Earlier this year, I attended the San Diego Organization of Healthcare Leaders (SOHL) Annual Conference, where I joined an impressive group of healthcare leaders who had gathered to explore this year’s theme: “AI Horizons: Transforming the Present and Redefining the Future.” Throughout the day, presenters and attendees examined how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every aspect of healthcare and what challenges and opportunities are emerging as this technology is implemented.
Vantage works with healthcare organizations across the country to implement technologies that improve health outcomes, help medical professionals be more efficient and effective, and increase patient satisfaction and safety. Increasingly, our services involve working with clients who are building AI into their daily operations. The SOHL Annual Conference gave me a chance to take a step back and consider the implications of AI for our clients and how this technology can help medical providers continually improve the care they provide for their patients. Here are a few of the top lessons I took away from my time at the conference:
AI’s Greatest Value Lies in Automating Administrative Burdens
Although AI may seem fully enmeshed in our everyday lives (in ways visible and invisible), the technology is still quite new, and we have a lot to learn about it. In healthcare, one of AI’s biggest and earliest impacts has not been in clinical decision-making but in automating administrative tasks. Chief information officers (CIOs) from Scripps Health, Sharp Healthcare, and UC San Diego emphasized how high-value, low-risk applications of AI such as medical coding, revenue cycle management, and patient scheduling are areas where healthcare institutions have been able to realize the greatest early benefits.
Example: Notable’s AI-Powered Workflow Automation
Dr. Aaron Neinstein, Chief Medical Officer at Notable (a healthcare workflow automation company), presented technology that integrates data from electronic health records (EHRs), payer portals, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, data warehouses, health information exchanges (HIEs), and unstructured data sources to automate manual workflows of the patient experience. Dr. Neinstein demonstrated how Notable utilized multiple data sources to facilitate the following:
- Identify a missed annual physical and proactively schedule it
- Detect an unpaid bill and initiate payment reminders
- Automatically book appointments through voice commands
The automation of these types of tasks has the potential to free up time administrative professionals and providers can spend with patients or improving other processes. Additionally, they can help keep patients engaged and help ensure they’re getting the care they need.
AI Must Support, Not Replace, Human Decision-Making
It’s no surprise that AI adoption comes with its share of hesitancy in the medical community. Healthcare professionals at all levels have expressed concern that automation through AI has the potential to replace human jobs. Several experts at the conference argued that where AI can provide the most value is in complementing the expertise of medical professionals, not in supplanting it. During one session, a panel of CIOs pointed out that while AI is becoming more sophisticated, human judgment is still irreplaceable when it comes to navigating the nuances of individual health scenarios.
The speakers talked about AI as one of many tools physicians, nurses, and administrative staff can use to assist in their care for patients. Their advice: Institutions should focus on training staff members at all levels to use AI tools in ways specific to their roles.
Example: AI in Clinical Diagnostics
Dr. Joseph Schwab, Director of Spine Oncology for Orthopedic Surgery at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Surgical Innovation and Engineering, presented a session on wearable medical devices. Dr. Schwab demonstrated how AI can augment clinical care without replacing the necessary human element. His team developed AI-integrated 3D-printed transducers that measure muscle force, helping clinicians diagnose injuries more precisely. This technology equips doctors with better data so that they can provide more accurate diagnoses in less time, thereby reducing patient wait times.
AI Adoption Requires Strong Governance and Ethical Oversight
Despite all its benefits, it’s abundantly clear that responsible deployment of AI requires proper governance to address the risks that come with increased AI adoption in healthcare such as data privacy, bias, and regulatory compliance. This was the focus of a panel of compliance experts from Hoag Health, UC San Diego Health, and Sheppard Mullin at SOHL, all of whom emphasized the need for clear policies around AI usage in healthcare systems.
How these policies are developed will vary from one provider to the next, but one method some experts found to be effective was for hospitals and healthcare systems to create AI councils: dedicated teams responsible for evaluating opportunities for AI adoption, ensuring compliance with relevant rules and regulations, and mitigating risks for institutions and patients.
Legal and ethical missteps in the use of AI could undermine provider and patient trust in AI-powered technology solutions that have the potential to improve patient outcomes. The panel highlighted the importance of including key stakeholders such as legal counsel, IT leaders, patient advocates, and others on AI councils to help make key decisions before, during, and after rolling out new AI tools.
Example: AI and Contract Compliance
In addition to creating oversight bodies to monitor the adoption of AI, hospitals and health systems can also use AI to help hospitals and health systems stay compliant and mitigate risks. The compliance panel cited how AI is being used at some organizations to monitor EHR access for security compliance, while also automating contract reviews and generating risk assessments. Using AI as a means of reducing security and privacy risks has the additional benefit of building trust among those who are more hesitant to adopt useful AI solutions.
Looking Toward the Future
Throughout the day, presenters and panel experts discussed opportunities for AI use in the future which included workflows managed via agentic AI systems (AI that acts without explicit human direction) that can perform tasks, solve problems, and generate context-based responses. Other potential uses for AI coming down the pipeline include enhanced wayfinding to aid patients in identifying the appropriate level of care while reducing the burden on Emergency Rooms and providing AI-based coaching for both clinicians and patients.
At Vantage, we’re paying close attention to the many ways AI is already reshaping healthcare and assisting clients develop responsible policies and frameworks for effectively deploying AI. We’re excited to work with more clients who are seeking safe, reliable, and efficient ways of incorporating AI tools into their operations for the benefit of their staff and patients.
This post was authored by Senior Consultant Sarah Norwood, who brings an extensive background in healthcare and technology to her work with clients on strategic operations in project management, strategic planning, data analysis, and process improvement.
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