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The most important health care decisions don't happen

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in isolation.

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They happen when leaders come together.

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Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than

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3,500

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hospital and health system executives this April in

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Chicago.

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With 800 speakers from Ascension, Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit

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and more, the conversations get real. Leaders will

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share how their scenario planning for policy shifts,

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breaking through value based care barriers, and building

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clinical teams that translate new ideas into real

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world care.

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Join top decision makers in the room April

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13 through the sixteenth.

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For the agenda and event details, visit beckers

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hospital review dot com and click on the

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events tab in the upper right.

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This is Laura Dirdle with the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be joined by Imran

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Kadir, president and chief executive officer at Allegheny

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General Hospital. Imran, it's a pleasure to have

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you on the podcast today.

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Thank you for inviting me to speak here

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today.

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Absolutely. And, you know, I'm excited for our

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conversation because I know we'll be spotlighting some

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of the cool things you're doing at Allegheny

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General Hospital as well as your perspective on

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the future. There's so many changing dynamics right

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now that is truly, truly,

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a fascinating conversation. But before we dive in,

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can you tell us a little bit more

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about yourself and the hospital?

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Sure.

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I'm doctor Imran Kadir.

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I serve as the president and CEO of

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the leading academic level on trauma and transplant

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center here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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We're a proud part of Highmark Health and

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Allegheny Health Network

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system,

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comprising of 14 hospitals

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submitting to world class integrated health care to,

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to our community and beyond. We have a

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specialized center of excellence handle the most complex

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medical cases and are at the forefront of

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medical innovation.

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Got it. That's helpful context to know. And,

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you know, in jumping into our conversation here,

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could you tell us a little bit more

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about the most important initiative that you led

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in the last year or so?

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What did you do, and what were the

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results?

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I'm proud of our team work in many

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areas last year,

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including quality, safety, patient experience,

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population health, growth and strategy.

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You know, this question kind of asked, like,

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you know, who's your best child here? But

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I'll do my best here. I think our

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one of our most in important initiative last

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year was the implementation and scaling of our

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integrated

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AI driven virtual nurse model called Care AI

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and, Ambient Listening partnering with Abridge

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for our clinician.

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It offers a transformative

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approach to health care delivery

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by leveraging artificial intelligence.

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These solutions aim to optimize workflow,

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enhance patient safety, and free clinicians to focus

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on direct

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patient interaction.

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And a little bit about care.ai,

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it's a proactive

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detection system for bedside.

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We have cameras installed in the patient's room

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and has the ability to continuously monitor patients'

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vital signs, activity levels, and other key indicators

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in patient's room. Can detect

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subtle changes that might involve otherwise go unnoticed.

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And so one of the couple of the

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areas that we have

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used care.ai

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for that we started to use are using

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virtual nurses.

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So our nurses,

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are doing admission and discharges,

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and freeing our bedside nurses to per to

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focus on,

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you know, hands on care.

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On average,

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by doing those admission and discharge, it's saving

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an average of about fifty minutes,

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per nurse on their shift.

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The other area we've used CareEye is the

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use of virtual sitters,

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freeing our nurses and patient care technicians to

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take care of sicker patients,

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while virtually

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nurses

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or PCTs and monitoring patients.

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In the future,

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we plan to unlock other AI driven tools,

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that CareEye has to offer, including reducing alarms

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and,

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an alert fatigue.

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For ambient listening,

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we partner with Abridge.

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And what it is is it's a voice

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to text clinical note generation.

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And being listened accurately

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transcribes

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clinician patient conversation

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directly into the electronic health record,

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capturing the nuances of the interaction,

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reducing the time a clinician has to spend

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documenting

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manually

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into chart and search for information.

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We've seen anywhere from one to two hours

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of safe time per day allowing clinicians to

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spend more time with patients in charting.

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This also, I believe, and we haven't measured

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this yet, but reduce burnout, alleviating

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documentation burdens and alert fatigue

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that contributes to a less stressful work environment,

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potentially reducing clinician burnout.

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And the other things I I I think

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it will show us

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in future is that enhanced team collaboration.

