Samaritan Health Services

As a healthcare technology leader, I aim to be at the forefront of this transformative era. That's why I joined the technology team at Samaritan Health Services, an Oregon-based organization dedicated to enhancing the well-being of the communities we serve. Our mission is to deliver exceptional care, and I plan to do this by forging a path toward a healthier future with forward-looking technology.

I am now part of leading Samaritan on the journey where compassion meets innovation, and every step forward is taken with the community in mind. We have focused on innovation and have positively impacted patients and staff through initiatives for clinical ambient listening to let providers go back to having a conversation with their patients, secure messaging to allow nurses to text each other, including PHI safety, and virtual care to ensure our community has the medical help they need, when and where they need it.

After a major cyberattack on one of our vendors caused a major impact on our revenue processing, a continuous need for more primary care providers than we can find, and a higher understanding of the patients we see in our hospitals, I wanted to take the next step to help not only my team but the system as a whole to embrace the opportunities of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) As the latest progression in digital transformation for Samaritan, I have formed a focused group committed to aligning cutting-edge  AI initiatives within our systemic goals.

My first goal is to take advantage of the many benefits of automation in healthcare to enhance patient safety and streamline efficiency, which are pivotal steps toward scalability and growth. On our immediate horizon are AI-based learning models to expand access to care and significantly reduce costs while ensuring compliance and accuracy, fostering an environment where the quality of care is paramount.

This year, we have implemented several pilot programs to improve hospital patient engagement and education. One such program involves using bedside monitors that announce the name and role of the clinician entering the patient's room. Another program allows doctors to engage in conversations with patients while using a computer, through ambient listening, and record clinically relevant notes in the medical chart. Patients can see changes in their diagnosis and treatment plans in real time. Additionally, doctors can review their email inboxes and generate responses to appreciation and other repeatable requests, only having to edit and send. Our goal with these AI pilots is to increase patient engagement in their health through education and clinician-focused behaviors while creating more productive time for physicians.

"My first goal is to take advantage of the many benefits of automation in healthcare to enhance patient safety and streamline efficiency, which are pivotal steps toward scalability and growth."

I recently spoke to our Patient Advisory Council, and I balanced my eagerness for technology while explaining to our patient advocates that in parallel to the development, we will be defining guardrails that ensure ethical and effective implementation. We will keep our patients in the front of our minds and keep AI human-centric to protect privacy and maintain accountability.

I also explained the AI available to our system is not yet ready for clinical decisions; for us, it is currently an enhancement to care, not a replacement for clinicians. As an example, our organization recently had a contest to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar.  Several technology colleagues and I used AI to formulate our guesses, and the answers ranged from 200 to 20,000 based on the specificity of our prompts.  The jellybean variance shows a concrete example of where AI should be used with supervision, and this would be especially true when it comes to patient health.

Our road ahead to leverage AI is one of both action and patience. Our immediate next steps include staffing our visionary team, establishing the governance structure, defining the tangible benefits of our initiatives, setting ambitious yet achievable goals, identifying opportunities for impact, and forging partnerships with vendors who share our commitment to excellence. Our longer-term plan is to establish the organizational and community acceptance of new technologies through a track record of success.

AI is not just a new service to our organization; it is the next way technology teams will commit to innovation and excellence in healthcare. Together, we will create a future where technology in healthcare creates a world of unparalleled patient care and operational efficiency.