Emerging Issues
Closing the Digital Divide: AI Governance for Rural Hospitals
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a standard tool in health care, rural hospitals risk falling further behind in the digital divide. Without intentional governance and implementation strategies tailored to rural realities, these communities may miss out on AI’s potential to improve clinical outcomes and operational efficiency. This Knowledge Exchange e book examines how rural health care leaders can design AI governance frameworks that reflect the unique challenges of rural care, ensuring equitable access, sustainable deployment and long term impact.
Building and Implementing an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan for Health Care
Staring at unlimited artificial intelligence (AI) use cases, hospitals and health systems need effective action plans for future health care delivery. AI has the potential to transform every aspect of health care delivery from the simplest administrative task to the most complex clinical procedures for less cost and improved organizational and patient care outcomes.
Understanding the Federal Landscape
Federal agencies are actively examining how artificial intelligence can be adopted safely and effectively in health care. This resource highlights key national priorities, including patient safety, clinician engagement, data privacy, and cybersecurity, all of which are critical areas for board oversight.
2026 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan: AI and the Future of Staffing
In this Advancing Health podcast, Gratia Pitcher, M.D., chief medical officer and patient experience dyad leader with Essentia Health, and Larissa Africa, vice president of health care workforce solutions with Staff Garden by Ascend Learning, discuss findings from the 2026 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan and how hospitals are redesigning care teams by using artificial intelligence to reduce administrative burden and building career pathways for the next generation of clinicians.
How to Safely Use AI for Diagnosis: 14 Recommendations from ECRI
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful augmentative tool to support diagnosing patients but should not replace clinical judgment, according to ECRI. The nonprofit health care research organization ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) recently released their annual report on leading patient safety concerns based on input from senior health care executives, including leaders at integrated health systems, rural community health centers, children’s hospitals and national associations. The top issue according to ECRI is “Navigating the AI Diagnostic Dilemma.”
Smarter, Safer Hospitals: How HCA Healthcare Is Using AI to Redefine Patient Safety
For Randy Fagin, M.D., chief quality officer at HCA Healthcare, safety is foundational. “You cannot achieve regulatory compliance without a foundation of safety. Absent safety, your clinical outcomes cannot be what they need to be,” he said in a recent two-part Advancing Health podcast hosted by Chris DeRienzo, M.D., chief physician executive for the American Hospital Association. This philosophy positions safety as a linchpin for compliance, financial performance, clinical outcomes and reputation — making it a top priority for hospital boards and C-suites alike.
Hospitals Advance AI-Enabled Prevention at Scale
Across the country, hospitals are embedding AI into preventive care, chronic-disease management and virtual outreach.
AI-powered Health Care: Optimizing Clinical Workflows and Elevating the Patient Experience
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing health care by optimizing clinical workflows and driving more personalized, efficient and proactive patient care. As adoption accelerates, hospitals and health systems are integrating AI and machine learning (ML) into decision support, diagnostics and administrative operations, driving better outcomes while navigating trust, transparency and scalability challenges. This Knowledge Exchange e-book highlights how health leaders are deploying AI and ML, what’s needed to scale responsibly and how to navigate the ethical and operational implications of intelligent technologies in health care.
Rural Hospitals and the AI Advantage: Turning Constraints into Catalysts
Rural hospitals face some of the most acute pressures in health care today — from thin operating margins and workforce shortages to geographic isolation and growing administrative burden. Nearly half operate at a financial loss, and many are considered vulnerable to closure. Yet an AHA Market Scan Trailblazer report suggests these constraints may also be accelerating a more pragmatic and targeted approach to artificial intelligence adoption.
AI Center of Excellence: Mindful Advancement for Safer, Smarter Care
The Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence is a systemwide initiative of RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Health dedicated to the responsible development and integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare. By combining operational insight, clinical and technical expertise and academic rigor, the center is transforming health system AI to support better patient care.
Tactical Brief: Technology-enabled Care
Technology touches virtually every part of the health care system, and new technologies are revolutionizing how hospitals provide care. This brief takes a closer look into technology-enabled care. It explores key trends, innovations and learnings, and provides considerations for how hospitals can adopt technology that helps them advance their care delivery strategies.
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
Familiarity with the basics of AI puts the trustee in a better position to make strategic decisions amidst the plethora of potential products and applications that the organization will encounter, and help answer the following questions: What do we mean by AI in the first place? How do we conceptualize and define it? Can AI develop a life of its own? Is this technology a blessing or a curse? Can it save humanity or destroy humanity? The list goes on.