Tag: ai

This week, health information leaders are gathering at HIMSS, discussing the role of technology in healthcare. And it has me wondering: What role has technology played in shaping the American patient? More importantly, how will it continue to reshape the way we deliver care?

Hospitals have long been the backbone of healthcare delivery, but history shows that no model is permanent. With each technological advance, patient expectations have shifted—and healthcare has had to adapt.

But are we adapting fast enough? Or are we at risk of becoming the next obsolete institution, much like another once-thriving American staple: the shopping mall?

From House Calls to the “Doc in the Box”

Technology has always reshaped healthcare delivery.

When phones became widely available, we transitioned from house calls to traveling doctors who would use a patient’s phone to call prescriptions into their office. As care centralized, patients called to book appointments instead of waiting for doctors to come to them. At the turn of the century, urgent care centers (the “doc in the box”) emerged—some people raved about the convenience, others resisted… and then many of those resisters opened their own. Today, freestanding emergency rooms are the latest iteration of convenience-based care, giving patients hospital-level services without the traditional hospital setting.

Each of these shifts was driven by technology and consumer demand. But what happens when demand shifts again?

A Walk Through the Empty Mall

Not long ago, I found myself walking through a mall—a place that once defined my youth.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, the mall was everything.

It was where you shopped, where you socialized, where you spent hours just existing with friends.

If I had $10 in my pocket, I was a king—whether I spent it on an arcade game, an ice cream, or a movie ticket.

But today? Malls are ghost towns.

Sure, they see crowds around the holidays, but the average visit now is a pit stop at the return counter. Online shopping has rendered them nearly obsolete.

Why browse for what I need when I can order in seconds and have it delivered tomorrow or even within hours in some cities.

And it’s not just Amazon anymore. TikTok Shop is the new flea market, where influencers convince us we need everything from collapsible blenders to cat vacuums. (I’m not judging, but I’m totally judging.)

The point is: We moved on.

Why do we assume hospitals are immune to the same fate?

Could Hospitals Become the Next Mega Mall?

Every semester, I ask my students:
Will hospitals soon go the way of the mega mall?

Their answer is always an emphatic NO.

But, why not?

Hospitals, in their current form, haven’t always existed. Most of the freestanding hospitals we know today were built thanks to the Hill-Burton Act in the mid-20th century. Before that, care was delivered in homes, small clinics, and charity institutions.

Today, we assume hospitals are too essential to disappear. Or dare, I say it, too big to fail.

But retail stores were once essential, too. So were travel agencies. So were Blockbuster stores. And yet, we moved on when a better option became available.

The better option is already emerging in healthcare. Patients are signaling their preference for alternatives—and some health systems are paying attention:

• Many patients today prefer to take an Uber to the ER instead of an ambulance. Some hospitals have evolved, adding rideshare zones and partnering with Uber Health and Lyft Med to support patient transport.
• Telemedicine and home-based care are growing—not just because they’re cost-effective, but because patients and providers prefer them.
• Amazon and Walmart are entering healthcare, exploring ways to deliver primary care directly to patients and gaining efficiencies in pharmaceutical management as well.

The healthcare mall is already changing. The only question is: Will we adapt fast enough?

Technology Has Always Changed Healthcare—And It Always Will

Hospitals will never disappear entirely. Just like malls still exist. But they will not always be the dominant model in health care delivery as they once were. Interestingly, even while searching for images for this post, the terms “futuristic medicine” almost always centers on an inpatient setting and often doesn’t include an image of patient. And, if I had to paint my version of a dystopian future, that is exactly what it would looks like, a group of clinicians staring at a holographic image and absent a patient or concern for the human behind the images.

We can’t expect technology to change every other industry while leaving healthcare untouched. And, we must take patients lead on how technology will or won’t change our industry. Otherwise we’ll end up just like the kiosk salespeople in the mall today desperately hawking cat vacuums to anyone we can convince needs them. (I told you I was judging).