In this episode, John Donohue, Vice President of Entity Services at Penn Medicine talks about their 3-year long, $1.5 billion investment in a hospital of the future to be launched by the health system in their West Philadelphia campus. The hospital features new interactive technology for improving patient care and Disney-inspired user experience design.

John discusses a range of other topics, from defending against the ever-growing cybersecurity threats to finding success with technology partnerships. Their “3C” mantra for technology enablement in care delivery – common systems, centrally managed, and collaboratively implemented – has been a key to their success over time.

John also provides practical advice for digital health startups looking to partner with Penn Medicine in launching innovative solutions. Take a listen.

With innovation, you need to be prepared to recognize that every idea is not a great idea.

In this podcast, B.J. Moore, EVP and CIO of Providence Health discusses the organizational structure at Providence to drive transformation and how he draws on his 27 years of experience at Microsoft to drive change.  

Moore explains his vision to leverage emerging technologies such as cloud and voice recognition to support healthcare delivery, improve patient experiences, and increase caregiver productivity. He maintains that it’s important to partner with leading technology firms to create robust platforms to drive digital health.

Moore discusses Providence's investments in digital health innovation and advises digital health start-ups to focus on consumer experience. Take a listen.

Healthcare must embrace the cloud. That is where all the technology innovations are happening.

In this episode, Matthew Warrens, Managing Director at UnityPoint Health Ventures, shares some of the learnings from their portfolio companies and how UnityPoint Ventures approaches digital health investments. 

UnityPoint Ventures invests in startups at various stages of their growth. Matt discusses their investment themes, what they look for in startups, and how they leverage the UnityPoint Health ecosystem to help their portfolio companies scale and grow – while clarifying that portfolio companies are not guaranteed a commercial contract with the health system. 

Matt discusses the ongoing labor shortage and how that is reshaping priorities, the emerging competitive landscape for health systems, and the overall VC funding environment for digital health. Take a listen.

Digital health startups must pick a lane and stay with it

In this episode, Angelo Milazzo, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer at Duke Health Integrated Practice discusses the implementation of AI technology in healthcare, focusing on its potential to improve clinical documentation and patient communication.

Dr. Milazzo examines the benefits and challenges of adopting AI systems, including their impact on clinician satisfaction, work-life balance, and overall healthcare efficiency. The conversation also explores value-based care models, the importance of responsible AI implementation, and the emerging role of Agentic AI—the next big wave in GenAI—in redefining administrative work. He also emphasizes how thoughtful stewardship and strong clinical-technological partnerships can help create a future of abundance in healthcare.

Angelo discusses the implementation of a natural language processing algorithm to filter and generate clinical documentation at the point of care. He highlights the success of this technology in various health systems and emphasized its integration with the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. Take a listen.

Damo Consulting - The Big Unlock - Podcast - Ep 157 - Angelo Milazzo

In this episode, Crystal Broj, Enterprise Chief Digital Transformation Officer at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), shares how the organization is transforming healthcare through AI-powered voice bots, ambient listening, and digital front door innovations. She discusses the challenges and successes of implementing a new patient check-in system and deploying an automated AI agent in their patient access center.

Crystal notes that one of the biggest lessons is the value of starting small—piloting technology, demonstrating ROI and KPIs, and scaling gradually. MUSC’s AI voice bot – Emily – handles after-hours calls and appointment rescheduling, generating over $3 million in collections and reducing call handling time. Ambient tools like DAX have helped physicians cut “pajama time” by 37%, speed up chart closure, and improve clinical documentation. She also highlights how digital tools in the patient access center enhance scheduling and virtual care access, creating a seamless digital front door. 

Crystal stresses the need for agile implementation, effective change management, and aligning technology with real workflows to drive lasting impact. Take a listen.

Damo Consulting - The Big Unlock - Podcast - Ep 161 - Crystal Broj

In this episode, Priti Patel, MD, VP and Chief Medical Information Officer at John Muir Health shares her journey from family physician to CMIO, offering insights into her 23-year tenure and the evolution of clinical informatics. She also talks about key challenges such as change management, the integration of new tools like predictive analytics, and streamlining prior authorization.

