Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Michelle Stansbury, Associate Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of IT Applications at Houston Methodist

Transcript

Michelle Stansbury, Associate Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of IT Applications at Houston Methodist · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - Every health system executive right now is being
• 0:04
  - asked to do something that has no useful
• 0:06
  - precedent,
• 0:07
  - make durable technology decisions in an environment that
• 0:10
  - looks meaningfully different every six months.
• 0:13
  - The pace isn't slowing,
• 0:14
  - the vendor landscape isn't getting simpler, and the
• 0:17
  - cost of missteps
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  - keeps rising.
• 0:19
  - Becker's eleventh annual IT and Revenue Cycle Conference,
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  - The Future of AI and Digital Health, exists
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  - for exactly this challenge.
• 0:27
  - Here, you'll find more than 2,500 executive level
• 0:30
  - attendees,
• 0:31
  - 600 plus speakers, and four days of sessions
• 0:34
  - built around the questions leaders are actually wrestling
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  - with.
• 0:37
  - How to scale AI responsibly,
• 0:39
  - how to protect increasingly complex systems,
• 0:42
  - how to bring more performance out of the
• 0:44
  - revenue cycle, and how to make tech investments
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  - that hold up over time.
• 0:48
  - Join us September fourteenth through the seventeenth at
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  - the Hilton Chicago.
• 0:53
  - You can register on our events page at
• 0:55
  - beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:57
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:59
  - upper right.
• 1:01
  - This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:04
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:06
  - Michelle Stansbury, associate chief innovation officer and vice
• 1:09
  - president of IT applications at Houston Methodist. Michelle,
• 1:12
  - it's a pleasure to have you on the
• 1:13
  - podcast today. Oh, thank you. I always appreciate
• 1:15
  - the opportunity to speak with you, Laura.
• 1:17
  - Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm excited for our
• 1:20
  - conversation because I know Houston Methodist is always
• 1:22
  - on the forefront of innovation and so many
• 1:24
  - different trends within the health care space. And
• 1:26
  - so I'm excited to dig deep and catch
• 1:28
  - up on some of the things you're doing
• 1:29
  - with the smart hospital as well as just
• 1:31
  - enterprise wide. So I know we'll talk about
• 1:33
  - a lot, but before we dive in, especially
• 1:35
  - for those who,
• 1:37
  - are newer to our podcast, can you tell
• 1:38
  - us a little bit more about yourself as
• 1:40
  - well as Houston Methodist?
• 1:42
  - Sure. Well, as you said, right, the associate
• 1:44
  - chief innovation officer and IT,
• 1:48
  - executive over the applications.
• 1:50
  - I've been at Houston Methodist,
• 1:53
  - for over thirty years.
• 1:54
  - So, yes, some people go, hey. Did you
• 1:56
  - start when you were a teenager? And I
• 1:57
  - said, of course. Of course, I did. But,
• 2:00
  - you know, it's been an interesting time.
• 2:03
  - I've been very, very fortunate to work with,
• 2:07
  - Roberta Swartz on creating our innovation center eight
• 2:09
  - years
• 2:10
  - ago. And to be able to see all
• 2:12
  - that we've accomplished in that time frame has
• 2:14
  - just been amazing.
• 2:15
  - I think it's due to a lot with
• 2:17
  - true leadership
• 2:18
  - and overall people and their willingness to be
• 2:21
  - engaged,
• 2:22
  - you know, across operations in IT, and it's
• 2:25
  - the only way that we've been able to
• 2:26
  - accomplish that much. But it's been a great
• 2:28
  - journey, I will tell you.
• 2:31
  - That's amazing to hear. And, you know, I
• 2:33
  - I think only exciting thing is to come.
• 2:35
  - So,
• 2:36
  - that'll be very, very
• 2:37
  - fantastic. And, you know, could you talk a
• 2:39
  - little bit about some of the most powerful
• 2:41
  - forces that you see in digital
• 2:43
  - health and IT right now at Houston Methodist?
• 2:45
  - What do you see currently and how do
• 2:47
  - you anticipate that'll evolve over the next year
• 2:48
  - or so? Yeah. Well, as you know, last
• 2:50
  - year, we opened up our smart hospital,
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  - which was a fantastic opening.
• 2:56
  - Lot of, you know, accolades, lot of people
• 2:59
  - wanting to see what we did with that.
