AI and Healthcare

Medicine is becoming too complex for any one clinician to keep up with alone. AI may soon change that equation. Dr. Francisco Esteva joins Dr. Sanjay Juneja and Dr. Doug Flora to explain how physicians can use AI to research faster, communicate more clearly with patients, automate repetitive work, and build systems that extend their expertise. Francisco began learning these tools around age 60. Today, he's building AI-powered workflows for patient education, YouTube, research, quality control, and automation. You don't have to become an AI expert. But understanding how to use these tools may soon become an essential clinical skill.

CMS just proposed rules that could decide who gets paid for AI in healthcare, and that's a bigger deal than another “better algorithm” story. Dr. Sanjay Juneja and Dr. Douglas Flora talk with Jordan Johnson (radiation oncology, healthcare finance, compliance and law) about what's actually in the proposal and what happens once it lands. Topics: when does AI actually count as a billable clinical service. Why getting paid also means getting watched more closely. Hospitals leaning toward integrated platforms over one-off point solutions. What to do now, before the rule locks in. Still just a proposal, not law yet, so we should say that somewhere.

Eric Lefkofsky, Founder and CEO of Tempus AI, joins Dr. Sanjay Juneja and Dr. Doug Flora to explore how artificial intelligence, real-world data, genomic sequencing, and emerging technologies like organoids are reshaping oncology. From reducing diagnostic errors to matching patients with more effective therapies, AI is transforming how clinicians make decisions and how researchers develop the next generation of treatments. The conversation examines why healthcare adoption has lagged behind technological progress, the growing role of patient-driven intelligence, and how connected data may help eliminate thousands of preventable cancer deaths each year. Eric also shares his vision for AI-powered clinical decision support, digital twins, drug development, and the future relationship between physicians and intelligent systems.

What happens when artificial intelligence becomes a trusted partner in patient care? Healthcare leaders are increasingly exploring how AI can help clinicians make faster, more informed decisions while reducing administrative burden and improving patient outcomes. But deploying AI in medicine requires balancing innovation, trust, regulation, and clinical judgment. In this conversation, Dr. Scott Penberthy, Dr. Lindsey Cotton, and Dr. Doug Flora explore the future of cancer care, precision medicine, digital twins, physician adoption, implementation science, and the role of AI in supporting—not replacing—clinical decision-making. From cancer screening and treatment selection to workflow automation and predictive modeling, they discuss what healthcare may look like when every clinician has access to intelligence that helps them see what was previously invisible.

Cancer is often most treatable when it's found early—but what if we could detect it before symptoms ever appear? Advances in genomics, blood-based biomarkers, and artificial intelligence are giving researchers new ways to identify cancer earlier, understand disease at a deeper level, and move beyond one-size-fits-all treatment approaches. In this conversation, Dr. Scott Penberthy, Dr. Lindsey Cotton, and Dr. Doug Flora explore how emerging technologies are reshaping cancer detection, precision medicine, drug discovery, and clinical decision-making. They discuss the growing role of multimodal AI, the promise of next-generation sequencing, and why the future of healthcare may depend on finding patterns humans simply cannot see on their own. The goal isn't just better technology—it's earlier intervention, more personalized care, and better outcomes for patients.

Cancer treatment may be missing one of the body’s most important biological signals: circadian rhythm. In this conversation, sleep neurologist Dr. Anne Marie Morse explains how sleep timing, inflammation, immune function, and wearable data could fundamentally reshape cancer care. Emerging research suggests the timing of immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and even sleep disruption itself may influence treatment response, survival, and recurrence risk. The discussion explores chronotherapy, circadian genes, microbiome interactions, and how AI-driven analytics may help clinicians move beyond episodic care toward continuous, personalized monitoring.

AI is transforming healthcare at an unprecedented pace—but the biggest risks aren’t clinical, they’re legal, operational, and systemic. From data center infrastructure and environmental impact to reimbursement shifts and agentic AI workflows, the stakes are rising fast. New models from major tech players are poised to influence care delivery—and even get reimbursed based on outcomes—raising critical questions about ownership, liability, and control. Where does responsibility fall when AI drives decisions? How should hospitals evaluate vendors, data sources, and infrastructure risks? And what happens when automation outpaces regulation?

AI is making remarkable progress in healthcare — but translating that progress into real clinical impact is more complex than it seems. In this episode, we break down the State of Clinical AI in 2026, separating signal from noise and exploring what’s actually working today.