How can Artificial Intelligence in healthcare help patient engagement?

This guest post is part of the Festschrift of the Blogosphere celebrating HealthBlawg's Tenth Blogiversary. Festschrift posts are appearing throughout the month of June 2016. A recent article in The Commonwealth Fund blog, "Envisioning a Digital Health Advisor," raises the question of being able to use smartphone apps to get real-time, accurate and personalized guidance for health concerns. While one can envision the convenience, affordability and peace of mind that would result from their use, such services face a number of hurdles before they become reality. As a result, the "digital revolution" has not yet greatly affected most people's interactions with the health care system.