• 3:01
  - The interesting part about it is sometimes we're
• 3:03
  - still having to tell people all of that
• 3:05
  - technology that went into that institution was not
• 3:08
  - the first time that we used it. We
• 3:09
  - had eight other hospitals that all of that
• 3:11
  - technology was being used in. So it was
• 3:14
  - just a culmination of things coming together
• 3:17
  - and a few things that as you're building
• 3:19
  - a hospital from the ground up, you have
• 3:21
  - certain controls that you don't in some of
• 3:22
  - the older buildings that you have. Most importantly,
• 3:25
  - I will tell you, the environmental
• 3:28
  - controls
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  - overall that the patients have just loved to
• 3:31
  - be able to control lights, control the temperature,
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  - and things like that.
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  - That was probably the one thing that was
• 3:36
  - really prevalent in that hospital.
• 3:38
  - But as we sort of continued on down
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  - that path with those 10 or it was
• 3:43
  - 12 beds that we had,
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  - we just continue to keep expanding overall, and
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  - I will say, you know, one of the
• 3:49
  - things was in our virtual operations command center.
• 3:53
  - We had started overall with kind of five
• 3:55
  - areas, you know, with our virtual ICU, the
• 3:58
  - nursing
• 3:59
  - overall. But we've been able to as Roberta
• 4:02
  - would put it, now that we had the
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  - highway in place, we've been able to expand
• 4:06
  - it even further. And so,
• 4:09
  - overall, if you think about
• 4:10
  - nursing and rounding and monitoring
• 4:14
  - and the hospitalists are now using it within
• 4:16
  - the organization.
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  - So it has been very prevalent for us
• 4:20
  - to now see we're gonna continue to expand
• 4:22
  - it across overall providers who still wanna use
• 4:25
  - and do virtual
• 4:26
  - visits with overall the patients who are in
• 4:29
  - house, not just overall for virtual services as
• 4:32
  - you're doing a clinic. Right? But the overall
• 4:34
  - services that you could continue and then potentially
• 4:37
  - trying to expand it outside of our organizations
• 4:40
  - as well. So
• 4:42
  - anyway but I will say probably the biggest
• 4:44
  - thing that we've been focused on in 2026
• 4:46
  - is, you know, we had that road map
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  - with our
• 4:50
  - 12 beds for the smart hospital of the
• 4:52
  - future.
• 4:53
  - We once we completed that, it was we
• 4:56
  - asked ourselves, what what are we gonna focus
• 4:58
  - on? Because that really helped us grounded overall
• 5:00
  - with what our road map was with innovation.
• 5:03
  - So we created
• 5:05
  - 10 new bets for the intelligent health care
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  - system of the future. And we really had
• 5:10
  - it with, you know, utilizing intelligence because, look,
• 5:13
  - AI is becoming so prominent.
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  - You actually have the smart room with what
• 5:17
  - we have been trying to accomplish. And so
• 5:19
  - what were those other things that we could
• 5:21
  - really
• 5:22
  - keep us focused and grounded in what we
• 5:24
  - were trying to accomplish for our organization?
• 5:27
  - So I'm going to those a little bit
• 5:28
  - later, but a lot of it had to
• 5:30
  - do with overall AI, smart chart, right, overall
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  - with what we're doing
• 5:34
  - to
• 5:36
  - AI for agents,
• 5:38
  - to overall
• 5:39
  - this is one that has been fascinating to
• 5:41
  - me for us to be able to start
• 5:43
  - to work on is the next gen marketing.
• 5:45
  - So stop and think about how you are
• 5:48
  - attracting your patients.
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  - And I will tell you it is most
• 5:52
  - everybody, it's like, oh, big billboards or, you
• 5:55
  - know, advertisements that you mail or it is,
• 5:58
  - you know, sports
• 5:59
  - teams that you want to,
• 6:02
  - you know, that are helping to promulgate overall,
• 6:05
  - right, the Houston Methodist and what we offer.
• 6:08
  - Well, that's not how people are paying attention
• 6:09
  - these days. Right? Everything is about what are
• 6:13
  - you seeing overall that's digitized? What's the digital
• 6:15
  - things that you're seeing? So it's how are
• 6:17
  - we rethinking about how we're marketing with new
• 6:20
  - digital tools. So that's another interesting one. But
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  - the biggest piece, and I think I spoke
• 6:25
  - about this last time when I was at
• 6:27
  - Becker's,
• 6:28
  - was that I think every organization is really
• 6:30
  - working on how they can become more financially
• 6:33
  - responsible. Right? What are those efficiencies that you
• 6:36
  - can gain from the digital tools?
