Best use of emerging tech in health systems from 50 leaders

Emerging technologies have greatly improved efficiency at most health systems.

Over 50 healthcare leaders spoke with Becker’s about their best uses of tech in the past year.

The leaders featured below are speaking at Becker’s 10th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

If you would like to join the event as a speaker, please contact Scott King at sking@beckershealthcare.com.

As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is connecting with healthcare leaders who will speak at the event to get their perspectives on key issues in the industry.

Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Question: What’s your system’s best use of tech in the past year, and why?

Katherine McPherson. Director, Human Resources Operations, CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): Our organization’s VIC Program (Virtually Integrated Care) is one of CommonSpirit Health’s best uses of tech this past year. It is an AI-enhanced platform with virtual nurses plus AI monitoring that will trigger bedside alerts. This can also detect patient movements that can signal a risk of a fall or potential pressure injury. The triggering of bedside alerts along with the monitoring help our bedside care teams proactively provide care to our patients, and this model has proved to be a very positive and beneficial partnership with our bedside care teams by integrating seamlessly into our bedside workflows. 

Carmelita Riley. Senior Director, System Staffing, Houston Methodist: This year, Houston Methodist has continued to invest in technology that helps our care teams spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork. From wearable devices that track vital signs continuously to tools that automatically document conversations, these innovations enable our providers to deliver the highest levels of care in an extremely efficient manner.

Houston Methodist also expanded virtual monitoring to help keep patients safe while maximizing our staff’s time and minimizing stress. These upgrades demonstrate Houston Methodist’s commitment to utilizing technology that supports the highest quality of patient care, reduces employee burnout and enables us to use resources more efficiently.

Toyosi Olutade, MD. Chief Medical Officer, UnityPoint Health-Quad Cities (Rock Island, IL): One of the most exciting changes at UnityPoint Health this year has been rolling out virtual admission and discharge nurses across the system. It has helped keep patients moving, eased pressure points, and given our bedside teams more time for what they do best—direct patient-facing care.

The difference has been clear: smoother operations and a better experience for both patients and staff. When we deploy technology with people in mind, it makes a difference.

Emily Jacobsen. Vice President, Clinical Systems and Chief, Clinical Informatics, University of Maryland Medical System (Baltimore): One of our most impactful tech implementations this year has been Epic’s Slicer Dicer tool. Though we’ve only been live for under a year, it’s already empowering teams—especially in pharmacy and billing—to explore data independently, identify trends, and drill into line-level insights. The ability to jump directly to related records has made reporting more intuitive and actionable. We’ve currently implemented 59 models, and feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re also leveraging the tool to track implementation success and key performance indicators across several initiatives, helping us better understand adoption and outcomes in real time.

Michael Schnabel. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, University of Texas Health Science Center (Houston): This past year, our health system’s most important achievement has been advancing technology and cyber resiliency to safeguard patient care.  By strengthening infrastructure with multi-site redundancy, automated failover, and secure data transfer capabilities, we’ve ensured that critical clinical systems remain available without interruption.  This resiliency protects against disruptions, giving providers confidence that patient records, imaging, and essential applications are always accessible when needed most.

We also advanced AI adoption to directly support clinicians and patients. Through the Abridge platform, ambient listening now automates clinical documentation, reducing administrative burden and allowing providers to devote more time to meaningful patient interactions.  Early adoption shows measurable improvements in accuracy, efficiency, and clinician satisfaction.  In parallel, our NESA virtual nursing program extends bedside care by remotely managing routine tasks and monitoring, freeing on-site nurses to concentrate on higher-acuity needs.  The result is improved efficiency, enhanced patient experience, and reduced staff strain.

Together, these initiatives highlight how resilient infrastructure and intelligent AI adoption are shaping a more reliable, efficient, and patient-centered health system.  

