Extreme heat in New York City is an increasingly dangerous health threat that must be taken seriously. Last summer alone, 21 New Yorkers died directly from high heat, 490 died due to exacerbated underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and more than 1,100 were hospitalized during heat waves.
Tragically, many of these cases were likely avoidable with proper intervention. For example, some of the strongest predictors of heat-related illnesses include lack of home cooling systems and social isolation. Many of the most at-risk individuals live alone, with a limited support network to check on their health and well-being.
Reaching New Yorkers early, explaining the risks, and telling them how best to protect themselves is a proven, effective method for reducing heat-related hospital visits and health incidents. Recent innovations powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can help make these interventions effective, personalized, and scalable across vast populations. Streamlined outreach is critical in New York City with its densely populated neighborhoods and aging infrastructure.
Vast stretches of pavement heighten temperatures in communities with limited tree coverage across the five boroughs. On particularly hot days, subway platforms and un-airconditioned subway cars may see temperatures more than a dozen degrees warmer than street level.
In communities where in-home air conditioning is limited, even indoor temperatures can become lethal. Extreme heat is a real health concern in a city gripped by an affordability crisis: many people simply cannot pay for the luxury of air conditioning units and their associated electricity bills.
New AI technology gives health plans, providers, and public health authorities new ways to proactively identify and reach communities at highest risk before extreme heat becomes a medical emergency. Beyond warnings of high heat days, agentic AI can connect at-risk individuals to resources, including nearby cooling centers, financial assistance programs, and personalized health recommendations at scale. Just as importantly, these tools can help triage the most complex cases and connect people to health professionals for 1:1 support.
I’m using agentic AI with my members. The technology identifies vulnerable individuals through health and demographic data, as well as ZIP codes and insights produced by the NYC Department of Health Heat Vulnerability Index. It then notifies individuals of the impending risk of high heat, offering guidance on the ways to stay safe until the heatwave passes.
AI’s predictive abilities make this tool precise and effective and allow us to reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers in our network instantly, essentially building an ad-hoc safety network. Those who need additional care are put in contact with health professionals. The results are promising — individuals who engaged with the platform were 47% less likely to need clinical care during last summer’s heatwaves.
Heat is something billions of people worldwide will need to contend with in the coming years. Our city can be a catalyst for that change with smart, cost-effective programs like early warning, proactive heat alerts. While only one part in a list of actions health plans can continue to take against climate-related health threats, an effective heat alert program is an important and proven key step in combating heat-related illness.
Although the Big Apple is in many ways better prepared than other cities, we still have a long way to go. Public health leaders must use all available technology and protect New Yorkers as the climate changes, which includes deploying AI thoughtfully and keeping people at the center of care.
Knecht is the chief medical officer of EmblemHealth.