In a featured session hosted by Notable at Becker’s 15th Annual Meeting, leaders from Indianapolis-based Community Health Network and Notable discussed how intelligent automation is reshaping care delivery by significantly cutting administrative burden and enabling high-touch patient engagement at scale.
Here are four key takeaways from the session:
1. The math no longer adds up
The U.S. healthcare system is facing a structural labor crisis, with new projections published by the Association of American Medical Colleges estimating a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.
“We’re already straining under the labor costs,” said Aaron Neinstein, MD, chief medical officer at Notable, a leading healthcare AI platform. “Even if we could afford to hire all of the staff that we need to support our providers, we can’t find them.”
Patrick McGill, MD, chief transformation officer at Community Health Network, a 200-site care system with about 18,000 employees, emphasized the importance of addressing growth, staffing and administrative burden strategically.
“We have to grow smartly and we have to grow strategically,” Dr. McGill said. “We have to reduce administrative burden. This is not a 2025 problem. This is not a healthcare problem. This is a problem across many different domains, many different jobs and many different industries.”
2. AI enables personalized care
AI tools like Notable’s intelligent agents have emerged as a key solution to automate traditionally labor-intensive tasks. Automating patient outreach, appointment scheduling, chart reviews and care gap closure can reduce staff workload while enhancing the patient experience.
“AI and automation drive an incredible increase in productivity,” Dr. Neinstein said. “You can expand quantity, improve quality, close more care gaps and call more people before and after every procedure.”
Community Health Network is using AI to schedule thousands of wellness visits, scrub charts, deflect inbound calls and re-engage lost patients — generating $6 million in added revenue and improving both patient and provider experiences.
“As we started to leverage AI to not only interact with the patient but drive the right message at the right time allowing frictionless scheduling, the engagement increased 150%,” Dr. McGill said.
3. AI supports strategic growth
The initiative is not just a cost-cutting measure — it’s about strategic growth.
Dr. McGill highlighted AI’s ability to double workforce productivity at a fraction of the cost. While he doesn’t believe any job in healthcare can be fully automated, he said every job contains three to five tasks that can be.
“We automated many of those tasks that are high-value, low-risk and amenable to automation,” Dr. McGill said. “The really cool thing is, you are closing care gaps in several different ways that all sort of stack on top of each other.
“We have to grow volumes with the staff we have,” Dr. McGill added. “AI helps us do that while improving the patient experience.”
Automation has also helped Community Health Network optimize referral outreach and prevent patients from slipping through the cracks. AI-powered chart reviews have reduced redundant documentation, freeing up clinicians to focus more on care.
4. Governance and ROI discipline are essential
Community Health Network has set a $10 million cost reduction target for AI in 2025, anchored by a strict return on investment (ROI) framework.
“That $10 million target, that’s not soft dollars, that’s actual margin improvement,” Dr. McGill said. “If you’re not driving revenue or lowering your cost, you’re not getting credit for hard dollars.”
Dr. Neinstein also emphasized that successful adoption hinges on strong governance, strategic partnerships and transparent processes.
“Leadership is about courage,” Dr. Neinstein said. “You have to set a clear vision and be disciplined about execution. Set clear targets and set clear expectations and partnerships. It takes courage to do that.”
