Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / AI Innovation and Strategic Growth at Allegheny General Hospital with Dr. Imran Qadeer

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AI Innovation and Strategic Growth at Allegheny General Hospital with Dr. Imran Qadeer · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

0:02
The most important health care decisions don't happen
0:05
in isolation.
0:06
They happen when leaders come together.
0:08
Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
0:11
3,500
0:12
hospital and health system executives this April in
0:15
Chicago.
0:16
With 800 speakers from Ascension, Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit
0:20
and more, the conversations get real. Leaders will
0:23
share how their scenario planning for policy shifts,
0:26
breaking through value based care barriers, and building
0:28
clinical teams that translate new ideas into real
0:31
world care.
0:32
Join top decision makers in the room April
0:35
13 through the sixteenth.
0:37
For the agenda and event details, visit beckers
0:40
hospital review dot com and click on the
0:42
events tab in the upper right.
0:45
This is Laura Dirdle with the Becker's Healthcare
0:47
podcast.
0:48
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Imran
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Kadir, president and chief executive officer at Allegheny
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General Hospital. Imran, it's a pleasure to have
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you on the podcast today.
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Thank you for inviting me to speak here
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today.
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Absolutely. And, you know, I'm excited for our
1:01
conversation because I know we'll be spotlighting some
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of the cool things you're doing at Allegheny
1:05
General Hospital as well as your perspective on
1:07
the future. There's so many changing dynamics right
1:10
now that is truly, truly,
1:12
a fascinating conversation. But before we dive in,
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can you tell us a little bit more
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about yourself and the hospital?
1:18
Sure.
1:19
I'm doctor Imran Kadir.
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I serve as the president and CEO of
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the leading academic level on trauma and transplant
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center here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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We're a proud part of Highmark Health and
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Allegheny Health Network
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system,
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comprising of 14 hospitals
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submitting to world class integrated health care to,
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to our community and beyond. We have a
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specialized center of excellence handle the most complex
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medical cases and are at the forefront of
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medical innovation.
1:50
Got it. That's helpful context to know. And,
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you know, in jumping into our conversation here,
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could you tell us a little bit more
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about the most important initiative that you led
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in the last year or so?
2:00
What did you do, and what were the
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results?
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I'm proud of our team work in many
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areas last year,
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including quality, safety, patient experience,
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population health, growth and strategy.
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You know, this question kind of asked, like,
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you know, who's your best child here? But
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I'll do my best here. I think our
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one of our most in important initiative last
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year was the implementation and scaling of our
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integrated
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AI driven virtual nurse model called Care AI
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and, Ambient Listening partnering with Abridge
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for our clinician.
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It offers a transformative
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approach to health care delivery
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by leveraging artificial intelligence.
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These solutions aim to optimize workflow,
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enhance patient safety, and free clinicians to focus
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on direct
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patient interaction.
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And a little bit about care.ai,
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it's a proactive
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detection system for bedside.
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We have cameras installed in the patient's room
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and has the ability to continuously monitor patients'
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vital signs, activity levels, and other key indicators
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in patient's room. Can detect
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subtle changes that might involve otherwise go unnoticed.
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And so one of the couple of the
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areas that we have
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used care.ai
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for that we started to use are using
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virtual nurses.
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So our nurses,
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are doing admission and discharges,
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and freeing our bedside nurses to per to
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focus on,
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you know, hands on care.
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On average,
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by doing those admission and discharge, it's saving
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an average of about fifty minutes,
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per nurse on their shift.
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The other area we've used CareEye is the
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use of virtual sitters,
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freeing our nurses and patient care technicians to
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take care of sicker patients,
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while virtually
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nurses
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or PCTs and monitoring patients.
4:01
In the future,
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we plan to unlock other AI driven tools,
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that CareEye has to offer, including reducing alarms
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and,
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an alert fatigue.
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For ambient listening,
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we partner with Abridge.
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And what it is is it's a voice
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to text clinical note generation.
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And being listened accurately
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transcribes
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clinician patient conversation
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directly into the electronic health record,
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capturing the nuances of the interaction,
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reducing the time a clinician has to spend
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documenting
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manually
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into chart and search for information.
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We've seen anywhere from one to two hours
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of safe time per day allowing clinicians to
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spend more time with patients in charting.
