The Excitement Is Real. So Are the Stakes.

I've spent more than 25 years in the MEDITECH space and have seen many trends come and go.

So when I hear the current excitement around AI, I understand it. The potential is real. The promise of what it could do for healthcare is compelling. I get why that excitement makes its way into boardrooms and strategic plans, but here's the thing: healthcare isn't like other industries.

Take the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as an example. Every year it's one far-out idea after another. Companies innovate for innovation's sake; they chase what's possible without always asking whether it's practical. In many industries, that's acceptable. If a new consumer gadget doesn't work out, the downside is limited.

Healthcare doesn't have that luxury. In acute care, the stakes are real. A misstep in pursuit of some audacious goal isn't just a failed product launch. It can affect patient safety, clinical workflows, and the people who depend on us to get it right.

That's why hospitals tend to be more careful with new technology, and rightly so. It's also why I think the conversation around AI in healthcare needs a different tone than what you hear in other sectors.

Cutting Through the Noise

So let's set aside "what's possible" for a moment and focus on "what's happening."

What AI applications are actually being deployed in hospitals today? What's delivering value right now? What's making a real difference for providers, patients, and outcomes?

When I talk to our clients across various MEDITECH hospitals and hear from providers across our network, one application keeps coming up as making a real impact: ambient listening.

Ambient Listening: Where AI Is Delivering Real Value

For years, new technology in healthcare has been met with a familiar reaction from physicians: the eye roll.

And honestly, it's earned. To physicians it often feels like more technology implementations have added to the workload rather than reduced it. Another system to learn. Another screen between the provider and the patient. Another set of clicks that pulls attention away from the person sitting in front of them.

Ambient listening AI is different, and that difference is why it's gaining traction.

The system listens during the patient encounter, captures the conversation, and generates clinical documentation that the physician reviews and approves. The note is drafted by the time the encounter ends.

What makes this meaningful isn't the technology itself, it's what it gives back.

Providers tell us that the cognitive load of documentation has been lifted. They're more present during visits. They have more facetime with patients. The administrative burden that's been piling up for years finally has a release valve.

One comment from the field that really stuck with me: physicians are saying that most things within the EHR have been "done to them." More documentation requirements. More compliance fields. More clicks. All imposed from the outside with little consideration for what it actually means for their day. Ambient listening is the first thing in a long time that feels like it was built for them.

When technology actually reduces friction instead of adding it, adoption happens naturally. Providers aren't resisting this. They're asking for it. One physician joked they're pushing back retirement because of how much this has improved their daily experience. When a technology makes someone want to stay in medicine longer, that tells you something important is happening.

And here's what I find most encouraging: this isn't complicated technology solving a complicated problem. It's practical AI taking care of systematic, repeatable tasks that pull providers away from the work they signed up to do. That's the kind of AI application that makes sense for healthcare right now.

What I'm Expecting of AI in 2026 for MEDITECH Hospitals

So where does this go from here?

MEDITECH is getting significant interest from the customer base around search and summarization capabilities. The ability to surface relevant information from complex patient records without clicking through dozens of screens, or get a quick summary of a patient's history before walking into the room. These are natural next steps from ambient documentation, and I expect to see continued progress here.

There's also conversation around agentic AI for patient portals. Systems that can handle routine inquiries, help with scheduling, and manage basic interactions without pulling staff away from higher-value work. It's early, but the direction makes sense.

What I'm not expecting is some dramatic leap into AI-driven clinical decision-making or fully autonomous systems that can provide accurate and dependable guidance to patients. 

The approach is incremental. Take a pragmatic path. Focus on applications that reduce the systematic and repeatable aspects of the job. Free up time and cognitive capacity that providers and staff can redirect to more meaningful work.

The Path Forward

Yes, we can achieve big, audacious goals with AI in healthcare, and the excitement around this is genuinely warranted. I do believe we will accomplish great things with AI in the MEDITECH space, but we need to maintain proper focus and context. These audacious AI goals are mountain tops, and we reach mountain tops one step at a time.

For leaders at MEDITECH hospitals navigating the current AI landscape, here is my advice on how to approach it, based on collective insights from C-Suite executives and front-line care providers:

• Start with what's proven. Ambient listening is real. It's delivering measurable value. It's a solid foundation to build from.
• Focus on reducing burden. Look for applications that take systematic, repeatable tasks off your team's plate. That's where the immediate wins are.
• Stay practical. The hype will keep coming. Vendors will keep promising transformation. Your job is to cut through that noise and focus on what actually improves the workday, the experience for your patients, and the outcomes you're accountable for.
• Think incrementally. Each practical improvement creates capacity for the next one. That's how you build toward bigger goals without taking on unnecessary risk.

The AI opportunity for MEDITECH hospitals is 100% real, but going from audacious ideas and goals to practical value that can be implemented requires the same thing that makes healthcare work in the first place: a focus on what actually helps the people we serve.

When a physician can look their patient in the eye instead of at a screen, when they leave work at a reasonable hour, when they remember why they got into medicine in the first place - that's not a small win. That's the whole point.

The hospitals we work with don't serve shareholders. They serve communities. Every hour saved on documentation is an hour that can go back to patient care. Every physician who stays in practice instead of burning out is one more caregiver for the people who depend on them.

That's what's at stake. And that's why getting AI right matters.

Key Takeaways

• Healthcare can't approach AI like other industries. The stakes are too high for experimentation without clear value.
• Ambient listening AI is delivering real results today: reducing administrative burden, improving provider-patient interactions, and bringing joy back to clinical work.
• The path forward isn't about chasing audacious goals. It's about practical, incremental steps that compound into meaningful change.
• For 2026, expect continued progress in search, summarization, and portal-based AI, but always grounded in what actually improves the workday.