Tech companies and healthcare providers flocked to Las Vegas this week to talk about the latest innovative tools and strategies. But amid shifting definitions of value, uncertain signals from Washington and increasing pressure to reduce costs and improve outcomes, are healthcare leaders struggling to just stay the course?
The almost frantic pace at HIMSS 25 this week hints at an industry struggling to keep up with the times.
The exhibit hall at the Venetian teemed with people rushing from one event or meeting to the next, making deals or looking to make deals. Technology vendors announced new partnerships, programs and product upgrades at a rate almost bordering on desperation.
Fueled by the advances of AI – in the consumer world as well as healthcare – and digital health, health system and hospital executives are dealing with a rapidly evolving industry. They're being forced to embrace change at a faster rate than they're used to, and in some cases struggling to connect the dots on innovation and ROI. Everybody knows that AI is a transformational tool, and no one wants to be left out.
But healthcare organizations are struggling on several fronts. Everyone is feeling the workforce shortage and looking for ways to keep who they have, attract whoever is out there, or use technology to supplement the workforce. Money is tight, so there's little to spend on new ideas or technology and a strong push to reduce costs and inefficiency.
For Susan Gutjahr, HIT Director for Sparta Community Hospital, the urgency is there to find technology that can help the 25-bed critical access hospital in Sparta, Illinois stay open. The hospital epitomizes the small, rural facility in farming and mining country struggling to keep up with the big boys in Chicago, several hours to the northeast, and St. Louis, 50 miles to the northwest.
"It's hard to find [technology] for us," she says, noting the hospital has had the same EMR since 1997. "We really need to get our foot in the door."
Gutjahr says hospital leadership is eager to find tools to improve patient engagement, an important strategy for small, rural hospitals that are often the linchpin of the community. She says they received federal funding during the pandemic, which they used to boost their virtual platform and reward stressed out staff, but that money is gone now and there's no indication that they'll be getting anything from Washington.
"We need to ask some hard questions about what this [technology] could really bring us," she says.
At the other end of the spectrum is the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a well-known health system looking to expand its innovation strategy. Lavonia Thomas, BSN, DNP, MSN, RN, the health system's Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, led a team of nine nurses to HIMSS with the goal of finding the right technology that nurses will actually value and use.
"What are the problems that nurses at MD Anderson have that [can be addressed] here?" she asks. "We want to know what the nurses think. We know that the nurses using [this technology] will determine its return on investment for us."
And that may be the key to HIMSS' sustainability, which took a hit during COVID-19 but seems to be rebounding quite well. The healthcare C-Suite may not be in Las Vegas in big numbers this week, but many have sent executives and, just as importantly, clinicians in their place to get a good look at what's available.
Thomas points out that nurses require different things from new technology than doctors, so they need to check out the tools themselves. An ambient AI tool that's winning rave reviews from doctors for capturing the patient encounter won't address nursing needs.
So while the pressure is on providers to find the technology that works best for them, there's also an increasing amount of pressure on the technology industry to give health system and hospital executives the tools they need.
Srinivas (Sri) Velamoor, President and Chief Operating Officer of NextGen Healthcare, sees an industry in a certain amount of turmoil, looking to keep up with a technology that's being embraced by consumers just as quickly as other industries. The rush to create AI tools that meet the demands of providers is daunting, as are the needs to validate data, monitor on a continual basis, and even share risk with providers.
There's no doubt that AI will transform healthcare, he points out, and some of the larger, more established players in the healthcare technology ecosystem may have to tear themselves down and completely rebuild to meet new demands. Others are changing how they sell their products, especially to not-for-profits, rural hospitals and clinics that have limited resources but need that technology to survive.
So amid all the popcorn, puppies, happy hours and magic tricks on the HIMSS25 show floor this year, there's also a certain amount of desperation. Jump on the bandwagon now or risk being left in the dust. Try out a new tool, forge a new partnership, make a new deal, and look for those KPIs and benchmarks quickly. The clock is ticking.