Elmer Laureano. Director, Patient Access, Inova Health Systems (Falls Church, VA): Over the past year, we at Inova Health Systems have made significant progress in improving our Emergency Department (ED) Self-Registration completion rates. As a system, we are currently averaging a 60% completion rate, with a couple of facilities achieving and maintaining rates above 80%. ED self-registration plays a vital role in enhancing the accuracy of demographic data by allowing patients to enter their information directly. This not only improves data integrity but also empowers patients by giving them autonomy during their ED visit. It enables them to focus more on their care and engage more effectively with our clinical teams. 

Jennifer Ledford. Director, Analytics and Financial Operations, Northeast Georgia Health Systems (Gainesville, GA): From the perspective of our Clinically Integrated Network, the most impactful use of technology over the past year has been the implementation of DAX Copilot, an AI-enabled clinical documentation support tool. Designed to assist providers during patient encounters, DAX Copilot helps streamline charting processes and supports more complete documentation, which may contribute to improved Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) coding and identification of care gaps. While we are still in the early stages of implementation, we are encouraged by its potential to enhance documentation quality and provider efficiency. This initiative also reflects our organization’s commitment to investing in tools that support clinicians—helping to reduce administrative burden and contributing to efforts aimed at mitigating provider burnout.

Nariman Heshmati, MD. Chief Physician and Operations Executive, Lee Physician Group, Lee Health (Fort Myers, FL): We have had many good uses of tech in the past year and continue to explore more; however, our best use has to be Abridge AI scribes. This is something that was easily adopted by our clinicians, has reduced clinical documentation times, and has a widespread impact throughout our group.  As we explore other tech solutions, we are looking for things that meet similar criteria—easily implemented, demonstrated results, and wide applicability.

Patricia “Pidge” Lohr. System Chief Nursing Officer, INTEGRIS Health (Oklahoma City): In the past year, our best use of technology has been advancing virtual care and patient safety. We launched virtual nursing pilots that streamline workflows by shifting admissions, discharges, medication reconciliation, and education to virtual nurses, allowing bedside teams to focus more on direct care. At the same time, we implemented a new telesitter platform and vendor, improving reliability and scalability to better monitor patients at risk for falls or safety events. Together, these innovations reduce workload pressures, optimize resources, and strengthen both patient and caregiver safety.

Kammie Monarch. Chief Nurse Executive, San Juan Regional Medical Center (Farmington, NM): In its’ quest to intervene early when a patient appears to be at risk for falling,  San Juan Regional Medical Center implemented Avasure’s mobile, two-way telesitting technology. As a result, on a monthly basis, hundreds of potential falls have been averted, and potential self-harm, elopement and other adverse events have been prevented. The effectiveness of this technology is such that the San Juan Regional Medical Center is doubling its’ inventory of two-way telesitting monitors this fiscal year.

Reid Stephan. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, St. Luke’s Health System (Boise, ID): Our system’s most impactful use of technology this past year has been the deployment of ambient AI to support clinical documentation. By listening unobtrusively during patient visits and automatically generating structured notes, this solution has allowed us to move away from a zero-sum model where improvements for providers, patients, or shared services often come at the expense of another group. Instead, ambient AI has created a universally beneficial experience with a threefold impact:

• For providers: It has dramatically reduced documentation burden, freeing clinicians to focus more fully on patient care rather than screens.
• For patients: It has elevated the care experience through greater eye contact, stronger communication, and more meaningful connections with their providers.
• For shared services: It has strengthened downstream processes in coding, billing, and analytics by producing documentation that is more accurate, consistent, and timely.

In short, ambient AI has proven to be a rare win-win-win that advanced provider well-being, patient satisfaction, and system efficiency all at once.

Harshal Shah. Director, Virtual Care, Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, NJ): Over the past year, the most impactful use of technology has been advancing virtual care and AI-enabled tools to improve patient access and experience. At Hackensack Meridian Health, we have standardized Epic-integrated video visits and expanded remote patient monitoring, giving clinicians real-time insights while making care more convenient for patients. We have also streamlined scheduling and added translation services to reduce barriers for diverse populations. These initiatives demonstrate how digital health can move beyond IT projects to become true patient and clinician-centric products, improving quality, access, and outcomes.  

