U.S. healthcare access becomes an IT problem as AI reshapes care
ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES — As health systems across the United States face mounting patient demand, workforce shortages and tighter margins, healthcare access is increasingly being treated as an information technology (IT) challenge, with providers turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools to expand capacity and reshape how care is delivered.
In a report from Becker’s Health IT, access pressures are shaping nearly every major initiative, according to Judd Hollander, MD, senior vice president of healthcare delivery innovation and chief virtual care officer of a Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health.
“The pressure point, I think, at health systems all across the country is access, access and more access,” Dr. Hollander said on the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: How do you get in?”
Across hospitals and clinics, leaders use digital tools and AI technology to increase operational capacity while avoiding facility construction, care delivery delays and treat patient access as a fundamental IT and operational concern.
AI and digital tools expand U.S. healthcare capacity
Jefferson Health’s access strategy is closely linked to its broader digital and AI roadmap, including a systemwide effort to reclaim 10 million patient care hours over three years.
Dr. Hollander said that technology is central to creating capacity within existing resources.
“We’ve grown out ambient listening to thousands of our clinicians, physicians and advanced care providers, across the enterprise,” he said.
He credited Colleen Malazzi, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing informatics officer, with leading the launch of ambient AI for nurses to reduce documentation time and keep staff at the bedside.
He said that the goal goes beyond efficiency.
“[AI for nurses] may help create capacity,” Dr. Hollander said. “It may also help us recruit more people to take care of patients, because the job may be better, burnout may be less, retention may be better.”
For healthcare providers, that approach reflects a broader shift as health systems seek to preserve clinician time as demand rises and workforce constraints persist.
Why U.S. patient access is now an IT leadership priority
Matching patients with available appointments has also become an IT and data-driven challenge. Jefferson Health is working to identify unused capacity across practices while redesigning workflows to create new access points.
“There’s practices that have capacity. That’s easy,” Dr. Hollander said. “How do we identify the patients that need to see those specialists so they could take the open slots and we could provide better care to people in the community?”
The system’s same-day, next-day cancer care program illustrates how technology, scheduling and clinical workflows intersect. Centralized scheduling and real-time escalation allow clinicians to resolve complex questions quickly.
“Rather than send them to the cancer specialist, they have permission to call and disturb that specialist in the middle of the day to get the answer,” Dr. Hollander said.
As access challenges intensify, chief information officer (CIOs) and IT leaders are being pulled deeper into care delivery strategy.
“If we have clinicians that haven’t figured out how to use AI where AI can be used … then patients are going to go somewhere else,” Dr. Hollander said.
For U.S. health systems, access is no longer a downstream operational issue. It is becoming a defining test of how effectively technology, workflows and clinicians can work together to meet patient expectations in a strained care environment.