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This also, I believe, and we haven't measured
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this yet, but reduce burnout, alleviating
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documentation burdens and alert fatigue
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that contributes to a less stressful work environment,
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potentially reducing clinician burnout.
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And the other things I I I think
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it will show us
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in future is that enhanced team collaboration.
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With more accurate and timely documentation,
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interdisciplinary teams can communicate more effectively
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and make more informed decisions,
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reduce medical errors,
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no more accurate documentation,
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and proactive monitoring can lead to reduction in
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medical errors related to communication or oversight.
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And lastly,
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it does have a potential
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to enhance revenue capture and billing accuracy,
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reduce documentation
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and quoting errors
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leading to less denial. We expect about 5%
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increase in claim submission
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and reduction in denials.
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That's fascinating to hear, and I know that's,
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you know, a huge, huge undertaking to bring
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on those different technology platforms and partners and
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really leveraging,
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you know, AI in a different way than
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it ever has been before, whether it's some
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of the clinical applications on the bedside,
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inpatient safety applications, or if you're looking at
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virtual nursing. And then two,
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the ambient technology, it seems like it's been
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a game changer in so many different ways.
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And so, you know, when you're going through
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a huge transformations like this and bringing the
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technology really into the workflows and embedding it
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into the broader hospital in in culture within
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the the organization,
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how do you make sure that the team
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is doing everything they can to leverage the
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potential and possibility as well as, you know,
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finding new ways to keep transforming,
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within this space? Because I know, you know,
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it takes so much effort and resources to
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bring technology in. How do you make sure
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it's actually optimized and in creating that value
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that you hope it would, you know, when
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you make that,
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decision to move forward with it?
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Yeah. I think the team does a great
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job of,
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implementing the technology, making sure
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the users understand what the technology
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is aiming to accomplish,
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to the obviously, there's a lot of education
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and hands on,
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training
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for our frontline staff,
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but also a continuous monitoring for results that
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we are aiming to achieve. So, you know,
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we're constantly looking at, is the technology delivering
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on the promise that
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that it's set to do. So very result
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oriented,
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launch of these products.
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I love that. That's so important and so
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critical, especially as I know every dollar in
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health care is precious. So from your perspective,
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looking into the future too, what are some
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of the big priorities and headwinds that you're
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focused on in the next year?
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Yeah. Looking ahead to to 2026, and we're
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already month into it, our big priorities are
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centered around our mission and vision and being
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the leader in population health.
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How we are going to get there is
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by focusing on six pillars, including being employer
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of choice, which means addressing workforce challenges,
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being provider of choice, which means
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continuing to enhance clinical excellence,
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and fostering innovation,
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also growth, pioneering health solutions and business development
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to support exceptional growth,
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and
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leading in population health management with our enterprise
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strategy
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named Living Health Strategy,
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and lastly, financial sustainability.
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We believe if we work on the five
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pillars
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that we set for,
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the financial will follow, and we'll see great
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results. And we have seen that in 2025.
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The priorities,
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obviously, that's one in advanced digital health and
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telemedicine.
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The headwinds,
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I think, you know, we expect to continue
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to see the ongoing national shortage of nurses,
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physicians, and allied health professionals
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coupled with persistent burnout
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remains our most significant challenge. Recruiting and retaining
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top talent alongside developing robust wellness program will
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be paramount.
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Also, escalating costs and reimbursement pressures.
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We continue to face increasing operational costs,
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pharma pharmaceutical expenses, and pressure on reimbursement rates.
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Navigating
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this economic landscape while maintaining high quality care
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requires constant innovation and efficiency
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and value based care models.
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That makes a lot of sense. And I
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truly appreciate that focus on, you know, how
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you can be innovative looking at value based
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care and
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truly figuring out the ways that your organization
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is on a daily basis meeting the needs
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for their patients. I think, you know, one
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of the things that you mentioned is is
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just this evolving,
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economic landscape. And when you look into the
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future, where do you see, you know, the
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spaces where you're,
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trying to whether it's new avenues or current
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existing avenues to double down on, that will
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help
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ensure financial stability. Just how are you thinking
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about all of that when in knowing that
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there's so much uncertainty around some of the
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traditional reimbursement models, fee for service,
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and other, you know,
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ways that hospitals traditionally,
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were able to fund everything that they were
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doing.