• 6:38
  - And eight years ago when we kind of
• 6:40
  - started this process,
• 6:42
  - there wasn't as much functionality embedded with kind
• 6:45
  - of core tools. And when I talk about
• 6:46
  - core tools, it's like the epics, the Cerners,
• 6:49
  - right, or the Oracle,
• 6:51
  - or even your ERP systems.
• 6:53
  - So
• 6:54
  - they've come a long way. So a lot
• 6:56
  - of those bolt on products, we are now
• 6:57
  - transitioning back over to the core products, which
• 7:00
  - then is overall saving the institution because we're
• 7:02
  - not having to pay for third party products.
• 7:05
  - And
• 7:06
  - we just implemented,
• 7:08
  - a new ERP system. So,
• 7:11
  - that was a two year project, went live
• 7:13
  - January
• 7:14
  - 1.
• 7:15
  - And so now that we've kind of got
• 7:16
  - down and really working with the system, it's
• 7:18
  - now about how do we really
• 7:21
  - optimize and use it fully functioning, including with
• 7:24
  - AI on top of it. So lots of
• 7:26
  - things that are happening overall in the organization
• 7:29
  - and keeping us very busy.
• 7:31
  - Yeah. Absolutely. Wow. That's incredible. I mean, just
• 7:34
  - the breadth and depth of, the change and
• 7:37
  - transformation that you're able to enact with the
• 7:39
  - technology, with AI, both on the clinical side,
• 7:41
  - as well as on the organizational
• 7:43
  - and administrative,
• 7:45
  - side of things for the enterprise. It's it's
• 7:47
  - just,
• 7:48
  - really cool to have that type of momentum
• 7:51
  - going across the board and then, truly being
• 7:54
  - able to optimize what you're doing in in,
• 7:57
  - a variety of different fronts. And so from
• 7:59
  - your perspective, when you're looking at all of
• 8:00
  - these different projects or initiatives and things that
• 8:03
  - go into it, how do you make sure
• 8:05
  - that, you know, you're tracking the progress, tracking
• 8:08
  - what resources go into it, and then figuring
• 8:11
  - out what's gonna be best to continue pursuing
• 8:13
  - or what you need to make adjustments to.
• 8:15
  - Well, that's the beauty of our model that
• 8:17
  - we have, right, with everyone sort of having
• 8:19
  - these dual roles. And, right, with Roberta Sorgs
• 8:21
  - being
• 8:22
  - the CEO of our largest hospital that we
• 8:25
  - have. Right? 1,100, 1,200 beds overall, and then,
• 8:27
  - of course, our community hospitals
• 8:29
  - and being our chief innovation officer and me
• 8:32
  - being in IT.
• 8:33
  - She knows exactly where the problems are at
• 8:35
  - she's trying to solve, right, overall. And as
• 8:37
  - Roberta will tell everybody, everyone has lots of
• 8:40
  - problems to solve. So it's not like we
• 8:42
  - have a lack of them.
• 8:44
  - So we look for those solutions or look
• 8:46
  - for the things where it is that's going
• 8:47
  - to help us, then we focus to do
• 8:49
  - a pilot. If the pilot works, then we
• 8:51
  - scale it as quickly as possible.
• 8:54
  - Simply like we did overall with virtual health.
• 8:56
  - Right? Now we have over 2,700
• 8:58
  - cameras across over our,
• 9:00
  - our campuses within the patient rooms.
• 9:03
  - We expanded overall with utilizing AI within our
• 9:06
  - ORs
• 9:07
  - to be able to see where we could
• 9:08
  - increase efficiencies.
• 9:10
  - But what comes with that is
• 9:12
  - the change management
• 9:14
  - and then
• 9:15
  - the adherence to make sure that we're utilizing
• 9:18
  - it appropriately
• 9:19
  - to get the ROI. Because if you're not
• 9:21
  - if you're not using it, you're not gonna
• 9:23
  - get the the ROI.
• 9:25
  - And guess what? All you did was just
• 9:26
  - add cost to the organization.
