AI needs to be designed to address what matters most to patients and families, says Laura Cooley, who is speaking at HIMSS26.
As hospitals ramp up technology, particularly AI, to engage patients, Laura Cooley, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Patient Experience, wants leaders to consider whether what they’re implementing is actually what patients want.
Cooley will speak at the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exposition on “Reframing Patient Experience: Strategies to Advance What Matters to Patients and Executive Leaders.”
Even if the AI solution is something hospitals executives think the patient wants, that’s not always the case. Cooley cited a research survey that found doctors and clinicians are not telling patients what matters most to them.
The survey received responses from more than 1,800 patients in 66 hospitals in seven counties who had all been admitted for an acute condition.
What the respondents said mattered to them was getting a diagnosis and being told why it matters. They want to feel less anxious and more secure, and they want to get better, Cooley said. What also matters to them is that they want to go home and resume their normal lives.
The same patients were asked if their providers knew what mattered to them. Half said “no,” Cooley said.
Patient engagement needs a human-centered lens, is Cooley’s message, both to hospitals and the vendors who develop technology.
“I framed the talk to help participants who might be designing or implementing AI tools,” she said. “They might have to shift their thinking on the patient experience. How will patients feel more engaged?”
Early research on chatbots shows patients are not adverse to speaking to an AI-powered software application – in the right circumstances. One aim of Cooley’s session is to help vendors and hospital leaders think about how to frame their message around AI tools.
“In general, patients are leaning into AI tools,” Cooley said. “Other times they want to talk to a person.”
The AI voice-enabled agent may not be engaging with them in the way they want, she said.
“We have to think about what matters to patients and design our technology accordingly,” Cooley said. To think, she said, about “what matters most to patients and families.”
Cooley will address “Reframing Patient Experience: Strategies to Advance What Matters to Patients and Executive Leaders,” scheduled for Tuesday, March 10 at 10:15 a.m., at HIMSS26 in Las Vegas.
Email the writer: [email protected]
link