"The Next Era of Healthcare"

 Healthcare is changing faster than ever—but should technology replace human connection? From telehealth and AI to preventative care and rural access, this conversation explores what the future of healthcare could look like and what we should protect along the way. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Where do you see healthcare the next 10 years from now?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hopefully better. Um I watched a clip the other day, Nola, Noah Wiley speaking, and he was talking about, you know, healthcare is human, and I'm like, oh my God, is it not? You know. Um, hopefully you'll get I don't mean to get political, but hopefully you'll get big pharma out of it making the decisions. Hopefully you'll get business people out of the decision-making process for insurance reimbursement. Hopefully we will have more preventative. Hopefully patients will not have to jump through five million hoops to have procedures done. Hopefully things will be covered that will you know make life better. I mean hopefully healthcare will be moving in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah. How has technology changed medicine from today?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Um it's many ways good. Many ways good. You have access to information a lot quicker now. Um you have help with documentation, um, you know, from dictation to AI kinda being able to participate and record conversations between your provider and the patient. I'm not a hundred percent sold on that. I would prefer to have a little more control. So I'm all about dictation as opposed to full-on AI. Um the medical records, the electronic medical record system, the EMRs, being able to flag results and you know, recommend, hey, this person might need this, this person might need that, based on, you know, quality measures, um, reminders, um, this patient needs a mammogram, it's been a year, or this patient needs a PSA, it's been a year. Um, so there's been a lot of good, you know, um, patients being able to have access to their charts quicker, but uh sometimes that can be a little bit, well, it says it's supposed to be. Well, I can't help it. Pharmacy doesn't have it ready, you know. Um technology has been good, but it's also been bad because people will Google their symptoms and and be convinced they're dying.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah. So won't believe the expert. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

You know, that it it's it's it's a double-edged sword. Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I get it. Where so you talked a little bit about telehealth a little bit. Um where do you see that helping rural communities, especially?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Um chronic management of conditions. Um I do not feel that telehealth is appropriate for sick visits because as a provider, I like to see my patients, I like to touch my patients, I like to hear my patients, I like to be able to, you know, listen to heart sounds, listen to lung sounds, actually, you know, see their throat. I mean, you I don't care if you have the most up-to-date cell phone, you're not going to get good visuals, you know. There there's a break in that, you know. Yeah. Um, but with chronic management like diabetes, um, congestive heart failure, um, coronary artery disease, hypertension, there is a place for telehealth with that. Mental health, um, being able to do your counseling online as opposed to take a day off and you know, trek down to the counselor's office and you know, sit on the couch for an hour or whatever, you know, um, that is I feel telehealth is most beneficial for management of existing conditions.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

I do not feel telehealth is appropriate for diagnosis of conditions, yeah. Be it physical, mental health, etc. Yeah. I feel it's it's not the place. I feel human interaction is necessary.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Where do you where do you see the role of AI playing in the future of healthcare?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I worry. I worry, I worry, I do. Um I hope it is uh an accent to healthcare, not uh taking the place of human interaction. I hope it's just an adjunct. I hope it's a tool and not the provider.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Right, right. Yeah. Taking taking jobs. Yes. Yeah. Once it starts taking jobs in the healthcare, it gets scary.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Uh it does. I mean, you know, I think AI is amazing. But you can chat GPT, Google G whatever, you can do all those things, and there's always that disclaimer things can be incorrect, you need to, you know, recheck.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

You know? Yeah. Um, how awful would it be for it to be incorrect with a human life?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

You know, so I just using it as an adjunct, as a tool, to exist. Absolutely. You know, but to take the place of that human interaction was kind of scary.