AI is touching nearly every corner of health systems, but three digital leaders say the biggest differentiator right now isn’t a specific tool; it’s how executives think, prioritize and lead as the technology rapidly evolves.
That wasn’t always the case. The CIO role has rapidly evolved in the last decade from a technical leader to become strategic leaders, talent recruiters and problem solvers. Artificial intelligence has added another level of complexity.
Taking on the ‘chief liaison officer’ accountabilities
Sandeep Rustagi, chief data analytics officer at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, described his role as bridging technology and operations with the proliferation of AI.
“I would say my role is more of a chief liaison officer between data and technology and business leaders,” he said during an interview with the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.” “So I really want to help the operational leaders navigate all the challenges of data and technology that we are running into today, especially with AI being everywhere.”
No AI product will deliver value without a solid foundation and alignment to strategy, he said. That’s why CIOs and chief digital officers are focusing critically on the IT infrastructure and data organization to drive results in the future.
“The top piece of advice for our operational leaders as well as the rest of our technology team is that AI is not plug and play,” he said. “There is no solution or a product out there that will work in a vacuum unless we have the entire foundation and the infrastructure that supports it, and provides the right foundation for it to deliver. We cannot take a sensor from Tesla and put it on a Chevy and just start expecting it to deliver the same value. Until the entire ecosystem is built and developed the right way, the solution, the benefits, and the offerings will not be available. That’s the big picture of getting the right product and the right technology.”
Any AI investment must connect back to the organization’s long-term goals and deliver value within a shortened timeframe, ideally 12 to 18 months or less. New AI investments and partnerships are complicated by ongoing changes in regulation, equity and digital access as part of that leadership responsibility.
“AI is moving just way too fast, and state-level and federal-level regulations are still catching up in terms of where we want to be,” he said. “As a state funded organization, we want to make sure that we are flexible and nimble, but at the same time, we are very cautious.”
Emotional regulation
At UW Health in Madison, Wis., CMIO Joel Gordon, MD, said his edge comes from staying curious, maintaining emotional steadiness and engaging in long-term thinking.
“It seems like I vacillate between shock and awe and excitement about the unleashed power [of AI],” he said during an interview on the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.”
Emotional swings are part of the job, especially with the high pressure to transform while keeping patient data safe and staying ahead of cyberattacks, but leaders can’t be ruled by them.
“It’s okay to be in shock and awe sometimes. What’s gonna come around the next corner? Recognizing those emotional states but at the point of being a leader, you need to take the emotion out,” said Dr. Gordon. “When things are great, they’re never as good as they seem. When things are horrid, they’re never as bad as they seem. Using little statements like that to keep your emotional mind in check can be important as leaders.”
Emotional regulation becomes more difficult as the pace of AI adoption accelerates. The capabilities are evolving so quickly in healthcare, and the pressure to keep up is enormous. But leaders are also wary of moving too quickly and making bad investments or negatively disrupting the care delivery process. Dr. Gordon cautioned against taking anyone’s short-term AI prediction as gospel.
“Remaining curious is so important because if someone tells you what’s going to happen in the next 12 to 18 months with AI in healthcare, take it with a grain of salt,” he said.
Networker and partnership focus
Dr. Gordon also advised health system leaders to think beyond speed and focus on durable partnerships inside and outside their organizations. “There’s that old saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you wanna go far, go together,” he said. “That’s particularly important because the whole world of AI, the whole point of it is to be fast. We have a mindset in our organization, or mindset in the individuals, of being fast. But what we do in the next six months or 12 months sets us up for the next three to five, 10 years.”
Those partnerships span security, academia, peers and vendors. UW Health and university collaborated on data science and implementation science to roll out ambient technology.
“It was a unique partnership between the University of Wisconsin and their data science and their implementation scientists and their rigor that comes with benchtop science brought into our operational teams on the health system side that interdigitated it and worked in a way that allowed us to mutually benefit,” he said. “They got the needs of the research and the needs of academia, and we got the results and needs required of a healthcare organization.”
Value-creator
At Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, senior vice president and CIO Luis Taveras, PhD, tied AI and digital health decisions back to enterprise-wide responsibility and value. He oversees IT for the health system, university and health plan and described a leadership philosophy grounded in strategy and impact.
“When you think of healthcare leaders and think about the role of the CIO, I’m just one of the general managers that runs the organization,” he said. “My focus is IT, but I have to really, really focus on the strategy of the entire organization. We have to stay focused on that and think about what is the value that we bring to the organization with everything that we do.”
That perspective also shapes how Jefferson approaches digital health and remote patient monitoring, where he warned against adopting technology for its own sake.
“One piece of advice that I would have is to be careful not to have too many solutions,” he said. “There’s so many different vendors out there trying to sell us something because they believe we have a problem, not because we really think we have a problem. Focus on the areas that you need your help. Focus on identifying what the needs are and find the best solution that you can find. And look at your platforms, your current platforms.”
