The Time is Now: Returning to the Patient’s Voice

“Listen to your patient, they are telling you the diagnosis.”

— William Osler

Sir William Osler, one of the founding figures of modern medicine, understood something that too often gets lost in today’s system: the patient’s story is the starting point. Their symptoms, concerns, and observations are not just noise. They are clues. And if you listen — really listen — they often tell you everything you need to know.

But in modern care, listening has become a luxury. Clinicians are overwhelmed by admin. Patients prepare alone, unsure of what to share. The result? Rushed visits, missed context, and preventable errors.

We’re on a mission to radically improve both clinician and patient experiences by solving one of the most overlooked — and costly — pain points in healthcare: pre-visit preparation. 

It’s part of the $1 Trillion in major admin costs hitting healthcare data systems.

The Problem: Too Much Admin, Too Little Attention

Today’s visit starts long before the exam room. Clinicians spend 30–45 minutes reviewing notes, PDFs, disconnected portals, and third-party data — all to get a basic picture of why the patient is coming in. And that’s before documentation, coding, and follow-up tasks even begin.

Meanwhile, patients often walk into visits unsure what to say, forgetting key details, and hoping they’ll be heard.

The Alcott Vision: Preparation That Respects the Human Experience

At Alcott, we believe the way in which both patients and clinicians prep for a visit is broken. Many technologies solve for during the visit and post visit but the true efficiency, optimization and value based care outcomes can be solved in the preparation for a visit. 

That’s why we’re building a briefing layer for healthcare. One that helps patients clearly share their goals, symptoms, and concerns — in their own words. And one that equips clinicians with a structured, whole-person summary — before they even walk into the room.

We don’t need more noise. We need clarity, connection, and care.

Giving Patients More Agency

Patients want to be involved. They want to feel heard. But the system doesn’t make it easy. We've heard many times from our patients, "MyChart really isn't MyChart, it's TheirChart". 

Alcott gives them the space to reflect, the prompts to guide their thinking, and the tools to share what matters most. Not just symptoms — context. Not just data — stories shared with your clinicians and care team in advance.

When patients feel prepared, they show up differently. And clinicians can finally do what they do best: listen, connect, and care.

The Time is Now

We’re not building for someday. We’re building for now.

Because every missed story is a missed opportunity. And every rushed visit is a risk to trust, outcomes, and care.

Osler’s advice wasn’t about technology. It was about presence. Our job is to use technology to make purpose and presence possible again.

We’re here to help patients speak, clinicians listen, and care teams align — before the visit even starts.

→ Speak to a member of the Alcott team

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