Fireside Chat: Roy Jakobs

Philips CEO Roy Jakobs joined Michael Gee MD, PhD and Milton Hsu MD for a conversation about connected care, clinical workflow and the role artificial intelligence can play in reducing friction across the patient journey.

Jakobs started with a simple observation: every handoff in a patient's care creates another opportunity for something to be lost. Hospitals facing rising demand and workforce shortages are therefore looking for simpler, more integrated workflows that connect monitoring, imaging, diagnosis and intervention rather than adding another disconnected point solution.

He described the goal as people-led and AI-powered. Artificial intelligence should absorb repetitive data gathering and routine work so clinicians can spend more time on complex decisions and direct patient care. That human connection remains important even as automation expands.

Jakobs expects areas such as medical imaging to become increasingly autonomous, but with clinicians retaining responsibility for consequential decisions. The challenge is not whether AI can perform more tasks. It is making sure the technology is embedded in the workflow well enough to make care easier, not more complicated.