Monument Health CIO on upskilling staff for AI future
Monument Health’s CIO, Patrick Woodard, MD, told Becker’s he views AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, the workforce — and believes upskilling will be critical as adoption accelerates.
“Humans won’t be replaced by AI, but they will be replaced by humans who know how to use AI,” Dr. Woodard said. “If you’re a clinician or a healthcare administrator and you’re not at least exploring how to use these tools today, then you need to be asking yourself, ‘How can I get started?’”
Dr. Woodard, who joined Monument Health in 2023, said he regularly uses large language models as a “thought partner” to strengthen presentations and expand ideas. He emphasized that AI can improve the quality of work across all roles — from nurse managers to CIOs — if health workers begin engaging with the tools now.
He acknowledged, however, that uncertainty around AI has sparked concerns about job security. He likened the moment to the introduction of ATMs, which were initially feared as a threat to bank tellers.
“After ATMs went in, there actually were more bank tellers, but their work was slightly different,” he said. “It’s not like we are fully staffed today and can just staff down. Perhaps it’s just that we’re able to do not more with less, but more with the same.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Woodard said the Rapid City, S.D.-based health system is targeting routine, low-value tasks for automation — such as insurance verification — to free staff for higher-value work.
“I see the Monument Health of 2030 being one where each job is itself more rewarding, because we’re taking a lot of the toil off of your plate and replacing it with something that’s of higher value,” he said. “Those are the things that drive job dissatisfaction.”
The health system is also expanding its use of ambient AI for documentation, which has already shown success among outpatient providers. Monument plans to extend these tools to more specialties and eventually to nurses.
In the coming year, Dr. Woodard said, Monument will focus on making the patient experience more seamless through technology such as online scheduling powered by AI.
“Patients expect that Amazon experience,” he said. “The reality is that we’re being held to a standard set by people outside of our industry. Our obligation to our patients is to create an ecosystem that is as easy to use as any other industry, and then it’s up to us as healthcare leaders to solve the hard challenges behind the scenes.”
The post Monument Health CIO on upskilling staff for AI future appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.