The Changing Role Of The Healthcare Institution: Why AI Is Redistributing Power In Healthcare

InnovationThe Changing Role Of The Healthcare Institution: Why AI Is Redistributing Power In HealthcareByAmi Bhatt,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 28, 2026, 08:30am EDTAmi B. Bhatt, MD, Chief Innovation Officer, American College of Cardiology. Opinions my own. getty​Not long ago, patients had to wait for a phone call to have their lab results explained. Clinicians who wanted to compare new trial data depended on journals, institutional summaries or conference presentations. Startups that wanted to influence care pathways needed to partner with hospitals.For much of modern healthcare, interpretation remained within institutional boundaries. That is not completely true anymore.Artificial intelligence has brought something new to healthcare: interpretation that happens outside traditional settings. Now, patients can upload lab results and get explanations in seconds. Clinicians can keep up with changing guidelines right away. Sponsors can check eligibility across thousands of records without having to review charts by hand.The barriers are opening up. This change is not just about technology. It is also about how the system is organized.Why Information Is No Longer Confined To InstitutionsFor many years, healthcare institutions created knowledge and decided who could access it. Academic centers did the research, professional societies explained the findings and health systems decided how and when patients could get information explained to them.This system was supported by scarcity. There were only a few experts, data was kept separate and computers had limited power. AI helps reduce this scarcity. Now, the ability to interpret information is available outside of institutions. This does not mean expertise is going away. Instead, the power to understand information is being shared more widely.Patients are...