While health systems might be at different stages of implementation, there are several key virtual nursing strategies that CNOs should take into consideration.
Virtual nursing has spread far and wide throughout health systems across the country as it becomes a critical component of patient care, and it's gaining buy-in from nurse leaders everywhere.
While health systems might have different approaches or be at different stages of implementation, there are several common virtual nursing strategies that CNOs should take into consideration.
The panel discussion included four key points about virtual nursing strategy.
Individualize the program
First and foremost, virtual nursing programs should be individualized to fit the needs of a health system. CNOs can begin this process by identifying the problems that the program will work to address, and narrowing down the specific needs of the nurses, patients, and other staff who will be impacted by the program.
Some common goals for virtual nursing include reducing time spent completing administrative tasks such as admissions and discharges, and giving time back to bedside nurses. During a time when nursing shortages are growing, and patient acuity is greater, it's essential that unnecessary tasks and high workload burdens be removed from nurses so they can spend their time caring for patients.
Virtual nursing can offer an avenue for nurses who want to retire or who can't work at the bedside anymore to continue sharing their knowledge and participating in care delivery. Those nurses can then mentor novice nurses as well.
Get nurses involved
The first half of the equation with virtual nursing is the nursing workforce, and getting nurse buy-in is essential. While there might be caution surrounding virtual nursing and its implications, it's up to the CNO to show the positive benefits on both staffing and patients and to bring the nurses into the conversation.
Nurses are well equipped to give the best feedback about workflows and input on what they need to make their jobs easier. Nurses can also help get the word out quickly about new programs, which can greatly help with program adoption, and they can help with testing and troubleshooting. It's important that CNOs listen to the needs of the nurses and work with them to implement the best solutions.
Choose the right technology
The second half of the equation is the virtual nursing technology itself. Determining the right technology for a virtual nursing program begins with having a strong partnership with IT departments and innovation leaders. That partnership creates a strong feedback loop where nurses can help the IT project managers understand what needs to be done, and the IT department can work towards achieving those goals. CNOs should also lean heavily on their CNIOs, since they are able to blend nursing and technology together to come up with the best outcomes.
When selecting what technology to use, CNOs should pilot different technologies and give themselves plenty of time to test things with the understanding that it might not work the first time. The beginning stage of any virtual nursing program offers tremendous learning opportunities. Choosing between carts or fixed, in-room technology will depend heavily on the needs of the department, the nursing unit, and the patients and staff involved.
Make the case
Lastly, CNOs must be able to make a financial case for virtual nursing. This can be difficult because many virtual nursing ROI metrics are considered "soft" metrics, that save "soft dollars." However, there are several concrete metrics that CNOs can look at for positive outcomes, such as reduced admission and discharge times, and better recruitment and retention numbers. Improving discharge information and discharge planning can help reduce readmissions as well.
Other metrics can include nurse engagement, patient experience, and care quality metrics. Patient outcome metrics, such as fall prevention, can also be impacted by virtual nursing, especially with the incorporation of additional technologies. Improving patient outcomes helps reduce costs from negative outcomes.
Announced at HIMSS25, the partnership between the New York health system and Amazon enables patients to confirm their identity in seconds.
NYU Langone Health is launching a new biometric technology platform that’s designed to enable patient registrations through a palm scan.
Announced during the first day of the HIMSS25 conference and exhibition in Las Vegas, the New York health system is partnering with Amazon to launch the Amazon One tool through the Epic EHR platform. The technology enables patients to confirm their identity through a palm scan, which is reportedly more than 99% accurate, less intrusive than other forms of identity verification, and takes place in seconds.
"One of NYU Langone’s goals is to leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance the patient experience,” Nader Mherabi, EVP, Vice Dean and Chief Digital and Information Officer at NYU Langone, said in a press release. “We make all decisions with our patients in mind first and foremost, and we’re always looking for ways to improve their experience through technology. As with all new initiatives and technology of this scale, we will optimize over time and meet the needs of our patients.”
