The Role of AI and the Future of Personalized Medicine

AI and Healthcare

As the Founder and CEO of The Lanby, I am deeply invested in exploring the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, particularly how it intersects with our mission to deliver personalized, integrative care. AI has the potential to revolutionize care delivery, offering unprecedented advancements in clinical operations, decision-making, patient engagement, and care coordination. But as we integrate these technologies, it's vital to keep in mind the fundamental role of human hospitality in the physician-patient relationship.

AI's contribution across healthcare is multifaceted. Within a hospital setting, AI has already helped optimize patient flow, predict patient admissions, and manage staffing.

AI has also significantly streamlined prescription management, clinical documentation, and even more high-risk tasks like sepsis prediction. AI can help identify potential drug interactions, monitor patient adherence, and anticipate which patients might benefit from medication iterations. These advancements not only improve patient outcomes, but also enhance the efficiency and job satisfaction of healthcare providers by reducing time spent on tedious tasks.

AI's role in automating workflows and clinical documentation is especially relevant to The Lanby. Tools such as Freed AI and Abridge use natural language processing to understand and transcribe a patient conversation into a structured chart note, with summarized takeaways and action items. While AI’s vocabulary in integrative and functional medicine is still nascent, these technologies have enabled our providers to focus their attention during visits on the patient, rather than on their computers. Their chart notes have simultaneously become more comprehensive and less labor-intensive.

Some electronic health record systems (EHRs) leverage AI to help mine medical records housed in other systems. This gives physicians a more accurate understanding of their patients’ histories and whereabouts. With this knowledge, providers can be more prepared for patient visits and up to date on any external care with specialists. Patients are more at ease knowing their data is being consolidated and organized, their primary care doctor can truly serve as their quarterback, and their care won’t fall through the cracks. 

However, health professionals and patients alike are concerned about the impersonal nature of AI. While AI can handle an impressive array of tasks and perform analyses that most providers don’t have the time or training for, it lacks the empathy, understanding, and trust that form the cornerstone of the patient-provider relationship. Patients value the nuanced understanding that comes from years of shared history and personal interaction with their healthcare providers. They appreciate the reassurance of human judgment, particularly when critical health decisions are at play.

Asynchronous chat is a perfect example of this dynamic. Many healthcare companies are building chat-bots into their apps to reduce response times and support triage. Patients prefer the immediate response of AI over indefinite hold music. But when their question becomes more nuanced (e.g., “The prescription bottle says to take 1 pill, but you told me to take 2. Which is it?”, or “I read that this probiotic is amazing, but does it overlap with the other gut supplements I’m on?”, or “My lymph nodes feel swollen, but I’m not sure whether to be alarmed because I otherwise feel fine. Should I stop in to see you?”), AI often falls short. Patients today would still prefer to speak to their doctor or a real staff member when their health is on line. 

AI and The Lanby

At The Lanby, we foresee a future where our personalized care plans can train AI algorithms, teaching them how to construct new plans using the principles and patterns recognized in our data. These algorithms can also build out our library of standardized integrative care protocols. As The Lanby continues to grow, these protocols are integral to maintaining consistency across our Care Teams. 

Given the direct correlation between patient engagement and health outcomes, we also envision coupling AI with real-time biometric data from wearables to further personalize how and when we reach out to members. Based on certain parameters (e.g., 3 days in a row with an elevated average glucose level 20% above your normal average), your Care Team gets notified and prompted to check in. 

AI can also be used to maintain high levels of engagement by observing historical behavioral patterns. Using our various member touch points (e.g., chat, visits, care plan updates, peer group attendance, etc.), AI can gamify a member’s care journey based on what uniquely inspires and motivates them to take action. 

This is where The Lanby's vision for balanced AI integration comes in. Our goal is to leverage AI to handle the back-end heavy-lifting around data management, predictive analytics, patient engagement trends, triage, protocol development, and treatment patterns. In these use cases, AI will improve our Care Teams’ efficiency and give them actionable insights to enhance the personalization they provide on the front-end. 

The future of healthcare lies in this delicate balance between technological efficiency and human empathy. AI has the potential to alleviate the administrative burden on healthcare providers, freeing them up to focus more on direct patient care, research, and exploring innovative treatment strategies. However, as we integrate these powerful tools into our practice, we must stay committed to preserving the human element that is so essential to healing. At The Lanby, we are committed to leveraging these advancements to enhance our service delivery, improve patient outcomes, and streamline operations. Yet, we remain equally committed to ensuring that at the heart of every technological integration remains a deep respect for true hospitality. We believe the future of healthcare is not just more technologically advanced but also more humanely connected. AI will undoubtedly play a significant role in this future, but it will be the human touch that continues to define and differentiate the care we provide.