Artificial intelligence in primary care: innovation at a crossroads.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Medical Informatics
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Background:

• Primary care is essential but facing significant strain.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) presents transformative opportunities for primary care delivery.
• Unregulated AI deployment risks unintended consequences on care quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review AI applications in primary care for both providers and patients.
• To analyze AI's impact on diverse healthcare quality domains.
• To assess AI's influence on primary care-specific attributes.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of AI applications in primary care.
• Analysis of AI's effects across healthcare quality dimensions (effectiveness, safety, equity, etc.).
• Examination of AI's impact on primary care attributes (accessibility, coordination, continuity).

Main Results:

• AI offers support for primary care providers and patient self-management.
• AI impacts various quality domains including effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity.
• AI influences primary care attributes like accessibility, comprehensiveness, and continuity.

Conclusions:

• Successful AI implementation requires considering quality domains, universal design, digital health equity, and AI literacy.
• Alignment with patient values is crucial for sustainable, high-quality AI-enabled primary care.
• Strategic integration of AI can enhance primary care sustainability and quality.