Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Charlette Stallworth, MBA, Vice President of Business Development and Innovation at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health

Transcript

Charlette Stallworth, MBA, Vice President of Business Development and Innovation at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:02
  At athenahealth,
• 0:03
  we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a
• 0:06
  healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients.
• 0:10
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 0:12
  make it hard for you and your care
• 0:14
  teams to focus on what matters
• 0:16
  most? That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI
• 0:19
  native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
• 0:22
  streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
• 0:25
  when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
• 0:28
  clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
• 0:31
  lines.
• 0:32
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 0:35
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 0:38
  See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
• 0:44
  Hello, everyone. This is Scott King with the
• 0:45
  Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be
• 0:48
  joined by Charlotte Stallworth,
• 0:50
  vice president business development and innovation,
• 0:53
  Stanford Medicine Children's Health. Charlotte, how are you
• 0:55
  doing today?
• 0:56
  I am well, Scott. How are you? I'm
• 0:59
  great. Thanks so much for joining us. I
• 1:00
  know we're gonna kinda dive into some of
• 1:02
  the big issues facing health care today. Before
• 1:05
  we get started, I just kinda wanna ask
• 1:06
  you a little bit about your your background
• 1:09
  and your work in health care, if you
• 1:10
  don't mind sharing.
• 1:11
  I am happy to share. So,
• 1:14
  my professional background includes
• 1:16
  serving as an officer in the United States
• 1:19
  army.
• 1:19
  And then after graduate school, I was a
• 1:22
  commercial banker and then entered health care
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  in capital finance, then research, and now finally
• 1:28
  business development.
• 1:29
  And I'll say each one of those roles
• 1:31
  has prepared me for my current position
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  at Stanford Medicine Children's Health,
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  where one of my key responsibilities
• 1:39
  is developing, structuring,
• 1:41
  growing partnerships with entities that help advance our
• 1:45
  mission. And so those are relationships with health
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  care systems,
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  hospitals,
• 1:50
  community physicians,
• 1:52
  counties, school districts, tech companies, and startups.
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  And really thinking about how we use innovation
• 1:59
  to enhance and build,
• 2:02
  those solutions
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  that improve health care for our patients and
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  our communities.
• 2:08
  Well, thank you for sharing that background information,
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  and thank you even more for your service.
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  We appreciate that. And I just curious to
• 2:14
  follow that up. What made you wanna get
• 2:15
  into health care after being in the military?
• 2:18
  Yeah. So, like everyone, it's it's like a
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  journey. Right? And there are different choices that
• 2:24
  come up. So really I left the the
• 2:25
  army and went to graduate school at Baylor,
• 2:28
  got my MBA
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  and became a banker first at JP Morgan
• 2:32
  and then at BBVA Compass. And then,
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  one of my clients as a banker was
• 2:38
  a health care system,
• 2:40
  Scott and White
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  in in Texas and,
• 2:44
  ended up joining them. They made an offer
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  for me to join in capital finance and
• 2:48
  managing their
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  debt leasing bonds.
• 2:51
  That part of the business. So, like, a
• 2:53
  lot of consultants,
• 2:55
  bankers attorneys,
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  you know, hired by a client, but really
• 2:58
  love our mission and
• 3:00
  really
• 3:02
  aligned with the kind of the innovation, the
• 3:05
  business and the analysis
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  all coming together,
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  in business development is, you know, really,
• 3:11
  appealing to me.
• 3:13
  That's a really interesting trajectory there for for
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  your career.
• 3:16
  You know, something I wanted to ask you
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  about
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  is our research has told us that nearly
• 3:20
  half of the medical practices
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  reported using AI in some capacity last year,
• 3:25
  and it remains a key topic for health
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  IT leaders.
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  From your perspective,
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  what are the use cases that are making
• 3:32
  a difference right now,
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  and how are you leveraging them in your
• 3:36
  organization?
• 3:37
  Yeah. I really appreciate this question.
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  AI is is
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  very intriguing. And I say I would say
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  the use cases create efficiencies
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  in
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  workflows that are compelling for all industries and
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  particularly healthcare
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  as we've been kind of poised for innovation
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  for a few years now.
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  You know, at Stanford Medicine Children's Health in
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  our clinical space, our providers have access to
• 4:02
  ambient listening technologies that can create clinical notes
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  for review and update by the physicians.
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  Additionally, we are developing AI solutions to improve
• 4:13
  efficiencies in scheduling and decrease the number of
• 4:16
  missed appointments.
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  We're also looking into agentic AI solutions focused
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  on access, human resources, quality and safety,
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  revenue cycle and digital information
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  systems. As you know, agentic AI can complete
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  routine tasks with high levels of accuracy and
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  really allowing the human team members to focus
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  on more complex tasks.
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  And, you know, some of those routine tasks
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  really kind of go across
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  departments like troubleshooting or problem solving.
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  And then, like, for revenue cycle, billing questions
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  and payment processing. So we're super excited about
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  AI, agentic AI, and all of the ways,
• 4:56
  it can enhance,
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  our mission and the work we do at
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  Stanford children's.
• 5:01
  With the different types of AI you were
• 5:02
  just mentioning, what do you think it will
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  take to kind of bridge the gap from
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  using the AI and health systems
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  from the routine tasks you just mentioned into
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  kind of the more complex ones?