Christopher Horvat, MD. Senior Director, Clinical Informatics, UPMC (Pittsburgh): Our health system’s most impactful technology initiative this past year has been moving 40 hospitals onto a single electronic health record (Epic), paired with a cloud-based analytics platform (Snowflake). While full deployment will be completed by mid-2026, the work already underway is transforming how we deliver and measure care. The power lies not only in the software itself but in the time saved through harmonized data and standardized deployment across such a large system. This unified foundation allows us to rapidly build registries, conduct massive observational studies, embed clinical trials directly into care, and track operations with unmatched fidelity. By combining standardization of best practices with the ability to systematically test and scale individualized strategies, we’re refining a learning health system that advances world class care while delivering it.

Dan Exley. Interim Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Sharp HealthCare (San Diego): Sharp’s best use of tech this year is pretty unanimously the deployment of Abridge for our ambient scribe solution for physicians and APPs. As one of my peers said recently, “Deploying Abridge was the hardest I’ve ever run downhill deploying technology to clinicians.” I think it may be followed closely by our deployment of iPads for patient use in the acute care settings. We had our Digital Product Managers work with our Patient & Family Advisory team members in our Innovation Center to determine the best ways to configure those devices, and communicate with our patients about this new technology, and as a result we have utilization in the top 1% across the Epic customer community, which has yielded incredible outcomes in our patient engagement and satisfaction outcomes as a result of ready access to remote nurses, pharmacists, and other caregivers.

James Solava, DO. Medical Director, Clinical Informatics, Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh): I must say, the standout achievement in leveraging technology at Allegheny Health Network over the past ten months has certainly been the implementation of ambient scribe technology. We began a pilot program with three vendors in November 2024. This continued until July 2025 when we selected a final vendor.

Since beginning this pilot, we’ve managed to scale the technology to over 400 providers across more than 40 specialties, encompassing inpatient, ED, and ambulatory settings. The results have been tremendous. We’ve seen an 86% reduction in after-hours work and a 78% decrease in cognitive load for our providers. This has directly translated into happier doctors and patients who are enjoying more face-to-face time with their healthcare providers.

We continue to enroll more providers in the program and we are looking to get this technology in the hands of other members of the healthcare team in the near future.

Rachel K. McEntee, MD. CMIO and Associate Professor, Medicine, University of Vermont Health (Burlington): The best use of tech this year at University of Vermont Health is our enterprise-wide rollout of Abridge for ambient note documentation. This initiative checked all the boxes: great vendor partnership, engaged clinical and operational leaders, clearly established and measurable goals and success metrics, and a high-quality solution that solves a problem we have rather than being a solution in search of a problem. Our physicians and APPs love it, and we are seeing a tangible benefit in burnout reduction and decreased cognitive load, most pronounced in clinicians who use the tech for at least half of their patient encounters. 

Anneliese Fischer. Revenue Cycle Manager, The Medical Center at Ocean Reef (Key Largo, FL): Over the past year, one of our most impactful technology implementations has been an AI-driven billing and coding software that seamlessly integrates with our current system. It analyzes provider documentation in real time and suggests appropriate billing codes based on clinical content, significantly reducing manual coding errors and improving claim accuracy. This tool not only enhances efficiency for our RCM team but also supports providers by streamlining their workflows and ensuring optimal reimbursement.

We’ve also seen improvements in compliance, audit readiness, and denial rates since deploying this solution is a testament to the power of using intelligent automation in healthcare revenue cycle operations.

Mark Townsend, MD. Chief Clinical Digital Ventures Officer, Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati): One of the best uses of new technology at Bon Secours Mercy Health in 2025 has been the rollout of ambient documentation for nursing. Through the leadership of Brian Weirich, our Chief Innovation Officer, our partnership with Abridge makes us the second health system to deploy ambient documentation for nursing. Nurses are our largest clinical workforce, and our teams are doubling down on empowering them to work smarter, not harder!

