HJNO Jul/Aug 2026

THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE 34 JUL / AUG 2026 I  U.S. HEALTHCARE JOURNALS care team — all with appropriate human over- sight. Historically, software has functioned as a tool. Clinicians interacted with the software, entered information, retrieved information, and then independently determined what ac- tions should occur next. Agentic AI introduces a fundamentally different paradigm. Rather than simply responding to requests, it can pro- actively identify needs, coordinate workflows, monitor patient progress, and facilitate com- munication across the care team. Consider a patient with obesity, type 2 diabe- tes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, de- pression, and food insecurity. In today’s health- care environment, identifying and addressing all of these issues often requires a series of dis- connected encounters spread across months or years. Opportunities for intervention are fre- quently missed because no individual clinician has complete visibility into every aspect of the patient’s journey. In a future AI-enabled system, the process could look very different. The phy- sician establishes an overall treatment strategy. Artificial intelligence continuously monitors the patient’s data and identifies emerging care gaps. When worsening glycemic control is de- tected, the diabetes educator could be noti- fied. When dietary patterns suggest opportuni- ties for improvement, the dietitian is engaged. When medication adherence declines, the pharmacist becomes involved. When screening tools suggest worsening depression, the be- havioral health specialist receives notification. When social determinants of health emerge as barriers to progress, the social worker is activat- ed. Throughout the process, the health coach helps reinforce goals and maintains engage- ment between visits. Importantly, AI does not replace any of these professionals. It helps orchestrate their collec- tive efforts. In many respects, agentic AI may function as the connective tissue that health- care has long lacked. It can continuously moni- tor patient populations, identify individuals at greatest risk, prioritize interventions, coordi- nate outreach, facilitate communication, and ensure that evidence-based care is delivered more consistently. Tasks that currently depend upon memory, vigilance, or chance become systematic and reliable. Perhaps most impor- tantly, this model allows human expertise to be deployed where it creates the greatest value. Artificial intelligence challenges that para- digm. For the first time, healthcare may pos- sess technology capable of continuously moni- toring patient needs, identifying risks before they become crises, coordinating interventions across multiple members of the care team, and supporting patients between visits. The im- plications extend far beyond documentation, coding, or operational efficiency. They raise a much larger question: What if healthcare no longer revolved around office visits at all? What if the future of healthcare is not defined by what happens during a fifteen-minute en- counter, but by what happens during the other 525,585 minutes of the year? If artificial intelli- gence fulfills its promise, healthcare will begin to shift from episodic encounters to continuous relationships, from reactive treatment to proac- tive management, and from isolated decisions to coordinated systems of care. Yet technology alone cannot create that transformation. As we have learned repeatedly throughout health- care’s history, new tools do not automatically produce better outcomes. They simply amplify the systems into which they are deployed. If we apply artificial intelligence to a healthcare system that remains fragmented, encounter- driven, and volume-focused, we should not be surprised if we achieve only incremental gains. The real opportunity lies elsewhere. The true promise of artificial intelligence is not that it will help us do the same things faster. It is that it may finally allow us to redesign healthcare around what has always mattered most: im- proving health, preventing disease, supporting patients over time, and achieving outcomes that matter in people’s lives. That future will require more than better technology. It will require a fundamentally different approach to healthcare delivery. And that is where the next chapter of this story begins — not with artificial intelligence itself, but with the reinvention of healthcare delivery. n REFERENCES Z. S. Morris et al., “The Answer Is 17 Years, What Is the Question: Understanding Time Lags in Translational Research,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 104, no. 12 (2011): 510–20, https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180. Rita Rubin, “It Takes an Average of 17 Years for Evidence to Change Practice — the Burgeoning Field of Implementation Science Seeks to Speed Things Up,” JAMA 329, no. 16 (2023): 1333–6, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.4387. Not every patient question requires a physi- cian visit. Not every dietary challenge requires physician involvement. Not every medication adjustment requires a specialist consultation. By directing patients to the most appropriate member of the care team, AI can help ensure that expertise is used efficiently while improv- ing access for everyone. The implications ex- tend beyond clinicians. Patients themselves will increasingly become active members of the care team, supported by AI-powered tools that provide education, coaching, reminders, and guidance between encounters. Rather than in- teracting with the healthcare system only when illness develops, patients may receive continu- ous support that helps them maintain health, adhere to treatment plans, and achieve per- sonal goals. This shift represents a profound departure from the traditional encounter-based model of care. Instead of episodic interactions separat- ed by weeks or months, healthcare becomes a continuous partnership supported by a coordi- nated team working toward shared goals. The ultimate objective is not to create a healthcare system that is more technological. It is to cre- ate one that is more personal. Paradoxically, artificial intelligence may help accomplish this by allowing every member of the care team to spend less time managing administrative com- plexity and more time doing what humans do best: listening, teaching, motivating, support- ing, and caring for other people. Technology should not become the center of healthcare. Patients should. The promise of the AI-aug- mented care team is that technology finally fades into the background, allowing human relationships to move back to the foreground where they belong. Beyond the Office Visit The most exciting applications of artificial intelligence may not be found inside the phy- sician’s office at all. For more than a century, healthcare has been organized around encoun- ters. Patients develop symptoms, schedule appointments, receive treatment, and return when the next problem arises. Much of our healthcare infrastructure — from payment sys- tems to documentation requirements to qual- ity measurement — has been built around this episodic model of care.