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With more accurate and timely documentation,

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interdisciplinary teams can communicate more effectively

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and make more informed decisions,

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reduce medical errors,

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no more accurate documentation,

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and proactive monitoring can lead to reduction in

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medical errors related to communication or oversight.

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And lastly,

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it does have a potential

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to enhance revenue capture and billing accuracy,

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reduce documentation

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and quoting errors

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leading to less denial. We expect about 5%

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increase in claim submission

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and reduction in denials.

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That's fascinating to hear, and I know that's,

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you know, a huge, huge undertaking to bring

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on those different technology platforms and partners and

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really leveraging,

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you know, AI in a different way than

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it ever has been before, whether it's some

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of the clinical applications on the bedside,

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inpatient safety applications, or if you're looking at

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virtual nursing. And then two,

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the ambient technology, it seems like it's been

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a game changer in so many different ways.

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And so, you know, when you're going through

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a huge transformations like this and bringing the

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technology really into the workflows and embedding it

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into the broader hospital in in culture within

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the the organization,

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how do you make sure that the team

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is doing everything they can to leverage the

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potential and possibility as well as, you know,

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finding new ways to keep transforming,

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within this space? Because I know, you know,

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it takes so much effort and resources to

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bring technology in. How do you make sure

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it's actually optimized and in creating that value

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that you hope it would, you know, when

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you make that,

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decision to move forward with it?

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Yeah. I think the team does a great

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job of,

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implementing the technology, making sure

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the users understand what the technology

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is aiming to accomplish,

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to the obviously, there's a lot of education

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and hands on,

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training

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for our frontline staff,

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but also a continuous monitoring for results that

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we are aiming to achieve. So, you know,

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we're constantly looking at, is the technology delivering

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on the promise that

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that it's set to do. So very result

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oriented,

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launch of these products.

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I love that. That's so important and so

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critical, especially as I know every dollar in

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health care is precious. So from your perspective,

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looking into the future too, what are some

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of the big priorities and headwinds that you're

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focused on in the next year?

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Yeah. Looking ahead to to 2026, and we're

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already month into it, our big priorities are

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centered around our mission and vision and being

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the leader in population health.

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How we are going to get there is

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by focusing on six pillars, including being employer

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of choice, which means addressing workforce challenges,

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being provider of choice, which means

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continuing to enhance clinical excellence,

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and fostering innovation,

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also growth, pioneering health solutions and business development

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to support exceptional growth,

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and

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leading in population health management with our enterprise

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strategy

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named Living Health Strategy,

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and lastly, financial sustainability.

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We believe if we work on the five

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pillars

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that we set for,

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the financial will follow, and we'll see great

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results. And we have seen that in 2025.

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The priorities,

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obviously, that's one in advanced digital health and

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telemedicine.

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The headwinds,

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I think, you know, we expect to continue

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to see the ongoing national shortage of nurses,

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physicians, and allied health professionals

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coupled with persistent burnout

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remains our most significant challenge. Recruiting and retaining

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top talent alongside developing robust wellness program will

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be paramount.

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Also, escalating costs and reimbursement pressures.

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We continue to face increasing operational costs,

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pharma pharmaceutical expenses, and pressure on reimbursement rates.

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Navigating

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this economic landscape while maintaining high quality care

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requires constant innovation and efficiency

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and value based care models.

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That makes a lot of sense. And I

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truly appreciate that focus on, you know, how

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you can be innovative looking at value based

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care and

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truly figuring out the ways that your organization

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is on a daily basis meeting the needs

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for their patients. I think, you know, one

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of the things that you mentioned is is

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just this evolving,

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economic landscape. And when you look into the

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future, where do you see, you know, the

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spaces where you're,

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trying to whether it's new avenues or current

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existing avenues to double down on, that will

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help

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ensure financial stability. Just how are you thinking

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about all of that when in knowing that

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there's so much uncertainty around some of the

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traditional reimbursement models, fee for service,

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and other, you know,

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ways that hospitals traditionally,

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were able to fund everything that they were

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doing.

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Yeah. I think,

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as I laid out earlier,

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our six pillars, five of them focused on

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being employer of choice,

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being provider of choice, addressing quality, safety, patient

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experience,

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population health,

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management,

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you know, focus on the value based care.

