Shaji Nair and Ashish Verma , 2025-05-02 14:26:00
In a healthcare landscape dominated by rising chronic condition rates and associated costs, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool for physicians seeking to integrate aspects of lifestyle medicine and preventive care into their standard practice. Whether it’s used to enhance patient compliance, inform clinical decision-making, or provide remote monitoring and virtual care, AI helps providers better support the 60% of Americans managing at least one chronic condition — and the 40% managing two or more.
The rise of AI is particularly timely in this respect, as most chronic diseases can be effectively managed and, in some cases, prevented through behavioral and nutritional changes. However, doing so requires a level of patient education and monitoring that many providers don’t have, given the rising patient volumes and greater administrative burdens diverting time and other resources away from direct patient care.
When properly designed and implemented, AI allows physicians to seamlessly add aspects of preventive medicine and chronic condition care into patient-facing personalized care plans that can be accessed by the patient online or via mobile apps. These plans can be accompanied by complementary information on the conditions, exercise and meal plans, and recommended activities to relieve stress, improve sleep, and manage weight.
The result for patients is a better understanding of their conditions, higher health literacy, and improved overall health and wellness. For physicians, it leads to better outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and more successful participation in value-based care and quality models.
Manage chronic conditions more effectively
The Affordable Care Act made more than 100 preventive services available to patients for no out-of-pocket costs, a popular aspect of the program. However, the percentage of adults 35 and over who have received all their recommended high-priority screenings dropped from 8.5% in 2015 to just 5.3% in 2020. There’s little doubt that the continuing impacts of the global pandemic have driven compliance down further.
The stakes for reversing this trend and improving chronic care management and patient compliance couldn’t be higher. Nearly two-thirds of deaths caused by chronic conditions can be traced to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, and nearly 80% of chronic conditions could be prevented if people adopted healthy behaviors. Those with chronic conditions account for more than 90% of healthcare spending in the United States, which tops $4.75 trillion annually.
Low health literacy also contributes to the problem. One adult literacy group reports that just 12% of Americans have sufficient health literacy to navigate healthcare settings and act on provided information, while one-third struggle with simple health tasks. Limited health literacy makes it difficult to properly take medications, manage health conditions, effectively utilize care, and access health screening and prevention services. Increasing health literacy could prevent nearly 1 million hospital visits annually and save $25 billion in excess healthcare expenditures.
These statistics are why more physicians are embracing advanced AI and analytics, mobile technology, and data interoperability to integrate preventive and lifestyle medicine into standard care practices. Some are adopting comprehensive health platforms that aggregate and analyze data from medical records, connected and smart devices, and health and wellness apps to generate actionable, evidence-based care recommendations and treatment plans. In some cases, these platforms integrate with mobile tools that allow patients to implement these care plans, including tailored wellness strategies such as structured exercise programs, personalized meal plans, and stress management techniques. Some also include access to live or on-demand fitness classes, nutrition and hydration tracking, and other tools to enhance patient engagement and adherence.
Finally, AI addresses the disconnect between recommended guidelines and action by increasing engagement with personalized, actionable education and updates at appropriate times. Rather than overwhelming patients with all the details at once, AI tools curate and push tailored information bites and reminders — e.g., drink water, exercise, or schedule an appointment — delivered to the patient via a patient portal, text message, or another preferred communication channel. These daily or weekly updates also help reinforce healthy habits and encourage ongoing engagement.
Enabling lifestyle — and lifesaving — behavioral changes
Lifestyle medical interventions can address the underlying causes of chronic diseases by simplifying and encouraging the positive activities necessary to improve health, including proper nutrition, greater physical activity, sleep optimization, stress and weight management, better social connections, substance use reduction, and behavioral coaching.
For example, diabetes currently affects nearly 12% of Americans and is the most expensive chronic condition, accounting for $307 million in direct medical costs each year, according to the CDC. Another 38% of Americans have prediabetes. While genetics and age-related risk factors can influence who develops diabetes, lifestyle changes have been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes among high-risk individuals by over 50%.
The true benefits of lifestyle or preventive medicine are realized when every patient with a chronic condition has a unique treatment plan. Yet, doctors often lack the tools to fully integrate all necessary components to develop these plans. Exacerbating the challenge are the conflicts that arise between the most common treatment elements of medications and lifestyle changes. For example, steroids can cause weight gain and/or interfere with sleep, while specialist guidance can inadvertently clash with prescribed treatments. Patients are stuck in the middle, unsure of whose directives to follow and how.
Integrating Generative AI into EHR systems facilitates better diagnoses and treatment plans by analyzing comprehensive patient information, evidence-based best practices, and the latest research and recommending a baseline diagnosis or personalized treatment plan. Physicians can then refine these recommendations based on their expertise and the patient’s particulars. AI can also review patients’ health history, lifestyle, and activity levels and establish their risk of developing certain conditions unless proactive steps are taken.
Conclusion
AI is transforming healthcare in many ways, most significantly by enabling physicians to integrate lifestyle medicine or preventive care and chronic disease management into patient-centered treatment plans. By delivering personalized education, reminders, and actionable insights, AI helps bridge the gap between clinical recommendations and patient engagement, reducing complications, improving outcomes, lowering costs, and reducing care utilization.
Photo by Flickr user Qwedgeonline
Shaji Nair is committed to leveraging the power of technology and human networks to address the healthcare industry’s most urgent challenges. He brings nearly three decades of international, executive-level leadership experience in information technology, business improvement, and project management to his role as Founder and CEO of several successful ventures, including HWFL Company, Friska.AI, and Kalari Corp.Nair’s latest innovation, Friska.AI, is a ground-breaking healthcare platform leveraging advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile technology to empower individuals to partner with their physicians to take control of their health journey.
Dr. Ashish Verma is Board Certified in Endocrinology, Diabetes, Geriatric Medicine and Metabolism. Dr. Verma has papers published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, and Women’s Health in Primary Care, as well as an article for the Diagnosis and Management of Primary Hyperparathyroidism. Dr. Verma is a member of The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, The Endocrine Society and the International Society of Clinical Densitometrists.
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