AI Healthcare Tools Should Support Real Choices
The following 2014 paper about online education made a distinction that also matters in healthcare: making information available does not mean people can use it successfully.
AI healthcare tools could give consumers easier access to medical information. But information alone does not help someone determine what care is appropriate, what it may cost or what to do next.
A useful consumer tool should help people:
- Prepare questions for a healthcare professional
- Understand care options in plain language
- Compare likely benefits, risks and realistic costs
- Identify insurance, transportation and access barriers
- Recognize when professional or urgent help is needed
- Connect with a qualified person when the situation exceeds the tool’s limits
Cost information must also reflect the consumer’s actual situation. A nominally less expensive option may be unrealistic if it requires distant travel, repeated appointments, unpaid time away from work or services that insurance does not cover.
AI should support, rather than replace, shared decisions among consumers, families and healthcare professionals. Developers should test whether a tool improves understanding and follow-through without increasing confusion, delaying care or shifting more work onto the consumer.
The goal is not simply to provide more information. It is to help people reach the best appropriate care at a cost they can realistically manage.
Access to information is not the same as access to care.
Sources: Challenges for conceptualising EU MOOC for vulnerable learner groups; WHO regulatory considerations for AI in health; AHRQ Shared Decision Making
This post was developed with GPT assistance and reviewed through a public-service integrity lens.