In a recent episode of the Big Unlock podcast, Priti Patel, MD, VP and Chief Medical Information Officer at John Muir Health, offered an insider’s perspective on how a community-based health system is leveraging digital innovation to enhance patient care, streamline provider workflows, and build a data-driven culture. With over two decades of experience as a family physician and clinical informaticist, Dr. Patel discussed how digital tools, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic health records (EHRs), are transforming patient care and clinician workflows.
Dr. Patel highlighted the evolving role of the CMIO as one that bridges the gap between clinical practice and information technology. Her team includes not just physicians but also nursing informaticists, reflecting a broader interdisciplinary approach to digital transformation. Dr. Patel mentions, “With clinical informatics, we really try to bridge the workflow with the technology.”
With strong foundational work laid by her predecessors, including EHR implementation and governance structures, Dr. Patel is now focused on building upon that legacy. She described how clinicians who once didn’t know the term “informatics” are now joining with formal degrees and certifications. This growth has helped embed informatics into every corner of the health system—clinicians, IT, operations, and leadership alike.
“IT is now part of every aspect of healthcare. We are seeing informatics grow beyond physicians—our nursing teams are deeply involved too,” Dr. Patel adds.
One of the most transformative initiatives at John Muir Health is the adoption of ambient AI technology, specifically ambient scribe tools. Implemented in mid-2023, this technology allows physicians to focus on patients rather than documentation, addressing a long-standing pain point in healthcare. Dr. Patel noted that the enthusiasm for ambient AI was unprecedented, with physicians adopting the tool within hours due to its ability to reduce documentation time and enhance human connection.
Dr. Priti says, “the way we’re approaching ambient AI is that it should help reduce the cognitive burden, not just document a note. If it’s not improving the provider-patient interaction, then it’s not worth it.”
The integration of ambient AI with Epic was a game-changer. What started as a manual copy-paste process has evolved into seamless documentation support—now used by over 60% of providers, with some using it for 100% of encounters. Benefits include:
Adoption came quickly—many providers embraced the tool within hours of deployment—driven by its usability and integration into existing workflows. Dr. Patel adds – “If the technology is designed well, it’s very easy to do. If it’s not designed with the end user in mind, change management becomes even more challenging.”
Dr. Patel’s team is also leading efforts to scale an enterprise-wide data strategy that centers on literacy, accessibility, and real-time insights. She highlighted the organization’s data literacy program, launched a year ago to empower clinicians and staff to leverage analytics tools effectively. Starting with one-on-one training for the C-suite and expanding to directors and managers through webinars and open office hours, the program significantly increased the use of dashboards and reporting tools.
This work supports a broader goal: turning raw data into actionable insights that support daily clinical and operational decisions. The learning curve is real—but the team is embracing tools like NLP and GenAI to simplify the analytics experience. Dr. Patel states, “We’re on this data-driven journey and teaching people how to leverage these self-service tools. There is quite the learning curve and that’s where natural language processing and gen AI may be very helpful.”
Dr. Patel’s approach to innovation emphasizes the importance of change management in technology adoption. As a CMIO, she views herself as a change management agent, ensuring that new tools align with clinical workflows and user needs. She adds, “I think change management is the key to adoption; and adoption is the key to seeing the benefits of technology. That connection is really key.” This is particularly crucial when implementing technologies that may not be intuitively designed for end users.
Whether it’s through role-play testing for ambient AI or prioritizing tools that support clinician well-being, John Muir Health ensures innovation never comes at the expense of the user experience. Their digital strategy is firmly anchored to organizational priorities: improve patient care, reduce burnout, and enable high-quality outcomes.
Dr. Patel is optimistic about the transformative potential of generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI in healthcare. John Muir Health is actively exploring meaningful use cases such as drafting patient message responses, generating nursing care plans, and summarizing complex medical records to ease clinical workload. Predictive analytics tools are already helping detect early signs of sepsis, improve stroke care, and identify high-risk patients—laying a strong foundation for broader AI integration.
“I’m really interested in everything that’s out there and trying to find a solution that will fit our problems. That is always a challenge… how do you figure out what’s really going to make a big difference and improve patient care and the experience for our clinicians?” – Dr. Priti Patel
As the healthcare industry navigates this next wave of innovation, Dr. Patel emphasizes the importance of choosing GenAI solutions that address real clinical challenges and enhance both provider efficiency and patient outcomes.
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