| We’re heading toward a future in which certain parts of medical care are delivered without any humans involved. |
| Cadence, which raised a $100 million Series C last week, is betting that it can make managing chronic diseases less expensive and more efficient by using AI to automate routine steps, such as monitoring vitals and adjusting medication. |
| Today, human clinicians at Cadence get the final say. But founder and CEO Chris Altchek told me he predicts AI agents will be able to carry out some patient-facing tasks without human review in as little as 12 to 24 months. |
| Regulators are getting more comfortable with clinical uses of AI, and AI models have become more advanced since the end of last year, which makes it easier to ensure they operate safely and hit internal benchmarks, Altchek said. |
| Just after I spoke with Altchek, news broke that the FDA cleared an AI tool from the startup UpDoc that adjusts diabetes patients’ insulin doses between doctors' appointments, within parameters set by a physician. In a conversation last week, UpDoc CEO Sharif Vakili
told Shelby the company had been working with the FDA for three years. Already, it’s deploying the tool at health systems like Cleveland Clinic and UCSF Health. |
| “The key thing here is a physician must prescribe it — it’s the recognition that a physician needs to be the one who opens the door for the clinical AI to enter the room and join as a care team member," Vakili explained. “There aren’t surprises, it’s not stepping on the toes of physicians.” |
| Altchek said he expects to see regulators approve AI-only uses in areas like medication adjustment, monitoring vitals and following up on abnormal readings, and lifestyle coaching first. In those cases, there’s clearly defined decision-tree logic AI could follow. However, AI for something like making a diagnosis might take much longer to get approved. Conversations are more open-ended, and there often isn’t a single correct answer. |
| “I expect at least a couple to get approved by regulators to remove humans from the loop, but that's going to be a staged, careful, thoughtful process that's studied really rigorously because the stakes are very high,” Altchek said. |
| - Ngai |
