“We think there’s some uncertainty in the future with AI and healthcare, and so my job is to take some of that uncertainty out,” Mr. Purinton told Becker’s. “The future could be bright and productive and rosy and a really great experience for consumers and clinicians, or it could be the opposite of that. So my job is to help make sure it’s more likely to be the former than the latter. My primary role is to help make sure that the future of us bringing AI into healthcare is a happy one and not a cautionary tale.”
A top priority for Mr. Purinton, who stepped into the new role in January, is implementing a robust, risk-based governance framework for AI.
“I am a process guy. I have been a process guy for 20 years here at AdventHealth. I think in terms of process design and redesign—Lean Six Sigma has been part of all of my analytics work. I also approach this from the perspective of internal audit and ISO quality management, both of which have played significant roles in my career,” he said. “I expect that sticking to key principles, like ensuring AI is auditable, will help us understand the systems we put in place and ensure they are safe and effective.”
Another focus for Mr. Purinton is quantifying the value of AdventHealth’s AI portfolio.
“Not every tool will produce a financial return on investment (ROI) or a cost savings, but some of them will. Not every tool will produce clinical outcomes or consumer experience benefits, but some of them will,” he said. “So we’re going to want to add up the net benefits of our portfolio of AI tools and make sure that they’re on track to get the kind of results that we want as a system.”
Identifying areas where automation can reduce costs and improve efficiency is also a priority.
“Like all organizations, we have processes we’d love to automate, streamline and optimize to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Our goal is to decrease the time required for certain tasks—reducing tasks that currently take hours, days or weeks into faster, automated processes,” Mr. Purinton said. “These targeted transformations are a key priority on my work list, and I’m collaborating both within IT and across different teams to drive these initiatives forward.”
Currently, AdventHealth is leveraging AI in several clinical applications. AI assists radiologists in interpreting medical images, prioritizing radiology exams and generating reports more efficiently. It also supports hospitalists and primary care physicians by summarizing patient histories and reduces the number of clicks nurses need to perform in electronic health records.
“At this stage, we’re primarily implementing the same types of AI tools as other health systems,” Mr. Purinton said.
However, he sees an opportunity for AdventHealth to distinguish itself by improving how AI tools are orchestrated and integrated into workflows.
“For us, that means making sure we’re choosing the right problems to solve and hopefully doing it better than our competitors or peers,” Mr. Purinton said. “We also want to vet tools faster, with more depth and intentionality. And, equally important, we are paying close attention to the people aspect of change. When we implement a new AI system, we’re not just buying and deploying it and hoping for the best; we’re engaging with frontline clinicians, focus groups of consumers, and really understanding how people and technology will intersect when we deploy something.”
When discussing the biggest opportunities for AI in healthcare in the next 3 to 5 years, he stressed that healthcare may have some “fundamental homework” to do in determining the best places to implement AI. However, he sees significant opportunities for AI to shorten hospital stays, particularly by addressing inefficiencies such as long wait times that fill much of a patient’s stay. He explained that many hospital stays involve waiting for physicians and decisions rather than active care, and AI could help streamline this process by moving information forward and reducing human waiting time.
Additionally, Mr. Purinton stressed the importance of AI in creating more seamless patient experiences, particularly by connecting fragmented parts of the healthcare system, such as physician visits, emergency department interactions and inpatient care. He also shared examples of projects in development at the health system, including a digital interface for patients to interact more easily with the healthcare system and “Project Grace,” which uses genetic and family medical histories to identify patients at risk for cancers, encouraging earlier and more proactive screenings.
“‘Project Grace’ is one we’re really passionate about because there are so many cancers that are easier and more painless to treat the earlier they’re identified,” he said. “And that’s one way that we can make a very real, tangible difference in the lives of our patients and our communities—through projects like ‘Project Grace.'”
Mr. Purinton emphasized that while he is optimistic about AI’s transformative potential, its success hinges on strong governance, careful evaluation and ongoing engagement with care teams to ensure the technology enhances the patient experience.