Insights from Digital Health Leaders at ViVE 2025

Innovation, AI, and the Future of Patient Care

At the ViVE conference leaders in digital health shared their experiences and forward-thinking strategies for improving patient care, streamlining operations, and integrating technology into clinical workflows.

In this special edition of The Better Care Podcast, EvidenceCare’s Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brian Fengler, brought together digital health executives to learn about the challenges they’re tackling and the solutions that are shaping the future.

Among them were Dr. Aaron Wilcox, General Surgeon and Care Transformation Leader at Kaiser, Meghan Huffman, VP of Digital Health at Novant Health, Dr. Jordan Messler, Chief Medical Officer at Glytec and Dr. Rich Loomis, Chief Informatics Officer at Elsevier.

Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Rethinking the Care Journey

For Dr. Aaron Wilcox, a general surgeon and care transformation leader at Kaiser, the concept of a patient’s care journey has evolved beyond simply moving them from one stage to the next. Instead, he sees an opportunity to integrate multiple services to support both hospital and overall wellness goals.

“I’m really interested in the care journey space. For a long time, the focus was just on moving a patient from one step to the next. But now, I think it’s about more than that. There are some really interesting ideas around integrating multiple services—not just within medicine but also in ways that support a patient’s overall well-being. I also really like the wellness aspects that are coming into the frame. The idea of integrating multiple solutions into one seamless experience is something I hadn’t seen as much in the past,” Wilcox shared.

Dr. Wilcox’s journey into digital health started with a simple observation: patients in the post-anesthesia care unit were experiencing unnecessary delays in discharge, leading to longer hospital stays. His curiosity led to a collaboration between clinical and informatics teams that ultimately scaled to impact over 330,000 surgical patients annually in Southern California.

Digital Solutions for Preoperative Care

One of Kaiser’s most successful recent initiatives, according to Wilcox, has been the shift toward digital preoperative preparation for lower-risk surgeries. By replacing traditional pre-op visits with a digital experience, Kaiser not only improved efficiency but also reduced unnecessary testing and saved millions of dollars.

“We look for breadcrumbs in the EHR. We find contextual information about where patients are in their journey and provide just-in-time, bite-sized information in ways they prefer and can revisit as needed.” – Dr. Aaron Wilcox

“But what we’re most proud of is that we’re liberating these appointments for other needs—making it easier for departments to see consultations and for surgical teams to handle minor procedures. And the other really exciting thing is that these patients are 60% less likely to have unnecessary labs, X-rays, or EKGs in preparation for surgery. At scale, that’s translated into tens of millions of dollars in savings. It’s been fun to watch,” Wilcox explained.

Initially, the idea of eliminating pre-op visits faced skepticism, but careful testing and feedback led to a solution that worked for both clinicians and patients.

“Early on, people said, ‘Our patients want this appointment,’ but when we asked them directly, a lot of them didn’t,” Wilcox said. “And it turns out that older patients appreciate the digital experience too—about 30% of our enrolled patients are Medicare beneficiaries.”

The Promise of AI in Patient Care

AI remains a dominant theme in healthcare innovation, but it’s true value lies in practical applications that enhance clinical workflows. At Novant Health, VP of Digital Health Meghan Huffman, is focused on using AI strategically rather than jumping on the hype.

“We’re being very intentional about what AI we’re bringing into the system and what we’re doing with it. It’s not just about implementing AI—it’s about solving real problems.” ­ – Meghan Huffman

One promising use case is AI-assisted virtual care. Huffman described how AI could improve efficiency by gathering patient information ahead of virtual visits, allowing providers to start appointments with relevant context.

“We have a team that provides on-demand virtual care 24/7, and I think there are ways we could use AI technology to better support patients. For example, when a patient comes on and says, ‘I have a cough,’ we can start asking smart questions and gathering relevant details. Then, when our providers join the call, AI can surface key information—like noting a recent cardiology visit—so they have a fuller picture right from the start. I think that will make us a lot more efficient,” Huffman explained.

Smart Rooms: The Next Step in Digital Transformation

As hospitals look to the future, digitally enabled patient rooms—often called smart rooms—are emerging as a focus for innovation. Huffman stressed that to justify the investment, smart rooms must provide multiple benefits rather than just addressing a single use case.

“We’re not doing this just for virtual nursing or just for sitters,” she said. “The ROI comes when we take a comprehensive approach—improving patient experience, allowing visitors to join remotely, and creating better working conditions for nurses.”

