In March 2025, doctor informaticist Alan Weiss, M.D., M.B.A., joined Phoenix-based Banner Well being as senior vp of scientific development to guide efforts to enhance the effectiveness and effectivity of care supply by means of expertise. Banner’s telehealth, informatics, course of engineering and scientific high-reliability teams report back to him. He just lately sat down with Healthcare Innovation to debate decision-making round expertise 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 data 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 function right here is way bigger, and the range of what I oversee is larger. I’m right here to allow expertise, which suggests not simply implement what we’ve got 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 issue is attempting to know 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 variety 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 variety 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 appropriate stage of care.
HCI: From speaking to different well being system leaders, I collect that it may be difficult to determine convey startups into the ecosystem and be sure that what they’re doing is having a optimistic influence for the well being system.
Weiss: Completely. Each at BayCare and right here, a part of my function is to determine how you’re employed with these distributors, develop a enterprise case for them, and to assist implement the expertise. I in all probability get pinged a number of instances per week, both by a doctor or govt who has seen one thing they need to discover. In truth, I joke that I really feel like I’ve grow to be the expertise Santa Claus, the place all people’s giving me their want listing. It is difficult, as a result of attempting to evaluate a few of these merchandise is troublesome, and also you’re attempting to know the influence of the expertise 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 facet. We began piloting one resolution on the inpatient facet. We’re going to maneuver to a complete of 4 options that we will attempt on the inpatient facet, and and the suggestions from the docs has been terrific. In truth, it has been so good {that a} strategic planning group final week mentioned, “Go quicker, get it in there, begin utilizing it.”
HCI: So that you’re doing a “style check” of 4 completely different options?
Weiss: Sure. It’s a variety of work. However we need to work out which one works one of the best, and albeit, one would possibly work higher for some specialties than others. So it is vital that we do an intensive check. However I’ll let you know that I’ve used the ambient listening in clinic. I am an inside drugs 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 notice by the point the affected person leaves the room. I’ll let you know that it was liberating to have the ambient listening. You simply do not understand how a lot of your mind, your cognitive perform, is spent enthusiastic about create and manage your notice. And I can undoubtedly say, having used them, that I spend extra time actually speaking to the affected person, trying 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 so much. 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 try to do this. I do not assume any have succeeded as of but, however they’re all engaged on it. There’s extra work that is happening with these ambient instruments. Think about that I am having a dialog with you concerning the want for antibiotics, and within the dialog, I point out the antibiotic. It’s going to queue up the order. Nicely, that is fairly phenomenal.
There are additionally quality-of-documentation sort of nudges which can be coming in. Let’s say a affected person has congestive coronary heart failure. There are several types 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 afterward.
HCI: Do you assume the massive EHR distributors themselves are engaged on the identical sort 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 grow to be a lot simpler to develop and construct that you just’re simply seeing individuals soar 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 workers.
We’re additionally doing the identical factor on the documentation facet. In case you name up for a refill, there are specific items of data that I need to know, together with the final time you have been in, the final time you bought the refill, different drugs you have acquired, and your labs. Nicely, beforehand, you needed to do a chart dive and search for all that data. Now in a few keystrokes, you possibly can convey that into your notice. That makes it a lot simpler, and is a way more standardized technique to ship care.
HCI: I perceive you are additionally in control of telehealth efforts there at Banner as properly. How deeply embedded are telehealth efforts in main care and specialty care at Banner practices? Is there so much happening 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 huge boon to our suppliers and our sufferers. It is an amazing 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 wouldn’t have a hospital-at-home program. It is one thing we’re investigating.
HCI: Plainly with the hospital-at-home packages, the best way Congress has funded it in six-month increments with the Medicare waiver has made investing in it more difficult.
Weiss: Sure, I feel you have hit the precise concern. Why make investments once 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 variety of sufferers take up on hospital-at-home. I feel it is nonetheless wonderful. I feel it is an amazing factor to do. I am simply not sure if it is sensible operationally or financially.
HCI: Does a variety of this work on issues like enhancing documentation feed into Banner’s, participation in value-based care packages 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 know their wants from a expertise standpoint. They usually have a ton of expertise that they are bringing in involving knowledge analytics workflow enhancements. In addition they have a bunch of issues that they need embedded into our digital well being document to attempt to nudge the suppliers to do the appropriate factor. We try to be sure that we accomplish every little thing we have to do proper up entrance within the technique of delivering care.
HCI: How do you do strategic planning for digital well being innovation by way of enthusiastic about the place you need the well being system to be in 2028 or 2030?
Weiss: There is definitely a variety of stuff already within the hopper. We’ve acquired a variety of issues that we already invested in, however there are a ton of extra investments that we’re enthusiastic about making. What we try to do is weigh what we have to spend money on short-term and long-term. The monetary state of affairs throughout the nation due to Medicaid cutbacks depart us with a variety of questions, so we’re specializing in higher understanding expertise’s ROI.
