizes and accelerates access to health and scientific information, creating a “triangulation of information” with the potential to enhance or complicate the traditional model of information gathering and decision making around personal health care.

This raises some important and critical questions such as:

• • How do patients and patient communities feel about the possibilities of AI?

• • How can we help both patients and HCPs navigate this new relationship?

• • What strategies can we use to protect the value of human connection and communication in health care?

• • Whose responsibility is it to address the urgent need for digital and data literacy in the general population given consequential advancements
    in technology?

• • How can all healthcare stakeholders anticipate, plan, and positively influence the impact on patients through optimal communication strategies?

To answer these underexplored questions and to better understand what they mean for patients, Lumanity convened a virtual roundtable to explore the evidence and perspectives related to the use of AI at the point of care (which is any activity that delivers health care products or services to patients or the public, usually by an HCP, and can include health information, testing, and other medical interventions). The meeting had a specific focus on the impact on patients and communication with their care teams. Our expert panel participants included external, independent members of the patient advocacy, HCP, and pharmaceutical industry communities.