• 9:28
  - So that's part of what we're doing with
• 9:30
  - the things that we have rolled out or
• 9:32
  - doing well within our main hospital. We're going
• 9:34
  - around and ensuring
• 9:36
  - that the rest of our hospitals, what can
• 9:38
  - we do to help if we don't see
• 9:40
  - the same sort of,
• 9:43
  - experience that they're getting? Is it because that
• 9:45
  - we didn't roll it out well, or is
• 9:47
  - there other things that we can do to
• 9:48
  - optimize it?
• 9:50
  - But I would say, you know, that's probably
• 9:52
  - the biggest piece for us is that we're
• 9:54
  - still just overall of looking how can we
• 9:56
  - ensure that the things that we are using,
• 9:58
  - we're continuing to get value from. If not,
• 10:02
  - okay. Do we need to go back and
• 10:04
  - rethink it, or do we need to stop
• 10:05
  - it? And that's one of the things that
• 10:07
  - I think a lot of organizations I will
• 10:09
  - tell you way back when before everybody got
• 10:11
  - involved in digital tools.
• 10:13
  - You know, you would implement something, you would
• 10:15
  - bring it live, and then it just goes
• 10:17
  - into sport mode. Nobody's really watching it. Are
• 10:19
  - you really getting the value from it or
• 10:21
  - whatever?
• 10:22
  - That is a big focus. Even the core
• 10:23
  - things that we do today overall within our
• 10:26
  - main transactional systems, which is Epic and Workday.
• 10:29
  - Are we getting the value from those systems
• 10:31
  - overall? And what if we're not, what more
• 10:34
  - could we be doing? So I think that's
• 10:36
  - a big piece. And then, you know, the
• 10:37
  - other thing is,
• 10:40
  - I I just I wanna I I haven't
• 10:42
  - talked much about this, but it was interesting
• 10:45
  - because I just did a presentation overall with
• 10:47
  - our senior vice president, Tisha Montgomery, who's over
• 10:49
  - our access,
• 10:50
  - schedule, you know, with access scheduling within overall
• 10:53
  - Houston Methodist
• 10:55
  - as the system. And
• 10:57
  - her role was created on purpose. She used
• 10:59
  - to be in access just overall within our
• 11:01
  - physician organization, but,
• 11:05
  - we saw that there was a real need,
• 11:06
  - that we needed somebody at the top that's
• 11:09
  - looking out overall across. Because you could call
• 11:11
  - for an imaging appointment
• 11:13
  - at one of our hospitals and that would
• 11:15
  - didn't quite work out, so you wanted to
• 11:17
  - see if you could get into one of
• 11:18
  - our other locations.
• 11:20
  - The message you would get is, oh, let
• 11:21
  - me give you that number, and you can
• 11:23
  - call and find out if they could take
• 11:24
  - you there.
• 11:25
  - So,
• 11:26
  - again, not very well managed,
• 11:29
  - but she has been able to do some
• 11:31
  - phenomenal results overall now that she has taken
• 11:33
  - it, and she is scheduling across the system.
• 11:35
  - So she took all those scheduling people that
• 11:38
  - were in all those different areas,
• 11:40
  - brought them in, be able to create the
• 11:42
  - efficiencies.
• 11:43
  - She now I mean, their overall scheduling 21,000
• 11:47
  - appointments a day,
• 11:48
  - across our organization,
• 11:50
  - not just from overall
• 11:53
  - the outpatient side of the house, but also
• 11:55
  - to if you think about the diagnostic procedures
• 11:57
  - and everything else that needs to happen. So
• 12:00
  - just phenomenal.
• 12:01
  - But most recently, which I'm so excited about
• 12:04
  - because we're working overall in this, is she
• 12:06
  - had overall AI that was embedded into those
• 12:09
  - calls to kind of help get them to
• 12:10
  - the right place.
• 12:12
  - Now she started to work have agents
• 12:15
  - answering those calls. And now having those,
• 12:18
  - calls where there's no human involved,
• 12:20
  - and so where it is might have taken,
• 12:22
  - you know, five, ten minutes,
• 12:25
  - within three minutes, the agent is being able
• 12:27
  - to schedule those appointments for those patients, like
• 12:29
  - I said, with no human intervention whatsoever.
• 12:32
  - So it's amazing to see that side of
• 12:34
  - the house. So it has just spurred on
• 12:37
  - overall
• 12:37
  - our involvement to go,
• 12:39
  - okay.
