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At athenahealth,

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we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a

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healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients.

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But the complexities of modern health care tech

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make it hard for you and your care

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teams to focus on what matters

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most? That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI

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native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,

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streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights

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when clinicians need it most. That means fewer

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clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom

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lines.

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Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice

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can be that much simpler with athenahealth.

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See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.

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Hello, everyone. This is Scott King with the

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Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be

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joined by Charlotte Stallworth,

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vice president business development and innovation,

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Stanford Medicine Children's Health. Charlotte, how are you

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doing today?

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I am well, Scott. How are you? I'm

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great. Thanks so much for joining us. I

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know we're gonna kinda dive into some of

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the big issues facing health care today. Before

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we get started, I just kinda wanna ask

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you a little bit about your your background

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and your work in health care, if you

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don't mind sharing.

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I am happy to share. So,

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my professional background includes

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serving as an officer in the United States

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army.

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And then after graduate school, I was a

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commercial banker and then entered health care

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in capital finance, then research, and now finally

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business development.

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And I'll say each one of those roles

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has prepared me for my current position

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at Stanford Medicine Children's Health,

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where one of my key responsibilities

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is developing, structuring,

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growing partnerships with entities that help advance our

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mission. And so those are relationships with health

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care systems,

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hospitals,

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community physicians,

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counties, school districts, tech companies, and startups.

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And really thinking about how we use innovation

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to enhance and build,

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those solutions

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that improve health care for our patients and

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our communities.

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Well, thank you for sharing that background information,

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and thank you even more for your service.

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We appreciate that. And I just curious to

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follow that up. What made you wanna get

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into health care after being in the military?

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Yeah. So, like everyone, it's it's like a

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journey. Right? And there are different choices that

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come up. So really I left the the

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army and went to graduate school at Baylor,

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got my MBA

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and became a banker first at JP Morgan

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and then at BBVA Compass. And then,

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one of my clients as a banker was

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a health care system,

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Scott and White

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in in Texas and,

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ended up joining them. They made an offer

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for me to join in capital finance and

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managing their

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debt leasing bonds.

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That part of the business. So, like, a

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lot of consultants,

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bankers attorneys,

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you know, hired by a client, but really

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love our mission and

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really

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aligned with the kind of the innovation, the

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business and the analysis

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all coming together,

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in business development is, you know, really,

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appealing to me.

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That's a really interesting trajectory there for for

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your career.

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You know, something I wanted to ask you

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about

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is our research has told us that nearly

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half of the medical practices

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reported using AI in some capacity last year,

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and it remains a key topic for health

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IT leaders.

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From your perspective,

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what are the use cases that are making

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a difference right now,

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and how are you leveraging them in your

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organization?

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Yeah. I really appreciate this question.

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AI is is

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very intriguing. And I say I would say

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the use cases create efficiencies

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in

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workflows that are compelling for all industries and

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particularly healthcare

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as we've been kind of poised for innovation

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for a few years now.

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You know, at Stanford Medicine Children's Health in

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our clinical space, our providers have access to

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ambient listening technologies that can create clinical notes

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for review and update by the physicians.

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Additionally, we are developing AI solutions to improve

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efficiencies in scheduling and decrease the number of

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missed appointments.

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We're also looking into agentic AI solutions focused

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on access, human resources, quality and safety,

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revenue cycle and digital information

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systems. As you know, agentic AI can complete

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routine tasks with high levels of accuracy and

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really allowing the human team members to focus

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on more complex tasks.

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And, you know, some of those routine tasks

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really kind of go across

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departments like troubleshooting or problem solving.

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And then, like, for revenue cycle, billing questions

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and payment processing. So we're super excited about

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AI, agentic AI, and all of the ways,

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it can enhance,

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our mission and the work we do at

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Stanford children's.

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With the different types of AI you were

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just mentioning, what do you think it will

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take to kind of bridge the gap from

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using the AI and health systems

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from the routine tasks you just mentioned into

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kind of the more complex ones?