Michelle Myers, MHL, CPC, Senior Director, Revenue Cycle Management, Boulder Care (Portland, OR): Boulder’s best use of technology this past year has been in fully leveraging our digital platform to deliver timely, patient-centered care. Because our model is entirely tech-driven, we’re able to meet patients where they are—especially those who are often marginalized or underserved—and help drive meaningful improvements in health outcomes. By removing barriers like geography, stigma, and long wait times, our virtual care model ensures that patients can access high-quality treatment when they need it most.

This culture of technology is woven through every aspect of Boulder’s work, from initial enrollment and ongoing clinical engagement to billing and support services. By building our care delivery around technology, we’ve created a system that is not only more efficient, but also more compassionate and responsive to the unique needs of our patient community.

Looking ahead, we’re layering in AI and other emerging technologies to further innovate and expand what’s possible. These tools allow us to streamline processes, personalize patient interactions, and proactively identify needs—helping our teams deliver care that is both scalable and deeply human. In this way, Boulder’s use of technology goes beyond convenience—it is a lifeline that connects patients to consistent, personalized support that can truly change lives.

Bryon Frost, MD. CMIO, McLeod Health (Florence, SC): Our most notable success this year has been the deployment of Suki as our ambient AI scribe. By structuring the contract around patient encounters rather than a fixed subscription fee, we aligned incentives with the vendor which accelerated adoption and scaling. This arrangement allowed us to cap monthly costs and avoid paying for under-utilized licenses. Adoption has been strong, producing a net financial gain of $2,629 per provider each month through improved coding and increased patient capacity. Most importantly, this approach has reduced physician burnout and improved patient satisfaction; a clear ROI win for a non-academic health system like ours.

Anthony Pratt. Director, IS Service Desk, Sinai Health Systems (Chicago): Within the past year we at Sinai Chicago have used several features within EPIC and the feature that places a little ease of use for us would be Telemedicine and Virtual Health. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of telemedicine (virtual doctor visits), but in the past year, its integration has been taken to new heights. Now, telehealth platforms use advanced AI to triage patients and direct them to the appropriate specialist. They can also monitor chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension remotely through wearable devices, sending real-time data to physicians for more personalized care.

James M. Blum, MD, FCCM, Chief Health Information Officer, University of Iowa Health Care (Iowa City): Our most impactful technological advancement this past year has undoubtedly been our use of AI, specifically ambient technology and chart discovery tools. These innovations were instrumental in achieving a 19-point increase in our Arch Collaborative Net EHR Experience Score among providers. Additionally, we observed a significant decline in burnout indicators. I genuinely doubt that we’ll ever implement something as transformative again in my career.

Zafar Chaudry, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and Chief AI and Information Officer, Seattle Children’s: Seattle Children’s has partnered with Google Cloud to develop Pathway Assistant, an AI-powered tool designed to help clinicians access critical medical information quicker. The tool uses Google’s Gemini models to synthesize information from the hospital’s extensive library of clinical standard work (CSW) pathways, which are comprehensive treatment protocols for various conditions. Previously stored in hundreds of thousands of pages of PDFs, these pathways can now be queried by clinicians in natural language, receiving a concise and accurate response in seconds. This drastically reduces the time needed for research, allowing providers to focus more on direct patient care. The assistant also provides sources for its answers and uses feedback from users to continuously improve its accuracy and the underlying documentation.

William Hidlay, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus): Across the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, we have successfully implemented the use of the Microsoft Dragon Ambient eXperience Copilot application (DAX), which uses conversational, ambient and generative AI to securely listen to a provider-patient visit and draft clinical notes in the patient’s electronic medical record. Rather than the doctor or advanced practice professional typing notes during a patient visit, they can focus on their conversation with the patient and then review and edit the notes afterward. We have an estimated 1,000 physicians and APPs using the DAX ambient listening application in about 12,000 patient encounters each week. Using this technology has saved our providers an estimated 3-5 minutes per note, a 66% savings in documentation time. More importantly, it has eased the documentation burden for our physicians and APPs while improving the experience for patients because their clinicians are spending more time truly focused on them during each visit.