Dr. Patel discusses the growing role of informatics in healthcare and how collaboration across clinical and IT teams has driven innovation. One of the key highlights at John Muir Health, a community-based health system, is the early adoption of ambient AI technology for clinical documentation, leading to:

- reduced cognitive load,
- time savings of up to 30 minutes per note,
- and enhanced provider-patient interactions.

She also emphasizes the critical role of seamless EHR integration in driving adoption, with over 60% of providers now using the tool regularly.

Dr. Patel also outlines the organization’s enterprise-wide data strategy, including a robust data literacy initiative that’s empowering staff at all levels, starting with the C-suite, to make data-driven decisions and improve care quality and operational outcomes. She underscores that aligning digital strategies with organizational priorities—while focusing on improving the clinician and patient experience—is central to sustainable transformation. Take a listen.

Damo Consulting -  Podcast - Ep 162 - Priti Patel

In this episode, Shekar Ramanathan, Executive Director of Digital Transformation at Atlantic Health System shares how the organization is evolving from traditional automation to a future shaped by agentic AI. He shares Atlantic Health’s journey from pilot projects to scalable AI implementations, highlighting real-world use cases such as ambient scribing, intelligent message routing, and virtual medical assistants for patient engagement. 

Shekar outlines how Atlantic leverages generative AI to tackle both clinical and operational challenges, guided by a strategy that aligns AI initiatives with organizational goals. He emphasizes working backwards from the outcomes, integrating AI into specific workflows, and the need for strong governance frameworks. He also shares insights on Atlantic’s AI maturity model, challenges in scaling, cost containment, prompt engineering, and the critical role of education and cultural change. 

Looking ahead, Shekar sees agentic AI as a transformative force—one that reduces administrative burden and unlocks new levels of autonomy in care delivery. He also reflects on the rising importance of Chief AI Officers in driving responsible and effective AI strategy across health systems. Take a listen.

From Automation to Autonomy: Agentic AI Is Healthcare’s Next Frontier-Episode 163-Shekar Ramanathan

In this episode, Dr. T.Y. Alvin Liu, Inaugural Director, James P Gills Jr MD and Heather Gills AI Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine shares his journey in healthcare AI, with a focus on image analysis and real-world applications.
Dr. Liu discusses the FDA-approved autonomous AI system for diabetic retinopathy screening, which enables early detection in primary care settings and improves screening adherence. He outlines successful AI implementations at Johns Hopkins, including prior authorization pilots using generative AI and the importance of operational understanding in deployment. He also discussed the intersection of value-based medicine and artificial intelligence, and the challenges of implementing successful AI programs. 
At the enterprise level, Dr. Liu emphasizes the need for strong AI governance to assess safety, effectiveness, and ROI. He outlines key challenges for AI startups, especially around reimbursement and regulation, and urges them to pursue sustainable business models. He also suggests closer collaboration among startups, VCs, and integrated health systems to bridge the gap between innovation and real-world adoption, essential for scaling AI responsibly and delivering long-term value in healthcare. Take a listen. 


Scaling With Autonomous AI for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening - Podcast with Alvin Liu

In this episode, Dr. Vishisht Mehta, Director of Interventional Pulmonology, Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada and also the Department Chair of Pulmonology at MountainView Hospital, discusses his passion for clinical practice and emerging technologies like AI and telemedicine. 

He shares how his interest in AI began through vendor outreach and evolved into a deeper exploration of its applications in pulmonology, particularly in early lung cancer detection and functional imaging. Dr. Mehta highlights the persistent underutilization of lung cancer screenings, with only 5–6% of eligible patients getting screened, and notes AI’s role in identifying high-risk individuals and managing lung nodules. He also emphasizes the value of telemedicine in improving patient access and outcomes. 

Dr. Mehta has also created a resource hub – https://pulmonary.ai/ – and produced educational videos to guide clinicians in understanding and adopting AI tools. He advises that physicians must gain foundational AI literacy to make informed technology decisions in an increasingly digital healthcare landscape. Take a listen.

Vishisht Mehta MD, Director, Interventional Pulmonology Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada

In this episode, Sara Vaezy, Chief Transformation Officer at Providence, discusses Providence’s strategic approach to digital transformation, consumer engagement, and responsible AI adoption to improve both patient and caregiver experiences.

