Dr. Nguyen on the 3 secrets to digital health pilot success

The next big thing in AI may look like science fiction come to life, but the road to next-gen health care innovation will always run through pilot projects that are scaled up successfully. Earlier this month, Khang Nguyen, MD, chief transformation officer of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, weighed in on how to turn small digital health pilots into large programs with real return on investment while avoiding “pilot fatigue.”

During a Connected Health 2025 Virtual Summit panel, Dr. Nguyen shared that as a value-based organization, Kaiser Permanente evaluates pilot projects using a wide range of metrics, including how patients experience new digital processes, care quality enhancements, and the long-term program sustainability.

“By definition, we take care of patients end-to-end and therein begins the conversation around return on investment, or ROI, for a project,” said Dr. Nguyen. “We tend to look at it from a complete holistic view, not just from what that digital interface or the digital interaction provides for the member at that moment, but really what the final outcome may be.”

As a real-world example, Dr. Nguyen discussed the Southern California Permanente Medical Group’s Get Care Now program, which allows patients to connect with a clinician for an e-visit in less than 2 hours and also get 24/7 urgent care help.

Implementation analysis showed that patients from diverse backgrounds were able to speak to or visit a physician at different times of day, instead of visiting an emergency room. Shifting patient visits not only created initial ROI and improved the overall patient experience, it also led to positive membership growth projections.

“What we discovered is that most of these looking for convenience,” said Dr. Nguyen. “They wouldn’t have anywhere else to call and oftentimes they’d end up in the outside [of Kaiser Permanente] ER or they would end up in a place of care delivery that wasn’t appropriate.”

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The building blocks of scalable health care technology

Panelists were asked about the infrastructure considerations health care organizations should remember when piloting transformative technologies. Beyond the cost of new technologies and making sure scaling a project makes financial sense, Dr. Nguyen shared 3 key factors necessary for success:

• Access to patient information and local infrastructure. Virtual care is helping more patients connect with clinicians. But without readily accessible patient information, new technologies may not operate as efficiently and effectively. Patient data includes information on local services and facilities, such as nearby community resources, pharmacies, labs, and emergency rooms. “Accessibility to that information is critically important,” said Dr. Nguyen. “Knowing what resources are available to provide that -mile care and then also to make it very accessible to that clinician in the moment so that they can quickly get to it and provide the information to the patient is also very critical.”
• Interoperability of systems. Another key factor in digital pilots is system compatibility. As health care AI tools evolve, organizations need to ensure that new software and hardware can interact with both existing and future systems. “What we’re finding is that the connection points are actually the most complicated points and the most expensive parts, at least from a digital and software perspective,” said Dr. Nguyen.
• Data security. The security and privacy of patient data shared across systems should remain a preeminent consideration when evaluating and scaling a new digital health process. “Having that data security infrastructure and having that thought in mind from the beginning is really important, not just to delivering the care, but for our patient’s information,” said Dr. Nguyen. “They are very concerned about where their information is going and who’s using it and for what benefit.”

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