AI As A Companion, Not A Replacement: Practo's Vision For Healthcare

Healthcare is undergoing a fundamental shift, driven by digital adoption, changing patient expectations, and the rapid rise of AI. In this conversation, Siddhartha Nihalani shares his perspective on how these forces are reshaping care - from patient behavior and doctor workflows to the growing focus on outcomes and efficiency.

1. Healthcare is going through a phase of rapid change right now. From your vantage point, what feels most different compared to even 3-5 years ago?

The pace and nature of change are very different now. Digital is no longer an extension of healthcare. It is becoming a core part of how care is accessed and delivered. Patients are more proactive, providers are more open to technology, and there is a stronger push towards structured systems. At the same time, expectations have shifted. People expect faster access, clearer information, and more continuity in their care journey. That combination is fundamentally reshaping how healthcare systems operate.

2. AI is becoming central to healthcare conversations. Where do you see AI creating the most meaningful shift? - e.g. in patient decision-making, doctor workflows, or the underlying infrastructure

The impact is across all three, but what is changing meaningfully is the speed at which problems can now be solved. AI allows us to build, iterate, and deploy solutions much faster, which is critical in healthcare where delays often impact outcomes. On the patient side, AI is already being used widely to understand symptoms and explore possible conditions. While it is not a replacement for medical consultation, it is becoming a starting point for many people. When used as a companion to doctors, it can help patients organise information, ask better questions, and move more efficiently towards the right care.

On the provider side, AI has the potential to improve both efficiency and accuracy when implemented correctly. It can reduce time spent on routine tasks, support better clinical decision-making, and enable more consistent follow-up and care delivery. At a system level, this becomes even more important. Given the global shortage of doctors relative to patient demand, AI can help scale access to care by improving how information is collected, processed, and acted upon. The real shift is in how all of this comes together to make healthcare faster, more efficient, and more responsive.

3. What are you hearing from doctors when it comes to AI?

The sentiment is largely cautiously optimistic. There is a strong sense of curiosity, and doctors are quite open to adopting AI where it is genuinely impactful, especially in areas that can improve efficiency or reduce administrative burden. At the same time, there is a very clear boundary. Adoption cannot come at the cost of accuracy, missed diagnoses, or patient safety. The expectation is that any use of AI in clinical settings has to be reliable, consistent, and aligned with the standards of care. I strongly believe that while AI is set to bring meaningful changes to healthcare, how well it works alongside doctors will be critical. The real value will come from building systems where AI complements clinical expertise and strengthens decision-making, rather than operating independently.

4. For patients, access to information has increased dramatically from Google to AI to social media. How do you see this changing how people approach their own health?

Patients are far more informed and involved in their healthcare decisions today. They are coming in with more context, having already explored symptoms, possible conditions, and treatment options. This shift is most visible in primary care. Almost every symptom is being analysed, and AI has, in many cases, become both a starting point and a second opinion. However the need for doctor validation has also increased significantly because of the sheer volume and variability of information available. In more complex areas like secondary care and surgeries, behaviour is different. Information is still used to explore options and seek multiple opinions, but decision-making continues to rely heavily on doctors. That said, digital systems are becoming important in organising information and helping patients navigate these journeys more effectively.

5. You’ve built systems that help patients discover and explore healthcare. Do you see the future becoming more predictive, even before a patient actively seeks care?

There is a clear move towards more contextual and anticipatory experiences. As systems get better at understanding patterns across behaviour, past interactions, and broader health signals, there is an opportunity to guide patients earlier in their journey. At the same time, this has to be done with a high degree of responsibility. Healthcare decisions are personal, and any form of prediction needs to be accurate and aligned with user intent. The direction is towards systems that can support patients earlier and more meaningfully, without taking away control from how they choose to access care.

6. What does a truly “outcomes-first” healthcare system look like and what role should platforms like Practo play in shaping that?

An outcomes-first system is one where the focus extends beyond access to whether care actually led to improvement for the patient. That requires stronger feedback loops, better visibility into what works, and more alignment across the ecosystem. At Practo, we’ve been building towards this by capturing patient-reported outcome metrics. Today, we see close to 78% of patients reporting improvement within three weeks of an online consultation, and around 80% for physical consults. These are still evolving signals, but they offer a more meaningful view of healthcare effectiveness than traditional proxies.

Because of the neutral position we operate in, we are able to bring together data across patients and providers in a way that is not tied to any one stakeholder. That allows for a more unbiased view of outcomes, which is critical in building systems that people can trust. Over time, this has the potential to create stronger accountability, improve how care is delivered, and build greater trust in the healthcare system, especially in markets like India where consistency and transparency have been longstanding challenges.