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I think really, you know, the the advancements

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we're seeing, you know, there are those kind

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of,

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incremental

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advancements. So as we're using agentic AI for

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those routine tasks and

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it the AI continues to learn and,

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you know, typically we're looking at a human

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in the loop for a certain more complex

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tasks. So I think as the AI continues

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to learn

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and their uses and tests to determine

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if it can handle that next level.

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Maybe with the human taking another

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action versus, you know, stopping everything for the

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human to make a decision. Maybe the AI

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makes the decision and consults the human or

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there'll be another way to look at it.

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But I think some of that

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incremental

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advancement is

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inevitable. Right? It's just the function of AI

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and our human nature, right, to continue to

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push for something more.

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Absolutely. And I and I think it sounds

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like a lot of health systems are gonna

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try to to keep humans involved in the

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process, obviously, as long

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as possible.

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Getting to the next question,

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I wanna ask what advice you have for

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leaders navigating

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everything

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from governance to patient engagement. And can you

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share an example of how your organization has

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balanced

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innovation with operational constraints?

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Sure. So advice, I would say, you know,

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Stanford Children's. We definitely are embracing digital innovation,

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and it's really about harmonizing that cut kind

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of cutting edge technology

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with our foundational values and operational realities.

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And I would just say some of the

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advice I would give is just remain,

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patient focused and patient centric. So we wanna

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prioritize the patient experience and engagement.

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We wanna use patient feedback to tailor digital

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health solutions and make them as intuitive and

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as beneficial as possible.

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And I think another key thing and maybe

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even before you get started is really developing

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that

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robust governance

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framework.

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So you wanna implement clear governance structure to

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guide the technology adoption and set clear policies,

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especially on establishing data governance protocols and ensuring

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compliance with legal and ethical standards.

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I am chair of our AI oversight committee,

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and this is work we're doing to understand

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AI solutions that we've already integrated into the

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organization

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and then new solutions,

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that we're considering.

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How are you seeing recent legislation in both

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at the state and federal level

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affect health care organizations

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and health care IT specifically?

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Have you adjusted strategies in response to to

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that?

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Yes. Stanford children

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regularly

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monitors federal and state legislation that impacts our

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families and patients and health system.

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And we proactively

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build relationships

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with our federal to state policymakers

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in order to educate them on children's

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hospital issues. So

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we really hope that

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federal flexibilities

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regarding telehealth services continue into 2026 and beyond.

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And considering that we are a health care

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system

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headquartered in Silicon Valley,

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we are really excited about digital health innovation

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and piloting new technologies

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with a focus on providing efficient, secure, patient

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centered healthcare.

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If you had to give one top piece

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of advice for health care leaders as they

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prepare for further advancements in technology and rising

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demands for care, what would it be?

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I would say we have to continue to

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be curious and brave and ethical and always

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patient focused.

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As we acquire and partner in technologies that

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support

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our shared mission to provide high quality health

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care to children and families.

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And then, of course, I'm always motivated by,

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you know, technologies

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that we have seen in movies and read

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about in books. So

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I think we have to remember that our

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use of,

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say, AI and virtual reality and wearables and

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other technologies,

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could advance to the next tricorder or universal

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translators, which will benefit, you know, health for

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all our local and global communities.

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And my last question for you, Charlotte,

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how are you evolving as a leader?

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How am I evolving? That's a great question,

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Scott.

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I think I'm evolving

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very well as a leader. I think we

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all grow based on our own experiences

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and experiences of others. Right? So

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always I'm very curious and always learning and

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really trying to be

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the best leader I can be and hold

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true to my values. And, you know, I'm

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always driven by doing the right thing.

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And I think,

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that's kind of my guiding light in leadership.

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Appreciate the response and your thoughts there. Thanks

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so much, Charlotte. It was great to have

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you on the podcast. I hope to work

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with you again very soon. Thanks so much,

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Scott.

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At athenahealth,

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we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier,

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a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier

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patients.

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But the complexities of modern health care tech

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make it hard for you and your care

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teams to focus on what matters most.

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That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI native

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all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline

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billing and payments, and deliver critical insights when

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clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks,

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more time for patients, and stronger bottom lines.

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Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice

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can be that much simpler with athenahealth.

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See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.