• 12:40
  - What else can we do now with AgenTek
• 12:43
  - AI?
• 12:44
  - And so we are looking across the organization.
• 12:47
  - We actually have,
• 12:49
  - we were making
• 12:50
  - this assumption. Do we buy everything? Do we
• 12:54
  - build everything?
• 12:55
  - So we we've decided it's probably a combination
• 12:57
  - of both. So we now have a build
• 12:59
  - team. We're looking at overall the use cases
• 13:02
  - across the organization from even in clinical, from
• 13:05
  - overall within the business area. So I think
• 13:07
  - there's lots of opportunity in supply chain, within
• 13:10
  - HR,
• 13:11
  - finance,
• 13:12
  - even in IT. Think about your service desk
• 13:15
  - on the IT. We just see tremendous opportunity,
• 13:18
  - and so we're really trying to prioritize what
• 13:20
  - the use cases we're gonna
• 13:21
  - start to build on our own.
• 13:24
  - But that's been absolutely fascinating to me. I'm
• 13:27
  - just gonna be,
• 13:28
  - honest. And, you know, I I can't wait
• 13:31
  - to see what that's going to play out
• 13:33
  - there.
• 13:35
  - Absolutely. Wow. And I I know that kind
• 13:37
  - of the the build versus buy versus partner,
• 13:40
  - discussion is one that's very prevalent across the
• 13:43
  - board.
• 13:44
  - And so as you're looking at, you know,
• 13:45
  - what are the things we're gonna, try to
• 13:47
  - build an internal team to do? What are
• 13:49
  - the things that we can work with others
• 13:51
  - to do?
• 13:52
  - I know that's a big consideration. And then
• 13:54
  - looking into, you know, just the the,
• 13:57
  - payment mechanisms and the financial resources that you
• 14:00
  - have to take across the board, I'd be
• 14:02
  - interested in kinda your perspective and take on
• 14:04
  - what AI transforms there
• 14:06
  - too. Well, I will tell you that's been
• 14:08
  - a very interesting part overall with this because
• 14:11
  - I don't know that every organization who's building
• 14:14
  - agents quite knows how the payment structure should
• 14:17
  - be, and it varies widely. I think some
• 14:20
  - of them have,
• 14:23
  - over you know, they they they didn't quite
• 14:26
  - get it right. So you're like, wow. That's
• 14:28
  - way too expensive. And then the other ones
• 14:30
  - who have kinda started in it, you know,
• 14:32
  - and it was, like, seemed very reasonable,
• 14:34
  - have now come to the conclusion, oh, that's
• 14:36
  - not right. We should be charging more. So
• 14:38
  - I think that's where it is that we
• 14:40
  - have really tried to do our due diligence,
• 14:42
  - you know, in what's going to work for
• 14:44
  - us.
• 14:45
  - This whole tokenization.
• 14:47
  - Right? Everyone's like, oh, how many tokens you
• 14:49
  - having to pay for that? And, you know,
• 14:52
  - I I do think it is kind
• 14:55
  - of wild and crazy at this moment. I
• 14:57
  - think somewhere it's going to land somewhere in
• 14:59
  - the middle of between,
• 15:01
  - oh, they're not they're so undercharging to overcharging
• 15:04
  - and really trying to come back that's something
• 15:06
  - reasonable because I think that's what,
• 15:09
  - you know, I you you're reading these stories
• 15:11
  - all over the place where Uber and some
• 15:13
  - of the other ones. Right? They
• 15:15
  - they went through their whole 2026 budget in
• 15:17
  - April because of the, you know, of charging.
• 15:20
  - They just opened it up. Well, we've been
• 15:23
  - allowing
• 15:23
  - certain individuals in our organization,
• 15:26
  - to utilize,
• 15:28
  - Microsoft Copilot, right, to sort of to see
• 15:31
  - how they could use it, kinda create their
• 15:33
  - own agents and whatever, but it's in sort
• 15:35
  - of this pilot mode. But we are trying
• 15:37
  - to figure out, you don't just wanna open
• 15:40
  - it up to everyone.
• 15:42
  - Right? Because then you have to really figure
• 15:43
  - out what's the cost. And I will say,
• 15:46
  - we have made the decision.
• 15:47
  - We will not be building agents unless it
• 15:50
  - truly has a return for us.
