Leading in healthcare will require personal engagement with AI.
AI talk is everywhere, but much of it is either deep in the weeds or covered in hype. I want to bring the conversation back to what it means for each of us personally, as healthcare leaders, and as people navigating real-world decisions.
Many of you are already making rich use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or others. If this is you, I’d love to hear how you are using them and what problems they have helped you solve more quickly or more effectively.
Yet, many of the healthcare execs I connect with are still hands-off or toe-dipping instead of embracing AI as an ongoing thought and work partner.
If you're still hesitant to engage with AI, consider this an open invitation. It's becoming essential, and I believe you’ll find meaningful value once you begin.
At Spring Street Exchange, we developed a simple framework that highlights three progressive tiers of using AI for healthcare leaders:
Tier 1: Boost Personal Productivity
Using Generative AI as part of your regular work can help to demystify AI for larger functions and can also significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of what you do.
Tier 2: Gain Organizational Efficiencies
Most organizations I work with are actively deploying AI to increase the efficiency of various operational functions, typically to generate savings and improve quality.
Tier 3: Transform for Greater Consumer Value
By embracing a deeper understanding of AI and its capabilities, leaders can think more strategically about how to transform the delivery of services and create lasting market advantages. Tier 3 is using AI to change the game altogether.
Common focus on Tier 2
Many healthcare organizations I speak with are focused on Tier 2, and that’s a great start. But I often see this happening even when senior leaders have not yet stepped into Tier 1 themselves.
For busy leaders, it can be tempting to leave AI to the technical leads. This is what has been possible with other forms of technology....but this is not true with AI.
AI is more than technology to fulfill particular tasks. It’s a general-purpose tool like the Internet that can be applied across virtually all that we do. Can you imagine doing your job now without being able to access the web? Do you remember those executives who had their administrative assistant ('secretary') print out their emails, then mark up these hard copies, and have their admin respond to them? That’s not us.
The ways AI will be integrated in our lives and change what we do will be at least as powerful as the Internet, but in a different way. AI changes how we think about what is possible.
Collaborating with AI for change
Generative AI models are evolving fast, often updating every few weeks. If you haven’t used one recently, you could be surprised by its evolution. I don’t believe it’s possible to lead transformational AI efforts (Tier 3) without first getting comfortable with Tier 1. You need to know what it feels like to think, write, and learn with AI. Once you do, you’ll find that AI changes your understanding of limits and expectations.
Here are some use cases to explore:
Reading assistant: You can upload a stack of articles you have been meaning to read and ask the model to pull highlights, patterns, and major takeaways. To avoid missing nuance, you can even ask it to recommend which articles you should read in full and which can be safely skimmed or summarized.
Writing coach: You can ask it to review your content and make it smoother or shorter, or more or less formal. You can provide a list of key points you want to connect and ask it to take a first draft on the written output for you to then refine and translate into your own voice.
Tone feedback: You can have it review a sensitive email you have drafted, and to provide feedback on tone, clarity, and how your message might be perceived. It will suggest edits that support your intent while preserving your voice.
Rehearse encounters: You might be preparing to meet with a colleague to address a performance gap. AI can help you rehearse different approaches and suggest ways to frame the conversation that support your overall goals.
A GPT trained on your company: You could train a private GPT in the specifics of your organization’s history, market position, operations, known gaps, and key strengths. With that backdrop, you can ask all kinds of questions related to how factors could impact your company, such as policy changes, market shifts, or long-term scenarios, all in a context-aware way.
These are just a few examples. Over time, you will likely find that in working with Generative AI in these ways, you can both save time while also improving the quality of your work.
Building a custom GPT with OpenAI is straightforward, although it does require some practice to refine the GPT to deliver the outcomes you want. We have developed a variety of custom GPTs focused on healthcare policy analysis, scenario planning, findings from our proprietary research, and other topics.
There is a world to explore here. If you are interested in some one-on-one coaching to enhance your use of AI, Katie Poole and others on our team excel at providing this.
Some Cautions
Do not copy and paste AI-generated text directly into your work. AI isn’t smart enough and still needs your judgment, your experience, and your voice. Use it as a draft partner, not a substitute. In fact, using it will enable to you be able to detect the voice of underprocessed AI that comes to you from others.
Hallucinations are usually subtle. AI doesn’t replace your expertise, and if you over-rely on it for content, it could lead to embarrassing mistakes. Be cautious and be sure to validate your work; it does not replace the need for knowledge.
Do not share sensitive, proprietary, or private information in a free AI tool without fixing the settings. It is also low-cost to use a secure, private instance of Generative AI . If you don’t know how to set this up, we can help you.
Take the leap!
I know it can be hard to carve out the mental space to take on this kind of engagement with new technology. I assure you, though, that once you get going, you will see benefits immediately and likely will actually enjoy it. With the pace of change, I don’t think it will be possible to credibly lead in the coming years without AI as collaborator. Take the leap!
If you are interested in 1:1 coaching in using AI, setting up private or custom GPTs, or other aspects of AI as a collaboration partner, please reach out. (nancy@springstreet.exchange).
More and more change is on deck; so glad we're in this together.
With you in goodness,
Nancy