At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, California, industry leaders highlighted that women experiencing menopause consult an average of five to six different doctors due to fragmented care, prompting Reshema Kemps-Polanco, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of pharmaceuticals company Novartis US, to propose artificial intelligence as a solution to connect medical records and diagnose conditions sooner.
The Bottom Line
- The Fragmentation Crisis: Midlife health patients navigate a complex labyrinth of five to six separate specialists because holistic care models remain largely absent in traditional clinical practice.
- The Educational Deficit: Institutional gaps begin in medical schools, where future OB-GYNs receive roughly two hours of formal training regarding women’s midlife health issues.
Navigating the Menopause Specialist Labyrinth
For many women, addressing menopause symptoms is rarely a streamlined process. According to Paula Schneider, CEO of the Institute Advancing Women’s Health, patients see an average of five or six doctors to try and figure out what is going on with their bodies once they hit perimenopause and menopause, including symptoms such as sleep problems, joint stiffness, and hot flashes.
Speaking at the Fortune summit, Schneider emphasized that the current healthcare framework lacks holistic health. Part of this structural failure originates in early medical education. Future OB-GYNs receive about two hours of medical school education on women’s midlife health.
To combat this educational deficit, Schneider’s nonprofit is partnering with a medical certification company. The initiative utilizes artificial intelligence to construct evidence-based continuing medical education for clinicians while simultaneously teaching women what questions to ask their providers.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Close Healthcare Gaps
The challenge of fragmented specialization extends far beyond menopause, severely impacting other complex medical categories. Reshema Kemps-Polanco, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of pharmaceuticals company Novartis US, pointed out during the panel that women can make up as much as 80% of patients in some cases of autoimmune conditions.
For instance, patients suffering from Sjögren’s disease—an autoimmune condition Novartis is working on—face an average waiting period of four years before receiving a diagnosis. Because patients bounce between dermatologists, rheumatologists, and primary care physicians, critical records are not always connected.
One of the greatest things I think that AI can do in health care is to help connect the dots and help connect the dots sooner,
Kemps-Polanco stated during the panel discussion moderated by Fortune’s Ellie Austin. She noted that multi-sector cooperation involving government agencies, technology firms, and the pharmaceutical industry can leverage AI to solve care gaps faster and more cost-effectively.
Sharing a personal perspective, Kemps-Polanco recalled sitting in an emergency room environment facing unlinked symptoms and typing her indicators into an AI tool. She noted that the tool successfully facilitated a more informed clinical conversation and underscored the broader potential for screening, treatment, diagnosis, and cure.
Evaluating the Rise of Midlife Digital Health Platforms
As the market experiences an influx of new midlife health platforms, industry executives urge caution regarding purely automated solutions. Wendy Barnes, president and CEO of GoodRx, emphasized the necessity of maintaining a human clinician in the diagnostic loop.
When assessing the expanding wave of digital health technology, Barnes advised that patient care should be backed by clinical evidence and patients should be able to engage with an actual clinician, as opposed to it completely being AI enabled.
| Executive / Representative | Organization | Primary Focus / Stance on AI in Healthcare |
|---|---|---|
| Reshema Kemps-Polanco | Novartis US | Connecting fragmented medical records and accelerating diagnoses for autoimmune and midlife conditions. |
| Wendy Barnes | GoodRx | Insisting on clinical evidence and a human clinician in the loop for digital health platforms. |
