If you work in MedTech, Life Sciences, or digital health, you feel it every day. The healthcare system in the US is under strain. Clinicians are burned out. Patients are confused. Costs keep rising. Outcomes are uneven. And innovation often moves slower than it should. Many people now call it what it feels like. A broken healthcare system.
So let us ask the question directly. Can artificial intelligence fix our broken healthcare system?
AI can help. Not by replacing doctors or nurses. Not by turning care into cold automation. But by giving healthcare professionals better tools, they can focus on what matters most—helping people.
Our perspective comes from real experience. Our very own cofounder and COO was recently featured on the Get Savvy podcast, Demystifying Healthcare. During that conversation, he shared decades of hands-on work building digital health solutions that improve care, support clinicians, and empower patients. That experience shapes how we see AI in healthcare today.
Practical;
Human;
Grounded in evidence, and
Focused on impact.
Can Artificial Intelligence Fix Our Broken Healthcare System?
AI Enables Earlier Detection and Stronger Preventive Care
One of the toughest challenges in the healthcare system in the US is timing. Too many conditions are diagnosed too late. By the time symptoms are obvious, treatment is harder, costs are higher, and outcomes suffer. AI helps solve this by giving clinicians tools to detect problems earlier, often before patients notice anything is wrong.
Take diabetic retinopathy as an example. AI systems can analyze retinal images and identify early disease markers that are subtle or not yet noticeable during routine exams. In many studies, these systems achieve detection accuracy above 94% and perform on par with, or better than, experienced clinicians in identifying early-stage cases. This earlier and more consistent detection allows more patients to receive treatment before serious complications, such as vision loss, develop.
Breast cancer screening offers a similar case. AI can flag extremely small abnormalities in imaging that may be difficult for the human eye to detect, especially under heavy workloads. Rather than replacing clinicians, these tools act as a second set of eyes, helping doctors make faster and more confident decisions while reducing the risk of missed diagnoses.
RJ, our cofounder and COO, has worked in digital health for more than twenty years. He explained how AI and early machine learning started with real clinical problems:
“Before that, we had machine learning, which looks at images and can discern what’s going on in that image and identify issues. We do a lot of work in diabetic retinopathy to find issues. Breast cancer is a huge case for using machine learning in those images.”
This shows that AI began as a practical solution to improve patient care. RJ highlighted the real impact it has had over the decades:
“Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of preventable blindness. And so if we find it, it becomes treatable. We’ve been running this program with the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Indian Health Services for over 20 years now, helping people not go blind.”
By helping clinicians identify disease early, AI strengthens preventive care and allows the healthcare system in the US to reach more patients at the right time. It turns data into action and gives healthcare professionals the tools to make care faster, smarter, and more precise.
Listen to the full episode here: https://www.estenda.com/podcasts/episode-110-can-artificial-intelligence-actually-fix-our-broken-healthcare-system
AI Gives Clinicians a Reliable Second Opinion When Cases Are Complex
Collaboration is a cornerstone of good healthcare. Doctors frequently walk down the hallway or call a colleague to talk through a difficult case. A second opinion is part of best practice. But not every clinician has easy access to specialized expertise, especially in rural or underserved communities.
This is where AI becomes a practical partner. It does not make decisions on its own. Instead, it provides another perspective grounded in data, patterns, and clinical evidence. This helps clinicians consider possibilities they might not have thought of and strengthens decision-making at the point of care.
Diagnostic errors remain a major challenge. Studies show that millions of misdiagnoses occur every year in the US, causing billions of dollars in preventable harm. AI can help reduce these errors by offering alternative possibilities and expanding clinical reasoning.
As RJ said:
“Doctors do this all the time. They’ll have a difficult case, walk down the hallway, talk to a colleague, talk to a friend.”
That is the human side of medicine. AI acts in much the same way:
“AI can be that second opinion now, which is fascinating. It’s a sounding board. You can be very honest and open with it and sit there and be like, I’m stumped by this. I don’t know.”
This ability matters because complex conditions can take years to diagnose. RJ explained the real-world problem AI helps solve:
“It still takes today seven years on average to diagnose lupus because of how it presents and various symptoms.”
Seven years. That is seven years of uncertainty and unnecessary suffering. AI does not make the diagnosis, but it can prompt clinicians to consider conditions like lupus earlier by suggesting relevant differential diagnoses:
“You can say, I have a patient presenting with these symptoms. Can you generate me four potential diagnoses for me? And it might trigger that thought of like, I didn’t think of lupus.”
This is not about replacing clinical expertise. It is about enhancing it. AI creates a second voice grounded in evidence, helping clinicians think more broadly, act more confidently, and reduce delays in care. That is how we make the healthcare system stronger, safer, and more reliable for patients everywhere.
AI Empowers Patients to Understand Their Health and Advocate for Themselves
One of the biggest weaknesses in the healthcare system is communication. You have probably seen it yourself: a patient leaves the clinic with a folder full of notes and no idea what anything means. That confusion leads to miscommunication, poor adherence to treatment, and unnecessary visits.