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And

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and it's paramount that we focus on

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innovation

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and growth.

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And I think those pillars

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get us to a financial

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sustainable model,

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that will be successful for years to come.

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Got it. That's helpful to understand. Now what

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do you think the hardest thing you're gonna

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have to do in the coming year will

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be?

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I think the hardest thing we'll have to

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do in the coming year will likely be

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making tough decisions regarding resource allocation in the

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face of

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ongoing economic pressures

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and expanding patient

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needs

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while simultaneously maintaining

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our commitment

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to innovation and growth.

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This will involve balancing

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competing priorities such as investing in new technologies,

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expanding

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crucial service lines,

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and adequately compensating

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our dedicated workforce,

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all within

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the constraints of a challenging financial environment.

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It required

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difficult conversations,

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strategic prioritization,

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and clear communication with all stakeholders.

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Absolutely. I think that's something, you know, so

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many different hospital CEOs are faced with today

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and trying to

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understand how they can make those right priorities,

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invest in the technologies that are gonna make

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the biggest difference as we talked about already

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today. And then, you know, your focus on

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clear communication as well,

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is just so, so important.

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How do you typically

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communicate with a broader organization as well as

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your executive team? What do you do to

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make sure that everyone's focused,

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in spending their time and energy in the

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right things that are going to get you

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into the stability you're looking for in the

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future?

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Yeah. I think, obviously, health care challenges

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abroad.

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That's why our focus and our goals,

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we have laid out in our starts from

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our CEO

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and president of Highmark

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Health, David Homburg, to the president

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of Highmark Health,

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Karen Hamlin,

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and,

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our, you know, our CEO at AHN,

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Mark Sefco. They've laid out a clear vision

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and goals and priorities for,

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not just this year, but through 2030.

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I think having a clear strategy

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and what our focus is gonna be is

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what's gonna drive

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that clarity and communication

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in in all levels of the organization.

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That makes a lot of sense. And, you

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know, having that type of alignment,

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at the top really then trickles down, it

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seems like, to the clarity that you need

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across the board.

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Before we wrap up here, I wanted to

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ask, what do you see as being some

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of the best opportunities for organizational growth when

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you look into the future as well?

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Yeah. I see the best opportunity opportunities for

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organizational growth in several key areas.

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I think one

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is strategic partnership and collaboration

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within Highmark and AHN.

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And our CEO has famously

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coined the term one AHN,

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you know, working truly as it's, you know,

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one system, one enterprise,

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leveraging the strength of broader Highmark Health and

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AHN

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system offers significant growth potential.

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This could involve joint ventures for new facilities,

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expanding access to our specialized care across the

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network,

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or collaborating on population health initiatives that drive

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referrals

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and improve community health outcomes.

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The other, you know, specialty service line expansion,

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our reputation as level one trauma and transplant

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center coupled with our academic mission

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positions us uniquely to expand highly specialized and

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complex care offering.

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This includes areas like

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advanced neurosciences

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and cardiovascular

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surgery, complex surgery, and complex oncology,

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which often serves at the broader regional and

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national population,

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and developing a center of excellence for AI

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and health care, given our success with predictive

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analytics

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and

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AI tools that I spoke about earlier, we

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have an opportunity

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to further solidify a position as a leader

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in applying AI to improve

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clinical care,

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operational efficiency,

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and even medical education,

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attracting top talent and research funding. I'm confident

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that by focusing on these strategies

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strategic priorities,

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navigating the challenges effectively, and continuing to foster

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a culture of innovation and excellence,

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we can achieve significant growth and continue to

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serve our community at the highest level.

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That I I think it's so critical to

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have all of that in mind and, you

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know, that technology analytics backbone to then drive

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forward everything else you're looking for, with the

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team, the talent,

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the, retention

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of great,

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team there at,

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Allegheny Health Network is just so critical.

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So thank you so much for your time

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today, Imran. This has been such a a

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great conversation, and I look forward to connecting

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with you as well later and continuing on

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with with, this conversation. Thank you, Lara. Thanks

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for having me.