A.I. isn’t going to replace the primary care physician. There still will need to be someone available at the initial point of contact who can do a physical exam, take, or at least review, the patient’s history, and then order the lab work and imaging studies that the A.I. system will use to make the diagnosis. In other words, the physician will be primarily responsible for data collection. You may feel that you are almost there already.
Dr. William G. Wilkoff
Will there be new roles for primary care physicians once A.I. systems are making the diagnoses? It is hard to imagine a fully autonomous health care system in which physicians completely disappear. But, now is the time to think seriously about how we are going to reinvent ourselves to adapt to the inevitable changes and continue as an (or could be "the") essential human element in an increasingly automated system.
Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.