AI helps solve this by translating medical language into plain language that patients can actually understand. It gives people the tools to take an active role in their care, ask better questions, and make more informed decisions. Clear communication drives better outcomes, and the healthcare system desperately needs this.
RJ shared how AI can bridge that gap for patients:
“You can access now, in a lot of cases, your actual medical notes. Put them in ChatGPT. Can you explain this to me? What does this mean to me as an individual?”
The real power comes when patients can ask follow-up questions. They are not limited to a single explanation. AI adapts, clarifies, and repeats until the patient truly understands:
“You can say, can you make it more simple? Can you really dumb that down for me so I can understand it? Can you explain it to me like I’m in kindergarten?”
And if one explanation still does not click, AI keeps going:
“It’s very patient with you as an individual. You can say, I still don’t get it. Can you come up with another analogy? And it’ll do that 20 times if that’s what you want.”
Imagine sitting in a doctor’s office feeling rushed, trying to absorb complex information in a few minutes. Now imagine having a tool that explains your results in ways that make sense to you. That clarity helps patients follow treatment plans more effectively.
AI Supports Care Outside Hospitals Through Wearables and Remote Monitoring
AI helps extend care into everyday life through wearables and remote monitoring technologies. These tools quietly collect health data and turn it into actionable insights that prevent problems before they become emergencies. Industry research shows that remote monitoring combined with AI analysis has reduced avoidable hospital readmissions by nearly 38 percent for chronic disease populations. That is a huge difference for both patients and the healthcare system as a whole.
RJ described how these technologies have become a natural part of life:
“It’s fading into the background. It’s doing the tracking now through a watch or a ring, which is just a normal piece of jewelry that you would wear, so you don’t feel like you’re being monitored.”
He pointed out a critical insight many miss: care is not just what happens in a clinic. It is what happens every day.
“So much about our health happens outside of the four walls of the hospital or the doctor’s office. What you eat, how much you move, your sleep, stress levels. All of these make a difference in your health.”
For families caring for seniors or aging populations, AI-enabled monitoring offers real peace of mind. Instead of waiting for a crisis, AI can detect changes in routine and alert loved ones early:
“The AI can understand that pattern and that there’s a change in the pattern. Notify a loved one and say, hey, maybe you want to check in today.”
This technology does not replace human caregivers. It supports them by providing early warnings that prevent falls, complications, and emergencies. By helping care shift from reactive to proactive, AI strengthens the healthcare system and ensures patients get the attention they need before small issues become major problems.
AI Personalizes Care by Showing How Behavior Directly Affects Health
Most health advice feels generic. Doctors often tell patients to eat better, exercise more, and get enough sleep. But people struggle to change behavior when they cannot see how that advice affects them personally.
AI changes that. By analyzing real-time data, like glucose levels, activity, and sleep patterns, AI shows people exactly how their choices affect their bodies. This personalization motivates patients to make small but meaningful changes and helps clinicians tailor care more precisely.
At a population level, predictive AI models can now forecast health changes up to 48 hours before symptoms appear. This gives clinicians a critical window to intervene early and prevent complications.
RJ shared a personal example that illustrates this clearly:
“I wore one of these devices and ate a meal and sat down on the couch and watched it go up and come back down.”
Then he made a small but meaningful change:
“The next night I ate the same meal and then went for a walk. It still goes up, but it doesn’t go up as high and not as long because I went for that walk.”
Seeing the impact in real time made all the difference. Abstract advice became visible cause and effect, with no judgment, just data to guide better choices. RJ reflected on how powerful that insight was:
“It was a very powerful moment where I could see that in the data how my behavior affects what happens internally in my body.”
And he emphasized that small changes matter:
“You don’t have to run a 5K. Go for a walk, and that’ll make a difference.”
This is where AI delivers real value. By turning lifestyle choices into measurable health outcomes, AI empowers patients to make informed decisions and gives clinicians the insight to personalize care effectively. It is not about perfection; it is about creating small, sustainable changes that add up to better health and stronger outcomes.
Is Your Healthcare Technology Truly Harnessing AI’s Potential? Take Our Free AI Assessment
If you are building or scaling healthcare technology, now is the moment to ask the tough questions. Is your AI delivering measurable outcomes? Is it actually improving patient care? Is it reducing risk across your workflows?
We invite you to take our free AI readiness assessment to evaluate how prepared your organization is to safely and effectively leverage AI. After completing the assessment, you can book a complimentary consultation with our digital health leader, RJ Kedziora, to discuss tailored insights and practical next steps for your organization.
What sets us apart is our focus on you. We deliver value quickly, mitigate risk, and approach every challenge with empathy and deep expertise. We don’t just implement technology; we ensure it creates real-world impact for healthcare organizations, clinicians, and patients.
With over 23 years of experience, hundreds of successful projects, and dozens of peer-reviewed publications, Estenda brings evidence-based solutions that transform healthcare technology from concept to meaningful action.
Contact us today at info@estenda.com to schedule your consultation and start turning your AI strategy into tangible results.
