As talk around technology and AI in healthcare continues to fill the minds of many leaders, Juan Guzman, vice president and COO of Wellstar MCG Health in Augusta, Ga., is focused on two forces he said will define the industry’s future: people and technology, with neither being treated as an afterthought.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of AI replacing you,” Mr. Guzman told Becker’s. “You should be afraid of the AI-competent individual who knows how to leverage AI to be the most efficient replacing you. It’s the same for organizations. We shouldn’t be afraid of AI, we should be afraid of the organizations who end up harnessing, leveraging and taking it as a competitive advantage.”
Mr. Guzman joined Wellstar MCG Health in January after nearly a decade at Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health. Prior to his current role, he served as COO of IU Health West Hospital in Avon, Ind., according to his LinkedIn page.
Wellstar MCG Health is part of Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System. It comprises Wellstar MCG Health Medical Center, Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia and the Wellstar Georgia Cancer Center, all located in Augusta.
Apart from the impact of ambient documentation and AI-assisted clinical productivity, which Mr. Guzman described as incremental gains, he said the biggest shift is embedding technology into the operational fabric of the hospital: capacity management, staffing and scheduling, revenue cycle, supply chain, food and nutrition services, pharmacy and prior authorizations.
“It’s not whether organizations use technology, it’s going to be whether we trust technology to do what it needs to do for us to gain the biggest advantage,” he said.
Mr. Guzman highlighted the challenges of recruiting floor techs and floor cleaners in environmental services. Instead of pushing to compete for employees in a tight labor market, he suggested having discussions with firms that have developed hospital-grade robotic cleaning technology, similar to consumer Roombas, that can clean long corridor stretches during off hours.
“Now you’re not depending on the people, and those people can be deployed to care for patients,” he said.
However, the workforce dimension is not just about automation. Mr. Guzman said hospital and health system COOs have historically spent too little time with frontline teams on the floor. To combat this, he dedicates at least one hour per month with every direct report.
“The ‘why’ behind it is, I find 80% to 90% of the opportunities that we have as a health system come from my rounds,” he said. “I listen to the team, and the team members provide us with the feedback that we need.”
He shared an example of rounding with the EVS team, where he learned their break room was “the smallest break room based per [full-time employee] that existed within the team. That small but important fix will help continue to build trust across the teams.
“Our president and CEO Katul Patel says it best: People will support the ideas they create,” he said. “You get those ideas from team members when you’re out … rounding with them. I think COOs need to spend more of their time with the teams, focusing on our people and rounding with them.”
Mr. Guzman said, looking toward the future, his biggest area of excitement is Wellstar MCG Health’s growth trajectory. Wellstar MCG Health, which joined Wellstar Health System in 2023 after operating as Augusta University Health, recently opened a transplant clinic in Atlanta to expand access for kidney and pancreatic transplant patients. He also said investments in areas like gamma knife technology and other advanced surgical capabilities show continued dedication to delivering care needed by the community.
“We’re beginning to deliver on what the community deserves, what our patients deserve and really elevate care,” he said.
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