AI reshapes healthcare with hyper-personalized patient experiences
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform how health systems understand and care for patients, shifting from broad demographic targeting to deeply individualized engagement, according to AdventHealth Chief Digital Officer David Oakley.
According to a report from MedCity News, the shift, he said, could strengthen patient relationships, improve outcomes, and reshape how healthcare providers and outsourced service partners support care delivery.
Moving from population care to individual precision
Speaking at Reuters’ Total Health conference in Chicago, Oakley said AI’s rapid development is introducing a new era of personalization in healthcare.
Traditionally, health systems engage patients in large population segments — by age group, medical condition, geography, or visit type. But this is now changing.
“I think broadly, in the industry, we’ve often thought about personalization in terms of segmentation — like what the segments of the population are that we’re going to engage,” Oakley said.
“I think the power of personalization is that we’ll actually be able to move from these broad segments into segments of one. That’s really the intent,” he added.
Currently, personalization appears most visibly through provider websites and electronic health record portals.
Patients using platforms like Epic’s MyChart can already receive tailored reminders and recommendations aligned to their medical history. But Oakley believes this is only the beginning.
Beyond EHR: Building patient trust through AI personalization
AdventHealth is investing in a more advanced personalization engine designed to enhance patient experiences, even when users are not logged into official portals.
“Where we’re investing, beyond those two categories, is truly in a personalization engine that will continue to tailor experiences — whether you’re logged in or you’re just visiting the website — based on what consumers actually need,” Oakley noted.
He emphasized that personalization must go beyond clinical data alone.
“This has to extend well beyond the clinical aspects as well. Personalization, in my opinion, also moves into the things that make each of us feel whole,” he said, referring to emotional, social and lifestyle factors that significantly influence health.
This vision is particularly relevant to the healthcare outsourcing sector, where business process outsourcing (BPO) firms provide patient engagement, scheduling, care navigation, and telehealth support for hospitals globally.
Outsourcing’s role in advancing patient engagement
As health systems adopt AI-driven personalization, outsourced care teams and contact centers will increasingly be required to recognize patient preferences, communication styles, and well-being needs — not just process transactions.
Oakley believes this shift can help rebuild trust in the healthcare system.
“Personalization done well, I believe, is going to actually create deeper relationships between provider and care teams and the patient,” he said.
As AI systems become increasingly intelligent and data platforms become more interconnected, personalization will emerge not only as a care strategy but also as a competitive differentiator — for hospitals and the global healthcare outsourcing industry alike.
