No one should have to navigate health decisions alone

We need to make decisions with our doctors.

It seems obvious, but it’s exceedingly rare. Too often providers or health plans choose for us, or we’re left to decide for ourselves, frantically searching the internet for the right direction.

But research shows that when patients understand their diagnosis and treatment options and discuss them with their provider, they tend to choose less costly treatments, get better results, and be more satisfied.

To make shared decision-making a reality and enable more personalized and effective care, we need three things:

Digital health records

Decisions can’t be made in the dark, and a comprehensive, real-time, digital health record ensures you and your doctor can see your entire history.

AI to assist in diagnosis and identification of treatment options

Every week thousands of new articles come out with new research about potential treatments. No human can keep up. But a computer can. This is one place where AI can make a huge difference: it can read all the latest research and come up with diagnosis and treatment suggestions - suggestions, not decisions - that your doctor can then use to make a treatment plan.

An in-depth conversation between the patient and their clinician to decide on the best treatment

Yes. A real conversation with your doctor (or doctors). What used to be the norm has become a rarity. But it’s the only thing that works and it’s time to bring it back.

What changes when decisions are shared?

We are working towards eliminating prior-authorization, a process where an insurer hits pause on a proposed treatment and asks for more information before approving coverage. Prior-authorization also causes endless patient stress and delays in care.

The reason it exists is simple: there are all kinds of financial incentives pushing providers to recommend more expensive treatments. Insurers want to make sure those treatments are actually necessary before approving them.

But shared decision-making gives patients a choice - and patients generally choose less expensive treatments that will work better.

If insurers can trust that the patient and provider are making better choices together, there will be no need for prior-authorization.

And that means everything speeds up. When patients, doctors, and AI all work together, we get faster decisions, effective treatment plans, and better outcomes. Every human deserves effective, efficient, personalized care, and this is how we can make sure they get it.