Cleveland Clinic is at the “tip of the scalpel” when it comes to codeveloping new technologies to solve healthcare’s biggest challenges, a leader told Becker’s.
Last fall, Frank Papay, MD, was appointed the health system’s inaugural chief clinical business development officer to foster technological innovation across the health system.
Becker’s caught up with Dr. Papay to learn more about the new role and what healthcare problems — and solutions — he has his sights set on. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Question: Can you tell me about your role as chief business development officer and how you came into it?
Frank Papay: It’s a new role that’s still being developed, and it was a ready-made fit for me. I’ve been a clinical chair at Cleveland Clinic for 18 years. I also have a background in biomedical engineering, and I’ve been involved with startups, service line development, and innovations like the first U.S. face transplant. I cofounded a nonprofit called BrainX.ai to explore AI strategy in healthcare, and we recently published a book collecting global AI healthcare articles.
Now, I’m helping the Clinic grow strategically — not by buying more hospitals, but by leveraging our strengths in specialties, pioneering innovations like quantum computing, and expanding globally with initiatives like smart hospitals and new service lines such as lymphatic surgery.
Q: Are there specific technologies or initiatives you’re developing that have shown promise?
FP: It’s like drinking from a fire hose. Technology is advancing faster than ever. One initiative is using ambient natural language processing to create clinical notes automatically, freeing up physicians to focus on patients.
We’re also piloting tools to optimize OR scheduling and ER triage. Robotics is another area — looking at how to reduce turnover time and expand surgeries to weekends efficiently.
Rather than just buying tech, we ask: Buy, build or coinvent? I favor coinvention. That lets us create customized solutions for Cleveland Clinic that can scale to our locations in London, Abu Dhabi and Florida.
Q: How does your role differ from Geoff Vince, PhD, chief of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, who we also spoke to recently?
FP: People bring inventions to his team, and they decide whether to invest. I focus upstream: We’re interviewing every department and institute chair to identify and rank clinical problems. Then we determine which ones to tackle and find partners globally to codevelop solutions. I partner with Geoff, but I start with problem identification.
Q: What are the biggest problems you’ve identified?
FP: Access is the biggest issue — how to triage efficiently and direct patients to the right care setting. For instance, the ED is overwhelmed with patients who may not need to be there, while critical cases must bypass others.
Another major issue is physician burnout. We’re looking at technologies like ambient NLP that reduce EMR burden and improve efficiency while preserving sustainability.
Q: Does financial return on investment matter, or can ROI include less tangible benefits?
FP: Revenue growth and sustainability are crucial, especially as reimbursement declines. Diversifying revenue through ventures, partnerships and commercialization is part of the strategy.
We also have to serve both older patients and the “ChatGPT generation,” who self-diagnose online. We need to offer a world-class second opinion — virtually and physically — from anywhere in the world.
Q: Where do you see this role going in five years?
FP: I hope to have helped create new service lines that became global centers of excellence. I want Cleveland Clinic to be known as the tip of the scalpel — leading on the cutting edge. First virtually, then physically, wherever patients are.
