AI health coaches aren’t just for athletes anymore. They’re starting to handle the day-to-day interpretation, advice, and treatment adjustments that once required doctors. From glucose monitoring to hypertension management, technologies like Dexcom, Teladoc, and Omada are quietly taking over the work of routine clinical decision-making. This new generation of digital health coaches marks the next step in a long trend — technology shrinking healthcare by making us need it less.

The naturalist John Muir saw how everything in nature is connected — and today AI is showing us the same truth inside the body. From Apple Watch studies on atrial fibrillation to new hypertension alerts, hidden links in long-collected data are transforming how we understand health.

The overwhelming majority of health-relevant data —movement, behavior, speech, sleep — is now generated outside the clinical setting. As a result, health innovation is increasingly shifting toward consumer devices and tech platforms that actually hold the data — not the EHR or the healthcare system.

Innovations like GLP-1 drugs, self-driving cars and AI therapy chatbots are driving down illness, injury and the demand for traditional care. Rather than just improving delivery, these shifts reduce the need for doctors altogether. Snack food CEOs are planning for an Ozempic world. Why aren’t healthcare execs?

As AI and smartphones put more diagnostic power into consumers’ hands, healthcare faces disruption not just within the clinic—but beyond it. From OTC drugs to pneumonia-detecting apps, selfcare is rising fast. This isn’t the future. It’s already here—and it’s shrinking the doctor’s role.

One year after analyzing FDA’s AI medical device approvals, a new dataset confirms: growth continues, but acceleration is absent. While more young companies are joining the field, older firms like GE still dominate approvals—classic sustaining innovation. And Big Tech? Still barely on the board.

Most doctors, nurses, PAs, techs, and others in healthcare aren’t familiar with the term “disruption” and are unaware of how technological trends have already begun disrupting their current business models. This post is the first of three that will provide a basic understanding of the term, and the phenomenon.

FDA approvals of AI-enabled medical devices are accelerating—but not in the way you might expect. While new startups are entering the space, the real winners remain legacy giants like GE and Siemens. An analysis of the latest FDA data reveals a classic case of sustaining innovation, not disruption, as established players integrate AI to reinforce their dominance.