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  I think really, you know, the the advancements
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  we're seeing, you know, there are those kind
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  of,
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  incremental
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  advancements. So as we're using agentic AI for
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  those routine tasks and
• 5:24
  it the AI continues to learn and,
• 5:27
  you know, typically we're looking at a human
• 5:29
  in the loop for a certain more complex
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  tasks. So I think as the AI continues
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  to learn
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  and their uses and tests to determine
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  if it can handle that next level.
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  Maybe with the human taking another
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  action versus, you know, stopping everything for the
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  human to make a decision. Maybe the AI
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  makes the decision and consults the human or
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  there'll be another way to look at it.
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  But I think some of that
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  incremental
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  advancement is
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  inevitable. Right? It's just the function of AI
• 6:01
  and our human nature, right, to continue to
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  push for something more.
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  Absolutely. And I and I think it sounds
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  like a lot of health systems are gonna
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  try to to keep humans involved in the
• 6:11
  process, obviously, as long
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  as possible.
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  Getting to the next question,
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  I wanna ask what advice you have for
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  leaders navigating
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  everything
• 6:20
  from governance to patient engagement. And can you
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  share an example of how your organization has
• 6:25
  balanced
• 6:26
  innovation with operational constraints?
• 6:29
  Sure. So advice, I would say, you know,
• 6:32
  Stanford Children's. We definitely are embracing digital innovation,
• 6:35
  and it's really about harmonizing that cut kind
• 6:38
  of cutting edge technology
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  with our foundational values and operational realities.
• 6:44
  And I would just say some of the
• 6:46
  advice I would give is just remain,
• 6:49
  patient focused and patient centric. So we wanna
• 6:53
  prioritize the patient experience and engagement.
• 6:56
  We wanna use patient feedback to tailor digital
• 6:59
  health solutions and make them as intuitive and
• 7:02
  as beneficial as possible.
• 7:04
  And I think another key thing and maybe
• 7:06
  even before you get started is really developing
• 7:08
  that
• 7:09
  robust governance
• 7:10
  framework.
• 7:11
  So you wanna implement clear governance structure to
• 7:14
  guide the technology adoption and set clear policies,
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  especially on establishing data governance protocols and ensuring
• 7:23
  compliance with legal and ethical standards.
• 7:26
  I am chair of our AI oversight committee,
• 7:29
  and this is work we're doing to understand
• 7:33
  AI solutions that we've already integrated into the
• 7:35
  organization
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  and then new solutions,
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  that we're considering.
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  How are you seeing recent legislation in both
• 7:42
  at the state and federal level
• 7:44
  affect health care organizations
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  and health care IT specifically?
• 7:48
  Have you adjusted strategies in response to to
• 7:51
  that?
• 7:52
  Yes. Stanford children
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  regularly
• 7:54
  monitors federal and state legislation that impacts our
• 7:58
  families and patients and health system.
• 8:01
  And we proactively
• 8:03
  build relationships
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  with our federal to state policymakers
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  in order to educate them on children's
• 8:10
  hospital issues. So
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  we really hope that
• 8:14
  federal flexibilities
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  regarding telehealth services continue into 2026 and beyond.
• 8:20
  And considering that we are a health care
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  system
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  headquartered in Silicon Valley,
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  we are really excited about digital health innovation
• 8:28
  and piloting new technologies
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  with a focus on providing efficient, secure, patient
• 8:34
  centered healthcare.
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  If you had to give one top piece
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  of advice for health care leaders as they
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  prepare for further advancements in technology and rising
• 8:43
  demands for care, what would it be?
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  I would say we have to continue to
• 8:47
  be curious and brave and ethical and always
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  patient focused.
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  As we acquire and partner in technologies that
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  support
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  our shared mission to provide high quality health
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  care to children and families.
• 8:59
  And then, of course, I'm always motivated by,
• 9:03
  you know, technologies
• 9:04
  that we have seen in movies and read
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  about in books. So
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  I think we have to remember that our
• 9:10
  use of,
• 9:12
  say, AI and virtual reality and wearables and
• 9:16
  other technologies,
• 9:18
  could advance to the next tricorder or universal
• 9:21
  translators, which will benefit, you know, health for
• 9:24
  all our local and global communities.
• 9:27
  And my last question for you, Charlotte,
• 9:29
  how are you evolving as a leader?
• 9:32
  How am I evolving? That's a great question,
• 9:35
  Scott.
• 9:36
  I think I'm evolving
• 9:37
  very well as a leader. I think we
• 9:39
  all grow based on our own experiences
• 9:42
  and experiences of others. Right? So
• 9:46
  always I'm very curious and always learning and
• 9:49
  really trying to be
• 9:51
  the best leader I can be and hold
• 9:54
  true to my values. And, you know, I'm
• 9:56
  always driven by doing the right thing.
• 9:59
  And I think,
• 10:00
  that's kind of my guiding light in leadership.
• 10:03
  Appreciate the response and your thoughts there. Thanks
• 10:06
  so much, Charlotte. It was great to have
• 10:07
  you on the podcast. I hope to work
• 10:09
  with you again very soon. Thanks so much,
• 10:11
  Scott.
• 10:14
  At athenahealth,
• 10:15
  we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier,
• 10:18
  a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
• 10:21
  patients.
• 10:22
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 10:24
  make it hard for you and your care
• 10:26
  teams to focus on what matters most.
• 10:28
  That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI native
• 10:31
  all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline
• 10:35
  billing and payments, and deliver critical insights when
• 10:38
  clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks,
• 10:41
  more time for patients, and stronger bottom lines.
• 10:44
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 10:48
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 10:50
  See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.