As HIMSS kicks into gear this week, announcements like this are indicative of an industry striving to use innovative technology to improve the patient experience. Health systems and hospitals are under pressure to not only improve clinical outcomes and cut costs, but also make the patient’s care journey more intuitive.
The registration process is a key pain point in healthcare, and health system leaders are looking for ways to reduce the questionnaires and paperwork that make the process longer and more cumbersome, thereby reducing the time a patient can actually spend with their care team.
The partnership takes advantage of a technology now being used in airports, sports stadiums, convenience stores and fitness centers, and marks Amazon One’s largest third-party healthcare deployment to date. It’s also an example of the healthcare industry looking to other industries for innovative ways to solve nagging problems.
According to executives, the Amazon One platform accesses the EHR only to confirm the patient’s identity, and does not access or store any other patient data. Patients are asked to create an Amazon One profile ahead of their visit and link that profile to NYU Langone.
NYU Langone expects to roll out the technology to all locations within the year.
The frontier of clinical AI isn't just emerging—it's exploding, reshaping the very fabric of healthcare with both exhilarating promise and perilous uncertainty.
Picture a landscape as uncharted and volatile as the Wild West, where the stakes are nothing less than patient lives, clinical integrity, and the future of medical practice. Here, algorithms are the new outlaws and innovators, disrupting traditional workflows, challenging the sanctity of clinical decision-making, and daring to redefine the doctor-patient dynamic.
While AI has comfortably nestled into administrative corners, trimming inefficiencies and enhancing operational flow, its march into clinical territories is met with a starkly different reality. This isn’t about automating paperwork; it’s about influencing diagnoses, treatment plans, and even patient trust. What happens when AI crosses the line from assistant to authority? When it prescribes medication or becomes the voice patients heed over their own physicians?
The HealthLeaders 2024 AI in Clinical Care Mastermind program, sponsored by Ambience, Microsoft, and Rapid AI, convened clinical trailblazers from 10 health systems to grapple with these very questions. Their candid discussions reveal not just early victories in radiology and patient communication, but also the raw, unvarnished struggles: navigating governance without stifling innovation, integrating AI without alienating clinicians, and chasing ROI amidst ethical gray zones.
This report distills their hard-won insights, offering a compass for healthcare leaders navigating their own AI frontiers. Here, you'll find not just lessons learned, but survival strategies for thriving in an era where clinical AI isn’t a distant future—it’s the reality unfolding in exam rooms, operating theaters, and patient portals today.
Today's healthcare challenges call for a deeper dive into complexity, and that requires collaboration between leaders in innovation and the rest of the c-suite.
All growth in healthcare will march along the path of digital technology. But how that technology is being brought into the clinical, financial and strategic enterprise of current health systems requires a deeper connection between information leaders and their counterparts in the healthcare C-Suite.
To fill that gap of information and collaboration among leaders, the HealthLeaders Exchange has announced the first annual Chief Digital Executive Exchange, which will bring together 25 of the nation’s top digital and information officers to reset the path toward digital transformation alongside panels built with their counterparts in clinical, financial, and executive leadership.
The HealthLeaders Chief Digital Executive Exchange will join the broader HealthLeaders Exchange network, featuring ongoing C-level communities of hospital, health system and medical group practice chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief nursing officers and chief medical officers.
The HealthLeaders Chief Digital Executive Exchange will culminate at the first annual live forum Dec. 4-5 at Le Meridien in Washington, D.C.
Jim Molpus, Vice President of Content and Communities for HealthLeaders Media, says the addition of digital officers completes a circle for the Exchange program.
“Our CEO, CFO, CNO and CMO Exchange groups all have the exact same ‘ask’ of digital technology: Do more to improve real outcomes and lower costs,” Molpus says.
The HealthLeaders Chief Digital Executive Exchange will have a unique format. The community of digital executives will have the benefits of a true peer network to share ideas and best practices among themselves, with the added benefit of CEOs, CFOs, CNOs and CMOs from the larger Exchange community brought in on topics where they share common goals.
