AI as the Bridge: A Shared Middle Space for Patients and Clinicians
For too long, healthcare has been a game of catch-up.
Patients walk into appointments trying to summarize weeks (or months) of symptoms, stress, sleep, habits, and “life context” in a few minutes.
Clinicians walk in with limited time, limited context, and a chart that often misses the human story.
So we treat symptom lists… instead of treating the whole person.
What I’d love to see is AI serving as the bridge between patients and clinicians—a shared middle space where both sides can work together to diagnose and support the whole person.
Here’s the workflow I’m imagining:
1) Clarity before the appointment (patient side)
At home, a patient uses GenAI to organize what’s been happening: symptoms, patterns, triggers, stressors, lifestyle shifts, emotions, daily realities—everything that usually gets lost in the rush of a clinic visit.
The goal isn’t “Dr. Google.”
It’s getting clear and getting organized.
2) A shared workspace during the visit (with consent)
If professional care is needed, the clinician can “plug into” that same AI workspace (with the patient’s permission).
Now both walk into the visit already aligned—less time spent reconstructing the story, more time spent thinking clearly together.
3) A collaborative “AI health wiki”
Instead of a one-way conversation, the appointment becomes a partnership: a shared workspace where patient + clinician refine questions, test hypotheses, and build the best plan possible—based on both clinical insight and lived reality.
4) Support between visits (where most care actually happens)
After the appointment, the patient goes home with the clinician’s guidance in a privacy-safe format—redacted if needed—ready to use inside their personal GenAI system for ongoing follow-through.
Between visits, AI helps the patient:
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track progress and adherence
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notice patterns and friction points
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adjust routines and habits
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flag when it’s time to re-check with a professional
And if the patient chooses to allow it, the clinician could monitor high-level summaries over time—rather than relying on scattered appointments and half-remembered details.
The point
This isn’t about replacing clinicians.
It’s about upgrading the space between visits—and making care more continuous, collaborative, and human.
That’s the “new world” I’m trying to build—at least in my mind, and in my books. Maybe someday the tools (and the system) will catch up, and the two sides will finally merge into something seamless.
Question for both clinicians and patients:
Would you want care to work like this? What excites you… and what concerns you?
Here's but a start of what I'm doing if interested - https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/series/8RDYVK4Y0XW
#DigitalHealth #HealthTech #GenerativeAI #PatientExperience #FutureOfHealthcare #PatientAdvocacy #CareTransformation #ClinicalInnovation #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareLeadership
