Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Dr. Philip Payne, inaugural Chief Health AI Officer at Washington University Medicine, and Deborah O'Dell, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at BJC Health System
Transcript
- 0:00This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Health
- 0:02Care podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined
- 0:04by doctor Philip Payne, inaugural chief health AI
- 0:07officer at Washington Medicine and BJC Health System,
- 0:10as well as Deborah O'Dell, chief data and
- 0:12analytics officer at BJC Health System. Doctor Payne,
- 0:15Deborah, it's a pleasure to have you on
- 0:16the podcast today.
- 0:19Great. Thanks for having us.
- 0:21I'm excited for our conversation today because, you
- 0:23know, we're really gonna zero in on a
- 0:25collaboration or partnership between you both as well
- 0:27as the Washington University and BJC Health System,
- 0:31which created a new center for health AI.
- 0:34How do these strengths of each organization complement
- 0:37each other in advancing AI in health care,
- 0:39and how will this collaboration evolve over time?
- 0:42I would love to hear from your perspectives
- 0:43what's really important in the development process and
- 0:47and how you plan to continue to grow,
- 0:49the partnership.
- 0:51So maybe I'll start.
- 0:52You know, I think there's this unique opportunity
- 0:55that exists at the intersection of both
- 0:57the Washington University School of Medicine and then
- 1:00our partners at BJC.
- 1:02And when you think about it, really what
- 1:03we're trying to do is advance the design
- 1:06and adoption and use of AI
- 1:08in a way that really drives excellence in
- 1:11both operations and ultimately care delivery.
- 1:14And when you think about the combination of
- 1:15our 2 organizations, we have a wealth of
- 1:17expertise in that medical school from a biomedical
- 1:20research and computational science and AI perspective. And
- 1:24that really provides us with this sort of
- 1:26academic foundation for our work,
- 1:28and that leads to activities like cutting edge
- 1:31algorithm design or training new models or validating
- 1:34systems.
- 1:35And then at the same time, BJC
- 1:38Health System is
- 1:42and then at the same time, BJC Health
- 1:43System is a leading not for profit delivery
- 1:43system and really provides the ideal real world
- 1:44environment in which we can implement and scale
- 1:46these AI solutions.
- 1:48If you think about it, it's really sort
- 1:49of, as I just mentioned, a living laboratory
- 1:52in which we can think about how these
- 1:53technologies scale, how they have impact,
- 1:56and really how they provide value in real
- 1:59world complex workflows.
- 2:01And that means the innovations that we'll be
- 2:02developing won't just work in the laboratory, but
- 2:04they'll really have a direct and practical impact
- 2:06on daily patient care. And this new center
- 2:09is really all about bridging that gap and
- 2:11connecting sort of those 2 sets of capabilities
- 2:14so we can really,
- 2:15navigate that
- 2:17journey from identifying opportunities where AI can provide
- 2:20value to deploying technologies, to evaluating them and
- 2:23then scaling them.
- 2:24And I also think this is emblematic of
- 2:26just the collaborative nature of the relationship between
- 2:29our 2 organizations,
- 2:31especially as we work, even more closely together
- 2:33to drive, care delivery for a substantial population
- 2:37across
- 2:38not only Missouri, but a number of surrounding
- 2:40states.
- 2:42That's amazing to hear. You know? It really,
- 2:45very much, it penalizes
- 2:46how these collaborations
- 2:48between academic side and health system side can
- 2:50really make a big difference. Deborah, is there
- 2:52anything you wanted to add here?
- 2:55I just echo what Philip said. I think
- 2:56this is,
- 2:58for us, the opportunity for us to bring
- 3:00together both the benefits of the what the
- 3:03university brings in terms
- 3:05of their,
- 3:06advanced research and what they bring from biomedical
- 3:09research and AI development. But BJC brings the
- 3:12place where we can operationalize that and scale
- 3:15that. So it's a really effective partnership that
- 3:17we have developed and, looking forward to continuing
- 3:20to advance AI capabilities through that.
- 3:24That makes a lot of sense. Now I
- 3:25know AI has the potential to significantly enhance
- 3:28patient care.
