Drs. Ansari and Davidoff on innovation and health care access

To address the growing demand for health care services combined with workforce shortages, utilizing health care innovations that improve patient health and restore the joy in medicine for physicians and clinicians is more essential than ever. Maria Ansari, MD, FACC, and Ramin Davidoff, MD, co-CEOs of The Permanente Federation, recently spoke on innovation and care access with Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.

Health services spending is above pre-pandemic levels and utilization has rebounded across certain measures. And utilization is expected to grow as the number of Americans who are 65 and older is expected to .

“What we’re seeing is the ravages of perhaps delayed care during the pandemic [plus] the baby boomers aging ,” said Dr. Ansari, adding “About 60% of Americans have one chronic condition and 40% have two.”

Related innovating health care access story: Kaiser Permanente study shows screening efforts cut colorectal cancer deaths in half

Building the workforce to match the needs of an aging population will be vital. But that will be just one piece of the puzzle, as the U.S. is predicted to face a physician shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, as well as a shortage of other health care workers.

“There are workforce challenges that we are dealing with both in physicians as well as in nurses, as well as some of the ancillary staff such as respiratory technicians, and radiologic diagnostic imaging technicians,” said Dr. Davidoff.

3 forward-thinking approaches to address future health care challenges

A proactive and technology-forward approach — such as Kaiser Permanente’s integrated, value-based care model — would emphasize three important strategies to solving the looming challenges:

1. 

   Focus on preventing and detecting health problems before they’re serious. Connecting patients with needed care quickly creates a win-win for patients and care teams. “The healthier the patient is, the better the system is,” said Dr. Ansari. “In our system, if a patient never has a fall, never has a heart attack, that’s in the best interest of the patient, but it also is in the best interest of the entire system.”

2. Utilize technology and AI innovation to support physicians and clinicians and enhance the care experience. Kaiser Permanente completed a national rollout of ambient AI scribe tools that create a transcript of patient visits, as well as a summary that physicians edit before adding it to the patient record. “Most of our doctors tell us that that has been the single best improvement that they’ve seen in their daily work,” said Dr. Ansari. “And our patients are saying that they actually feel that the doctor is looking at them and not the computer screen.”

Related ambient AI scribe story: Quality assurance informs large-scale use of ambient AI clinical documentation

Dr. Davidoff discussed other ongoing AI initiatives within Kaiser Permanente that address burnout, like technology that can review incoming patient emails, patient charts, and clinician notes and create a draft response for the physician to review and edit. This will also help reduce administrative workload while helping with timely communication with patients, a key part of the care experience.

3. Foster a strong culture of collaboration and team-based care. When clinicians work together, they can better respond to the changing needs of patients and the communities they serve. “A good culture in every organization is critically important, and it’s something that cannot be sacrificed for the sake of operational efficiency,” said Dr. Davidoff. “Establishing a culture that is mission oriented for our system in each of the geographies that we exist in is mission critical.”

Listen to the full Becker’s Healthcare Podcast episode featuring Dr. Ansari here and the episode featuring Dr. Davidoff here.