- Hello, everyone. This is Erica Spicer Mason with
- Becker's Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning
- in to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
- Today, we're going to talk about how health
- system leaders are thoughtfully evaluating
- AI powered clinical decision support
- and what it takes to successfully introduce those
- tools into clinical workflows
- while maintaining clinician trust and focusing on better
- patient care.
- So joining me for this discussion, we have
- Allison Schneider, the director of applications
- at Aspen Valley Health in Colorado.
- And Allison will share how her team approaches
- new technologies,
- the factors that guide their AI adoption decisions,
- and also what they've learned from implementing
- clinical key AI to support clinicians at the
- point of care.
- Allison, without further ado, I wanna welcome you
- to the podcast, and thank you so much
- for being here today.
- Of course. Thanks for that awesome introduction.
- As mentioned, my name is Allison Schneider, and
- I'm the director of IT applications at Aston
- Valley Health.
- I joined Aston Valley Health about four years
- ago as an IT analyst,
- supporting EPIC's ClinDoc and STORK applications.
- In that role, I was able to work
- closely with our clinical teams and understand how
- technology
- directly impacts and affects, their day to day
- experience.
- From there, I became our clinical applications manager,
- overseeing the clinical applications within EPIC at Aston
- Valley Health.
- And after a little over a year in
- that position,
- I transitioned into my current director role where
- I now oversee all of our applications, including
- EPIC at Aspen Valley Health.
- Just a little bit about what I really
- enjoy,
- within this work is being at the intersection
- of technology,
- clinical care, and operational strategies.
- Ultimately, our goal, at Aspen Valley Health is
- to make technology work better for the people
- providing the care and most importantly,
- our patients.
- Such a great intro, Allison. Thanks for telling
- us a bit more about yourself and,
- and really your role. It sounds like you've
- got a lot on your plate, and it's
- a very dynamic position to be in. But
- I love your note there about, you know,
- the the continued focus on excellent patient care.
- And that's really what where I wanted to
- start our conversation today.
- Even in our own reporting at Becker's, we've
- we've outlined how Aspen Valley Health has this
- reputation for really embracing innovation
- while staying deeply committed to patient care. So
- when a new tool like AI comes across
- your desk and in your role, how are
- you deciding whether it's the right fit for
- your organization?
- Very hot topic. I'm sure not just at
- Aston Valley help,
- but specifically for ABH.
- We typically
- take, an epic first approach.
- So before introducing another platform, we look at
- what Epic already has to offer or has
- on its road map for the future.
- Epic is moving, as we know, incredibly quick
- in the AI space, and that gives us
- a strong foundation for evaluating new capabilities.
- But being available doesn't automatically make a tool
- the right fit, especially for Aspen Valley Health,
- being a critical access hospital.
- We look at whether it solves a clearly
- defined problem,
- integrates into existing workflows,
- protects patient information, and genuinely
- improves the clinician or patient experience.
- We also consider how it fits within the
- direction established by our AI council that we
- have at Aspen Valley Health and then ultimately
- as an organization as a whole.
- For us at Aspen Valley Health,
- AI should not be technology for technology's sake.
- Ultimately, we are aiming for it to address
- a real need and create measurable value without
- adding unnecessary complexities
- to our existing workflows.
- Yeah. Sounds like a really sound process that
- that your team has outlined, Allison.
- And kind of in the same vein, I
- wanted to also touch on the concept
- of trust.
- I know trust comes up as an issue
- with AI frequently, whether we're talking about clinicians
- or patients.
- So from your lens, what are the nonnegotiables
- for for earning that trust?
- For sure. That's another great question.
- Ultimately, the patient has to remain at the
- center of every conversation. That is the first
- nonnegotiable
- for us at Aspen Valley Health. Some other
- things that we take into consideration
- is we need appropriate privacy and security protections,
- transparency about how the technology is being used,
- reliable clinical content, and clear human oversight is
- also really important for us and definitely a
- nonnegotiable.
- The AI that we are, you know, bringing
- into our system should ultimately support our clinicians
- and not replace their judgment or create another
- disconnected step in their workflow.
- The integration is also extremely important for us,
- especially coming from the technology side. We ask
- whether the tool can complement our existing epic
- workflows and provide information at the right moment.
- Trust develops when clinicians
- understand the tool,
- know its limitations, and see that it consistently
- supports safer and more efficient care overall.
- Mhmm. Yeah. So it sounds like really what's
- important here is keeping patients at the center
- of every conversation when it comes to AI,
- ensuring that it's secure, protected,
- that the clinical content is reliable, and that
- it's integrated, whether that's in clinician workflows or
- on the technology side.
- So I'm curious. Is there a tool that
- comes to mind that you've recently brought on
- that that clears that bar in those expectations?
- Yeah. That's another great question. A tool that
- we recently introduced to Aston Valley Health was
- Clinical Key AI.
