In March 2025, doctor informaticist Alan Weiss, M.D., M.B.A., joined Phoenix-based Banner Well being as senior vice chairman of scientific development to steer efforts to enhance the effectiveness and effectivity of care supply by means of know-how. Banner’s telehealth, informatics, course of engineering and scientific high-reliability teams report back to him. He lately sat down with Healthcare Innovation to debate decision-making round know-how deployment and the most recent AI developments at Banner.
Weiss has greater than 24 years of expertise as a doctor informaticist with the Cleveland Clinic, Cedars-Sinai, Memorial Hermann and the BayCare Well being System. At Florida-based BayCare, he was chief medical info officer. The nonprofit Banner Well being has 33 hospitals, throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.
Healthcare Innovation: After working as CMIO at BayCare Well being System in Florida, what drew you to this place at Banner?
Weiss: It is a a lot bigger group. My position right here is far bigger, and the variety of what I oversee is bigger. I’m right here to allow know-how, which suggests not simply implement what we’ve and refine it so we use it higher, however go and discover new stuff. And there are such a lot of new applied sciences on the market. The problem is making an attempt to grasp how we are able to use them and advance our outcomes at a time when there are many monetary pressures.
HCI: Have you ever had a whole lot of expertise working with exterior distributors and startups and are you bringing some new methods of enthusiastic about that to Banner?
Weiss: I’ve labored with a whole lot of exterior distributors in my profession, and had nice experiences serving to develop a few of their merchandise. One of many merchandise that I helped develop at BayCare was a synthetic intelligence chatbot that helped to triage the signs of a affected person and direct them in direction of the fitting stage of care.
HCI: From speaking to different well being system leaders, I collect that it may be difficult to determine the right way to deliver startups into the ecosystem and ensure that what they’re doing is having a constructive influence for the well being system.
Weiss: Completely. Each at BayCare and right here, a part of my position is to determine how you’re employed with these distributors, the right way to develop a enterprise case for them, and to assist implement the know-how. I most likely get pinged a number of occasions per week, both by a doctor or govt who has seen one thing they wish to discover. Actually, I joke that I really feel like I’ve change into the know-how Santa Claus, the place all people’s giving me their want listing. It is difficult, as a result of making an attempt to evaluate a few of these merchandise is tough, and also you’re making an attempt to grasp the influence of the know-how on the group, and assess it for ROI.
HCI: A lot of the well being methods we’re interviewing are deploying the ambient AI scribe instruments and different AI instruments for gathering and presenting disparate sources of affected person knowledge, in addition to instruments to enhance documentation. Is Banner engaged on a few of these issues?
Weiss: Sure, all these issues. In ambient listening we’re piloting a few options on the ambulatory aspect. We began piloting one resolution on the inpatient aspect. We’re going to maneuver to a complete of 4 options that we will attempt on the inpatient aspect, and and the suggestions from the docs has been terrific. Actually, it has been so good {that a} strategic planning group final week stated, “Go sooner, get it in there, begin utilizing it.”
HCI: So that you’re doing a “style take a look at” of 4 totally different options?
Weiss: Sure. It’s a whole lot of work. However we wish to work out which one works the most effective, and albeit, one would possibly work higher for some specialties than others. So it is vital that we do a radical take a look at. However I’ll inform you that I’ve used the ambient listening in clinic. I am an inner medication doctor, and I am a quick typist. I’ve all my macros arrange, and it is uncommon for me to not be performed with a be aware by the point the affected person leaves the room. I’ll inform you that it was releasing to have the ambient listening. You simply do not realize how a lot of your mind, your cognitive operate, is spent enthusiastic about the right way to create and manage your be aware. And I can positively say, having used them, that I spend extra time actually speaking to the affected person, wanting of their eyes, and enthusiastic about the problems. I jot a few issues down on a chunk of paper, simply to recollect to ask one thing or order one thing, however not lots. It is fairly wonderful to see the influence that it has.
HCI: What about instruments that assist with documentation and reporting to registries? Can the identical distributors do this, or is {that a} separate set of distributors engaged on instruments that do this a part of it?
