From left, Christopher Kunney moderates a panel of healthcare leaders Martin Raison, Ryan Sadeghian, Jyothi Karthik Raja and Ami Bhatt at the AI Leadership and Strategy Summit in Chicago.
Photo: Morse/HFN
CHICAGO – More health systems are employing chief AI officers as artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of delivering care.
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, health systems have been embracing the possibilities of AI to relieve burnout by taking over administrative functions, do note-taking for physicians, lessen prior authorization burden and take on other tasks in revenue cycle for a better return.
Clinically, AI is just beginning to make inroads as leaders grapple with risk and a governance structure to keep patients safe and protect their personal information.
The chief AI officer is there to strategize, implement and oversee AI functions. But as executives at the HIMSS AI Leadership and Strategy Summit last week in Chicago often made clear during panel discussions, gaining the trust of the workforce is pivotal to deployment.
One big role of the chief AI officer, then, is to instill confidence and to let staff know that the hospital and health system is taking AI seriously, according to executives who spoke Thursday at "Inside the Mind of the Chief AI Officer: Bridging Innovation and Governance."
"Over 200,000 people at Ascension need to know, AI is important," said Jyothi Karthik Raja, SVP, chief analytics and AI officer, Ascension.
AI has helped drive improvement in revenue, said Ryan Sadeghian, CMIO and former chief AI officer at the University of Toledo.
"We need someone who can drive that type of decision," Sadeghian said.
The role of the Chief AI Officer is to act as a bridge between IT and clinicians, said Martin Raison, cofounder and CTO of Nabia, an ambient AI provider. A common problem is a natural resentment if AI is presented as a new software.
Some don't necessarily think there's value in AI. They don't get it, said Ami Bhatt, chief innovation officer at the American College of Cardiology.
The chief AI officer is there to help staff "get it," especially when the clinicians see the benefit of what's been implemented.
AI has the ability to move up to priority the most significant patient cases, Bhatt said. When clinicians see this, she said, "This is what convinces boots on the ground to move things."
"We're building a plane and flying it at the same time," said Christopher Kunney, HIMSS Changemaker and podcast host of "Straight Outta Health IT." "The role of the chief AI officer is to install confidence, to let them know, we're going down the right path."
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org