Healthcare Innovators Share AI Adoption Wisdom in Net Health Webinar

By Patrick Colletti, Founder of Net Health and Author of Refounder: How Transformational Leaders Take What’s Broken and Make it Better

Health systems are making substantial investments in predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and other technology innovations in the hopes of improving patient outcomes and creating cost savings and operational efficiencies to improve the patient experience. However, the full potential of these solutions may not be realized unless project leaders take the right steps to ensure success.

I recently hosted a Net Health webinar, “Modern Healthcare Innovation Leaders: How Top Health Systems Plan and Execute,” where the importance of preparation and planning for innovative change was the focus. The webinar participants—all bullish on AI and experienced in planning and executing major innovation projects—included Todd Dunn, Vice President of Atrium Health, Paul Nagy, Co-Founder of the Technology Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Roy Rosin, Chief Innovation Officer at Penn Medicine.

Some takeaways from the discussion:

It’s About the Problem, Not the Technology

Webinar participants agreed that we can’t just “drop in” technology, even if it’s excellent. Before designing a solution, we must understand the problem we are trying to solve. The best way to do that is to identify and enlist the people in the organization who really own the business model and get strong agreement on what the problem is before even talking about the solution.

Leading Change

All organizations face a variety of challenges, so it’s important to decide how we are going to prioritize problems. One of the main takeaways from the webinar was that technological change is disruptive and leading it is difficult. Presumptions must be discarded and, occasionally, “darlings killed.” If we don’t challenge underlying assumptions, we may be settling for a solution that provides only small, incremental changes, but not the innovations we desire.

Partner with an Innovator

After the problem is defined and the solution identified, the next question is whether to build or buy. Here again, the advice was clear: If the technology is out there, we should not waste resources developing it. Instead, we should partner with a technology provider that has a track record of innovation—not just in the technology, but how it works for clients. Many of the challenges inherent in AI adoption involve marrying the external and internal systems. Organizations need to find a provider that specializes in building customized, best-in-class solutions that can be easily integrated into the workflow and grow along with organizational needs.

Finally, innovation must be continuous; today’s solutions won’t fit tomorrow’s problems. Don’t fear making mistakes—you only learn by doing!

Listen to the webinar, “Modern Healthcare Innovation Leaders: How Top Health Systems Plan and Execute,” for more great innovator insights, examples and tips.

What does it take to be an innovator? Find out by visiting Refounder.com. 

Modern Healthcare Innovation Leaders

How Top Health Systems Plan and Execute Innovation

View the Webinar