The promise of artificial intelligence in healthcare is immense and extends beyond technology; it is a powerful tool to advance value-based care. However, while innovation, funding and pilot projects often dominate conversations, AI’s success, especially in healthcare, doesn’t rest on the technology alone.
For AI to truly deliver on its potential, healthcare leaders must drive cultural transformation and organizational adoption by fostering collaboration, setting a clear vision and ensuring initiatives scale effectively and rapidly while staying focused on long-term outcomes.
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By aligning AI’s implementation with high-value care, leaders can empower their workforce, uphold ethical practices and enhance patient experiences, utilizing the technology as an important resource to further the broader mission of improving health and equity, while reducing costs and putting people at the center of care.
Patients are setting higher expectations for their providers, seeking greater transparency, responsiveness and value. At the same time, consumers are leveraging AI at increasing rates in their daily lives, often without understanding the data sources behind it.
As patients turn more frequently to AI to answer their healthcare questions, providers must guide them to accurate, trusted information to help them own their healthcare journeys by using available tools more effectively. This careful balance requires leaders to rethink how we use technology, how we build trust and how we navigate the road to value for our patients, our workforces and our communities.
Making this vision a reality isn’t just about adopting the latest technology — it’s about thoughtful leadership that ensures AI truly works for people. The real promise of AI lies in personalization, where care is tailored to each patient’s unique needs. To make this transformation possible, leaders must focus on aligning investments, governance and workforce engagement with this patient-centered approach.
Investing in AI and building trust
Before we can realize the technology’s full potential in healthcare, leaders must first invest thoughtfully in governance, training and open communication. We need to bring together perspectives from clinical, operational, data science, technology, legal, privacy and equity experts to guide AI adoption with shared accountability and ownership. When diverse voices are part of the process, decision-making around these investments becomes more informed and effective.
Equally important is building trust both internally and externally. Leaders must prioritize training to equip teams with the necessary AI skills and demonstrate how these tools will enhance patient care. Transparent communication about how AI complements care delivery — rather than replacing direct human engagement and empathy — will help build confidence among staff and patients.
Governance and buy-in go hand in hand. By creating policies that address privacy, bias and data quality, healthcare organizations enable AI initiatives to scale sustainably while maintaining trust at every level. These investments not only advance value-based care goals but also create a foundation for a sustainable, human-centered patient care.
Integrating AI at scale remains a challenge for leadership across the industry. Many health systems are in the early stages of AI adoption, experimenting with pilots projects or limited-use cases. While pilots test feasibility, success depends on prioritizing initiatives that align with the organization’s mission and broader goals. Effective leadership is about assessing and improving measurable outcomes, ensuring new initiatives remain focused on creating value at every stage.
No matter how well leaders prepare, scaling AI will uncover unexpected challenges. For example, implementing these tools for patient follow-up involves aligning clinical and administrative teams and tying investments to measurable outcomes like patient satisfaction and reduced readmissions.
The key is to anticipate challenges, learn, adapt and iterate quickly. This approach helps AI become a tool for progress rather than a source of frustration.
Shaping the future of AI in healthcare
The future of the technology across the industry lies in personalization. Imagine every patient having access to an AI assistant that provides appointment and prescription reminders, answers non-clinical questions and alerts care teams to potential concerns. This idea is already becoming a reality, but realizing it at scale will require leaders to focus on early communication and prioritizing patients and providers over quick efficiency gains and short-term wins.
The most successful health systems will integrate AI into broader strategies to maximize its value for the healthcare provider and the patient. That’s where the real potential is. The goal should never be to replace humans but to enhance their ability to provide thoughtful, effective and compassionate care.
Fully integrating AI into healthcare is complex, but the opportunities are transformative. Success depends on our strength and ability as leaders to bring together diverse perspectives, building trust and aligning AI with meaningful goals that support the transition to value-based care models.
By prioritizing collaboration and humanizing every patient interaction with this technology, we can position AI as an enhancement to care, not a replacement for it, effectively balancing innovation with the human connection at the heart of healthcare.
Eric Smith is senior vice president and chief digital officer at Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System.
