Leadership Dialogue Series: The Future is Here — Artificial Intelligence and Its Role in Health Care

00:00:00:11 – 00:00:22:04
Tom Haederle
Hospitals and well being techniques are frequently advancing innovation and utilizing expertise to remodel affected person care and enhance well being outcomes. Examples embody higher strategies of accumulating and organizing mountains of knowledge, in addition to partnering with universities to advance analysis. Synthetic intelligence performs an ever-growing function as effectively, a pattern that many leaders within the discipline think about the one method ahead

00:00:22:05 – 00:00:44:07
Tom Haederle
in a time of diminishing assets. Will the broader use of progressive tech make care extra impersonal and put a damper on the human connection between sufferers and their docs? Consultants say no. The truth is, simply the alternative.

00:00:44:10 – 00:01:07:12
Tom Haederle
Welcome to Advancing Well being, the podcast of the American Hospital Affiliation. I am Tom Haederle with AHA communications. On this month’s Management Dialogue collection podcast hosted by Dr. Joanne Conroy, CEO and President of Dartmouth Well being and the 2024 board chair of the American Hospital Affiliation, we find out how Banner Well being has gone all in with its dedication to embracing technological innovation.

00:01:07:15 – 00:01:20:05
Tom Haederle
Synthetic intelligence and different applied sciences can relieve caregivers of lots of the tedious features of their jobs, releasing up treasured time to spend constructing relationships with their sufferers and drastically rising affected person satisfaction.

00:01:20:07 – 00:01:46:15
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Thanks for becoming a member of us right this moment for an additional AHA Management Dialogue dialogue. It is nice to be with you. I am Joanne Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Well being and the present chair of the American Hospital Affiliation Board of Trustees. I am wanting ahead to our dialog right this moment with my colleague Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Well being. That is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

00:01:46:17 – 00:02:19:03
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Amy has a ardour for innovation and analysis and has embraced Banner’s mission of creating well being care simpler so life could be higher. Her profession has been spent championing a people-first strategy to well being care. And as you may hear, that strategy extends to innovation and analysis that can make care higher. Banner is a not for revenue well being system with 33 hospitals, together with tutorial medical facilities that present entry and well being care providers to over six states.

00:02:19:06 – 00:02:42:21
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
And it’s so well-suited to advancing innovation and analysis that improves the lives of sufferers, households and the communities that it serves. What’s the function do you assume that expertise performs? As a result of I do know Banner is investing large in expertise to type of assist us transfer from aspiring to ship higher worth to really doing it.

00:02:42:23 – 00:03:11:21
Amy Perry
Yeah, I believe it is the one method ahead for us as a result of we have to do issues dramatically totally different. We do not see the reimbursement transferring on the price that it prices us to ship the care that we have to. And at Banner, and I am certain much like different nonprofits, we ship $760 million in free care and uncompensated providers a 12 months so, three quarters of $1 billion {dollars},

00:03:11:23 – 00:03:38:17
Amy Perry
how do you make up that type of distinction? And we will attempt to do it by way of technological innovation. So our board has agreed to place apart $1 billion {dollars}, that is a very large amount of cash that we’re planning to spend money on expertise. We’re 9 months into our technique. And primary is,  and it is no large shock, it is actually organizing our knowledge.

00:03:38:20 – 00:04:05:01
Amy Perry
And when you’ve gotten a giant well being system like Banner that has actually grown through the years, you discover that there is numerous knowledge platforms which were plugged in all through the years. And so we have to create one knowledge platform, and that is what we’re engaged on proper now. We’re, you already know, unifying our knowledge fields pulling all of our -I imply, large quantities of knowledge.

