The American healthcare system stands at a crossroads — fragmented, costly and often failing the very people it aims to serve. Yet across hospitals, tech startups, policy labs and patient advocacy groups, a new wave of reformers is reshaping the future of medicine.
These five books offer critical insights into how we can build a more equitable, efficient and human-centered system. From the promise of AI and big data to the push for patient experience and pricing transparency, each title explores a different dimension of healthcare transformation. Together, they represent a chorus of voices advocating not for incremental tweaks but for bold reinvention.
ChatGPT, MD: How AI‑empowered Patients and Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine by Robert Pearl, MD
In this provocative and timely book, Dr. Robert Pearl teams up with ChatGPT to explore how generative AI tools can revolutionize American healthcare. Rather than fearing automation, Pearl sees AI as a democratizing force that can make care safer, more efficient and more accessible. Drawing on his experience as a former Kaiser Permanente CEO, he critiques the bureaucracy and burnout of today’s system while offering a vision of collaborative, AI-supported care. With practical insights and real-world examples, ChatGPT, MD makes a compelling case for how patients and physicians can reclaim control through technology — without losing the human touch.
The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine by Marschall Runge, MD
Dr. Marschall Runge — cardiologist, researcher, and author of the medical thriller, Coded to Kill — offers an insider’s guide to one of the most sweeping transformations in American medicine since antibiotics. He examines how AI, retail clinics, gene therapies and Big Tech giants like Amazon and Google are reshaping diagnostics, chronic‑disease care, and patient access. Drawing on his experience as a medical school dean and health system CEO, Dr. Runge outlines a plan to transform American healthcare through cross-sector collaboration and innovation, laying out a blueprint for those seeking to rebuild medicine around outcomes — not profits.
Future Care: Sensors, Artificial Intelligence, and the Reinvention of Medicine by Jag Singh, MD
What if your smartwatch could detect illness before symptoms appear? In Future Care, Harvard cardiologist Dr. Jag Singh explores how wearable tech, AI and remote monitoring are reinventing how we approach health and disease. Blending cutting-edge research with clinical insight, Singh envisions a shift from reactive to proactive care — where chronic conditions are better managed, hospitals play a smaller role and patients become true partners in their health. Grounded and inspiring, the book is both a guide to the future and a call to embrace the tools already transforming medicine for the better.
The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care — and How to Fix It by Marty Makary, MD
In his bestselling exposé, Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary dives deep into the financial dysfunctions of American healthcare. With vivid patient stories and insider perspectives, he unveils how hidden pricing, predatory billing and unnecessary procedures are fueling a crisis of affordability. But The Price We Pay doesn’t just dwell on the problems — it highlights reformers across the country working toward price transparency, honest care and consumer empowerment. A powerful blend of investigative journalism and physician insight, this book offers a clear-eyed, hopeful path to a more honest and humane system.
Transforming the Future of Healthcare: Reflections on a Decade of the Experience Movement by Jason A Wolf, PhD
Over the past decade, a growing movement has pushed healthcare beyond metrics and margins to something more personal: patient experience. In this reflective and forward-looking book, Dr. Jason Wolf, the president of The Beryl Institute, draws on years of research and industry dialogue to illustrate how centering humanity in care delivery can lead to better outcomes and deeper trust. From equity and compassion to co-creation and empathy, Transforming the Future of Healthcare charts how health systems are (and must continue) transforming from the inside out — placing experience at the heart of healing.