However, not every investment in technology needs a directly attributable return on investment. Huffman likened it to the presence of TVs in patient rooms:

“There’s not an ROI for a TV in a patient room, but it’s also an expectation—something that’s just necessary for the patient experience.” – Meghan Huffman

By combining capabilities like virtual consultations, real-time monitoring, and digital communication, smart rooms could redefine how hospitals deliver care, improving patient satisfaction while making clinicians’ jobs easier and more efficient.

Standardizing Diabetes Care with Technology

Dr. Jordan Messler, Chief Medical Officer at Glytec, highlighted the need for better glycemic management in hospitals, where diabetes is often overlooked in favor of more immediate conditions like heart failure or pneumonia.

“We just don’t do a great job of managing insulin, one of the highest-risk medications in the hospital.” ­– Dr. Jordan Messler

Glytec’s Glucommander software helps hospitals standardize insulin management, reducing preventable hypoglycemia by 90% and cutting severe hyperglycemia by 50-70%. These improvements not only enhance patient safety but also drive cost savings by reducing complications and length of stay.

“Just one preventable hypoglycemia event can add $10,000 to $15,000 to a hospital bill,” Messler noted. “By managing glucose more effectively, we improve both clinical and financial outcomes.”

Improving Physician Workflows with AI-Powered Clinical Decision Support

Elsevier, traditionally known for its medical publishing, has been expanding its focus to AI-driven clinical decision support. Chief Informatics Officer Dr. Rich Loomis described how their latest AI solution, ClinicalKey AI, provides real-time evidence-based recommendations.

“Our goal is to help healthcare professionals get to the right decision faster while also reducing variability in care,” Loomis explained.

Beyond decision support, Loomis sees AI playing a role in easing physician burnout by handling administrative burdens like summarizing patient histories, generating discharge summaries, and even suggesting clinical trial eligibility.

 “Whether it’s streamlining documentation or surfacing key insights, AI has the potential to make clinicians’ lives easier while improving patient care.” – Dr. Rich Loomis

The Biggest Operational Challenge in Healthcare?

Each guest was asked the question: If they could wave a magic wand and solve on major healthcare challenge, what would it be?

• • For Dr. Aaron Wilcox, it’s surgical scheduling, a process still heavily reliant on human coordination.
    • “You should be able to schedule surgery like you schedule a flight,” he said. “You get an itinerary; you can reschedule easily; it shouldn’t feel like starting over every time.”
  • For Meghan Huffman, it’s simplifying healthcare payments and removing barriers between patients and care.
    • “Patients don’t understand value-based care vs. fee-for-service models,” she said. “The system is too convoluted. Clinicians should be supported to serve patients without all this noise.”
  • For Dr. Jordan Messler, it’s improving patient safety by reducing preventable errors and making hospital stays safer.
    • “We see a lot of preventable errors, a lot of missing information, a lot of near misses, and we should be able to reduce that and keep our patients safer,” Messler said. “Patients shouldn’t need an advocate to navigate hospital care. We need to make the experience safer and more meaningful for them.”
  • For Dr. Rich Loomis, it’s reducing misdiagnosis and non-diagnosis, ensuring that every patient receives the right diagnosis and treatment.
    • “I think misdiagnosis and undiagnosis is often an under-recognized challenge in healthcare,” Loomis said. “We focus a lot on common chronic conditions, the big cost conditions, and sometimes focus less on using technology to ensure that we’re making the right diagnosis—even if that diagnosis may change over time. I’m really optimistic and encouraged by what new technology will bring to bear in helping physicians and the care team get to the right diagnosis. And then once that diagnosis is made, ensuring that they’re prescribing the right treatment.”

Looking Ahead: Innovation with Purpose

Across these conversations, there was a common theme: the need for innovation that is practical, patient-centered, and operationally sustainable.

From AI-powered decision support to smart hospital rooms and digital pre-op solutions, the healthcare leaders at ViVE are focused on solving real-world challenges-not just adopting technology for the sake of it.

“Let’s find creative solutions for hard problems. Let’s keep the patients in mind. Let’s certainly keep the clinicians in mind. Let’s make everybody’s life easier and continue to accelerate our solving of difficult problems.” – Dr. Aaron Wilcox

To watch or listen to the full episodes, check out Episodes 25 of The Better Care Podcast.