- 3:29Deborah, starting with you, can you share some
- 3:31of the specific ways that technology is being
- 3:34applied right now to improve patient outcomes and
- 3:36overall patient experience?
- 3:40So,
- 3:40you know, AI is already transforming health care
- 3:43operations and clinical outcomes both, through our university,
- 3:47Washington University School of Medicine and BJC Health
- 3:49Care. So we have, for example, predictive algorithms
- 3:53are optimizing patient flow,
- 3:55looking at real time analysis,
- 3:58historical data to help us identify
- 4:00patient trajectories and optimize transitions in care.
- 4:04AI tools are are enhancing early detection and
- 4:07diagnosis through medical imaging data and identifying conditions
- 4:11like cancer or cardiovascular
- 4:13degree,
- 4:14disease. So we are, really helping
- 4:17to support clinicians in making timely and precise
- 4:21decisions.
- 4:22AI is also being used
- 4:24to personalize treatment plans by analyzing electronic health
- 4:28records and genomic data,
- 4:30to really recommend
- 4:32therapies that are tailored and particular in fields
- 4:34like oncology.
- 4:36So predictive analytics are driving,
- 4:39population health, identifying high risk patients. So there's
- 4:42so many opportunities where we're seeing,
- 4:44the demonstration of how AI can,
- 4:47enhance both the efficacy and the the operations
- 4:50so that we can provide superior quality of
- 4:53care.
- 4:54Philip, what would you add?
- 4:56No. I mean, I think that was an
- 4:57excellent summary. I mean, I think a lot
- 4:59of this is anchored on, I think,
- 5:02a driving philosophy here, which is that
- 5:05our goal is to use AI to complement
- 5:08the unique strengths of our providers and our
- 5:10clinical workforce so that it's really this combination
- 5:13of humans and computers working together
- 5:16that is superior to either working alone. And
- 5:18I think that's borne out in a lot
- 5:20of the examples that Deborah gave,
- 5:22which really come down to how do we
- 5:24sort through and understand these massive quantities of
- 5:27data and evidence and knowledge we have and
- 5:28make better,
- 5:30safer,
- 5:32care related decisions for our patients and improve
- 5:35the the value of that care along the
- 5:36way.
- 5:38I love that. It it seems like such
- 5:40a meaningful way to apply technology into, the
- 5:43health system and health system and health care
- 5:44organizations
- 5:45for patients as well as, the team members?
- 5:47And and speaking of your team, how do
- 5:49you envision AI tools improving health care employee
- 5:52experience?
- 5:53Are there any early signs of success or
- 5:55feedback that you've received from those on the
- 5:57front lines?
- 5:59Yeah. I mean, I think you're sort of
- 6:01touching on probably one of the most important
- 6:03areas
- 6:04that we have been looking at,
- 6:06which is how do we remove sort of
- 6:08these high friction, low value tasks,
- 6:13that
- 6:14are taking our providers away from focusing on
- 6:16our patients?
- 6:18And in a similar way, how do we
- 6:19get sort of the computer out of the
- 6:21middle of those interactions, again, between our
- 6:24providers and patients so that we restore a
- 6:27certain degree of humanism to how we practice
- 6:29medicine.
- 6:30So, of course, like many large delivery systems,
- 6:34we've been
- 6:35leveraging
- 6:36ambient AI technology to help automate documentation during
- 6:40patient visits and we've had some very promising
- 6:42results not only in primary care settings but
- 6:45now in procedural disciplines and we're looking at
- 6:47other domains.
- 6:48And this has been described by some of
- 6:51our providers as transformative.
- 6:53We have individuals who used to spend several
- 6:55hours a day after normal business hours documenting
- 6:59that are no longer doing that because they're
- 7:00able to be more efficient and timely with
- 7:02their documentation
- 7:03during the course of their,
- 7:05clinical work.