Sara highlights the importance of delivering personalized, frictionless, and proactive healthcare experiences across digital touchpoints. At Providence, a standout initiative is the use of conversational AI to enable ‘message deflection’ which reduces the volume of patient messages sent to physicians by helping patients resolve queries instantly through intelligent chatbots. Sara emphasizes building a digital workforce not just to automate routine tasks, but to rethink and redesign workflows creatively. With foundational investments in cloud infrastructure, unified data systems, and interoperability, Providence is well-positioned to scale AI use cases like ambient documentation and care navigation. 

Sara also shares how Providence has incubated and spun off innovative startups like DexCare and Praia Health to address critical gaps in supply-demand matching and patient personalization. She advocates for ethical AI governance, better observability tools, and designing AI-native healthcare processes that go beyond simply replacing human tasks. Take a listen.


Sara Vaezy, Chief Transformation Officer, Providence

In this episode, Alicia Abella, AI Product Lead at Novo Nordisk, discusses how she is helping drive responsible AI adoption in the pharmaceutical industry. She shares her early experiences in AI, starting with her PhD research at Columbia University on image processing and natural language processing.

At Novo Nordisk, the current focus is on applying AI to commercialization functions including - marketing, legal, and HR - beyond its traditional use in drug discovery. Alicia highlights key use cases such as generative AI for knowledge search, content generation for marketing campaigns, and traditional AI techniques for deriving insights about healthcare providers. She also emphasizes the importance of applying a product mindset to AI development by evaluating user needs, business value, and compliance from the outset.

Alicia notes that adding effective governance can help innovation move in the right direction. She also talks about an internal AI Ambassador Program and emphasizes the importance of designing intuitive AI tools to increase adoption. She concludes by discussing future trends in AI, including contextual intelligence, user-centric design, and the opportunity for AI to enhance, rather than replace human decision-making. Take a listen.


Alicia Abella, AI Product Lead, Novo Nordisk

In this episode, J.D. Whitlock, Chief Information Officer at Dayton Children’s Hospital, discusses how a smaller pediatric health system is embracing digital transformation and generative AI while navigating resource constraints.

Mr. Whitlock shares how platforms like Epic, Workday, and Microsoft are enabling innovation from within, especially through features like ambient documentation and coding assistance. With a fast-follower mindset, Dayton Children’s focuses on adopting proven tools from peer organizations rather than being the first to experiment. Mr. Whitlock emphasizes the importance of balancing hard ROI with softer benefits such as improving physician satisfaction and reducing burnout.

He also discusses the challenges of innovation in pediatric care, where many AI tools are still designed with adult medicine in mind. From building data infrastructure to enabling smarter imaging through a vendor-neutral archive, Mr. Whitlock highlights the importance of governance, strategic procurement, and cross-functional collaboration in delivering sustainable innovation. Take a listen.

J.D. Whitlock, Chief Information Officer, Dayton Children’s Hospital

In this episode, Michael Hughes, Senior EVP, Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer at United Church Homes (UCH), shares how the organization is reshaping the future of senior living. Moving beyond a traditional housing-first model, UCH is leading a shift toward a wellness-first approach that prioritizes health, dignity, and independence for older adults.

With more than 100 communities across 15 states, the organization is leveraging scalable, data-driven strategies to support aging in place, particularly for vulnerable populations. Mike explains how understanding and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) is key to improving outcomes, and how machine learning is helping evaluate the impact of non-clinical interventions in real-world settings.

From transitioning fall detection to fall prevention, to exploring lightweight sensor technologies, Mike emphasizes the importance of proactive care and personal motivation in sustaining long-term wellness. He also introduces the organization’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program—a unique initiative that brings innovators into senior communities to co-create human-centered solutions rooted in real-life experience. Take a listen.

Michael Hughes, Senior EVP, Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, United Church Homes

In this episode, Michael Marchant, Director of Digital Applications at Sutter Health, shares his expert perspective on how interoperability and AI are reshaping the future of healthcare. He discusses the promise of TEFCA (Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement) in expanding data exchange beyond treatment to support broader care coordination. He also highlights California’s Data Exchange Framework as a model for equitable and inclusive health information sharing across diverse communities.

The conversation explores the real-world applications of generative AI in clinical settings, from ambient documentation to AI-powered inbox agents that reduce administrative burden and help clinicians deliver faster, more personalized care.