“We spoke with several digital leaders who told us that the challenges they face today require a much deeper dive into complexity, and with the other C-level stakeholders also at the table. We feel like the HealthLeaders Exchange community is in a unique position to fill that gap in industry dialogue.”
In 2025, the key topics will center on how digital technology can be most effective in transforming clinical outcomes, access, financial/operational efficiency, AI and overall growth and market strategy. The HealthLeaders Exchange team and HealthLeaders Media Senior Technology Editor Eric Wicklund will be recruiting panelists for the program.
Healthcare leaders may still be looking for ROI and sustainability, but they know AI is here to stay, and they want to make sure they’re on the right path.
Healthcare execs say the hype around AI is justified, but amid all the grand proclamations and catchy metaphors, they’re still trying to figure out where the technology will fit into the clinical workflow.
“We’ve seen the hype but not a lot of substance,” said Nasim Eftekhari, Executive Director of Applied AI & Data Science at City of Hope, who attended the recent ViVE 2025 event and took part in a panel on AI innovation.
Indeed, one of the bigger takeaways from ViVE was that AI is still all the rage, but for all the pilot programs and early use cases, value is still hard to find in clinical care. While rev cycle and financial departments are seeing wins in reduced administrative tasks and better number crunching, clinical leaders are still trying to figure out how to integrate AI into care pathways.
And for every health system and hospital finding success in ambient AI for doctors or in-basket messaging, someone else isn’t seeing the value. If you’ve seen one successful use case, the old saying goes, you’ve seen one successful use case.
Yet with HIMSS 2025 opening this week, healthcare leaders are once again eager to talk about AI. And they’re pretty much agreed that this technology will affect the industry in serious and substantial ways.
“There’s a lot of AI in everything,” said Simon Nazarian, City of Hope’s System EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer, who also spoke at ViVE. “But a lot of it is just good old-fashioned automation.”
So where is that next step? And do we really need an a-ha moment to push things forward?
Technology and clinical care have a complicated history, as veterans of the EMR era and “meaningful use” will attest. With those memories to draw from, executives are tentative in fully embracing AI and really want to see what it can do before making a commitment.
That’s nothing new, and it isn’t scaring execs away from using AI. The agenda for this week’s HIMSS 25 conference and exhibition in sunny (hopefully) Las Vegas is filled with discussions about AI and examples of health systems putting the technology to the test.
For many, the catchword now is governance. It’s understood that AI, particularly the generative and predictive models, evolves as it gathers more data. That means healthcare leaders have to monitor not only how they gather and feed data into the machine, but keep an eye on what comes out the other end.
For John Halamka, MD, MS, president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, AI “will be in everything we do.” Speaking at ViVE, he said Mayo is testing several generative AI models, all designed to augment clinical care rather than replace the clinician.
Halamka said health systems and hospitals can launch all the AI tools they want, but they’d better understand the consequences.
“You can move fast and break things as long as you understand the risks of breaking things,” he noted.
That said, Halamka knows AI is transformational. The best endoscopist on the planet will still miss 15% of small polyps, he pointed out, while an AI tool developed at Mayo only misses 3%. And there will come a time, he added, when AI is part of the standard of care, and hospitals could be sued for malpractice for not using it.
It’s just that getting from here to there will take time. And mistakes will be made.
At City of Hope, Eftekhari said AI will save lives. Predictive tools will help clinicians spot health concerns earlier and help them identify the best care pathway.
“With responsible use of AI, we will have the ability to move upstream,” added Nazarian, noting the potential for AI in research to eventually identify and even prevent cancer. “We want to be able to go from bench to bed as quickly as possible.”
So amid all the conversations at HIMSS this week about how AI is being tested or used, executives should understand that whatever they see and hear about won’t necessarily work for them. The stories they hear from one conference to the next will likely be the same. They need to mold the technology to their particular goals.
Halamka says the industry also needs to see both the victories and the failures, and to learn from each. He expects progress to be slow and steady, and the hype to continue until the use cases are proven out.
