We’re living in an AI gold rush. In every boardroom and media outlet, Artificial Intelligence is being positioned as the ultimate savior for a broken healthcare system — offering promise after promise of faster diagnostics, lower costs, and more personalized care.
But here’s the truth:
AI will not fix healthcare.
Because the problem in healthcare isn’t just technical — it’s human, cultural, ethical, and systemic. AI may be a powerful tool, but it’s not the answer. Not by itself.
Let me explain why — and what truly needs to happen.
Technology Without Humanity Is a Recipe for Failure
Let’s start with the obvious: AI has extraordinary capabilities. It can read medical images faster than radiologists, spot patterns invisible to the human eye, and process millions of health records in seconds.
But AI cannot feel. It cannot comfort. It cannot connect. And in healthcare, connection is everything.
A 2023 Stanford Medicine survey revealed that while 82% of physicians believe AI will enhance efficiency, only 28% believe it will improve doctor-patient relationships. That gap matters. Because healthcare is not just data — it’s dialogue. It’s not just precision — it’s presence.
Empathy, intuition, judgment — these are irreplaceable. A machine can suggest treatments, but only a human can deliver care with compassion.
The Real Problem Isn’t Technology — It’s the System
Here’s the deeper issue: we are asking AI to fix a system that is fundamentally misaligned.
Healthcare is riddled with inefficiencies, burnout, workforce shortages, and misaligned incentives. According to the World Health Organization, there will be a global shortfall of 10 million health workers by 2030 — and no amount of automation will solve that unless we invest in people.
Meanwhile, the U.S. alone wastes $760 billion to $935 billion per year on administrative complexity, fraud, and inefficient care, according to a 2022 JAMA review. AI won’t eliminate these problems unless the underlying processes are redesigned, not just digitized.
As one executive at HIMSS put it:
“You can’t automate your way out of dysfunction. You have to lead your way out.”
AI Is Being Used as a Shortcut — and It’s Backfiring
Here’s what I see happening too often: AI is being deployed not as a strategy — but as a shortcut.
Instead of redesigning healthcare around patient and provider needs, we’re slapping on AI tools like a digital bandage. The result? Systems that are more complex, more opaque, and less human.
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Administrative overload: Clinicians already spend 1.77 hours per day completing EHRs outside of work hours. AI assistants often add complexity, not reduce it.
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Patient mistrust: A 2023 Deloitte survey found that only 36% of consumers trust health AI recommendations unless a human clinician validates them.
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Worsening inequity: A Harvard study revealed that some AI tools for predicting health risk under-predict illness in Black patients, leading to less care.
These are not technical bugs — they’re symptoms of trying to use technology as a shortcut around transformation.
Digital Health Must Be Human-Led
Let me be crystal clear: I’m not against AI. I’ve spent the last decade at the frontier of digital health — building ecosystems of wearable tech, remote monitoring, and connected care. I believe in the power of technology.
But technology must be anchored in human-centered design.
AI works best when it supports human professionals — not replaces them. Some of the most successful digital health projects in the world share one thing in common: they start with people, not with tech.
✅ The UK’s NHS AI Lab is investing in not just tools, but clinician training, co-design methods, and ethics review boards.
✅ Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine created an “AI Bootcamp” to help physicians learn to critically assess algorithms.
✅ Mayo Clinic prioritizes human-AI collaboration — their model is: “Tech enables. Clinicians decide.”
What Will Actually Fix Healthcare?
So if AI isn’t the fix, what is?
Here’s my view — based on 15+ years of daily experience in digital health and executive leadership:
1. Invest in Human Capital
Training, leadership, and wellbeing for clinicians and health workers. Your people are your transformation engine.
2. Build Ethical, Inclusive Systems
AI that’s fair, transparent, and accountable — designed with equity in mind.
3. Rewire Culture, Not Just Workflows
True digital transformation happens when mindset shifts, not just software upgrades.
4. Design for Collaboration
Human + AI. Doctor + Data. System + Patient. The future is integrated, not isolated.
The Future Isn’t Artificial — It’s Augmented
At Digital Salutem, we work with Fortune 500 companies, healthcare startups, and public health institutions around the world. And we’ve seen firsthand:
The organizations that win with AI are the ones that put humans first.
Not just the users of the tech — but the architects of the change.
So let’s stop chasing headlines and start building what really matters:
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Healthy systems.
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Empowered people.
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Trustworthy technologies.
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And care that connects.
Let’s Talk
Are you a healthcare leader looking to harness AI — the right way? Are you building a strategy that’s as human as it is digital?
Let’s have a conversation.
By João Bocas – The Wearables Expert™ | Digital Health Visionary | Human Capital Strategist
