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As more people turn to artificial intelligence for health advice, Hartford HealthCare is embracing the viral trend with an AI-powered chatbot that interprets lab results and answers patients' questions based on their medical records.
Unlike other AI chat tools that offer health advice, the new tool is built directly into the patient portal, giving more personalised responses, said Dr Ajay Kumar, chief clinical officer at Hartford HealthCare.
“We know that healthcare, despite all the advancements, has been segmented, especially when the communication between the patients and the clinicians happens,” he explained. “And we saw this opportunity to work with our partners in KHealth to launch this product, which allows a seamless and real-time conversation with your own medical record as a patient.”
Around 32% of adults nationwide reported turning to AI for health information or advice, according to the latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
PatientGPT is not the only way AI is used at Hartford HealthCare, but it’s one of the first AI-powered programs specifically meant to support the patients. It was built in partnership with K Health, a clinical AI company. The program debuted in March as a beta version, initially offered to a limited number of patients. Patients must manually grant the tool permission to use it.
Available 24/7, Hartford HealthCare’s PatientGPT can help users interpret lab results in plain language, flag potential treatment interactions, summarise conversations and even answer questions about a person’s health using information from their medical records. The tool can also help patients set up virtual and in-person medical appointments and send clinicians inquiry summaries.
“It’s HIPAA-compliant, it's secure, it's private, and it's yours,” he said.
Kumar added that tools like PatientGPT can also support providers' work by offering additional context, summarising patient conversations and identifying concerns in advance.
“This particular system knows you,” he said. “It knows how many times you've interacted with the doctors and Hartford HealthCare. It knows the future appointments you might have with a different type of specialist or the blood test… the doctor asked you to do off time.”
While AI models can sometimes behave unpredictably, Kumar said PatientGPT was built with strict safeguards. The chatbot, for example, cannot prescribe medications or recommend specific treatments. He explained that it instead uses built-in “escalation pathways” that encourage patients to schedule an in-person or virtual medical appointment when additional evaluation is needed.
“You can imagine what an empowering tool it would be for patients to be able to get a lot of questions answered, and when the things become bit more less clear, to allow the physicians to interact,” he said.
Since the initial launch, Kumar said PatientGPT has recorded 8,300 conversations with 6,000 unique patients. Questions and requests vary, but he said some of the most common so far include asking follow-up questions for clarification, getting general health information and checking eligibility for certain treatments and medications, like GLP-1.
Although it’s still too soon to measure the full impact of the new AI platform, Kumar said he can see patients coming into their appointments “well-informed,” leading to more “impactful conversations” about their health and the next steps needed.
Kumar said Hartford HealthCare is working on rolling out the tool to over a million patients in the next four to six weeks. They are also working to make the tool available in multiple languages and hope to eventually expand access to the broader public in a responsible way.
“I like to believe that clinicians are going to find our patients much more engaged in the healthcare journey and much more in control in some ways,” he said. “And physicians hopefully will like that, because we're all here to make sure the patients are getting the best of care.” – Journal Inquirer/TNS
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