Health system clinical leaders are heading into a pivotal year. Pressure from the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBA), workforce shortages, and fast-moving advances in AI in healthcare are reshaping the operating environment.
During a top-rated Becker’s webinar — AI, OBBBA, and the Future of Care: How Health Systems Are Preparing for 2026 — Susan Grant, chief clinical officer at symplr, talked to leaders from UPMC, Kaiser Permanente, and St. Luke’s about how they are preparing for 2026 and what others can learn.
Susan Grant
DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Chief Clinical Officer
symplr
Aaron Wilcox
MD
General Surgeon and Care Experience Technology Leader
Kaiser Permanente
Brienne Sandow
MSN RN, NEA-BC
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer
St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center
Robert Bart
MD
Chief Medical Information Officer
University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC)
Poll #1: What do you see as the greatest challenge to your organization in 2026?
Poll #2: What would most help clinicians reduce burnout?
The discussion topics included AI use in healthcare, surgical workflow innovation, staffing challenges, and technology strategies.
Here is a recap with the top takeaways. You can watch the full session here.
A: AI is becoming part of everyday work for clinicians and needs to be a core competency for clinical and operational roles. UPMC’s chief medical information officer, Robert Bart, noted that “you have to understand how artificial intelligence can impact what you do. I tell our physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) frequently that the AI-enabled physician and APP will be able to outcompete the physician and APP who don’t take to using AI as part of how they deliver care.”
Leaders shared that ambient listening tools are already helping physicians complete documentation faster. Many use predictive analytics to identify risks like sepsis earlier. Some use generative AI to support clinical research and summarize information.
Kaiser’s Dr. Aaron Wilcox, general surgeon and care experience technology leader, described AI as “ubiquitous,” comparing it to the tools people use in their personal lives, like Siri or vehicle automation. His message to clinical teams: AI will be a normal part of care, and leaders should help staff understand how it works and when to rely on it.
A: Panelists agreed that the biggest benefit to using AI in healthcare is time. Dr. Wilcox said ambient listening gives him more time to connect with patients because the system captures the core of the visit. He no longer spends 10 minutes after each appointment on documentation.
Dr. Bart reported similar gains and said radiology tools improved efficiency by about 30% in some cases. More efficient clinicians can see more patients or simply reduce the strain of daily work. These time savings can also help reduce burnout—a concern shared in the polls.
A: Leaders agreed that AI should help clinicians be “more human,” not less. Dr. Wilcox shared that one company advertised AI as a way to “help clinicians be more human,” which shows how much the work has changed.
He said clinicians are often overloaded and interrupted, and AI gives them space to reconnect with patients. He emphasized that leaders must also teach clinicians how these systems work, what data they use, how to spot bias, and when it’s safe to ignore AI recommendations. This literacy helps teams adopt AI confidently and safely.
A: Dr. Bart cautioned that not every AI tool creates value. Some diagnostic tools may help clinicians think through cases, but do not speed up care or reduce costs. He noted that CMS does not reimburse more if a clinician uses AI, so organizations need to consider efficiency and financial outcomes.
AI tools that help clinicians reach a decision faster or support more scalable screening—like autonomous diabetic eye exams—offer clearer ROI than tools that simply add another layer to the clinical workflow.
A: After the pandemic, Kaiser Permanente faced high surgical backlogs and a surge in referrals—some clinics saw increases of more than 30%. Dr. Aaron Wilcox explained that the traditional pre-op process had been in place “for decades, maybe since the 1950s,” and leadership realized it wasn’t necessary for every patient.
They focused on low-risk patients undergoing low-risk procedures and redesigned the entire workflow. As Dr. Wilcox shared:
“We realized that this 30-minute in-person visit was not necessary. We’ve enrolled about 50,000 patients into this program… that’s one and a half million minutes repurposed to something else. The patients love it. They want high-quality care, but they want streamlined care in this day and age.”
A: The biggest lesson was to listen carefully to patients and care teams. Dr. Wilcox emphasized that Kaiser involved patients, surgeons, nurses, and back-office staff from the start. Early feedback helped fix problems before they spread.
Another lesson: take time to understand workflows before trying to change them. Engaging all stakeholders early made the redesign smoother across 17 hospitals and more than 30 surgical specialties.
A: Brie Sandow, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer of St. Luke’s, explained that the electronic health record, while valuable, added work instead of removing it. She noted, “The electronic health record increased the admin time for clinicians. It just did.”
She added that AI in healthcare is finally starting to reverse some of that trend. St. Luke’s introduced ambient listening in clinics, which reduced documentation time and gave physicians more predictable workdays. The improvement also helped reduce after-hours charting, one of the biggest drivers of burnout.
Brie emphasized that real relief will come when similar tools reach inpatient teams, “I think the opportunities going forward are really to look at the acute care setting… we still don’t have a routinely utilized tool that helps offset documentation burden for RNs and others, but I do think that’s coming.
A: Brie described a data-driven approach to scheduling and staffing. St. Luke’s uses historical volume patterns, staffing standards, call-off trends, and non-productive time to build more accurate rosters. AI then layers on insights that help managers make better decisions. “When you combine AI with your existing staffing and scheduling platform, you start to get insights you didn’t have before,” she said.
AI can recommend when additional staff should be added, where float resources should be allocated, and when unpredictable patterns—like holidays or seasonal surges—require adjustments. This reduces last-minute changes, cuts incentive spend, and helps hospitals maintain staffing stability across both tertiary and critical-access sites.
A: Consolidation of applications is no longer optional, noted Dr. Bart. UPMC sees disconnected applications as an operational burden and a security risk. He explained, “Application rationalization or consolidation is important both from an operational, financial, and particularly from a cybersecurity perspective. We believe moving onto larger, simpler platforms—and having fewer applications overall—is the path forward.”
He described how many departments operate in silos without realizing how similar their workflows are. Bringing them together is the first step toward platform alignment. “You have to engage them in conversations as a group so they can understand the similarities… not just how different they are,” said Dr. Bart.”
In 2025
75%
Of health system leaders say a consolidated healthcare operations platform will help address inefficiency and administrative burden
A: Dr. Bart urged systems not to delay technology modernization. “You can’t put your head in the sand. You really need to figure out how to start embracing AI and using it within your healthcare system.”
He added that consolidation and optimization create the foundation for meaningful AI use. “Artificial intelligence isn’t forgiving if you haven’t done the right things at a people and process level… You need clean data and good workflows before layering AI on top.”
Brie and Dr. Wilcox echoed this message. They encouraged leaders to focus first on maximizing the value of the tools they already have, then adopt new solutions that directly reduce burden and enhance patient experience.
The conversation made one thing clear. AI in healthcare is reshaping the work of clinicians and the operations of health systems. But the leaders on this panel believe the goal is simple: reduce burden, improve efficiency, and give clinicians the time and space to care for patients the way they want to.
If health systems can do that in 2026, they will be stronger on the other side.
Listen to the full webinar: AI, OBBBA, and the Future of Care: How Health Systems Are Preparing for 2026
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