- 7:07We're also
- 7:08using those same types of technologies to look
- 7:10at how can we do a better job
- 7:11of summarizing the content of electronic health records
- 7:14so that we can get the right information
- 7:15to our providers more quickly, whether they're
- 7:18getting ready to admit a patient
- 7:20or they are seeing a new patient for
- 7:22the first time,
- 7:24or any number of other use cases where
- 7:26prior workflows would involve them spending
- 7:29potentially up to several hours trying to prepare
- 7:31for these types of clinical encounters. And now
- 7:34we've turned that summarization activity into sort of
- 7:36a matter of minutes and mouse clicks. So
- 7:39for us, it's all about how do we,
- 7:41again, restore that humanism in medicine and really
- 7:43let our providers focus on our patients by
- 7:46taking those other tasks out of the mix
- 7:48by automating them. So we're really excited and
- 7:51I think our providers are really excited about
- 7:53this.
- 7:55That's amazing to hear. And, certainly, you know,
- 7:57what what a great,
- 7:58an interesting way to think about technology and
- 8:00using that to then give the providers back
- 8:03time to be more human with their patients
- 8:06and have that really human to human connection.
- 8:08Deborah, is there anything else you wanted to
- 8:10speak to when you think about the employee
- 8:12experience and those that you're working with, to
- 8:14really truly elevate the way things are at
- 8:17BJC Health Care?
- 8:19The only other thing that I'll add is
- 8:20that, when we think about what the new
- 8:23center can can do and how we can
- 8:25leverage technology, it's it's also our employees and
- 8:29staff
- 8:30that might not provide direct patient care. So
- 8:32where can we look at opportunities to help
- 8:35our,
- 8:36our other capabilities, whether they be in our
- 8:38finance team or supply chain to help with
- 8:42tools that make day to day life more
- 8:44efficient, more effective?
- 8:46So I think the center is is here
- 8:49primarily to help that clinical that clinician and
- 8:52that patient experience, but we do see opportunities
- 8:55that can help us as a health system
- 8:56to also be
- 8:57more effective, which really does,
- 8:59ultimately have a positive impact on the patients
- 9:02as well.
- 9:04Absolutely. That's such a great point and and
- 9:06such an important,
- 9:07thing to remember when you're looking at the
- 9:09system as a whole. Now I know the
- 9:10Center For Health AI will offer opportunities for
- 9:13medical students and residents to train on AI
- 9:15driven care. How do you see this influencing
- 9:18the next generation of health care leaders, and
- 9:20what skills will they need in order to
- 9:21succeed,
- 9:23in an AI enhanced medical landscape? What are
- 9:26your thoughts on this, doctor Payne?
- 9:28Yeah. I mean, I think that's a really
- 9:30important question because the fundamental
- 9:32environment in which medicine is being practiced is
- 9:35changing as a function of AI. And so
- 9:37the question is, really, how do we prepare
- 9:39our future practitioners,
- 9:41researchers, and leaders to thrive in that
- 9:48fortuitous timing for us that we've just gone
- 9:50through a
- 9:52refresh of our medical curriculum here at Washington
- 9:54University.
- 9:55And as part of that, we thought about
- 9:56what are really the core areas of expertise
- 9:58that the physician leaders of the future need
- 10:01to have. And one of them was clearly,
- 10:03informatics,
- 10:04AI and data science.
- 10:06And that means we're now integrating that into
- 10:09our medical curriculum. We're teaching our medical students
- 10:12to understand
- 10:13how the use of technology impacts
- 10:16their decision making and how they need to
- 10:18sort of consider that whether that be for
- 10:20diagnostic purposes or therapy planning or any number
- 10:23of other scenarios.
- 10:25We're also using AI powered simulation tools now
- 10:28to create really realistic scenarios so students can
- 10:31practice clinical decision making in sort of a
- 10:33safe space before they end up in the
- 10:35clinical environment. And that provides instant feedback and
- 10:38insights into their performance that are highly tailored.
- 10:41So much like we talk about precision medicine
- 10:43for patients, this is really precision curricula.
- 10:46And then I think much like it has
- 10:49historically been the case that we teach sort
- 10:51of future,
- 10:52again, practitioners
- 10:54and researchers and leaders to critically evaluate,
- 10:57the literature. We're now teaching them how to
- 10:59critically evaluate the output of,
- 11:02AI tools like predictive algorithms
- 11:04so that they understand sort of both the
- 11:06strengths and weaknesses of these types
- 11:10of predictive tools and how they can and
- 11:12should influence clinical decision making in equal measure
- 11:15where
- 11:16sort of appropriate caution may be necessary.