- We were super drawn to Clinical Key, because
- it addresses
- very practical challenges,
- including the clinicians need to find relevant evidence
- based information quickly,
- often while caring for a patient, while managing
- several competing priorities. So super quick and reliable.
- Mhmm.
- Absolutely.
- And I'm hoping to know too. So with
- Clinical Key AI, what really drew you to
- the tool, and what were you hoping to
- or what were you hoping it would solve,
- I should say?
- Definitely. So our goal was to give our
- clinicians faster access to more synthesized clinical information
- to support their decision making. Right? On the
- floor, things can happen really quickly, rapidly,
- specifically in our emergency department. And just as
- importantly, we wanted that information to be accessible
- within their existing workflows rather than requiring them
- to leave Epic and search through multiple external
- resources.
- So clinicalkey.ai,
- really cleared the bar for us because it
- supported a real clinical need, came from a
- trusted content provider, and could ultimately be integrated
- into our environment that our clinicians already use.
- Great to hear that you're seeing early success
- with the tool.
- I'm curious, Allison. How have clinicians
- taken to it so far? And and is
- there a moment or even an example that
- really captures how
- the staff are finding and using evidence in
- the middle of a busy clinical workday?
- Of course. That's another great question.
- So far, the response has been very positive.
- Obviously, with NEAI, there's some natural and initial
- hesitation
- whenever we do introduce a new tool,
- especially within health care.
- Something that has helped with this adoption is
- having clinical key AI, like I said, integrated
- directly into our Epic system.
- So our clinicians can access it without significantly
- disrupting their workflows, which has been super helpful.
- Overall, we've seen particular value in our emergency
- department
- where our physicians often need to evaluate a
- broad range of possibilities very quickly.
- Clinical key AI can help them explore and
- develop a differential diagnosis by some synthesizing
- relevant clinical information
- at the point of care.
- Instead of spending valuable time reviewing extensive literature
- and, searching several different resources,
- clinicians can get the pertinent information more efficiently.
- It isn't making the clinical decision for them,
- but instead, it's helping them find and evaluate
- evidence more quickly so that they can apply
- their own expertise.
- Yeah. And such an important distinction, Allison. I
- appreciate you making that as I know, that
- goes right back into the trust factor that
- we were talking about and, you know, still
- having a human in the loop here.
- And, you know, this has been so helpful
- to hear what your journey has looked like.
- For another leader or peer who might just
- be beginning to explore clinical decision support tools,
- What's one lesson that you would share from
- Aspen Valley Health that you'd want them to
- hear or to know?
- For sure. This has been a big journey
- for us. And as we know, AI is
- coming out rapidly.
- So a lot of quick decisions on our
- end and how we wanna roll it out.
- My biggest recommendation would be to begin with
- the problem, not the product.
- Be very clear about what challenge you're trying
- to solve and then carefully research which tool
- is the best fit for your organization.
- It's also important to involve the people who
- will actually be using the technology.
- IT can make recommendations, and we can try
- to support our clinicians, but, ultimately,
- having that clinician engagement
- and then education and ongoing support are very
- essential.
- And like I said earlier, there may be
- some hesitation initially, but adoption can happen relatively
- quickly when clinicians understand the purpose of the
- tool, trust its underlying content, and see how
- it can help them within their daily work
- and their workflows.
- Well, such helpful perspective, Allison. Thanks for sharing
- what's worked at Aspen Valley Health and,
- some of the, you know, challenges you may
- have run into and how you've navigated them.
- I think it's really helpful for listeners to
- to hear. But before we wrap, is there
- anything else that we haven't touched on or
- anything else you wanted to leave listeners with?
- For sure. I think my last piece for
- you is that, you know, we know AI
- is advancing incredibly quick, and it has tremendous
- potential to improve health care workflows
- while also reducing some of the burden of
- the clinician experience.
- At the same time, speech should not replace
- thoughtful decision making. Health care organizations
- still need to be strategic about the tools
- they select,
- intentional about governance, and clear about the outcomes
- that they hope to ultimately achieve.
- So when AI is implemented responsibly with patients
- at the center and clinicians actively involved, I
- do think it can be super meaningful in
- the way that they support their care and
- their delivery for the patients at the center.
- Something else I just wanna throw out that
- vendor partnership is another critical piece, you know,
- with AI. And I just want to add
- that we've received excellent support from Elsevier
- and that their partnership has been very valuable
- throughout our implementation and rollout specifically for clinical
- key AI. So thank you for that.
- Well, Allison, thank you again for spending time
- with us today and sharing all of your
- great thoughts and your insights.
- Of course, we also wanna thank today's podcast
- sponsor, Elsevier.
- Listeners, be sure to tune in to more
- podcasts from Becker's by visiting our podcast page
- at beckershospitalreview.com.