00:04:05:03 – 00:04:36:16
Amy Perry
We see 3.6 million distinctive lives yearly. So you may think about the info – that is greater than 10 million encounters on an annual foundation. So the quantity of knowledge that we have to handle is simply excessive. So we have to do this. We have to have correct indexing. And with that platform, with that basis, we consider we’re going to have the ability to do all the fantastic issues that we hope we’re going to have the ability to do with AI:

00:04:36:16 – 00:05:01:05
Amy Perry
ambient listening, making it simpler for our caregivers, letting our caregivers actually work on the high of their license. So our expertise plan just isn’t solely thrilling. I believe it is obligatory for our future sustainability, not simply at Banner, however in every single place, as a result of we will must study to work with much less.

00:05:01:07 – 00:05:31:21
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
When you concentrate on knowledge and utilizing knowledge to make the fitting medical choices, after which all of the AI, generative AI, ambient listening, all of the chat bots, issues that you just nearly say exchange vacancies with expertise, how do you marry the 2, and the way would you describe that affected person expertise when you get that marriage of the info in addition to the attractive generative AI?

00:05:31:24 – 00:05:37:26
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
You already know, having Hal within the room with you to information you to care to your sufferers.

00:05:37:28 – 00:06:05:13
Amy Perry
Yeah, it is an amazing, nice level. To begin with, I do not assume we’re actually going to be changing people with expertise any time quickly. I believe what we wish to do is improve the lives of the individuals which are offering the care, and permit them to work extra effectively so we are able to improve our entry. You already know, in Arizona, which is our largest market, it is one of many quickest rising cities within the US.

00:06:05:13 – 00:06:47:03
Amy Perry
So simply maintaining with the expansion, what I am hoping is that we are able to do extra with the identical variety of individuals as a result of we’ll, and never fully, however with much less of a 1 to 1 addition, as a result of we will likely be including expertise to make individuals’s jobs extra environment friendly. You already know, I like ambient listening and having a one on one, eyeball to eyeball dialog that will get, you already know, mechanically absorbed into the chart, helps construct and doc and do all of the tedious work that retains our caregivers from with the ability to have that pure relationship with their affected person,

00:06:47:05 – 00:07:21:22
Amy Perry
that basically offers them the enjoyment that they got here into drugs to have. And so I am hoping that expertise really brings people and our human interplay nearer collectively, as a result of it is doing the tedious work so our individuals can construct the relationships that they care about. So, I simply really feel like all of this, together with machine integration, all the elementary issues that we have to do to have the ability to enhance eye contact, be capable of enhance the human expertise.

00:07:21:22 – 00:07:26:09
Amy Perry
And I believe it will have a dramatic influence on affected person satisfaction.

00:07:26:12 – 00:07:53:23
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Yeah. Once we discuss to our suppliers which are utilizing the ambient expertise, it’s they’re by no means going again, proper? It is attention-grabbing. They initially say they it is a bit of bit harder as a result of they’re used to love filling out a framework. And now they’re simply having a dialog. So that they need to type of modify their perspective a bit of bit. However they find it irresistible as a result of it does

00:07:53:23 – 00:08:30:12
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
simply as you’ve gotten mentioned. It removes numerous the tedious work. However there may be tedious work that I believe we’re hoping that AI will do for us, you already know, outdoors of the affected person go to. And that isn’t solely a again workplace billing the place we have really had AI in income cycle for years, however most likely in writing code so all of our platforms will discuss to one another, in addition to really getting sufferers to the fitting place, minimizing the variety of calls that they need to make or individuals they’ve to speak to.

00:08:30:14 – 00:08:40:01
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Is there a draw back to all of the expertise, although? Is there one thing that we needs to be involved about and/or is Banner involved about?

00:08:40:04 – 00:09:04:23
Amy Perry
Completely. I believe that the primary concern that we’ve is high quality assurance. And so just about all the AI that we have applied, actually, all of it has what we name people within the loop. So we haven’t any autonomous AI as a result of we simply will not be assured with the info sources to ensure knowledge in, knowledge out.