- 11:20And the last area that I would emphasize
- 11:22is
- 11:23we're also giving our students the opportunity to
- 11:26really analyze extremely large datasets and gain insights
- 11:29around
- 11:30phenomena that might be of interest around
- 11:33policy
- 11:34or population health or other sort of
- 11:38interventions that happen beyond the individual patient in
- 11:40the exam room or hospital room. And we're
- 11:43doing that by really democratizing how people access
- 11:45data and analyze data, again, using AI tools
- 11:48that sort of guide the trainee through that
- 11:50process.
- 11:51So really, when you put that all together,
- 11:53we're not only
- 11:55improving the quality and sort of the completeness
- 11:57of the education we provide, but we're also
- 12:00ensuring that those students are ready to go
- 12:01out and practice in a world where
- 12:04AI is going to be ubiquitous and, you
- 12:06know, really a
- 12:08sort of, in some ways,
- 12:10sort of key dimension of the modern practice
- 12:13of medicine.
- 12:15Absolutely. Well, that's fascinating to hear, you know,
- 12:17and certainly, as you think about those next
- 12:20generations of medical students,
- 12:21what a a great tool to have in
- 12:23their back pocket with AI and understanding its
- 12:25limitations, but also opportunities.
- 12:27Deborah, is there anything you wanted to add
- 12:29in there?
- 12:30I'll just say I think, BJC wants to
- 12:33continue to be,
- 12:35a world class institution that brings world class
- 12:37providers here, and so we need to stay,
- 12:40at the forefront of this technology
- 12:42that,
- 12:44our providers are learning to use in school,
- 12:47and we want them to have access to
- 12:49that,
- 12:50at a scale of a system our size
- 12:52and breadth. So, this is why the partnership
- 12:55between BJC and WashU is so important that
- 12:58we can continue to do this in a
- 12:59very unique way, to the medical school and
- 13:02then the size and scale of the BJC
- 13:04system.
- 13:05That's amazing to hear, you know, and really
- 13:07great that on the health system level, you
- 13:09can have that foresight
- 13:10and and support what the medical school is
- 13:12doing. Now I have a few questions for
- 13:14you, doctor Payne, and then we'll follow you
- 13:16back to you, Deborah. But, doctor Payne, one
- 13:18example that you've shared, is using AI to
- 13:20predict excessive
- 13:22blood loss during surgery, which helps improve resource
- 13:25management. Can you expand how AI is improving
- 13:28surgical procedures, diagnostic accuracy, and precision medicine overall?
- 13:33Yeah. I mean, it's a it's a great
- 13:34question and it's a project I'm particularly excited
- 13:36about.
- 13:37There's actually a research team here that spans
- 13:40not only our Institute For Informatics and our,
- 13:43Department of Anesthesiology
- 13:45and Department of Surgery, but also,
- 13:47key partners at BJC.
- 13:49And that group has really sort of demonstrated
- 13:52in a very compelling way how you can
- 13:54use machine learning models to predict
- 13:57blood
- 13:58loss during surgical procedures. And if you're familiar
- 14:01with this domain, sort of the current state
- 14:03of the art is to use sort of
- 14:05historical and largely,
- 14:07I would say out of date data concerning
- 14:09predictive blood loss as a function of how
- 14:12the average patient may
- 14:14sort of
- 14:15experience blood loss during surgery. And the result
- 14:17was a lot of blood products being used
- 14:20in the OR
- 14:22that were necessary but an equal measure of
- 14:24blood products being sent to the OR that
- 14:26were never used and therefore wasted. And so
- 14:28this team actually used
- 14:30over 4,000,000 surgical records from the American College
- 14:32of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database
- 14:36and actually built a highly accurate model that
- 14:39recommended type and screen orders,
- 14:42for patients during the sort of perioperative management
- 14:46sort of period.
