Are Doctors Becoming Dinosaurs?

?? The Future of Doctors: Collaborators or Dinosaurs?

As healthcare undergoes one of its most radical transformations, medical consumerism is leading the charge. Patients, once passive recipients of care, have become empowered consumers armed with digital tools and information. They demand transparency, control, and personalized care, which is not only reshaping patient-provider relationships but triggering a seismic shift in healthcare delivery and business models.

At the heart of this upheaval lies a fundamental question: In an era of AI-driven healthcare and empowered patients, what role will doctors play? Are they becoming obsolete, or is there an evolving role that will redefine the fabric of medicine?

?? Why is Healthcare Changing?

• Rising Patient Expectations: Patients now expect care tailored to their genetic profiles and lifestyles, driving demand for precision medicine.
• Cost Pressures: Global healthcare systems are under immense pressure to deliver better outcomes with fewer resources. AI-driven efficiency promises to reduce costs, pushing providers to adopt new technologies.
• Telemedicine & Remote Care: The pandemic accelerated telemedicine, allowing patients to access healthcare via smartphones, diminishing the traditional doctor-patient interaction.
• Value-Based Care: A shift toward value-based care is pushing physicians to focus on long-term outcomes rather than immediate interventions.
• Demand for Equity & Effectiveness: Patients now expect equitable access to emerging diagnostic techniquesand treatments that prioritize effectiveness over mere attempts at efficacy.
• Medical Consumerism finally comes to health. The consumer, armed with their cell phone is finally an active player in health, not waiting for disease to affect them. This one force will drive the future, as much or more than any other.

The Last Human Doctor?

As visionary Vinod Khosla once stated, "All expertise will be free," raising the question: Will doctors be necessary in the future? The rise of AI in healthcare is making this question a reality. AI tools now deliver precise diagnoses, personalized treatments, and process vast datasets in real-time.

By 2017, medical data was doubling every 73 days, far exceeding human capacity. AI’s ability to analyze real-world data, digital twins, and in silico models is essential for managing this flood of information. Supercomputing will accelerate these advancements, unlocking a treasure trove of data that already exists in Electronic Health Records everywhere for new health solutions.

Despite these advancements, doctors remain constrained by outdated paradigms, relying too heavily on their specialties and incentivized by systems that reward treatments rather than referrals. This must change to keep pace with technological progress.

?? Human Hallucinations vs. AI Hallucinations

While human error has long plagued medicine, AI hallucinations—instances where AI provides confidently incorrect information—are a concern. Unlike humans, however, AI learns continuously, reducing these errors over time.

?? Bias—The Achilles Heel of Medical Care

• Human Bias: Unconscious biases can impact care based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
• AI Bias: AI trained on biased datasets can perpetuate inequality, especially when applied globally.

AI systems must incorporate bias detection to ensure equitable outcomes across diverse patient populations. Humans also should realize that bias is influencing their recommendations both in training and in practice.

Neither Human nor digital providers of health are well served by bias.

?? Doctors: Collaborators or Dinosaurs?

As AI advances, doctors should consider carefully whether a pivot toward managing complex, human-centric cases that demand empathy, intuition, and judgment—especially in high-stress scenarios like trauma from war or natural disasters should be part of their future. But the future of healthcare isn’t an either-or scenario; collaboration between AI and doctors will define the near future.

To prepare, education is crucial. Doctors need training from professionals outside healthcare to minimize biases and learn how to collaborate with AI. This must be integrated into ongoing medical education (CME/CEU's), medical schools, and residency programs, preparing doctors to work with AI, not against it.

The physicians and nurses who thrive in the future will be the ones who learn, adapt and thrive in an AI driven world. It is possible to hold onto our #values as healthcare providers, and adapt.

Call to Action:

If you’re a doctor you need to think about your future.

Involved in healthcare education? American College of Surgeons or American Medical Association American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

Who is leading the adaptation? Harvard Medical School Yale School of Medicine University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix Stanford University School of Medicine

Are you ready to collaborate with AI?

How is your training preparing you for the future?

Share, engage, and start shaping the future of healthcare—before it shapes you.

#AIinHealthcare #FutureOfMedicine #MedicalConsumerism #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #MedicalEducation #ValueBasedCare #AIAndDoctors

Authored by Robin Blackstone, MD, FACS

Independent Board Director | Surgeon Executive | Best-Selling Author

FT Board Diploma | NACD Certified LinkedIn

Professional Certificate Sustainability and Digital Technology MIT

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