Ask Dr. Maia

Ask Dr. Maia

Medical Disclaimer

Ask Dr. Maia is educational content. It is not medical advice.

Reading this newsletter, visiting this website, or using any tool or resource published here does not make Dr. Hightower your doctor. It does not create a physician-patient relationship. It does not replace care from a licensed healthcare provider who knows you.

Please read this page. It is short, plain, and written for you, not for lawyers.

What Ask Dr. Maia IS

Ask Dr. Maia is a physician-authored health education newsletter. Every piece of content is written or reviewed by Dr. Maia Hightower, MD MPH MBA, a board-certified physician, health systems executive, and researcher in health AI. The mission is to help you understand how artificial intelligence is changing healthcare, so you can navigate it with confidence.

Here is what you can expect:

  • Evidence-grounded information. Based on published research and documented clinical practice. Sources are cited.
  • AI tool education. When AI health tools are reviewed, the goal is to help you understand how they work, what the evidence says, and what questions to ask before you use them.
  • Plain language. Concepts are explained so you do not need a clinical background to understand them.
  • Access focus. Content pays attention to how AI tools work, or don't, for people who are underrepresented in the research data: by zip code, age, language, income, insurance status, health condition, or family history.
  • Your doctor's advocate. The goal is not to replace your provider. It is to help you show up to appointments better informed.

What Ask Dr. Maia IS NOT

This newsletter is not any of the following:

  • Not medical advice. Nothing published here, no article, AI tool review, explainer, or social media post, constitutes advice about your specific health situation.
  • Not a diagnosis or treatment recommendation. Discussing what research shows about a treatment is different from telling you to pursue it. Work with your own provider on treatment decisions.
  • Not a substitute for professional care. If you have a health concern, contact a qualified healthcare provider who knows your history. This newsletter is not that provider.
  • Not a doctor-patient relationship. Reading, subscribing, purchasing a digital product, or emailing any address on this site does not create a physician-patient relationship with Dr. Hightower.
  • Not affiliated with any employer or institution. All content reflects Dr. Hightower's personal views and does not represent the positions of her current or former employers or any affiliated institution.

When to Call for Help, Right Now

If you are in a medical or mental health emergency, please stop reading and contact help immediately. Here are the numbers to know:

Situation Who to Call
Medical emergency Call 911
Mental health crisis / suicidal thoughts 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988 (988lifeline.org)
Crisis text support Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741741 (crisistextline.org)
Poisoning or medication concern Poison Control, 1-800-222-1222 (poisoncontrol.org)
Substance use crisis SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357 (1-800-662-HELP) (samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline)
LGBTQ+ youth mental health The Trevor Project, 1-866-488-7386 (thetrevorproject.org)
Veterans in crisis Veterans Crisis Line, call 988, then press 1 (veteranscrisisline.net)

Do not use this website or newsletter as a substitute for emergency care. If something feels urgent, it is urgent.

AI Tool Reviews, How to Interpret Them

Ask Dr. Maia reviews and discusses AI health tools as part of its core mission. When a tool is reviewed here, please understand the following:

  • Reviews are informational, not endorsements. A positive review means a tool appears useful and evidence-grounded based on available information. It does not mean the tool is right for your specific situation.
  • FDA status is reported as of the date of publication. The FDA regulatory landscape for digital health tools changes frequently. Clearance status, enforcement discretion policies, and classification of specific tools may change after any given article is published. Always verify current FDA status directly, you can search the FDA's 510(k) database and De Novo database for the most current information.
  • Tools do not replace clinical judgment. Even a well-designed, FDA-authorized AI health tool is not a substitute for evaluation by a qualified clinician who knows your history.
  • We are not responsible for third-party tool performance. Ask Dr. Maia does not operate any of the tools it reviews. Descriptions of tool features and limitations reflect publicly available information at the time of publication.

Affiliate Links, Plain Language Disclosure

Under FTC 16 CFR Part 255, we are required to disclose when a financial relationship exists between Ask Dr. Maia and any product, service, or company mentioned in our content. Here is our commitment:

When a link is an affiliate link, you will know. Affiliate links are labeled clearly in the content itself, not buried in a footer, not hidden in a mouse-over tooltip.

What an affiliate relationship means: If you click a labeled affiliate link and make a purchase, Ask Dr. Maia may receive a small commission. Your price does not change.

What it does not mean: Compensation does not influence whether a tool or product is recommended. If something is not worth recommending, it will not be recommended here, regardless of whether an affiliate arrangement exists. We do not accept affiliate arrangements from companies whose products we would not otherwise cover.

If you have questions about any specific affiliate relationship, contact us at corrections@askdrmaia.com.

Sponsored Content, Labeling Policy

When content in Ask Dr. Maia has been paid for or materially supported by a sponsor, you will see a clear label at the top of that content: [SPONSORED] or [AD].

Sponsored content includes: - Newsletter issues or sections paid for by a named sponsor - Product reviews for which compensation was received - Content developed in partnership with a company

Sponsored content follows the same editorial standards as non-sponsored content. A sponsor cannot require us to omit material limitations, hide conflicts, or frame a product more favorably than the evidence supports. If we cannot write honestly about a product, we do not accept the sponsorship.

We do not accept sponsorships from pharmaceutical companies or health systems with which Dr. Hightower has or has had an employment relationship.

How We Handle Errors and Corrections

Health science moves fast. We make every effort to be accurate, but if something published here is wrong, we want to know.

If you find a factual error, a misquoted statistic, an outdated claim, an incorrect product description, please email us at corrections@askdrmaia.com. Include the article title or URL and a description of the error.

When a correction is warranted: - Material errors will be corrected promptly and labeled with a correction notice in the original content - The correction will describe what changed and why - We will not quietly delete or rewrite content without acknowledgment

We take scientific accuracy seriously. Corrections are not embarrassments. They are part of doing this work with integrity.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Ask Dr. Maia, its publisher, and Dr. Maia Hightower, MD MPH MBA, disclaim all liability, including but not limited to liability for direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, or special damages, arising from your use of or reliance on any content published on this website or in this newsletter. This includes, without limitation, any health decisions you make based on content published here.

You use this content at your own discretion. The information here is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Ask Dr. Maia does not warrant that content is complete, accurate, current, or free of errors.

This limitation applies to all content formats: newsletter issues, website articles, social media posts, digital products, and any other materials published under the Ask Dr. Maia brand.

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Last updated: May 2, 2026