- 14:47And actually,
- 14:49this resulted in, if you sort of compare
- 14:51the traditional model versus current model, a difference
- 14:54of 96%
- 14:55sensitivity in anticipating
- 14:58perioperative blood loss using the machine learning model
- 15:01as compared to sort of around 50%
- 15:04sort
- 15:05of sensitivity in a baseline model. And that
- 15:07results in real savings of blood products. So,
- 15:10in a lot of ways, this is about
- 15:12how we can use personalized
- 15:13data driven interventions in order to enhance that
- 15:16perioperative care period and at the same time,
- 15:20really be much more judicious in how we
- 15:22manage
- 15:22a very finite resource that's critical to surgical
- 15:25safety. So, that's I think, a a great
- 15:27example of how all these pieces come together.
- 15:31That it really colors the work that you're
- 15:33doing,
- 15:34well and and spotlights the outcomes and impact
- 15:36it can have not only on patients but
- 15:38the organization too. You mentioned AI can help
- 15:41identify the most effective treatments for individual patients
- 15:44as well. How is this process being applied
- 15:47in practice at WashU and BJC,
- 15:49especially for the complex or rare diseases?
- 15:52Yeah. So,
- 15:55I think one of the things that we
- 15:56know is that especially in rare disease,
- 15:59the availability of therapeutic options is very limited
- 16:01because they are frankly not as appealing to
- 16:05pharmaceutical
- 16:05or bio technology companies. And so we often
- 16:08are in a position where we have to
- 16:10create tailored therapeutic
- 16:13approaches for those individuals.
- 16:15Great examples, we have a research
- 16:17program here working with our neurofibromatosis
- 16:21type 1 center or NF1 center. And this
- 16:23is,
- 16:23the most common rare genetic diseases in children.
- 16:26It's relatively easily diagnosed.
- 16:29But then there's a multitude of phenotypes that
- 16:31patients will present with. Some patients will be
- 16:33fine and will not experience any meaningful symptoms.
- 16:36Some will develop
- 16:37optic pathway gliomas or plexiform neurofibromas,
- 16:41which are painful nerve sheet tumors. Some will
- 16:43develop ADHD. Some will develop scoliosis. I could
- 16:46keep on going down a lengthy list. And
- 16:48the problem is we're not very good at
- 16:50anticipating
- 16:50which of those phenotypes patients will
- 16:53exhibit it. So we tend to manage those
- 16:55patients extremely aggressively trying to find early signs
- 16:58of those various sort of deleterious outcomes, but
- 17:01we're not always good at finding them.
- 17:03And we've actually been able to, again, using
- 17:06artificial intelligence methods and a combination of imaging
- 17:09data, data from the EHR and then various
- 17:12neurobehavioral
- 17:13phenotyping instruments applied to patients directly,
- 17:16we're able to generate highly accurate
- 17:19predictive models that can be used to forecast
- 17:21sort of the disease course for children with
- 17:23NF1. And so what that means now is
- 17:25instead of every child having to have a
- 17:28large amount of imaging or other potentially challenging
- 17:31diagnostic
- 17:32procedures, we can focus on those individuals who
- 17:35are most at risk and often detect the
- 17:37outcomes earlier, which leads to better therapeutic outcomes.
- 17:41And I often say to people, sometimes precision
- 17:43medicine is about finding the right treatment, but
- 17:45sometimes precision medicine is just about demystifying diseases.
- 17:48So we know what to expect and we
- 17:50can be smarter about how we manage those
- 17:52symptoms. And I think this is a great
- 17:53example where we're getting smarter using AI so
- 17:56that we can be very precise in how
- 17:58we manage
- 17:59the clinical course of kids with a very
- 18:01challenging genetic disease.
- 18:04And we need to do more of that.
- 18:05There's no doubt that we have a wealth
- 18:07of data to build these models. It's just
- 18:09that we need to start doing the hard
- 18:11work of bringing those data together,
- 18:13working with our clinical colleagues and frankly running
- 18:16large studies to validate that the models provide
- 18:19clinical value, which is another big part of
- 18:21the project I just described to you.
- 18:24Absolutely. Thank you so much for that example.
- 18:26And real quick, what steps are you taking
- 18:28to ensure that those AI technologies are used
- 18:30responsibly and safely in patient care?