Deepti Pandita, MD. CMIO, Vice President, Clinical Informatics and Associate Professor, Medicine, University of California Irvine Health (Orange): One of our most impactful uses of technology this past year has been the deployment of ambient AI for clinical documentation. By automating note-taking during patient encounters, we’ve significantly reduced the administrative burden on providers. This has led to measurable improvements in provider wellbeing and a noticeable decrease in burnout. Ambient AI allows clinicians to focus more fully on patient care, while ensuring documentation is timely, accurate, and less burdensome.

Michael Mainiero. Chief Digital and Information Officer, Catholic Health (New York): We’ve taken a deliberate, system-wide approach to scaling AI and automation at Catholic Health, with a focus on solutions that are patient-centered, operationally sound, and clinically relevant. Two-way texting and conversational AI have become a highly-engaging way for patients to schedule, communicate, and stay connected across their care journey, fully integrated into our Epic workflows. This work sits within a broader strategy that includes AI-assisted coding, ambient patient monitoring at the bedside, and other targeted initiatives. Across all of it, we prioritize clear attribution to patient or provider experience, financial impact, time saved, and quality or safety outcomes.

Nadine Simmons-Ziegler. Vice President, Perioperative Services, South Shore University Hospital Northwell Health (Bayshore, NY): Across Northwell Health, we’ve embraced advanced analytics and AI-driven platforms to improve perioperative efficiency and patient outcomes.  We use Copient Health to optimize OR scheduling and LeanTaaS to forecast system-wide surgical demand. 

At South Shore University Hospital, we use Copient Health’s machine-learning tools to optimize OR scheduling, uncover unused block time, and improve patient access.  Across Northwell Health, LeanTaaS enhances system-wide forecasting and resource utilization, helping us grow surgical volume without expanding infrastructure. Together, these platforms have streamlined coordination, reduced delays, and elevated the surgical experience for patients, surgeons, and staff.

Bob Berbeco, Chief Information Officer, Mahaska Health (Oskaloosa, Iowa): Over the past year, Mahaska Health’s most transformative use of technology has been the advancement of measurement culture, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) based tools into clinical and operational practice. By forming a multidisciplinary data / AI core team that consists of senior leaders, providers, informaticists, AI developers, and technologists, we have worked in partnership to further the use of analytic and AI tools. This resulted in our organization enhancing its ability to visualize trends, measure outcomes, and make timelier data-driven decisions. With a strong emphasis on enhancing our measurement culture, we have built greater trust and accessibility of information, empowering providers and staff to have more accurate, transparent, and well-managed data. Access to Epic Cosmos has also expanded opportunities for research, grant funding, and benchmarking against national standards. 

These efforts have established metrics for success, empowered teams to identify opportunities for continual incremental improvement, and strengthened collaboration across departments. For the community, this investment means more informed care delivery, improved efficiency, and greater potential to leverage insights for population health initiatives. By having a clear focus on AI, data science, and data governance in its core organizational roadmap, Mahaska Health is shaping a more connected, transparent, and patient-centered future.

David Flannery, MD. Director, Telegenetics and Digital Genetics, Medical Genetics and Genomics Department, Cleveland Clinic: For our system, the biggest impact has been the rollout of AI scribing software.

For our Department of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the big impact has been our development and implementation of a chatbot for pre-test education and consent for patients referred for Pharmacogenomic testing.

Judd Hollander, MD. Senior Vice President, Healthcare Delivery Innovation and Chief Virtual Care Officer; Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Health (Philadelphia): Jefferson Health has staked a bold AI strategy to reclaim 10M+ clinician hours by 2028 by giving providers more time for what matters most: caring for patients and families. In the last week alone over 20,000 notes were generated by ambient AI. Nearly 10,000 users are already provisioned to use the technology, we have seen more than a 10-fold growth in clinician utilization in the last 3 months with 1,000 clinicians using it last week and 142 of them were new users. It’s about time….for patients. 

