The background
My previous role as a senior writer for Health Catalyst, a healthcare analytics company, spanned mid-2022 to the end of 2023. That was one experience that spurred my initial curiosity about electronic health records (EHRs) and patient access to their own medical history. The other experience was my mother’s sudden series of hospital stays and changes in healthcare providers that began in 2024, almost immediately after the layoffs of the previous December. Suddenly my job title shifted to “full-time caregiver,” and carried with it a special interest in these subjects.
The impetus
After reading about what a tremendous issue medication non-adherence continues to be, since the WHO declared it to absent or inconsistent in 50% of long-term therapies in 2003, I began focusing specifically on patient-managed care, i.e. how you handle your ongoing health concerns when you’re not at the clinic/in the hospital. In the U.S healthcare system, where patients often have to be their own advocates, how can individuals claim control over their own healthcare needs?
The result
Having spent some time exploring how (and whether) AI models can “empathize” with the that pain patients are experiencing in the moment, and exploring the idea of a “painbot,” I followed a rabbit hole of research into patient portals and electronic health records (EHRs), EHR interoperability and barriers to patient access to health records (and the laws mandating this access), social determinants of health (SDoH), and how AI technology can aid individual patient empowerment.
Recent articles on those subjects (plus some bonus forays into tangential topics):
- The immigrant physicians sustaining U.S. healthcare
The intersection of healthcare and immigration policy is found in the halls of hospitals and clinics across America, where increasing numbers of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are filling in for doctors who won’t return, and state governments are doing their best to usher IMGs … Read more - America’s vaccination against equity, and its adverse effects
The language used to justify policy is…fraught. Every new program is a triumph, as is every cut to an existing one. Every new rule is a sea change, and every executive order a roadmap to utopia. These flowery-but-decisive statements come from all politicians, pointing … Read more - Deus ex Smartphone: Healthcare Access Isn’t Going to Democratize Itself
One of my first-year classes in college was History of Theater, in which I learned how the Greeks built amphitheaters into hillsides, carving out a semicircle of seating for the audience around the stage to maximize. The scenery for a play completes the circle, … Read more - Healthcare tech’s turf war hurts patients- here’s how to protect yourself
Quick recap In my last post (Down the patient portal: the world of healthcare tech serving you data about you) I introduced the back end of patient engagement from the patient’s perspective. While you can’t choose the digital patient engagement tools your provider uses, … Read more - Down the patient portal: the world of healthcare tech serving you data about you
The subject of patient engagement tools, especially patient portals, took up permanent residence in my head last January when my mother, a few months away from achieving octogenarian status, experienced a health event that would change both of our lives. When she came home … Read more - I (don’t) feel your pain: A conversation with ChatGPT about what “empathic AI” in healthcare really means
This is an essay in two parts: First, a somewhat rambling conversation that I had with ChatGPT about its own limitations in healthcare, and the limitations of those designing and using it. After that it’s time for the reality check, and some reflection. I … Read more