- 18:33Yeah.
- 18:34That is a huge and really important question.
- 18:37Right?
- 18:38How do we make sure that when we
- 18:39deploy ai, it's safe, it's efficacious
- 18:42that we are considering the ethical
- 18:44and legal and social implications of these emerging
- 18:46technologies. And
- 18:47I would start by saying we're committed across
- 18:49Washington BJC to making sure that everything we
- 18:52do through this new Center For Health AI
- 18:54emphasizes
- 18:55delivering these tools in a secure, scalable and
- 18:58reliable manner, but also in a way that
- 19:00prioritizes patient safety and privacy
- 19:02and confidentiality.
- 19:04And that means we have to really sort
- 19:05of use what is often referred to as
- 19:06sort of a privacy by design approach, which
- 19:09means that data governance and the application of
- 19:12appropriate regulatory standards as well as more technical
- 19:16controls,
- 19:16and then engagement of
- 19:18key stakeholder groups to define early and often
- 19:21the ethical
- 19:22frameworks in which these tools exist, all of
- 19:24that has to happen at the beginning of
- 19:26projects, not at the end of projects. And
- 19:28I think one of our challenges often is
- 19:30that we treat these, again, ethical, legal, and
- 19:32social implications of technologies
- 19:35as something
- 19:36that is assessed after the fact.
- 19:38But the likelihood of success is greatly diminished
- 19:41when we do that. And I think the
- 19:43cornerstone of all of this is transparency, right?
- 19:45Making sure that we're empowering our patients,
- 19:47our providers and all the other stakeholders involved
- 19:50in our delivery system so they know when
- 19:52and how we're using AI.
- 19:55And I
- 19:57think ultimately patient safety and these ethical considerations,
- 20:00they're gonna be central to every decision we
- 20:02make about AI deployment.
- 20:04And that means that the teams that we
- 20:05put together will have to be interdisciplinary
- 20:08and include not only technologists and clinicians
- 20:10but ethicists and patient advocates and community representatives.
- 20:14We're gonna have to make sure that we
- 20:16focus on and commit to really rigorous
- 20:18validation of these tools that includes
- 20:20an assessment of sort of the ethical and
- 20:23social impact of their use. And then we
- 20:25have to create these continuous monitoring and feedback
- 20:28loops so that we understand unintended consequences or
- 20:31outcomes
- 20:32of the use of AI rather than treating
- 20:34the process as somewhat unidirectional where we declare
- 20:36success when the tool works, deploy it in
- 20:39the healthcare delivery system, and then move on
- 20:40to the next project.
- 20:42And I would say,
- 20:44much as people have talked about the need
- 20:47to be vigilant about adverse outcomes with new
- 20:49therapeutics as they come to market. I think
- 20:52the same will be very much the case
- 20:54with AI.
- 20:55And I'll just wrap up by saying, in
- 20:57my mind, it is our responsibility
- 20:59at Washington Medicine and BJC
- 21:01to set the benchmark
- 21:03for responsible, safe, and ethical AI innovation in
- 21:05health care. So I don't believe we're satisfied
- 21:08just with, adopting best practices from others, but
- 21:10we really wanna set the standard for what
- 21:12those best practices are.
- 21:15That's amazing to hear. A big job, but
- 21:17one certainly that you're set up well-to-do
- 21:20responsibly.
- 21:21Now, Deborah, from your perspective, one of the
- 21:23primary goals of the center is to improve
- 21:26operational efficiency, including streamlining scheduling and reducing administrative
- 21:29burdens. Can you walk us through some of
- 21:31the AI tools currently being piloted and how
- 21:34they're making a tangible difference for health care
- 21:36providers and patients?