Marcus Speaker, MD. Associate CMIO, Carilion Clinic (Raonoke, VA): In the past year, our most transformative use of technology has been the deployment of Microsoft’s DAX Ambient Scribe. This solution has meaningfully advanced physician well-being by reducing documentation burden and restoring time for direct patient care. What makes this implementation stand out is the unsolicited feedback from frontline clinicians who consistently describe it as one of the most impactful innovations they have experienced. Rarely do we see a technology adoption resonate so deeply across the organization, and its positive effect on both our providers and patients has been extraordinary.

Marvin Mickelson Jr. System Director, Shared Revenue Cycle, The University of Kansas Health System (Kansas City): In one of my areas of responsibility, we started using machine learning and algorithms from a vendor using our data to facilitate the resolving of credit balances.  This process has assisted us in resolving more than 18,000 Hospital Billing accounts and more than 78,000 Professional billing lines for more than $52 million of credits.  The credits resolved consist of both false credits caused by adjustments and payments that resulted in credits.

James Matera, DO, FACOI, ACPE, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, CentraState Medical Center (Freehold, NJ): For us, at CentraState, it revolves around data, data, data!  As we mature in the use of EPIC and now Vizient, the data we obtain and analyze can help us achieve strategic goals like decreasing variability, targeting readmissions, and looking at HAIs, like CAUTIs and CLABSIs.  This data enables us to set standards, workflows and clinical pathways in an effort to decrease fragmentation in delivery of care. 

Robb Wetmore, MHR, Director, Digital Healthcare, Variety Care (Oklahoma City): In the past year, our most impactful use of technology has been the implementation of DAX, which has been met with nothing but glowing remarks from our providers. It has improved satisfaction across the board—enhancing documentation and coding, reducing claim edits, and most importantly, freeing providers to be more engaged and less rushed with their patients. Even our patients notice the difference.

That said, when I zoom out to the bigger picture, our investment in telemedicine and remote care is the most transformative. At a time when many of our most vulnerable patients feel unsafe leaving their homes and trust in healthcare continues to erode, the ability to meet people where they are—physically and emotionally—is essential. Reliable, dependable care at a distance ensures access, preserves continuity, and reinforces that their health matters no matter the circumstances.

Roxanne Foreman. Vice President, Delivery IS Solutions, Marshfield Clinic Health System (Marshfield, WI): Over the past year, our most impactful use of technology has been the integration of AI across both clinical and administrative domains. While AI in care delivery—like automated coding and charge capture—continues to drive measurable improvements in revenue integrity and compliance, what’s truly transformative is how we’re using AI to empower our administrative teams and streamline everyday operations.

From automating repetitive workflows to accelerating data analysis, AI is helping us make smarter decisions faster. It’s not just about efficiency—it’s about freeing up our people to focus on higher-value work. Whether it’s resolving credit balances, optimizing staffing, or surfacing insights for strategic planning, AI is becoming a decision-making partner across the organization. It’s helping us shift from reactive to proactive, and that’s a game-changer for how we lead and deliver care.

Andre Harris Sr., MD. CMO, Miami Valley Hospital (Dayton, Ohio): The adoption of DAX Copilot and the future move to Dragon Copilot is a transformational change for the system. In our trial group, one of the Family Practice doctors stated that this is the first time in 25 years that I have left the office right at 5:00 pm. Ambient AI is going to add back hours to the physician’s day, enhance patient experience, and streamline patient care.

Teresa Ash, PharmD. Director, System Operations, Digital Health, UC Health (Cincinnati): UC Health’s most significant technological advancement this year has been the continued deployment of AI-powered systems. Integrated with many clinical systems, AI-platforms help clinicians make faster, more accurate diagnoses while reducing manual documentation, but the utility of AI does not stop there. The organization continues to leverage the benefits of machine learning by applying it to employee experience, documentation support, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance.  Together, these innovations demonstrate UC Health’s commitment to enhanced employee experience, and smarter, more efficient, and compassionate healthcare.

