By RICHARD HARRIS – When Kim Hilliard shows up at the clinic at the New Orleans University Medical Center, she’s not there simply for an eye exam. The human touches she gets along the way help her navigate her complicated medical conditions.

In addition to diabetes, the 56-year-old has high blood pressure. She has also had back surgery and has undergone bariatric surgery to help her control her weight.

Hilliard is also at risk of blindness, which can result from a condition called diabetic retinopathy. And on this day in February, her vision will be evaluated by a new practitioner: a piece of software.

Automation like this is starting to infiltrate medical care. Depending on how it’s deployed, it could help reduce medical errors and potentially reduce the cost of care.

It could also create a gulf between health caregivers and people of more modest means.

“My fear is we will end up with what I’ve been calling a ‘health care apartheid,’ ” says Sonoo Thadaney Israni, at the Stanford University medical school. “If we create algorithmic care and ‘kiosk’ it in some fashion — focusing on efficiency and throughput — the people who will end up having access and using it will be the ones who already lack privileges of various kinds.” Read more: