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In this episode, Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD, MPH, MS, Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), discusses the potential of AI and voice technology in improving patient care and medical education. She also explores the challenges of interoperability and the potential for more at-home care and patient insights.
Dr. Kumah-Crystal talks about the evolution of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and outlines three phases of EHR development: paper-based, classic digital entry, and the current generative AI era. She highlights significant advancements in ambient documentation workflows, which allow clinicians—especially in pediatrics, where communication is nuanced—to focus more on patients while AI handles note-taking. She shares her vision for fully integrated, voice-based conversational interfaces in EHRs that enhance both clinician satisfaction and patient engagement. Drawing from her experience as a pediatric endocrinologist and her work with Epic as the EHR vendor, she discusses implementing new workflows like Ambience and exploring additional patient communication methods.
Dr. Kumah-Crystal also emphasizes the importance of pilot testing, clearly defined ROI metrics, and close collaboration with vendors to drive innovation. She believes AI will be a critical enabler for better outcomes in pediatric care and beyond.
About Our Guest
Dr. Yaa Kumah-Crystal is a Pediatric Endocrinologist and Biomedical Informaticist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her research centers around enhancing communication in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system through documentation, voice technology, and exploring generative AI pathways for clinical summaries utilizing EHR metadata.
Dr. Kumah-Crystal's research includes in-depth evaluations of large language models (LLMs) in informatics queries and for clinical reasoning. Dr. Yaa Kumah-Crystal is an active leader in academic discussions on the emerging use cases for LLMs. Collaborating closely with VUMC HealthIT, Dr. Kumah-Crystal aims to streamline data capture, improve information accessibility for patients, and facilitate seamless collaboration among healthcare professionals. Dr. Kumah-Crystal remains clinically active, supervises Pediatric Endocrine Fellows, and sees her own clinic patients who know her as Dr. Yaa.
About the Host
Rohit Mahajan 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. He has also written a book on Quantum Care, A Deep Dive into AI for Health Delivery and Research that has been published and has been trending #1 in several categories on Amazon.
Rohit is skilled in business and IT strategy, M&A, Sales & Marketing and Global Delivery. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering, is a Wharton School Fellow and a graduate from the Harvard Business School.
Rohit is the CEO of Damo, Managing Partner and CEO of BigRio, the President at Citadel Discovery, Advisor at CarTwin, Managing Partner at C2R Tech, and Founder at BetterLungs. He has previously also worked with IBM and Wipro. He completed his executive education programs in AI in Business and Healthcare from MIT Sloan, MIT CSAIL and Harvard School of Public Health. He has completed the Global Healthcare Leaders Program from Harvard Medical School.
About the Legend
Paddy was the co-author of Healthcare Digital Transformation – How Consumerism, Technology and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future (Taylor & Francis, Aug 2020), along with Edward W. Marx. Paddy was also the author of the best-selling book The Big Unlock – Harnessing Data and Growing Digital Health Businesses in a Value-based Care Era (Archway Publishing, 2017). He was the host of the highly subscribed The Big Unlock podcast on digital transformation in healthcare featuring C-level executives from the healthcare and technology sectors. He was widely published and had a by-lined column in CIO Magazine and other respected industry publications.