Kelsey Fitzgerald. Director, Strategic Operations, Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN): Over the past year, our team’s most transformational use of technology has been embedding a product-centric operating model directly into clinical practice. This approach enables a high-functioning bridge between care delivery and technology by aligning cross-functional teams around clinician-led innovation and human-centered design. As a result, we’ve accelerated scalable solutions that are not only clinically relevant but also deeply integrated into frontline workflows.

Jen Jackson. Vice President, Operations and Chief Nursing Officer, UC Health (Cincinnati): UC Health has continued to embrace technology to empower both patients and associates in meaningful ways. Over the past year, we’ve expanded self-scheduling capabilities for radiology procedures, giving patients greater autonomy and convenience in managing their care. On the associate side, we’ve implemented real-time digital tools for reporting safety concerns, enhancing our culture of transparency and continuous improvement. These innovations reflect our commitment to leveraging technology to improve access, engagement, and safety across the system.

Jeffrey Sattler, PharmD. System Medical Informatics Physician, CDI Physician Advisor, Hospital Medicine Division, Saint Luke’s Health System (Kansas City): Our best use of technology in the past year, in my opinion, is the use of Generative AI to provide assistance to physicians and APPs with both chart review and documentation.  We have implemented summarization tools for both ambulatory and inpatient chart review which have sped up the tedious process of chart review prior to seeing a patient.  Also, ambient voice has been added initially in our ambulatory areas and now on the inpatient side to provide an AI assist with documentation efforts. Combined together, this technology has been very useful and impactful on time spent in EHR/patient charts reviewing and documenting before/during/after patient visits. 

Ryan Vervack, CTO, University of Maryland Medical System (Baltimore): Our best use of technology this past year was advancing our AI governance framework and pairing it with real, operational use cases. We didn’t just experiment with AI in a vacuum – we established a structured review process to make sure any AI or custom development is safe, clinically appropriate, and aligned to our strategy. At the same time, we deployed AI in ways that directly help our staff and patients.

This is critical because it balances innovation with trust. We’ve made AI useful at the point of care and in daily workflows, while also putting in place the guardrails to do it responsibly and at scale. That combination – impact today with a foundation for tomorrow – is what makes it transformative.

Lisa Stump. Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer, Mount Sinai Health System (New York, New York): In a year defined by complexity, our biggest tech win was clarity. We unified information from our EHR, ERP, and dozens of clinical and business platforms—imaging, genomics, billing, and more— along with key external benchmarks, into a single architecture. This created a trusted source of truth for performance metrics, enabling clinical and operational leaders to align around shared goals and drive measurable results in real time.

Robert Poznanovich. Chief Growth Officer and Senior Fellow, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation (Center City, MN): Our best use of technology this year has been the launch of Wayfinder, our digital patient pathways platform. It creates a single, guided entry point that adapts to each person’s needs—whether that’s screening, education, scheduling, or recovery support. I believe it’s transforming the patient experience by breaking down barriers, reducing stigma, and expanding access to care at scale—and its evolution makes it an ideal platform to integrate more AI, further personalizing and strengthening the pathways ahead.

Luis Taveras, PhD. Senior Vice President and CIO, Jefferson Health (Philadelphia): One of the most impactful technological advancements our system has implemented over the past year is the deployment of ambient technology to support our physicians. This innovation has significantly transformed their day-to-day experience, alleviating the burden of administrative tasks—particularly the time-consuming documentation of patient visits. By seamlessly integrating ambient intelligence into clinical workflows, we’ve enabled physicians to refocus on what truly matters: patient care.

This shift has not only enhanced the overall quality of life for our medical professionals but has also reignited their passion for practicing medicine. Many are now able to engage more meaningfully with patients, free from the constant pressure of data entry and paperwork. The result is a more human-centered approach to healthcare, where technology works quietly in the background to support—not hinder—the clinician.

