AI in Healthcare: The reality behind unlimited possibility

When it comes to AI, it’s not a stretch to say it’s a bit like the Wild West right now. On one side, we see these incredible features and capabilities from companies like OpenAI and others that seem almost magical. It feels like AI can solve all our problems and even replace humans. On the other side, everything around AI is over the top — not just in healthcare but especially in healthcare. We are dealing with more challenging problems, privacy issues, and validation concerns. But translating that promise into real healthcare solutions that acknowledge the expertise of actual humans is a huge step — one that takes time and careful navigation.

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Public perception suggests that we are much further down the road than we actually are when it comes to clinically validated AI applications. There are parts of AI that have been working for years — such as pattern recognition in medical imaging, where AI could help increase cancer detection — and those continue to improve. But the broader public sees generative AI and assumes that the same level of seamless innovation is already applicable to all aspects of healthcare. The reality is far more complex.

Sidekick’s Approach to AI: Outside-In vs. Inside-Out

At Sidekick, we’ve been operating in digital healthcare for over 10 years. We deeply understand the complexities and challenges of this space. Our approach to AI isn’t about trying to replace human expertise; it’s about augmenting it in ways that are practical, meaningful, and validated. Everyone says that, so let me walk you through our approach:

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We think of AI implementation as an outside-in approach rather than inside-out. If you start from the core — diagnosis and treatment — you immediately run into heavy regulatory and validation challenges. But if you start from the outside — using AI to build engagement, trust, education, and behavioral change — you create real value without jumping into the deep end of medical intervention where human expertise still reigns supreme.

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For example, AI can help guide patients before they undergo treatment, providing education, training, and personalized behavioral insights. This builds self-efficacy and improves adherence, ultimately leading to better outcomes. Then, once AI-supported treatment is introduced, it is built on a foundation of validated processes that align with regulatory standards.

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Sidekick's ethos and mission is to treat health holistically, building lasting engagement that drives behavior change again and again. That’s also how we think about AI solutions: we’re addressing the ecosystem, not just the problem.  

Why Care What Sidekick Thinks?

AI is everywhere, and everyone has an opinion. So what does it matter what we think at Sidekick? Our perspective is built on a foundation of expertise in serving three distinct but interconnected global healthcare markets:

• Healthcare: Our partners are striving to do more with less — we’re focused on helping drive greater efficiency, launch programs that engage members (and keep them engaged, and deploy solutions that deliver measurable outcomes.
• Life Sciences: In a crowded market, we help our partners differentiate their brand with digital solutions — driving greater medication persistence and adherence, delivering better patient and provider experiences, and uncovering insights.
• Prescription Digital Therapeutics: Our highly-regulated DiGA markets require us to deliver validated health outcomes — but to achieve those outcomes, we design programs that also keep our users engaged in their health over time.

We are working with more than a quarter of the leading 20 healthcare companies, including some of the biggest pharma companies and their most-prescribed medication brands, the biggest US health plans, and some of the leading solutions on the German DiGA market — a highly regulated prescription-based digital health market. This means we aren’t just talking about AI in healthcare; we are actively building and delivering AI-driven solutions that work across multiple business units, markets, and regulatory environments using the same underlying technology and responsible approach.

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From a medical perspective, our leadership team includes medical doctors who deeply understand AI’s clinical applications — and its risks. Our AI steering committee includes our CEO, our Chief Medical Officer, and myself, Sidekick’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, among others. Together, we ensure that AI is integrated thoughtfully across all business units, for all customers, and to all potential patents and end users.

The Future of AI in Healthcare

Sidekick has adopted an AI-first-but-not-always mindset; we’re not interested in creating gimmicky features but rather ensuring AI is used where it is most effective, knowing that how we mix tech and human involvement will change as AI improves and changes. In the past, we — and many others in the industry — focused on optimizing workflows and processes that humans did. But with improved technology, we can revisit that thinking and approach our problems from a different angle. 

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It doesn’t mean humans will be removed from the process, but it does mean we’ll have a different role in the process than before. Some tasks, like those that are easily replaceable by tech, will be moved over to AI, while others more specialized toward human capabilities will be added. AI is not a first-aid kit — we don’t use it to put bandages on clunky processes. When we’re using AI effectively, we are investigating the ecosystem of each problem to see where it might help.  One area where AI will make a significant impact is in behavioral interventions. Many aspects of patient guidance in digital health will eventually be driven by AI — not because we’re optimizing for cost-cutting, but because AI can deliver more timely, personalized, and precise guidance at scale. That’s where AI shines: improving efficiency and effectiveness, not just automating existing processes for the sake of it.

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We’re not just automating humans, either. Our goal is not to replace care managers and health coaches, but to make their jobs easier, reducing screen-load and admin burden so their focus can be on actual care delivery. 

We started working with AI in 2017, long before it was a buzzword. Our goal, then and now, is not just to follow trends but to thoughtfully integrate AI where it creates real, measurable improvements in patient engagement, adherence, and outcomes.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot of hype and noise around AI in healthcare. Some companies are throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something sticks. At Sidekick, we take a different approach. AI isn’t a magic fix — it’s a powerful tool that, when applied correctly, amplifies engagement, trust, and treatment effectiveness. It’s a tool we’ve been working with for years when it makes sense, and only when it makes sense. 

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Our commitment is to use AI responsibly and strategically, ensuring that it delivers real value to patients, healthcare providers, and industry partners. That’s what makes Sidekick’s approach different — and that’s why our perspective matters, now more than ever.

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Learn more about our approach to AI and see how we're putting AI solutions to good use. Download our white paper.

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