I think digital transformation (and) appropriate utilization of collaborative AI are all critical elements. The formation of our CV teams will continue. We know we have a physician shortage. We actually have a workforce shortage, so really being able to allow our teams to develop and to flourish, and to allow different leaders in different stages of a patient's care plan is also going to be critical.

I think the change will continue to be relatively rapid, both with the introduction of AI and the ongoing technology and pharmacological changes that we see in the prevention and treatment of heart disease. But the one trend that we've got to do better at, is to start to bend that curve for the global burden of heart disease. Since COVID, that is just going the wrong way, and I think everybody recognizes it, and so we need to use all these tools: dyad leadership, subspecialty clinics, team-based care and collaborative AI to get that global burden of heart disease under control.


HCB News: How is AI currently being integrated into cardiology workflows, and what challenges still need to be addressed for wider adoption?
CB: Many people find it easier to identify AI when it's embedded in our imaging or technology, but I think we're missing an opportunity when it relates to the cardiology workflow. The biggest issue for burnout for our physicians is our EMR. We have got to be able to have our physicians go home at the end of the day and “go home,” not put their bunny slippers on and have to sort through an inbox and finish charts.

Our patients are complex, and our throughput in the office is complex. When you see a well-oiled -clinic – functioning efficiently, where everybody's working to the top of their license and your MA is rooming your patient, your physician is assessing and diagnosing, your nurse is in there teaching and educating, and your APP is doing follow-up — that's when patients feel well cared for. They don't care that their office appointment is only 15 or 20 minutes. It's what happens in that 15 to 20 minutes. Using AI in that workflow is critical. (Also) critical is using AI for patient remote monitoring, making sure we're doing that appropriately, making sure our patients understand what digital monitoring is, and making sure that we're utilizing AI to predict heart disease so that we are using preventative skills as opposed to waiting until people are sick before utilizing our healthcare dollars.

Digital transformation is critical, and we're seeing it. We see it with our remote patient monitoring, we see it with our inter-loop recorders, we see it with our devices that we put in. There's lots of data available to us, but how we are utilizing that data? and how are we embedding that data into a workflow that is meaningful for our patients and their outcome – that is what is very, very important. To have it adopted, to have our teams accept it, we have to remember that our patients have to stay at the center of this. It's utilizing it cautiously, making sure that it is doing what we think it is doing. It will never replace the need for our physician's and support team, but collaborative AI must be well understood.

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