Moreover, this initiative marks a major milestone in our broader organizational mission: reclaiming 10 million hours of productivity. By reducing administrative overhead and streamlining clinical operations, ambient technology is helping us move decisively toward that goal, creating a more efficient, fulfilling, and sustainable healthcare environment for everyone involved.

Kristine Lee, MD. Associate Executive Director, Virtual Medicine and Technology, Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, CA): I would say our best use of tech in this last year has been in productivity and efficiency tools for our clinicians. This includes the use and expansion of ambient scribe technology broadly across our organization to many health care providers including therapists, APPs, RNs as well as physicians.  Note summarization in our EHR has spared thousands of clicks and reduced cognitive burden. Predictive risk calculators have helped us maximize access and save lives!

Lauren Bruckner, MD, PhD. CMIO, Roswell Park (Buffalo, NY): I’d have to say that Roswell Park’s most impactful use of technology this past year was the transformation of our revenue cycle systems, a strategic initiative that advanced patient-centered care and operational sustainability. We replaced legacy platforms with modern, integrated solutions to improve access, scheduling, and claims management, while also redesigning workflows to enhance clinic efficiency and patient experience. In parallel, we launched a new AI and digital health governance framework to guide responsible innovation across clinical and operational domains. These efforts reflect our commitment to thoughtful, mission-driven digital transformation that supports both care delivery and long-term institutional strategy.

Shakeeb Akhter. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: The best use of technology last year at CHOP was telehealth platforms, wearables, and other digital tools (like digital stethoscopes) to enable digital care models such as Remote Patient Management, Virtual Nursing, Virtual Urgent Primary & Urgent Care, and eConsults at CHOP. Over the last 2 years, we have launched 12 digital care programs, and now have over 12,000 children participating in a digital care model. From an outcomes perspective, we have seen significant reduction in re-admissions within certain RPM programs, a decrease in discharge times through virtual nursing, and an 80% likelihood that an econsult with a specialist can reduce the need for an in-person referral, increasing capacity and access to specialty care.

Gulshan Mehta, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Blanchard Valley Health System (Findlay, OH): We have focused on using technology to give patients what they value most – convenient access to care through modernized tools. For our community, that translates into better connections to care and better health outcomes. When patients can reach us easily, it changes the care experience and in rural health that is equity in action.

Priya Kumar, MD. Vice President, Medical Affairs and CMO, Self Regional Healthcare (Greenwood, SC): The most impactful technology adoption in our system this past year has been Accuity, an AI-powered and physician-led platform for Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI). Accuity leverages advanced analytics and clinical expertise to ensure documentation fully captures patient acuity, comorbidities, and severity of illness. This has helped us increase billing capture and improve our case mix index, reflecting a more accurate picture of the care we deliver. Beyond the financial gains, it enhances the integrity of our clinical records, providing stronger support for quality metrics and compliance. Over time, we expect these improvements to drive both sustained financial performance and measurable gains in patient care quality.

Ken Nepple, MD. Associate Chief Health Information Officer, Physician Value Officer, Clinical Documentation Improvement Advisor, Clinical Professor, Urology, University of Iowa Health Care (Iowa City): We innovated by being an early adopter of AI powered chart summary embedded within the EHR (Evidently within Epic). I am the resident skeptic within our informatics group, but the ability to integrate information from EHR and HIEs and media/faxes has had a huge impact on my clinical practice and we are actively working on expanding the use of advanced features to our clinicians and nurses. 

Brittany Cyriacks. Clinical Informatics Program Director, UCHealth (Aurora, CO): At UCHealth, our most impactful use of technology this past year has been expanding virtual monitoring to detect early signs of sepsis and patient deterioration. By combining AI-driven alerts, centralized virtual nurses, and real-time communication with bedside teams, we’ve been able to intervene earlier, reduce mortality, and support our frontline staff. This effort represents not just new technology, but a true redesign of care delivery through partnership between clinicians, IT, and operations.

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