During these uncertain times, health systems won't embrace new technology unless there's a firm understanding of ROI attached. Here's how to find it.
When it comes to new technology, healthcare leaders need a good, sound business plan to move forward.
This is especially true with virtual care, which was the sweetheart of the rodeo during the pandemic, when providers needed to reduce pressure on hospitals and patients wanted to access care from home. Federal and state regulators even reduced telehealth restrictions to allow more access, and payers like CMS relaxed their rules to reimburse for more virtual care services.
But now that the pandemic has passed, the pendulum has swung back. Many COVID-era waivers have expired, patients are expressing a desire to see their doctors in person, and healthcare executives are tasked with revising or even redefining how virtual care services can be sustained and scaled.
So how do health systems and hospitals define the ROI of a telehealth platform or digital health tool in this day and age? Clinical outcomes, provider workflows and workforce shortages are all part of the recipe, but there also has to be a financial benefit. Can all of these interests co-exist in a business plan?
In this webinar, HealthLeaders takes a deep dive into this issue with David Higginson, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and Stephen Hunter, VP of Digital Strategy and Innovation for the Allegheny Health Network, part of Highmark Health.
At nine years old, following a major car accident, Paul recalls the nurse who helped her understand what was happening to her family. It was that emergency department nurse who inspired Paul to go on to become a nurse, and now, a nurse leader.
Paul earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Kent State University and her Master of Science in Nursing from Walden University. Paul then served at Mercy Health St. Rita’s Medical Center in leadership roles and as a frontline nurse in the emergency department.
During the last 11 years, she has served as an acute care and operations director in Mercy Health’s Springfield market, and as patient services operations and ROC director in Mercy Health’s Lima market. Most recently, Paul served as the assistant chief nursing officer for Mercy Health – Springfield Regional Medical Center.
In August 2024, Paul stepped into the CNO role for the Mercy Health Lima Market, where she is responsible for overseeing the delivery of nursing operations for the market, which includes oversight of bedside care, nursing quality, and nursing practices for Mercy Health Lima.
On our latest installment of The Exec, HealthLeaders sat down with Paul to discuss her journey into nursing, and her thoughts on trends in the nursing industry. Tune in to hear her insights.
In HealthLeaders' latest Winning Edge webinar, Stephen Hunter of Allegheny Health and David Higginson of Phoenix Children's Hospital detailed their strategies for developing a virtual care platform that can hold its value.
Virtual care may be an integral part of the so-called "hospital of the future," but that doesn't mean health systems and hospitals can just throw together any old tech platform and see it work. If you build it, they won't necessarily come.
Like any new idea or technology, virtual care needs a sound business plan.
During Tuesday's Winning Edge webinar, two healthcare innovation executives from two very different health systems explained in detail how they've made virtual care work for them and their patients.
For David Higginson, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer at Phoenix Children's Hospital, the challenge lay in creating a sustainable telehealth platform that would meet the needs of their pediatric patients and families, improving clinical outcomes and long-term care concerns. For Stephen Hunter, VP of Digital Strategy and Innovation at the Allegheny Health Network, part of Highmark Health, a virtual care platform had to address immediate care needs for patients while creating a sound business model for the both the health system's population and community health plans and the affiliated health plan's members.
In describing their strategies and challenges, Higginson and Hunter outlined four considerations that every healthcare leader should address when developing a business plan for virtual care that is both sustainable and scalable.
Don't Fall for the Shiny New Thing. While the COVID-19 pandemic proved the value of virtual care, an even more important lesson learned for many health systems was that the biggest, flashiest technology solution isn't always the best. Many providers were setting up simple, easy-to-use telehealth platforms on their own, using the most basic technology, and making them work.
Higginson noted that Phoenix Children's set up a platform using a Zoom API in about three weeks, at a cost of about $12,000. And while that won't likely work for most health systems eyeing a long-term program, it proves that the "flavor of the month" isn't right for everyone. Healthcare leaders need to test out all the technology they can find, keeping an open mind and looking for what works for them.
