Becker's Healthcare Podcast: Alen Voskanian, MD, MBA
Becker's Healthcare Podcast recently interviewed Alen Voskanian, MD, MBA, vice president and chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Network, about how a dyad leadership structure, improved access to care, and artificial intelligence can help resolve some of the biggest challenges in healthcare.
Voskanian told Becker's Healthcare Podcast host Laura Dyrda that one pain point for clinicians is feeling they don’t have an input in operations. To address this, Cedars-Sinai implemented a dyad leadership model, pairing each clinician with an operational leader.
The approach gives clinicians “a voice and they partner with their leadership team in addressing some of the challenges that we all face in our healthcare systems,” Voskanian said.
Access to care—such as long waits to see a specialist—is another challenge Cedars-Sinai is working to improve. Over the past couple of years, Voskanian’s team has collected data to build a dashboard and set targets that bring more patients in the door.
“It's a journey that will take a few years, but I'm so excited that we are in the middle of that journey,” Voskanian said.
Voskanian added that using AI can free up more time for physicians to spend with patients. A virtual scribe, for example, transcribes visits and reduces the time physicians spend on documentation.
Physicians “often rave about the benefits in terms of giving them an opportunity not to sit behind their computer screen, but be able to actually make eye contact with their patients and be fully present during that visit,” Voskanian said.
Listen to the entire segment from Becker's Healthcare Podcast.