TDP 175: Geisinger’s CMIO Dr. Ben Hohmuth: Why Human Connection will address Burnout more than Tech, the Future of Clinical AI Copilots, and Why Solely Optimizing Tech Won’t Eliminate In-Basket Overload

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On this episode of The Digital Patient, Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO of SeamlessMD, and colleague, Alan Sardana, chat with Dr. Ben Hohmuth, Chief Medical Information Officer at Geisinger, about "Why Human Connection will address Burnout more than Tech, the Future of Clinical AI Copilots, Why Solely Optimizing Tech Won’t Eliminate In-Basket Overload, and more..." Click the play button to listen or read the show notes below.
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Audio:

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Guest(s):

• Dr. Benjamin Hohmuth, Chief Medical Information Officer at Geisinger
• Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 175 - Show Notes:

[00:00:07] Episode preview

[00:04:19] From Anthropology to Hospital Medicine

[00:05:49] Accidentally Falling into Informatics

[00:08:38] Generalists in Medicine, Leadership, and Informatics

[00:11:21] Perception vs. Reality: Why Less Work Can Feel Like More

[00:16:26] The Low-Hanging Fruit: Connection & Belonging

[00:18:40] Justifying ROI in a Burnout Era

[00:19:21] Scaling Ambient AI

[00:23:53] The Real Fix for In-Basket Message Overload

[00:29:30] Drafted Messages with Gen AI? Meh.

[00:33:39] AI as a Clinical Copilot

[00:36:22] The Future of Ambient: Ubiquitous, Cheaper, and Integrated

[00:39:29] Last Mile Failures: When Solutions Ignore the End User

[00:44:31] Finding Peace in Backcountry Silence

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Fast 5 Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, and Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff
2. If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?
   Surfing
3. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   Super speed.
4. What is something in healthcare you believe that others might find insane?
   Measuring physician performance.
5. What is the last movie or TV show you saw, and what did you think of it?
   LaRoy

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