Michael emphasizes the importance of assistive, not autonomous, AI, spotlighting use cases where technology enhances the capabilities of care teams without replacing the human touch. Drawing on decades of experience in health IT and data policy, Michael offers a grounded yet visionary take on building scalable, interoperable, and patient-centered digital ecosystems. Take a listen.

Michael Marchant, Director of Digital Applications, Sutter Health

In this episode, Ashis Barad, Chief Digital Technology Officer at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), discusses his journey in rehumanizing healthcare through digital health transformation. A practicing pediatric gastroenterologist, Ashis advocates for tech that genuinely solves problems, viewing himself as a “doctor first, technologist second.”

Ashis stresses on Agentic AI and change management as pivotal elements in healthcare transformation. Healthcare is inherently workflow-centric, not a series of isolated moments. Barad explains Agentic AI as a workflow orchestrator designed to reduce administrative waste, enhance patient experience, and accelerate the adoption of best practices.

Ashis outlines HSS’s strategy to leverage its specialized focus to build a modern data lakehouse architecture and deploy AI-powered solutions through key partnerships. He envisions rehumanizing healthcare by automating backend processes, expanding clinician-patient time, and codifying best practices that can be scaled globally, especially in musculoskeletal care and movement. Take a listen.

Dr. Ashis Barad, Chief Digital Technology Officer, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS)

In this episode, Inderpal Kohli, Healthcare Executive Leader (Englewood Health, HSS, and Columbia University Medical Center), shares his vision for scalable digital health transformation. He outlines a proven framework focused on patient engagement, clinically integrated care, and remote patient monitoring—strategies that have already driven an 18–20% increase in online scheduling and improved outcomes in preventive care campaigns.

Inderpal also reflects on how a chance project in biomedical informatics sparked his passion for digital transformation, leading to pioneering work in digital pathology, remote monitoring, and digital front door solutions. He explores the promise of ambient documentation in reducing clinician burden and enhancing satisfaction, and addresses the persistent challenge of integrating EHR systems with third-party tools—stressing the importance of seamless integration for meaningful impact.

He also discusses the potential of digital twins as a game-changer, shares lessons on building agile, consumer-focused digital teams, and weighs in on how GenAI and agentic automation are poised to reshape care delivery. Take a listen.

Inderpal Kohli, Healthcare Executive Leader (Englewood Health, HSS, and CUMC)

In this episode, Dr. Regina Druz, Founder and CEO at Holistic Heart Centers, shares her journey from conventional hospital-based cardiology to leading the charge in personalized precision medicine and longevity-focused care. She explains why optimizing health is the cornerstone of extending lifespan and how digital health innovations must deliver value for patients, clinicians, and caregivers—improving outcomes, reducing burnout, lowering costs, and meeting regulatory demands.

A pioneer in telemedicine, digital devices, and AI tools such as ambient scribes and large language models, Dr. Druz examines the opportunities and challenges of Agentic AI in transforming healthcare workflows. She envisions a near future where AI goes beyond administrative tasks to provide advanced clinical decision support—predicting and preventing conditions like Alzheimer’s and heart failure years before symptoms arise.

For Dr. Druz, the “N-of-1” approach—tailoring care to each individual’s unique biology and circumstances—will become the new standard, redefining population health through truly personalized care. Take a listen.


Dr. Regina Druz, Founder and CEO, Holistic Heart Centers

In this episode, Ramesh Kumar, CEO and Co-founder of Zakipoint Health, shares his perspective on addressing healthcare’s persistent challenges—high costs, lack of price transparency, and fragmented care. He emphasizes that patients, or ‘members,’ often struggle to understand the true value of care, even as regulatory pushes for transparency continue.

Ramesh highlights how greater data visibility and patient empowerment can shift the system toward value-based outcomes. He emphasizes that true digital transformation goes beyond compliance and organizations must leverage transparency in data to create actionable insights for patients, employers, and providers alike. He also discusses the role of AI and agentic AI in simplifying complexity, reducing administrative burden, and enabling more personalized, efficient care delivery.

Ramesh underscores the need for co-creation between payers, providers, and technology innovators to build sustainable solutions. For him, the convergence of transparency, digital innovation, and AI marks a pivotal moment to reimagine healthcare’s future. Take a listen.



Ramesh Kumar, CEO and Co-Founder, zakipoint Health

In this episode, Sameer Sethi, SVP and Chief AI & Insights Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, shares how the health system is embedding AI directly into clinician workflows, moving from theory to real-world transformation.

