AI, standing orders, and the 9 p.m. call medicine still cannot handle

A patient with a urinary tract infection calls at 9 p.m. and gets told to call back in the morning. Frustrated patients default to the emergency room instead. Tod Stillson is a family physician, health care entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of ChatRx. This episode is based on his article "Why medicine is late to asynchronous telehealth," published on KevinMD. You will hear why traditional telemedicine did not close this gap, because it is still appointment-based and still synchronous. You will hear how orchestrated AI agents and standing orders can tee up a low-acuity case so the decision itself takes seconds, why he calls that augmented clinical automation rather than autonomous AI, and what happens when he reviews a prescription the next morning and disagrees with it. You will also hear where he draws the line between this and the marketing funnels that route patients to doctors who rubber-stamp prescriptions. Press play for the case he makes for asynchronous care with a physician still in the loop, and the conditions he says never belong there.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast