Three decades of patient behaviour: The constant hunger to know
By Gil Bashe, chair global health and purpose, FINN Partners, and correspondent to Health Tech World
When I first wrote in 1994 that the “Information Age will change the patient’s role,” in the cover story for Product Management Today, it was more than a forecast—it was an observation of a profound shift underway.
Patients were no longer content to remain in the waiting room of knowledge.
They were stepping forward, asking questions, researching symptoms, and seeking understanding outside the walls of the clinic.
That drive—the hunger to know—has remained remarkably constant for three decades.
The catalyst for this shift is that the pace of health innovations – new therapies, devices and approaches that sustain and save life – is becoming an everyday event. Survival for some is not a hope; it’s the goal.
What changed is technology. We’ve moved from dial-up to on-demand, from Ask Jeeves to ChatGPT.
The internet brought the world’s medical libraries to our fingertips; now, large language models (LLMs) bring context, conversation, and perceived comprehension.
Patients are no longer information seekers—they are information navigators.
However, proximity to knowledge is not the same as access to truth. In the “AI Moment,” information is generated with stunning fluency, but that fluency can conceal fragility.
LLMs don’t “understand”—they predict. And when predictions misfire, hallucinations happen. Misleading responses that sound authoritative may lack accuracy.
That’s the inflection point we now face. If the internet era was about liberating knowledge, the AI era must be about safeguarding it.
Accuracy is not a technical detail—it’s the foundation of trust, and trust is the currency of the modern health ecosystem.
Patients remain relentless in their quest for answers. That’s an empowering truth.
Gil Bashe
Our industry-wide responsibility—particularly as biopharma, device and digital health communicators—is to ensure the answers they find are grounded in evidence, expressed with empathy, and supported by science.
As I wrote decades ago, “Patients will increasingly turn to electronic resources first, not as a last resort, transforming physicians into partners in a larger conversation.”
That prediction wasn’t futuristic—it was foundational.
Today, with generative AI tools like ChatGPT and LLMs, the conversation is not just larger—it’s louder, faster, and more complex. And our role is to make it clearer and accurate to inspire informed decisions.
In 1995, I also shared this truth: “Information will become the first line of defense in personal health management.” It’s now the front line of the health system.
But in the AI Moment, not all information is created equal, and our proactive efforts must center around accuracy, empathy and trust.
Five Imperatives for Communicators in the AI Moment
As we embrace this AI-powered future, here are five essential recommendations for those shaping patient-facing messaging, drawn from the lessons of the past and the opportunities of the present that impact future outcomes:
- Treat LLMs Like a Digital Bedside Manner
Just as physicians cultivate bedside manners, AI tools must be trained to convey compassion, clarity, and confidence.
Tools like ChatGPT are increasingly the first stop for patients searching for answers, making the tone and truth of these responses just as important as their technical delivery.
Action: Create a “brand voice and tone protocol” for AI-generated content.
Build in real-time guardrails to ensure responses are evidence-based and clinically vetted, while still meeting patients where they are—emotionally and cognitively.
- Build Guardrails Before Building Chatbots
In the early web era, many rushed to launch before establishing safeguards. We cannot make that mistake with AI.
Whether it’s patient privacy, regulatory compliance, or medical risk, the consequences of getting it wrong are too great.
Action: Convene cross-functional teams—legal, regulatory, IT, medical affairs and patient advocacy—to co-create clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all patient-facing AI applications.
Define boundaries, escalation protocols, and crisis-response frameworks before go-live.
- Use AI to Personalize, Not Generalize
AI offers the ability to tailor content for patients at scale—but only if done thoughtfully.
A newly diagnosed patient has different emotional and educational needs than someone managing a chronic condition. Generic responses risk sounding dismissive or irrelevant.
Action: Build AI-driven content journeys that reflect patients’ current health status—segment by condition, literacy level, language preference, or emotional readiness using AI.
Invite patients to help co-create these journeys for relevance and resonance.
- Bridge AI with Human Touch
The best communicators use technology to amplify human relationships, not replace them. In the same way, early websites encouraged more informed conversations with doctors; AI must be positioned as a starting point, not a final answer.
At the same time, medical schools must teach health professionals to expect and support patients’ search for answers.
Action: Ensure AI-generated content includes bridge language, such as “Discuss this with your care team” or “Your provider can help interpret this,” to encourage dialogue and discourage dependency.
Technology can be an ambassador for stronger connectivity with the fragmented health system.
- Make AI Insights a Catalyst for Health Equity
Without deliberate inclusion, AI risks entrenching existing disparities.
Remember that AI is not “artificial.” Tools created thoughtfully can serve as “augmented implementation” platforms.
LLMs trained on narrow datasets may overlook or misrepresent the lived experiences of underrepresented populations.
Action: Invest in data inclusivity—audit AI-generated responses with community-based partners and advocacy groups.
Build culturally relevant, multilingual content that reflects global patient populations’ richness—and needs.
A Legacy of Empowerment, A Future of Accountability
Three decades ago, I believed that giving patients access to information would improve health delivery. That belief has only deepened.
But information alone is not empowerment—understanding and engagement are essential.
Understanding requires a blend of science, compassion, and clear communication. Engagement requires a willingness to listen and guide.
Algorithms or APIs do not define the AI Moment—that is determined by choices, ours.
Do we deploy with care? Do we test with rigor? Do we listen as much as we code? Do we treat patients not as users but as people?
History does repeat itself.
Thirty years ago, patients clamored for access to information, and the industry chose an overly cautious approach. Some of that hesitancy was fueled, understandably, by regulatory concerns or liabilities.
Now, the walls guarding data and information are being torn down by technology.
Can we take advantage of this AI Moment to engage and partner to accelerate innovation and patient care engagement?