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Yeah. I think,
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as I laid out earlier,
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our six pillars, five of them focused on
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being employer of choice,
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being provider of choice, addressing quality, safety, patient
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experience,
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population health,
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management,
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you know, focus on the value based care.
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And
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and it's paramount that we focus on
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innovation
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and growth.
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And I think those pillars
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get us to a financial
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sustainable model,
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that will be successful for years to come.
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Got it. That's helpful to understand. Now what
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do you think the hardest thing you're gonna
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have to do in the coming year will
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be?
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I think the hardest thing we'll have to
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do in the coming year will likely be
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making tough decisions regarding resource allocation in the
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face of
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ongoing economic pressures
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and expanding patient
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needs
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while simultaneously maintaining
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our commitment
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to innovation and growth.
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This will involve balancing
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competing priorities such as investing in new technologies,
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expanding
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crucial service lines,
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and adequately compensating
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our dedicated workforce,
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all within
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the constraints of a challenging financial environment.
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It required
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difficult conversations,
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strategic prioritization,
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and clear communication with all stakeholders.
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Absolutely. I think that's something, you know, so
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many different hospital CEOs are faced with today
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and trying to
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understand how they can make those right priorities,
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invest in the technologies that are gonna make
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the biggest difference as we talked about already
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today. And then, you know, your focus on
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clear communication as well,
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is just so, so important.
12:02
How do you typically
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communicate with a broader organization as well as
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your executive team? What do you do to
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make sure that everyone's focused,
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in spending their time and energy in the
12:11
right things that are going to get you
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into the stability you're looking for in the
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future?
12:17
Yeah. I think, obviously, health care challenges
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abroad.
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That's why our focus and our goals,
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we have laid out in our starts from
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our CEO
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and president of Highmark
12:33
Health, David Homburg, to the president
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of Highmark Health,
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Karen Hamlin,
12:40
and,
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our, you know, our CEO at AHN,
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Mark Sefco. They've laid out a clear vision
12:49
and goals and priorities for,
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not just this year, but through 2030.
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I think having a clear strategy
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and what our focus is gonna be is
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what's gonna drive
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that clarity and communication
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in in all levels of the organization.
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That makes a lot of sense. And, you
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know, having that type of alignment,
13:12
at the top really then trickles down, it
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seems like, to the clarity that you need
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across the board.
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Before we wrap up here, I wanted to
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ask, what do you see as being some
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of the best opportunities for organizational growth when
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you look into the future as well?
13:25
Yeah. I see the best opportunity opportunities for
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organizational growth in several key areas.
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I think one
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is strategic partnership and collaboration
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within Highmark and AHN.
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And our CEO has famously
13:39
coined the term one AHN,
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you know, working truly as it's, you know,
13:43
one system, one enterprise,
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leveraging the strength of broader Highmark Health and
13:49
AHN
13:50
system offers significant growth potential.
13:53
This could involve joint ventures for new facilities,
13:56
expanding access to our specialized care across the
13:59
network,
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or collaborating on population health initiatives that drive
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referrals
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and improve community health outcomes.
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The other, you know, specialty service line expansion,
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our reputation as level one trauma and transplant
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center coupled with our academic mission
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positions us uniquely to expand highly specialized and
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complex care offering.
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This includes areas like
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advanced neurosciences
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and cardiovascular
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surgery, complex surgery, and complex oncology,
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which often serves at the broader regional and
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national population,
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and developing a center of excellence for AI
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and health care, given our success with predictive
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analytics
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and
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AI tools that I spoke about earlier, we
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have an opportunity
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to further solidify a position as a leader
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in applying AI to improve
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clinical care,
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operational efficiency,
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and even medical education,
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attracting top talent and research funding. I'm confident
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that by focusing on these strategies
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strategic priorities,
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navigating the challenges effectively, and continuing to foster
15:07
a culture of innovation and excellence,
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we can achieve significant growth and continue to
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serve our community at the highest level.
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That I I think it's so critical to
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have all of that in mind and, you
15:19
know, that technology analytics backbone to then drive
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forward everything else you're looking for, with the
15:24
team, the talent,
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the, retention
15:28
of great,
15:29
team there at,
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Allegheny Health Network is just so critical.
15:34
So thank you so much for your time
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today, Imran. This has been such a a
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great conversation, and I look forward to connecting
15:40
with you as well later and continuing on
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with with, this conversation. Thank you, Lara. Thanks
15:45
for having me.