How CIOs Are Creating a Digital Foundation for AI-Driven Innovation

Healthcare has entered a new digital transformation era, where artificial intelligence (AI) promises to reshape everything from patient engagement to operational efficiency. But before leaders can fully realize AI’s potential, they must address a more immediate challenge: years of fragmented digital adoption that have left many health systems overloaded with apps, tools, and competing workflows.

Optimum Healthcare IT recently convened a CHIME Thought Leadership Roundtable, moderated by Keith Fraidenburg, EVP and Chief Operating & Innovation Officer at CHIME, and Rick Shephardson, Chief Strategy Officer at Optimum Healthcare IT, which brought together executives from Deaconess Health System, The Guthrie Clinic, Methodist Health System, Jefferson Health, MUSC, and Trinity Health. The group shared candid insights into how they are streamlining their digital environments, rethinking workforce roles, and laying the foundation for sustainable AI-driven innovation.

Breaking the Cycle of App Bloat

The healthcare industry has had a repeated cycle: responding to regulatory or market pressure, generating a new wave of tools, ending up with a patchwork tech stack, and then going through a period of buyer’s remorse. From the rush to implement an EHR to the parade of bolt-on capabilities that followed, health systems often end up with thousands of point solutions.

Nick O’Connor, CTO at Trinity Health, noted his organization manages roughly 4,000 applications. “Our goal is to do more platformization and less variability,” he said, emphasizing that rationalizing tools is key to uncovering true business needs rather than piling on quick fixes.

This strategy is echoed at Deaconess Health System, which has grown from three hospitals to 19 in just six years. Chief Digital Transformation Officer Jared Antczak stressed that chasing point solutions is no longer viable. Instead, his team is focused on app rationalization, deciding what to keep, what to cut, and how to ensure every digital investment aligns with growth and care delivery.

“Our goal is to do more platformization and less variability.”

NICK O’CONNOR
CTO, Trinity Health

Repurposing What Already Works

Another emerging strategy is finding new ways to use existing platforms. Terri Couts, former EVP and Chief Digital Officer at The Guthrie Clinic, explained how Guthrie has optimized core platforms to integrate remote radiologists, helping mitigate provider shortages. That success is now being applied to other service lines where a mix of human and digital resources can solve challenges sustainably.

Jefferson Health has taken a similar approach. A platform originally designed for virtual sitters in patient rooms is now being adapted for admissions, discharges, emergency department triage, and other workflows. “Leveraging proven technology in new ways minimizes risk while expanding access and efficiency,” said Justin Diehl, VP of Clinical Systems.

“Leveraging proven technology in new ways minimizes risk while expanding access and efficiency.”

JUSTIN DIEHL
VP of Clinical Systems, Jefferson Health

Putting People at the Center of Transformation

Technology alone isn’t enough. Several leaders emphasized that digital transformation must include cultural change and workforce evolution.

At MUSC, Enterprise CIO Amar Nagaram described shifting roles from analysts to insights teams, enabling staff to focus on interpreting data and delivering business intelligence. “Automation exists to support human expertise, not replace it,” he said.

Couts agreed, noting that healthcare can no longer solve problems by simply “throwing more people at them.” Instead, organizations must combine human ingenuity with automation to get the most from limited staff. O’Connor added that cultural incentives matter as much as training. At Trinity, reassigning skilled network and telecom staff into multi-platform engineering roles gave them broader perspectives and new career opportunities.

“Automation exists to support human expertise, not replace it.”

AMAR NAGARAM
Enterprise CIO, MUSC

Sustaining Innovation in a Resource-Constrained Environment

Innovation requires more than new tools and roles; it demands consistent communication and deliberate change management.

Charity Darnell, VP and Associate CIO at Methodist Health System, stressed the importance of transparency. “Your people need to know what you have already so they understand why you might be saying yes or no to their requests,” she said. When employees see that existing tools meet their needs, they’re more likely to buy into the larger strategy.

Antczak concluded that while leaders may wish for a “magic wand” to simplify change management, success ultimately comes from inspiring staff to embrace both technical and role-based changes as opportunities, not obstacles.

“Your people need to know what you have already so they understand why you might be saying yes or no to their requests.”

CHARITY DARNELL
VP and Associate CIO, Methodist Health System

Sustaining Innovation in a Resource-Constrained Environment

The roundtable made one thing clear: AI has immense potential to transform healthcare, but technology alone won’t deliver results. To unlock its value, organizations must simplify their tech stacks, repurpose proven platforms, and most importantly, empower their people to thrive in evolving roles.

As Shephardson observed, “We’re all on the same journey, just riding different horses.” By sharing lessons learned and collaborating across the industry, healthcare leaders can ensure that the next wave of digital innovation is intentional, sustainable, and impactful for patients and providers.