If this is how health tech in 2026 starts, buckle up

Author

Lauren Curtis
January 09, 2026

Hey Health Techies!

Just a quick note before we dive in: going forward, I’m moving newsletter day to Thursdays. The health tech world is moving so fast that by the time I hit send on a Tuesday (which at best is summarizing things from the week prior), there’s already something new out there worth talking about, and this week was no exception.

Early in the week we had the Doctronic news, where we learned that Utah will be piloting AI-powered prescription renewals. That had already led to some excitement (and debate) within the health tech community.

Then right on its heels? OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health. This launch is the focus of this week’s newsletter.

Big news dropped from OpenAI this week with the rollout of ChatGPT Health — a new, dedicated health experience inside ChatGPT that lets users connect personal health information, upload their medical records, and pull in data from apps like Apple Health or MyFitnessPal to ground responses in their actual health context.

This is arguably one of the most significant pushes into consumer healthcare AI we’ve seen yet.

Why do I feel this way? Well, there is an age old topic that gets discussed in product development around distribution. The ability to get your product into as many hands as possible is as important if not more so than the quality of the product itself. It’s hard to believe at first, but it makes sense. You can create the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it then what does it matter?

With ChatGPT Health, you have the possiblility of immediate widespread distribution given that over one-third of US adults have used ChatGPT. And of those users, this article from earlier this week asserts that 1 in 4 ChatGPT users submit a prompt about healthcare every week.

So it’s safe to say that people have already been using ChatGPT for health-related questions.

Here’s what stood out about the announcement:

🧠 Personalization meets privacy
ChatGPT Health lives in its own encrypted space inside ChatGPT and is designed with extra protections for sensitive health conversations. OpenAI insists these chats won’t be used to train its models, and they’re isolated from your regular conversations.

📊 Data + context = more relevant interactions
Instead of generic text queries, users can now bring in actual health data — labs, activity metrics, records — and ask for plain-language summaries or prep for appointments.

👩‍⚕️ Built with clinicians… but not a replacement for them
OpenAI partnered with hundreds of physicians during development, but they’re clear this is meant to support, not replace, clinical care. It’s about comprehension and preparation — not diagnosis or treatment.

✅ What they did well

  • Meeting real user demand — Health queries were already one of the largest categories people asked ChatGPT weekly (hundreds of millions globally), so this product formalizes actual behavior, not hypothetical use.

  • Layered privacy controls — Health data is siloed and encrypted, which is a step above basic chatbot protections.

  • Contextual understanding — Bringing in real data means responses can be more meaningful, not just generic health advice.

  • The marketing — Honestly, this is the part that was the biggest pleasant surprise for me. Have you watched the promo video? The way they weave in how this should work for patients in preparation for and in addition to their regular care is done as well as I’ve ever seen it.

🤔 What this means for the future

This announcement feels important because:

  • Companies are finally moving beyond “AI insights” as a gimmick and toward data-grounded, personal support tools. We’ve always known that personalization is the future, and if this works the way it is being sold to work, we may be seeing a glimmer of personalization in healthcare that could truly scale.

  • Patients and clinicians alike will start interacting with health data in new ways — AI could become a first pass interpreter of labs, patterns, and trends that patients would otherwise struggle to understand.

  • It speeds conversations and decisions around AI in healthcare. I expect major pushback around privacy and safety as this evolves. Many are already raising questions about how sensitive data is handled and what it means for trust and regulation. These conversations are important and necessary, and a launch this big will certainly force them.

🔥 Takes from around the internet

Rather than summarizing, I’ll link out to a few interesting pieces that have already been written by thought leaders in the space in response to the announcement.

  • LinkedIn article by Emily Lewis

  • An optimistic post by the CEO of Zest Health. That phrase “Assuming it is maintained responsibly” is doing a lot of heavy lifting though. That’s the concern we all have right?

  • This Substack article written by the CEO of Applications at Open AI, Fidji Simo. Is it likely biased? Sure. But I do think there is value in reading the stories of those who build solutions like this.

  • This was written pre-announcement, but I’ve also put this paper published back in September on my reading list to compare and contrast whether the newly released features actually improve upon the limitations that were spotted as a part of this study

🧠 My take

I’m optimistic, but cautiously so. It feels like there is a lot still to agree on about what AI’s role should be in a lot of things, much less a very sensitive and regulated industry like healthcare.

But I read a post today that started out just by saying “ChatGPT Health is bad”. And look, I don’t think any technology is ever really inherently good or bad.

Is this a change? Yes. Can change be scary? Yes. This feels like the beginning of a new paradigm, and I think that is particulary scary for those that have been in healthcare for a long time. It certainly feels sometimes like the tech “tail” is wagging the dog.

But at least from where I sit, I like the idea of people having more insight and knowledge about their health. At a base level, I think that’s a good thing.

All of the questions and concerns that are being raised? Those are yet to be resolved, but the fact they’re now front and center feels like progress.

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Until next time,

Lauren