TDP 221: MemorialCare’s CMIO Dr. Vinh Nguyen: Why Ambient AI Is Only a Fraction of the Burnout Solution, The Hidden In-Basket Problem Nobody Is Talking About, and Why Clinicians Don’t Trust AI Agents Yet

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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. Vinh Nguyen, Chief Medical Information Officer at MemorialCare, about "Why Ambient AI Is Only a Fraction of the Burnout Solution, The Hidden In-Basket Problem Nobody Is Talking About, Why Clinicians Don’t Trust AI Agents Yet, 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):

• Vinh Nguyen, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer at MemorialCare
• Joshua Liu, MD (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 221 - Show Notes:

[00:00:07] Episode preview

[00:07:45] How building a care gap Smart Set in Epic earned Dr. Nguyen a standing ovation

[00:09:39] Why AI agents in clinical settings are still a ways off — and what has to come first

[00:11:45] What painful trade-off Dr. Nguyen made to reach the 99th percentile in EHR efficiency

[00:14:15] How to make AI risk tools actually get used by clinicians

[00:16:58] Why finding "magical moments" early is the fastest path to adoption

[00:19:20] The headline finding from one of the first multicenter ambient AI studies

[00:21:13] What surprised Dr. Nguyen most about how clinicians used the ambient AI tool

[00:28:57] The next two AI use cases Dr. Nguyen believes will generate the next wave of clinician enthusiasm

[00:31:35] What the ambient AI study still can't answer — and what needs to be studied next

[00:36:00] Why ambient AI is not the burnout silver bullet the industry treats it as

[00:39:05] How to prevent AI from simply raising the productivity bar instead of relieving burden

[00:41:45] Why Dr. Nguyen frames clinician wellness as a non-negotiable cost of doing business

[00:44:46] The cultural belief that helps MemorialCare scale innovation beyond the pilot stage

[00:48:04] The one brutally honest warning Dr. Nguyen would give CMIOs rolling out AI right now

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‍Fast 5 Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
2. If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?
   Storytelling.
3. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   Mind reading... like Professor X in the X-Men.
4. What is something in healthcare you believe others might find insane?
   "Everybody talks about a doctor shortage. Yet, it's still insanely hard to get into med school and then into residency. The number of med schools and residency seats, and just admissions in general, like haven't kept pace with our need."
5. What is the last movie or TV show you saw, and what did you think of it?
   Sam Raimi's Send Help – pleasantly surprised how good it was!

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