• 15:52
  - If we've built one and within, you know,
• 15:55
  - a certain amount of time frame, we see
• 15:56
  - that it's doing nothing but just adding cost
• 15:58
  - to the organization,
• 15:59
  - then we'll shut it off.
• 16:01
  - So, you know, it is making people be
• 16:03
  - very thoughtful in their use cases that they're
• 16:05
  - developing. Have you documented the process? Do you
• 16:08
  - know the data points? Do you know the
• 16:10
  - touch points overall so that we can determine,
• 16:13
  - is this
• 16:14
  - a buy use case, or is this a
• 16:16
  - build use case?
• 16:18
  - So,
• 16:19
  - it is just like I said. I think
• 16:21
  - I think there's so much opportunity that's out
• 16:23
  - there with overall with Unaginta AI, but it's
• 16:26
  - having to make sure that it makes sense
• 16:28
  - without just opening the floodgates and let everybody
• 16:31
  - go crazy with it.
• 16:34
  - Absolutely. For sure. We have to have some
• 16:36
  - sort of, like, control or or ability to
• 16:39
  - really monitor those financial situations. You don't wanna
• 16:41
  - get in that,
• 16:43
  - situation where, you know, your whole budget is
• 16:45
  - blown through so quickly, and and have to
• 16:47
  - pull back. Healthcare doesn't have that kind of,
• 16:49
  - flexibility.
• 16:51
  - No. No. Well, that gets back to the
• 16:52
  - early one I told you that we're working
• 16:54
  - on, becoming more financially responsible, you know, and
• 16:56
  - the things that we have to do, right,
• 16:58
  - overall. And, you know, I've said this before.
• 17:00
  - There's three main focus areas that we put
• 17:02
  - for patients. We wanna make sure that the
• 17:04
  - journey our patients take is
• 17:06
  - is frictionless as possible in the way that
• 17:08
  - they want it, which is sometimes very different
• 17:11
  - for each individual. Right? Our clinicians, you know,
• 17:14
  - how are we getting them back to doing
• 17:16
  - what they do best instead of being stuck
• 17:18
  - to, you know, the electronic health records? I
• 17:21
  - mean, we've done very well
• 17:23
  - with AI with our physicians. And I'm so
• 17:25
  - happy to say because our nurses have just
• 17:27
  - waited for so long. We're now doing a
• 17:30
  - pilot,
• 17:31
  - overall with nursing documentation
• 17:34
  - using,
• 17:35
  - ambient intelligence. Right? So it is
• 17:38
  - with ambient listening, I should say. So how
• 17:41
  - it is that we can make their jobs
• 17:43
  - easier as well because they have just been
• 17:44
  - as burden with documentation as physicians. And so
• 17:47
  - they're very excited. We're seeing some really good
• 17:49
  - stuff out of it so far, so I'm
• 17:51
  - anxious to be able to get that to
• 17:53
  - a point where we can, you know, overall
• 17:55
  - expand it across our organization.
• 17:57
  - But the last area is just becoming, you
• 17:59
  - know, where are those operational efficiencies that we
• 18:01
  - can gain by using the digital tools that
• 18:03
  - are out there? And I think there's a
• 18:05
  - lot of them. I think what you hear
• 18:07
  - from a lot of organizations that kinda started
• 18:09
  - off in the clinical areas, which is good.
• 18:11
  - We need to. I will tell you we're
• 18:13
  - now we're in a pilot phase right now
• 18:15
  - with,
• 18:16
  - overall, some decision kind of really diagnostic precision
• 18:21
  - overall AI,
• 18:23
  - that is helping our radiologists and some cardiologists
• 18:25
  - and stuff as well. But I think there's
• 18:27
  - so much opportunity on the business side,
• 18:30
  - way more than what we have been paying
• 18:31
  - attention to so far.
• 18:34
  - That's fascinating to hear. And I think, you
• 18:35
  - know, truly when you look into the future,
• 18:37
  - where do you see some of those problems
• 18:39
  - that you're trying to solve with AI and
• 18:40
  - technology, those next things? And I would talk
• 18:42
  - through a lot of the different ways you're
• 18:44
  - using it right now and and and things
• 18:45
  - you're trying to tackle within the system.