00:09:04:25 – 00:09:33:20
Amy Perry
So every part we do now does have, a top quality assurance assessment, a human assessment, a ensure that we do not get too assured at this stage within the growth that the expertise goes to be proper 100% on the time. So what we’re actually hoping is that it simply elevates every of our skills, whether or not it is in a enterprise perform or in a medical perform, however does not fully exchange it.

00:09:33:22 – 00:10:11:06
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Discuss a bit of bit about analysis. Once I take into consideration AI in analysis, I am considering it nearly helps the affected person type of change into a greater affected person, change into extra educated in regards to the circumstances they’ve, perhaps entry medical trials in the event that they’re candidates for them and/or nearly make each single interplay be type of a part of medical information. However that is most likely perhaps overly simplistic as you have a look at actually knowledge and AI in analysis at Banner, what are your hopes for what that may do for you?

00:10:11:09 – 00:10:37:20
Amy Perry
I believe it’s going to have an unimaginable influence in an excellent method. And you already know, we’ve a really massive relationship with the College of Arizona, three medical campuses and numerous unimaginable researchers who want high quality knowledge to work by way of their concepts and to comply with by way of in figuring out the potential for medical trial candidates, issues like that.

00:10:37:20 – 00:11:06:07
Amy Perry
So our capability sooner or later, to have the ability to establish individuals who may benefit from a rising expertise and rising drug and rising therapy. I imply, I believe we’re going to have the ability to be a lot extra proactive due to the power to have a pc scan all the info, discover individuals that might be candidates for options that will not have existed after they had been first recognized.

00:11:06:07 – 00:11:30:28
Amy Perry
So I believe that knowledge, once more, all of it goes again to knowledge, which is why that is the core of our expertise plan and ensuring that we’re creating availability and entry. Once more, a lot of that is entry – to the trials that we at present have open, which is, you already know, a whole bunch of trials by way of {our relationships} and thru our superb, principal investigators right here.

00:11:30:28 – 00:11:54:09
Amy Perry
And I am certain you see the identical factor, you already know, working in an educational well being system such as you do. You already know, simply with the ability to match sufferers that would profit from these rising applied sciences. And that is simply in and of itself, unattainable with out these sorts of knowledge intervention bots, the sorts of issues which are going to assist us streamline that.

00:11:54:11 – 00:12:12:03
Amy Perry
After which, after all, you already know, the vaccine growth, the sorts of issues that had been by no means even contemplated years in the past at the moment are facilitated with, you already know, massive processing, the power to course of simply big, massive knowledge fashions. So I couldn’t be extra excited.

00:12:12:05 – 00:12:37:11
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Yeah. You already know, there are particular areas that simply are hotbeds. I believe our radiology, you already know, they have been utilizing AI for a very long time. Possibly persons are not conscious of it, however nearly a second set of eyes, on you already know, each single picture. And our pathologists, are you already know, doing superb issues. And as our group says, oh, we’ve to get our arms round synthetic intelligence.

00:12:37:11 – 00:12:58:10
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
And I really feel like saying, hmm, it is out of the gate and midway across the observe already. And the way do you really assist our researchers who’re doing issues  at each of our establishments are superb. I believe the world that is going through us goes to be crammed with expertise and innovation, and all of us simply need to be a bit of bit nimble and open to alter.

00:12:58:13 – 00:13:20:01
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
However you might be so effectively positioned to try this. So we wish to thanks for sharing your useful experience and insights. You have had a outstanding profession and have served in simply an unimaginable array of cost techniques that you just’re completely positioned to make an actual influence at Banner within the six states that you just serve.

00:13:20:05 – 00:13:22:25
Amy Perry
I really feel lucky. So thanks.

00:13:22:29 – 00:13:36:14
Joanne Conroy, M.D.
Properly, thanks for doing every part you do, Amy. And till subsequent time, thank all people for tuning in. And I stay up for seeing you at subsequent month’s management dialogue. Have an amazing day.

00:13:36:17 – 00:13:43:24
Tom Haederle
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00:13:43:26 – 00:13:44:27
Tom Haederle
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