- 21:38Yeah. We're actually,
- 21:39really looking at what our current vendor partners
- 21:43offer embedded in tools that we might already
- 21:45have. And I think this is very common
- 21:47across,
- 21:48the health care environment today that we're in
- 21:50any environment, actually, where they're seeing,
- 21:53existing
- 21:54software and tools that we're using and they're
- 21:57adding in components. So whether that be our
- 22:00EHR vendor or our ERP vendor,
- 22:03we are we are looking at those opportunities
- 22:05to see how we can implement them. I
- 22:07think
- 22:08as Philip and I,
- 22:09are standing up this new center,
- 22:12we really talk about how we can
- 22:14help move these projects along, how we can
- 22:16unstick,
- 22:18where things get get stuck with new technology
- 22:21and,
- 22:22implementation and change of processes. So we're looking
- 22:25at really how we can leverage what we
- 22:27already have today as well as,
- 22:29the experience and knowledge of all the examples
- 22:32that Philip just gave that come from our
- 22:34university research and provider side.
- 22:37So we have many different pilots going on
- 22:39in those spaces where it might feel,
- 22:42like, we don't see it every day, because
- 22:44we're
- 22:46processing
- 22:47payment or we're ordering supplies or we're working,
- 22:51through vendor
- 22:52agree legal agreement. But those are places where
- 22:55AI
- 22:55tools can really help us be more effective
- 22:57and efficient and move things through faster.
- 23:01That's great to hear. You mentioned that AI
- 23:03could help predict demand for equipment and staff
- 23:05resources.
- 23:06What are some of the real world examples
- 23:08of how AI is improving logistics and resource
- 23:10management in health systems, especially in large and
- 23:13complex organizations like BJC?
- 23:16I think today in health care, a lot
- 23:18of health systems are really struggling with similar
- 23:20things around capacity,
- 23:22and throughput. And so understanding how we expect
- 23:27people to come through, the needs and equipment
- 23:29to come through, whether it's shortages
- 23:31that we have in certain supplies,
- 23:33and being able to project and predict when
- 23:35those things are going to happen and what
- 23:37the impact is going to be.
- 23:39So I think
- 23:40most of the country is experiencing some of
- 23:43those at any given time, whether that be,
- 23:45we have backups in our emergency department or
- 23:48we have,
- 23:49IV shortages due to
- 23:51unforeseen,
- 23:52world situations,
- 23:54we need to,
- 23:55we need to be move quickly at helping
- 23:59improve how we can answer those problems and
- 24:01address those resource needs. And so, those are
- 24:05things that we do on a daily basis,
- 24:06and we're hoping the new center can really
- 24:08help us to figure out how to continue
- 24:10to drive those sorts of decision making.
- 24:13I love that. What a great use case
- 24:15and and really strong example. Before we wrap
- 24:17up here, I have one more quick question.
- 24:19How do you plan to scale successful AI
- 24:21tools and solutions from pilot projects to widespread
- 24:24adoption across the health system? What challenges do
- 24:27you anticipate in this process, and how can
- 24:29the center help overcome them?
- 24:32I think, the the challenges are gonna be
- 24:34challenges with any new technology, new change, new
- 24:37processes,
- 24:39learning what works, what doesn't, trying some things.
- 24:42Process change is always,
- 24:44getting some people will be on board. Some
- 24:47people will need more,
- 24:49support and coaching around how this can be
- 24:52different and how this can change their,
- 24:54their workflow and their day. So I think,
- 24:58luckily, I think Philip and I are privileged
- 25:00to work in an organization
- 25:02that,
- 25:03really wants to learn and grow, and we
- 25:06are often just trying to keep up with
- 25:08the needs and demand around how we can
- 25:10do things more efficiently, more effectively, and provide
- 25:12better care.
- 25:13So I think the center will we will,
- 25:17we're really here to help our leaders and
- 25:20our providers
- 25:21do the best that they can for our
- 25:22patients. So however that,
- 25:25however that manifests itself in what we can
- 25:27do every day to support them, I think,
- 25:30I'm excited about it. I'm excited to continue
- 25:33to work with Philip in in how we
- 25:34can scale this and really support what our
- 25:37providers do every day for our community.
- 25:41That's amazing to hear. Doctor Payne, Deborah, thank
- 25:43you so much for joining us on the
- 25:44podcast today. This has been such a full
- 25:46and rich conversation, and I look forward to
- 25:48connecting with you again soon and catching up
- 25:50on some of the great things that you
- 25:51continue to do with the center.
- 25:54Well, thank you for the opportunity.