Weiss: All of these distributors are attempting to try this. I do not assume any have succeeded as of but, however they’re all engaged on it. There may be extra work that is occurring with these ambient instruments. Think about that I am having a dialog with you in regards to the want for antibiotics, and within the dialog, I point out the antibiotic. It’s going to queue up the order. Properly, that is fairly phenomenal.
There are additionally quality-of-documentation kind of nudges which are coming in. Let’s say a affected person has congestive coronary heart failure. There are various kinds of congestive coronary heart failure. The instruments are being constructed to nudge the supplier to say which sort the affected person has. That may assist get the documentation proper simply as you are doing it, so you do not have to return in a while.
HCI: Do you assume the massive EHR distributors themselves are engaged on the identical kind of AI instruments themselves?
Weiss: Completely. We use Cerner. They’re growing their very own ambient listening, and it is fairly good. I’m impressed. Everyone’s leaping into the area. We’re doing our personal AI work. The instruments have change into a lot simpler to develop and construct that you just’re simply seeing folks leap in.
HCI: Does Banner even have an informatics staff engaged on different methods to scale back burnout and enhance clinician satisfaction with the EHR, and maybe enhance scientific choice help?
Weiss: Sure. One of many issues that we’re doing is automating processes. If I order a vaccine, there must be an order for drawing the vaccine, for administering it, for educating the affected person on it, for placing within the invoice. We’re automating all that, and it actually reduces the burden on the supplier and their employees.
We’re additionally doing the identical factor on the documentation aspect. When you name up for a refill, there are particular items of knowledge that I wish to know, together with the final time you had been in, the final time you bought the refill, different medicines you have acquired, and your labs. Properly, beforehand, you needed to do a chart dive and search for all that info. Now in a few keystrokes, you’ll be able to deliver that into your be aware. That makes it a lot simpler, and is a way more standardized strategy to ship care.
HCI: I perceive you are additionally answerable for telehealth efforts there at Banner as nicely. How deeply embedded are telehealth efforts in major care and specialty care at Banner practices? Is there lots occurring by means of telemedicine partnerships with rural locations in Arizona?
Weiss: It is someplace between 6% and seven% of our ambulatory visits, which is just about the place most healthcare methods are. Actually within the rural areas in Arizona — and we’re in 5 states — it is a large boon to our suppliers and our sufferers. It is an important functionality and it’s embedded into their workflow in order that it makes it fairly straightforward to do a telehealth go to.
HCI: Does banner even have an acute hospital-at-home program?
Weiss: We do not need a hospital-at-home program. It is one thing we’re investigating.
HCI: Plainly with the hospital-at-home applications, the way in which Congress has funded it in six-month increments with the Medicare waiver has made investing in it tougher.
Weiss: Sure, I believe you have hit the precise problem. Why make investments while you’re not sure of it long-term? I do know of a number of well being care methods which have performed the funding and have not seen a whole lot of sufferers take up on hospital-at-home. I believe it is nonetheless wonderful. I believe it is an important factor to do. I am simply not sure if it is smart operationally or financially.
HCI: Does a whole lot of this work on issues like bettering documentation feed into Banner’s, participation in value-based care applications and do you discuss to ACO leaders about what they want?
Weiss: I meet with our ACO group about each two to a few weeks to grasp their wants from a know-how standpoint. And so they have a ton of know-how that they are bringing in involving knowledge analytics workflow enhancements. Additionally they have a bunch of issues that they need embedded into our digital well being report to attempt to nudge the suppliers to do the fitting factor. We are attempting to ensure that we accomplish every part we have to do proper up entrance within the means of delivering care.
HCI: How do you do strategic planning for digital well being innovation when it comes to enthusiastic about the place you need the well being system to be in 2028 or 2030?
Weiss: There is definitely a whole lot of stuff already within the hopper. We’ve acquired a whole lot of issues that we already invested in, however there are a ton of extra investments that we’re enthusiastic about making. What we are attempting to do is weigh what we have to spend money on short-term and long-term. The monetary scenario throughout the nation due to Medicaid cutbacks depart us with a whole lot of questions, so we’re specializing in higher understanding know-how’s ROI.