• 18:47
  - Where kind of do you see that next
• 18:49
  - problem coming from, or is it the same
• 18:51
  - problem just with different solutions that you're looking
• 18:53
  - for? I don't know if it's the same
• 18:55
  - problem. I think overall, again, if you begin
• 18:57
  - to look across the areas, I mean, access
• 18:59
  - is always gonna be a priority right for
• 19:01
  - every organization. How can you continue to just
• 19:03
  - to keep evolving and make that easier? And
• 19:06
  - how can you use AI,
• 19:08
  - right, overall so that you can use your
• 19:10
  - workforce responsibly?
• 19:12
  - And,
• 19:12
  - I think that's the other key piece. You
• 19:14
  - know, every organization wants to use
• 19:17
  - the top talent where it's necessary. And if
• 19:19
  - you can get agents doing the same work,
• 19:22
  - I think it's a overall then you can
• 19:24
  - take those individuals, right, and put them in
• 19:26
  - over, you know, top skill levels overall of
• 19:29
  - what we needed that an agent can't take
• 19:30
  - care of. So I think the other is
• 19:33
  - we'll just continue overall to expand our virtual
• 19:36
  - offerings.
• 19:37
  - I will put that. Right? How much more
• 19:38
  - can we continue to do? And I know
• 19:41
  - that our executive in that area, she's building
• 19:43
  - out, you know, a three to five year
• 19:44
  - plan right now on overall what more could
• 19:46
  - we be doing. I think we need to
• 19:48
  - look at what could, you know, remote monitoring
• 19:50
  - be able to do. How can we keep
• 19:52
  - you out of the hospital if you don't
• 19:53
  - necessarily need to come to the hospital? Right?
• 19:55
  - So I think how can we take all
• 19:57
  - those learnings that we've done from an inpatient
• 20:00
  - perspective
• 20:01
  - and now try to take it outside of
• 20:02
  - the hospital?
• 20:03
  - I think overall,
• 20:05
  - as well as what I said within sort
• 20:07
  - of the business operations
• 20:09
  - area, It is now that we have this
• 20:11
  - new platform. Right?
• 20:13
  - How can we begin to extend overall now
• 20:16
  - of thinking how AI and it may not
• 20:18
  - be an agent. It may just be traditional
• 20:20
  - AI, right, that we can utilize within that
• 20:22
  - program that helps us become more efficient.
• 20:25
  - But I will tell you, I think where
• 20:27
  - you're truly gonna see this is where and
• 20:29
  - I am already
• 20:30
  - there,
• 20:31
  - right, and kind of thinking.
• 20:32
  - I think there's these single point agents that
• 20:35
  - people are thinking about. Oh, I wanna put
• 20:37
  - an agent on this. I wanna put an
• 20:39
  - agent on this. How can you begin to
• 20:41
  - start thinking where you're utilizing
• 20:43
  - multimodal agents, agents working with agents across your
• 20:46
  - organization
• 20:47
  - to overall increase efficiency,
• 20:49
  - overall increase overall capacity,
• 20:52
  - whatever it may be. I think that's where
• 20:54
  - we're truly going to see the full breadth
• 20:56
  - of what AgenTic AI can do for us.
• 20:59
  - I think there's a lot of experimentation
• 21:01
  - right now that needs to happen for everyone
• 21:02
  - to get comfortable with it, including us,
• 21:05
  - right, to make sure that the agents are
• 21:07
  - functioning appropriately. But then how can you start
• 21:10
  - getting agents to work with other agents?
• 21:12
  - I think that's where you're gonna see the
• 21:14
  - true power. And I'm hoping I'm still gonna
• 21:15
  - be around long enough to see it. So
• 21:19
  - Absolutely. No. I love that. And I think
• 21:20
  - I mean, given how quickly things are moving,
• 21:22
  - you know, it could be sooner than we
• 21:25
  - think it seems like.
• 21:26
  - No. I completely agree. But
• 21:29
  - it's,
• 21:30
  - like I said,
• 21:31
  - I have never seen anything, and you I
• 21:34
  - know you've been around a long time as
• 21:35
  - well, Laura, but
• 21:37
  - how vast and quick,
• 21:39
  - AI is changing these days. I mean, you
• 21:41
  - might think you know it one week, just
• 21:43
  - give it a week. And it's like something
• 21:45
  - has completely changed with it. And I think
• 21:47
  - that's the reason why, you know, you're starting
• 21:48
  - to see so many people now who are
• 21:50
  - like, woah. Wait a minute. Maybe we need
• 21:52
  - to put more, you know, security parameters or
• 21:54
  - other parameters around it to make sure, you
• 21:56
  - know, that it just you know, it doesn't
• 21:59
  - especially in the clinical space, and I completely
• 22:01
  - agree. And we have taken
• 22:04
  - the stance that we still have a human
• 22:06
  - involved. I don't care what it is overall,
• 22:08
  - if it's a decision making that, you know,
• 22:10
  - that's what our providers went to school for.
