Report: Dr. Oz suggests AI avatars can replace frontline physicians

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Key Takeaways

Dr. Oz proposed AI avatars as cost-effective alternatives to physicians for Medicare and Medicaid, citing significant savings.
He claimed patients rate AI care as equal or better than human doctors, despite research showing skepticism.
Oz, confirmed as CMS director, has a background as a heart surgeon and television host, with a history of controversial health endorsements.
His Senate confirmation followed a career marked by both medical achievements and criticism for promoting unproven health advice.

Quoting anonymous sources, Wired reports that CMS Director Mehmet Oz, M.D., M.B.A., said CMS can save money by having AI avatars meet with patients in some circumstances.

Mehmet Oz, M.D., M.B.A.

Dr. Oz, the newly confirmed director of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), suggested replacing frontline physicians with AI avatars in some circumstances to save Medicare and Medicaid money, according to Wired.

According to the report, published Tuesday, the remarks came at Mehmet Oz, M.D.'s, first town hall with CMS staff, and included comparisons between a physician and an AI bot managing a diabetes encounter. From the report:

"Oz claimed that if a patient went to a doctor for a diabetes diagnosis, it would be $100 per hour, while an appointment with an AI avatar would cost considerably less, at just $2 an hour. Oz also claimed that patients have rated the care they’ve received from an AI avatar as equal to or better than a human doctor. (Research suggests patients are actually more skeptical of medical advice given by AI.) Because of technologies like machine learning and AI, Oz claimed, it is now possible to scale 'good ideas' in an affordable and fast way."

The U.S. Senate voted 53-45 earlier in April to confirm Oz, the heart surgeon turned television host turned Senate candidate. Oz is an Ivy League-trained physician who became known in medicine then to the general public as a health expert guest for television host Oprah Winfrey. He had his own television show for 13 years, earning Emmy Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, before running for the Senate as a Republican candidate from Pennsylvania. Oz also has faced criticism for endorsing products and offering “lucrative but evidence-free advice” on health and medicine, as one author argued during Oz’s Senate campaign.