Healthcare AI has moved beyond administrative tasks and is now tackling direct patient care, according to a new analysis from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

More than 80% of US physicians now use AI somewhere in their workflow, the firm said. Doctronic, a Lightspeed portfolio company, has facilitated nearly 30 million patient interactions where people received medical answers from AI rather than humans.

The venture firm maps AI adoption along the patient journey rather than by technology categories. Early AI applications focused on the "right-hand side" of healthcare — administrative work like note-taking and claims processing, which represents more than $1.2 trillion of US health spending.

Moving toward clinical decisions

As models improve, AI work is shifting left toward higher-stakes clinical applications. Abridge, another Lightspeed investment, started with medical scribing and recently expanded toward clinician intelligence platforms.

Lightspeed highlighted two portfolio companies as examples of autonomous clinical AI:

Doctronic became the first US company cleared to renew certain chronic prescriptions autonomously in Utah this year, with no physician in the loop. The pilot showed 97%+ concordance with human physician decisions.

The company has grown direct-to-consumer revenue more than 20x since Lightspeed led its Series A one year ago. It now ranks as the top "AI doctor" result on Google.

Neko Health takes a preventative approach with AI-powered full-body health scans. The company operates eight clinics with more than 100,000 people on its waitlist.

Neko's scans read millions of data points to create baseline health records for personalized care. The first US location is coming to New York, with scans priced at £300 in London.

The front door strategy

Lightspeed argues the most valuable position in healthcare AI belongs to whoever becomes the "front door" to the system.

Doctronic could serve as an agentic entry point for reactive care, while Neko positions itself as the starting point for preventative health data collection.

Both companies built HIPAA compliance from day one and work with regulators rather than around them, Lightspeed noted. The firm expects regulatory approval to accelerate distribution advantages for compliant AI healthcare companies.