• 22:12
  - We want them overall involved whenever you're looking
• 22:14
  - at it. But it is
• 22:17
  - at
• 22:18
  - at one point and I was I think
• 22:19
  - it was at Becker's. I think it was
• 22:21
  - was Becker's where I was at. I know
• 22:23
  - that,
• 22:23
  - and I'm not sure if you were the
• 22:25
  - moderator, but somebody in the audience asked, did
• 22:27
  - we ever see a day where
• 22:29
  - an,
• 22:31
  - a provider
• 22:32
  - will be replaced by AI? I was like,
• 22:35
  - no.
• 22:36
  - But the provider was sitting there with me,
• 22:37
  - and he was like, yes. Absolutely.
• 22:40
  - I was like, oh my goodness. I mean
• 22:43
  - and maybe you can see for I've got
• 22:45
  - a cough. I've got, you know, a test
• 22:47
  - cold or something, whatever. But,
• 22:50
  - it's interesting today, and this is what most
• 22:53
  - of our
• 22:54
  - providers are being faced with, is that patients
• 22:56
  - are diagnosing themselves using CHAT GPT. These are
• 22:59
  - my symptoms, whatever. And then coming in and
• 23:02
  - going, hey. This is what CHAT GPT says
• 23:04
  - I have and how you should treat me.
• 23:06
  - So,
• 23:07
  - you know, that's the reality I think that
• 23:10
  - every probably health care organization is dealing with
• 23:12
  - now is that patients are self diagnosing themselves
• 23:14
  - by these tools, whether it's right or wrong.
• 23:17
  - You know, where I've said that I feel
• 23:19
  - uncomfortable is what do you do with the
• 23:21
  - patient that has self diagnosed themselves from these
• 23:24
  - tools and it was wrong.
• 23:26
  - And now by the time that they come
• 23:28
  - in, they're worse than what they were if
• 23:29
  - they had just originally come into to see
• 23:32
  - our clinicians.
• 23:34
  - Absolutely. That that's a huge, I can imagine,
• 23:36
  - issue that, you know, both the clinical as
• 23:38
  - well as everybody in the health care system
• 23:40
  - will need to understand and help, you know,
• 23:43
  - figure out what how they're gonna navigate that
• 23:45
  - and the technology that's used, you know, from
• 23:47
  - the patients overall. So it's that's fascinating.
• 23:50
  - It's it's just changing the whole realm of
• 23:53
  - how patients, right, are thinking about their own
• 23:56
  - health care. Right? I mean
• 23:58
  - and, oh, maybe I don't need to go
• 24:00
  - in the doctor's office. I can just put
• 24:02
  - it in here, and it's gonna die help
• 24:03
  - diagnose me and tell me what I need
• 24:05
  - to do. So it is. And, the interesting
• 24:08
  - part is I know that I've heard from,
• 24:10
  - you know,
• 24:11
  - some of our doctors that have said, yes.
• 24:13
  - They come into as an inpatient, they'll do
• 24:15
  - the same thing and they're like, show me
• 24:17
  - what you put in there so I'll know
• 24:19
  - exactly it is overall so I can help
• 24:21
  - to determine, right, what's the next best step
• 24:24
  - for us.
• 24:25
  - But Absolutely.
• 24:26
  - Wow.
• 24:28
  - That's amazing. Well, Michelle, thank you so much
• 24:30
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 24:31
  - has been such a fun discussion. I've learned
• 24:33
  - a lot and, you know, really appreciate you
• 24:35
  - taking the time to connect with us. And
• 24:37
  - I'm looking forward to seeing you in person
• 24:38
  - as well at our Health IT and Revenue
• 24:40
  - Cycle Conference coming up in September. I know
• 24:42
  - you'll be speaking and, you know, it'll be
• 24:44
  - truly, truly a lot of fun. So looking
• 24:46
  - forward to continuing the discussion there. Alright. Great,
• 24:49
  - Laura. Thank you so much.