Most people still think of AI in medicine as a novelty. Matt Pavelle sees it as the new first step in patient care. In this episode, Matt breaks down how Doctronic built an AI doctor that can gather history, follow clinical guidelines, produce full treatment plans, and then hand everything to a real physician who can review it in minutes. It is private by default, aligned with top primary care doctors, and already helping millions of people move faster through the healthcare system without lowering the standard of care. We talk through how this changes access, trust, and the way care teams work. And we open up what this means for the future of primary care as capacity continues to fall and patient demand keeps rising. Key takeaways • The AI is trained on physician written clinical guidelines which gives it a clear path for gathering symptoms, sorting possible conditions, and building treatment plans that match top doctors at a high rate. • Privacy and trust were built in from the start. The chat is anonymous, data is not used for training, and everything is run with HIPAA level protection even when it is not required. • Capacity pressure is the real problem in primary care. Offloading the easy eighty percent of cases lets doctors focus on the harder ones and gives them more time with each patient. • The system writes notes, gathers history, and completes insurance paperwork which cuts down on burnout and improves the patient experience. • This model can scale to wearables, home devices, labs, and specialists which could raise the standard of care for people who normally wait weeks for answers. Timestamped highlights 00:40 Doctronic explained and why a full visit can take only a few minutes 03:44 How medical knowledge moved from books and search results to AI that can guide real care 08:13 A look at the micro agent system and how the team measures accuracy against real doctors 11:27 The shortage of primary care doctors and why capacity pressures make AI support necessary 17:20 How anonymous design and strong privacy choices help people trust the system 26:05 Adoption numbers, fast growth, and what millions of consults are teaching the team A line that captures the episode We want to be that first step in patient care every time you need that first step. Pro tips for builders and leaders • Ground your product in real domain guidelines so the AI follows the same reasoning paths as experts. • Treat privacy as a design choice. Make it clear, simple, and part of the value of the product. • Focus on the work that slows experts down. The biggest wins come from reducing the load, not from replacing the expert. • Make the handoff between AI and human seamless so the expert starts with context instead of starting over. Closing note If you enjoyed this conversation, follow The Tech Trek, leave a quick rating, and share this episode with someone curious about the future of patient care and AI.
