Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building a Disciplined AI Strategy for Health Systems with Drew Smith

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Building a Disciplined AI Strategy for Health Systems with Drew Smith · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:02
  - My name is Chanel Banger and I'm recording
• 0:04
  - live at the Becker's eleventh annual Health IT
• 0:08
  - plus Digital Health and RCM conference in Chicago.
• 0:11
  - Thrilled to speak with Drew Smith, the chief
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  - data and AI officer at ChristianaCare,
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  - who joins us today to
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  - discuss his background, trends he's keeping an eye
• 0:21
  - on it, and a bit more. Drew, thank
• 0:23
  - you so much for joining me today. Well,
• 0:25
  - thank you for having me. Perfect. Well, to
• 0:26
  - get us started out, can you introduce yourself
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  - and tell us a bit about your background?
• 0:31
  - Sure. So my name is Drew. I I
• 0:33
  - work at ChristianaCare
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  - as the chief data and AI officer, which
• 0:36
  - you already said. My background is actually a
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  - little bit in health care, but a whole
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  - lot in other industries, but always running large
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  - analytic shops.
• 0:44
  - Doing predictive analytics as early as 2008 with
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  - a retailer called IKEA, which is a Swedish
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  - furniture company. Worked in, Little Caesars and Village
• 0:51
  - Holdings, which is the pizza company plus some
• 0:53
  - others. Did some consulting that I didn't particularly
• 0:55
  - like.
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  - I had a great stint at OhioHealth, and
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  - now I work at ChristianaCare, which is a
• 1:00
  - a system,
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  - with a very strong presence in Delaware, New
• 1:03
  - Jersey, Maryland, and Southeast Pennsylvania.
• 1:06
  - Perfect. And now that we have a sense
• 1:07
  - of your background,
• 1:09
  - could you give us a quick state of
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  - the union? What has gone well this year,
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  - and what are you focused on for the
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  - rest of 2026?
• 1:14
  - Yeah. So we we have a big event
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  - coming on October 3. We're going live with
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  - Epic. So we are in an Epic conversion.
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  - So that does take a lot of energy,
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  - which is, a very good thing.
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  - But it does mean that we're sort of
• 1:24
  - very much in a planning mode.
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  - So in particular with AI, we need to
• 1:28
  - build up the processes by which we're actually
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  - selecting the right,
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  - thing to work on and working on it
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  - in the right way. And I call that
• 1:34
  - focus, rigor, and discipline. So focus in on
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  - the things that are really important to your
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  - organization, to your caregivers, to your patients.
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  - The rigor part comes in, deliver those AI
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  - models, whether they're native of Epic, home built,
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  - or another third party,
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  - with a really defined,
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  - process that you can follow and refine as
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  - you go. And discipline is focused on the
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  - value identified in the first place and continue
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  - to focus on the value identified in the
• 1:59
  - first place until you achieve that value. Or
• 2:01
  - you don't achieve that value, so be it.
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  - Then you have to have the courage to
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  - sort of walk away from something that's not
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  - doing the thing that you thought it would
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  - do. Got it. Got it. And so now
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  - that we know what you're focused on, what
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  - are the biggest headwinds that you're keeping an
• 2:13
  - eye on and preparing for?
• 2:15
  - Yeah. I think right now,
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  - it's the volume of potential opportunities that we
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  - have. Right? So a lot of folks who
• 2:21
  - are probably up at UGM or even if
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  - you're another,
• 2:25
  - EMR or you're seeing so much news coming
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  - today about the AI, it's it's actually the
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  - the volume of things coming at you,
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  - can make it difficult for the organization to
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  - focus because everybody across the organization has the
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  - potential to leverage AI.
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  - But some of those potentials are much greater
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  - than others. Some are more risky than others.
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  - And so
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  - it's difficult when you have so much stuff
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  - coming at you to to find a way
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  - to prioritize and focus.
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  - Got it. And I guess you already talked
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  - about going live with Epic. But in that
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  - same vein, what is your best opportunity for
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  - growth in the next two to three years?
• 2:59
  - Sure. As a system, we are a growth
• 3:01
  - focused system, and we are increasing our presence
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  - in areas that we don't have a traditionally
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  - strong presence in. And we're doing that with
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  - actually smaller,
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  - sort of, like, mini hospitals. They aren't really
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  - any any place you would have an overnight
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  - stay in, but they're a great place for
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  - people to get care that's above what you
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  - might get in urgent care, above what you
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  - would get at a primary care, but below
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  - what you would need to go to, say,
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  - a level one trauma center. And that's valuable
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  - because we can put those closer to people
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  - where they need them, and we can also
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  - reserve that capacity for, those really truly,
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  - needing emergent cases that come into the to
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  - the big level one trauma center. That's sort
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  - of on the growth side how we can,
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  - actually offer more, care to more people,
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  - throughout Delaware and Southeastern Pennsylvania.
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  - Got it. And as somebody who has led
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  - up so many different types of organizations
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  - outside of health care and in health care
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  - as well, I'm
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  - curious to know your perspective on this question.
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  - Who do you admire as a leader from
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  - any industry and why?
• 3:56
  - Oh, that's a big one.
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  - I... Yeah. I I am always cautious to
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  - get too enamored with a given leader because
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  - I think we tend to, at least in
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  - The States, have sort of a cult of
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  - an individual. Like, we, you know, we worship
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  - Steve Jobs or we worship somebody like that,
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  - but it really takes a team to build
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  - something.
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  - And so that's a really tough one for
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  - me because I I just don't think in
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  - that way.
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  - I do appreciate people who are trying to
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  - do different things,
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  - to to solve problems.
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  - So whether it's people who are running, you
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  - know, foundations that are continuing to work on,
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  - things that persist in this planet that shouldn't,
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  - you know, malaria, for example, stuff like that.
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  - So I think there's a lot of great
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  - organizations out there that continue to push against
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  - things that people say can't be done, and
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  - I admire those people. I love that answer.
• 4:44
  - Well, Drew, I've enjoyed our time today. But
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  - before I let you go, is there anything
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  - else that listeners should know?
• 4:49
  - Yeah. No. I I do think... One of
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  - the things I I I talk to our
• 4:53
  - executives about and anyone who is in health
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  - care is you you do have to pay
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  - as much attention as you think you're paying
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  - to AI, but you gotta go a little
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  - bit deeper. So you could see the news
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  - and the re... You know, Darya... Darya Mide
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  - talking about, you know, putting a pause on,
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  - and do people really know why that is?
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  - I think it's such a big thing.
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  - It does require everybody in a leadership role
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  - to kinda dig in and learn a little
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  - bit more about what's going on,
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  - and not just take at face value maybe
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  - what they're seeing in the quick headlines.
• 5:18
  - Well, that's a great note. And, Andrew, I
• 5:20
  - wanna thank you once again for your time
• 5:21
  - today and for sharing your insights on the
• 5:23
  - Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much. Thanks,
• 5:25
  - Janelle.