If you’re a patient at Mass General Brigham (MGB), Artificial Intelligence (AI) may help connect you to a new doctor. With two-year waiting lists for a primary care provider, the health care system is now using AI to speed things up.
When Rocco Giuliano’s doctor left Mass General Brigham last year, he looked for a new primary care physician (PCP). Running low on his blood pressure medication, Giuliano needed help.
“I was told that it could take up to two years to get a new PCP, so that left me in a bind,” Giuliano said.
Instead of waiting, he turned to his iPad and logged onto Care Connect, a new app launched by Mass General Brigham in September. The app uses AI to assess a patient’s situation and then connects them with a doctor for a virtual visit. Within a day, Giuliano spoke to a doctor.
Rocco Giuliano used the Care Connect app to find a doctor.
CBS Boston
“She knew my medical history and she was able to refill my prescriptions,” Giuliano said. “I didn’t even know AI was involved. It was totally invisible to me,” he said.
The lack of primary care is a problem across Massachusetts. According to the state’s Health Policy Commission, in 2023, 41% of residents reported difficulty accessing care.
In a statement, MGB Chief Operating Officer Dr. Ron Walls said the app “addresses critical gaps in primary care access and continuity, particularly for patients who do not currently have a long-term relationship with a primary care provider.”
Mass General Brigham doctors, who are in the process of unionizing, worry that AI’s growing presence in health care could pose new risks.
“It raises some pretty serious safety concerns,” said Dr. Andrew Warren, who works for MGB. “Who’s doing the oversight for this? How is this data that patients are giving being used?”
Warren said AI is a tool at this point.
“It’s brand new, so people are figuring out how to use it. I don’t think it replaces the human interaction or the judgement that physicians have,” he said.
For Giuliano, though, the experience was positive.
“I was pleasantly surprised that within less than 24 hours, I was on the phone with an actual human being,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’ve been left in the hands of some evil AI entity. I’m dealing with a human being.”
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