Sameer outlines practical applications such as specialty-specific clinical note summarization, which reduces “pajama time” for physicians and improves patient interactions, and sentiment analysis of patient survey data, which surfaces actionable insights at scale. He also describes Hackensack’s AI governance framework - a board-approved structure with six strategic focus areas, guided by cross-departmental representation to ensure safe, effective adoption.

Emphasizing that AI solutions serve as decision-support rather than decision-making tools, Sameer highlights the importance of keeping a “human in the loop.” He sees agentic AI as the next frontier - integrating LLMs, RPA, and rule engines to automate complex processes such as prior authorizations and denial management. The result: faster workflows, administrative efficiency, and truly personalized care at scale. Take a listen.

Sameer Sethi, SVP, Chief AI & Insights Officer, Hackensack Meridian Health

Lidia Fonseca, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Quest Diagnostics talks to us about how blockchain can solve the 2 big problems for healthcare today.

Podcast Episode 4

"Blockchain can solve 2 big problems for healthcare today" Lidia Fonseca, CIO of Quest Diagnostics

Greg Silvesti, Head of Digital Health & Innovation at AbbVie speaks with Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO, Damo Consulting Inc.

Pocast 9 with Greg

Digital is becoming a cost of entry now for pharma companies with Greg Silvesti

In this episode, Leah Sparks discusses how she founded Wildflower Health in 2012 as a digital health platform to help women in their pregnancies, after experiencing the difficulties of navigating the healthcare system during her first pregnancy. 

Leah believes that digital adoption in healthcare often needs to start with simple use cases with near term returns (the short story). Although technology risks are high in healthcare, Leah encourages health systems to remain focused on the long story of needing to transform healthcare by investing in the right opportunities to create a healthcare experience that is personalized for consumers. 

Wildflower Health has raised venture capital from leading health systems such as Providence Health and is considered a leading “FemTech” startup. Leah points out that while women are primary users of her platform, they are also the Chief Health Officers of their homes and influence 80% of all healthcare decisions for the entire population.

Health systems and plans are now willing to take a leap of faith for digital patient experiences

In this episode, Graham Gardner discusses how his company, Kyruus, targets patient access issues in health systems. Inspired by the Moneyball concept, Kyruus uses advanced analytics to understand patient needs and put the right providers “to bat” where they are most likely to do well, thereby reducing or eliminating variations in the quality of care. 

Graham discusses the challenges of introducing digital innovation in healthcare and provides some counterintuitive advice to other digital health startups looking to overcome challenges in sales cycles and achieving enterprise-wide adoption for their platforms.

Even the small hospitals really do want to enable a modern consumer web experience today

In this episode, Mudit Garg discusses the evolution of Qventus and how they are applying AI to help hospitals and health systems in managing their operations with real-time predictions for improved care delivery.

With a focus on patient flow automation, Qventus helps hospitals and health systems in reducing the length of stay and other operational metrics. Based on early insights that machine learning models and prediction scores can be confusing to users in the absence of an accountability engine, the company has developed an interdisciplinary approach, augmenting AI with behavioral science principles to drive sustained improvements in healthcare operations.

AI predictions need a thoughtfully designed closed-loop to drive action

Stay up to date on current trends in healthcare's digital transformation. Featuring C-suite executives from the healthcare and technology sectors, podcast hosts Rohit Mahajan and Ritu M. Uberoy discuss how they are driving digital health innovation and leveraging emerging technologies to create the healthcare experiences of the future.

About the hosts:

Rohit Mahajan, Managing Partner and CEO, Damo and BigRio: Rohit is an entrepreneur and a leader in the information technology and software industry. His focus lies in the field of artificial intelligence and digital transformation for healthcare clients. His recently published full length book,  Quantum Care, A Deep Dive into AI for Health Delivery and Research has been trending #1 in several categories on Amazon. Rohit is a Wharton School Fellow and a graduate from the Harvard Business School. You can follow and connect with him on https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmahaj/

Ritu M. Uberoy, Managing Partner at Damo and BigRio has over twenty-five years of experience in the software and information technology industry in the United States and in India. She established Saviance Technologies in India and has been involved in the delivery of several successful software projects and products to clients in various industry segments.
You can follow and connect with her on https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritu-m-uberoy/

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