Selecting the right technology also means looking at the long term. A tool or platform might be good for now, but will it still provide ROI in five years or be rendered obsolete by newer, better technologies? Will a health system become mired in chasing the next big thing or investing in upgrades that dilute or even destroy ROI?
The important strategy here is to be adaptable and flexible. Explore all the options, and understand that sometimes the simplest technology is the best. Plan on upgrades, but don't think that every new thing has to be added to the platform.
Begin With the Patient, and End With the Provider. A virtual care platform might have a great business plan, work like a charm for doctors and nurses and bring a smile to the CFO, but if it doesn't meet the patient's needs, it's toast. That's why it's crucial to begin with the patient's perspective.
Both Higginson and Hunter say a tech platform has to begin with a clear understanding of the problem that needs to be solved, and that means understanding what virtual care means to the patient. The technology has to be easy and intuitive for patients, allowing them to access care and services from their homes. If a provider needs to spend a long time explaining to patients how the technology works, chances of adoption are low.
It's also important to make sure everyone involved in the new program, from doctors and nurses on to pharmacists and HIT staff, knows about all the features and capabilities. Sometimes a great new tool, such as online scheduling of medication refills, is wasted because staff don't realize it's there and they don't tell patients that it's available.
Finally, Hunter noted that patients usually want to be connected to their doctor, not just any doctor on the platform. It's important to set up the platform so that doctors are working with their patients on a continuous care journey (a key component of the business plan is that this relationship captures downstream care opportunities). Don't just connect any patient to any doctor and expect everyone to be happy.
Part of that process is messaging. Providers need to set up a routine that allows patients to send messages to their doctors and create a strategy to triage incoming messages so that doctors and/or nurses answer what needs to be answered.
It should not go unsaid that a platform needs to be seamless and stress-free for the provider as well as the patient. If your adding new tasks or steps to an already-stressed-out doctor or nurse, you might have a hard time getting them to buy in.
Balance Clinical and Financial ROI. Sustainability is a tricky mixture of hard and soft ROI. A great virtual care platform that addresses clinical needs won't survive if it costs a lot of money. At Allegheny Health, Hunter noted that a virtual care platform can address the health system's business needs to expand its patient base and pull in downstream services, like follow-ups and health and wellness services, all of which attract the attention of the health system's associated health plan.
Higginson pointed out that gathering patient stories and anecdotes can be beneficial in more ways than one. They reinforce the health system's mission, prove that virtual care is improving access to care and helping patients and their families, and can be used to prod payers and politicians to support the program. A few good stories could convince a senator or representative to take a closer look at how the state is legislating virtual care or reimbursement, two key barriers to telehealth adoption.
The biggest point to be made here is that ROI is a multi-faceted strategy. Immediate cost and value need to be balanced against long-term costs and benefits. The money spent on technology and staffing may very well be made back in long-term clinical benefits, such as reduced ER visits and hospitalizations, happier patients and less-stressed doctors and nurses. At the same time, a telehealth program that requires continuing tech upgrades so that it won't become obsolete in five years is a bad investment.
Expect to Be Surprised. Few programs work out the way they were planned, and virtual care is certainly no exception. It's OK, even imperative, to have a comprehensive strategy that maps out everything that could happen, right or wrong. Prepare for any eventuality, and then be prepared to be surprised.
For example, Hunter said Allegheny Health had expected that its virtual care platform would see success in addressing access issues in rural areas, but found that urban residents were using the platform much more frequently to access care that they had a hard time finding. Higginson, meanwhile, said Phoenix Children's didn't think much about adding a button to its portal to allow patients to request refills, then saw how much that button meant to patients and their families.
The upshot is that things sometimes work whether we plan that way or not, and it's crucial for healthcare leaders to be prepared for that flexibility. That may mean shelving one virtual care platform and trying out another, or accepting failure and moving on quickly. It may also mean ditching assumptions or preconceived ideas about a technology or strategy and letting something play out a little bit to find its way.
