HLTH Special: Vijayashree Natarajan Spills the Tea on Agentic AI

[00:00:04] Welcome to the High Tea with Grace podcast where we spill the tea on HIT. This week we are recording at the health conference. Energy is up, excitement is palpable. And today I'm honored to welcome Vijayashree from Omega Healthcare. She's doing a tech talk at the conference on a topic that I thought you might find interesting. So I'm looking forward to learning from her. Thanks for joining us.

[00:00:25] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky Nice to meet you, Grace.

[00:00:26] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So tell me about the career path first that brought you to Omega Healthcare.

[00:00:30] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky That has been an exciting journey, I would say, after finishing up.

[00:00:34] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky I was teaching my engineering and electronics from MIT India. I joined a fintech company, spent more than a decade in the fintech space. It was BNY Melon and then moving on to Cognizant, I spent more than a decade in different roles. I was leading a product group. I was leading the latest cutting edge technologies in the SMAC, social mobility, analytics and cloud. Then later on moved on to take up the intelligent automation practice set role for healthcare.

[00:01:04] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky I've been living in the bots, robotic world and AI world for more than a decade.

[00:01:12] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So after spending close to five years in that role, I just got an opportunity to join Omega Healthcare as head of technology.

[00:01:21] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So the last close to five years, four and a half years, it has been an exciting journey for me with Omega, playing with all the latest technologies in the industry, helping to transform humans' lives.

[00:01:33] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So I'm so excited to be here.

[00:01:35] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky Wow. Playing with technologies that transform humans' lives, that is impactful. Thank you so much for joining me.

[00:01:43] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So today you delivered a tech talk on the transformative power of an AI in healthcare.

[00:01:48] It sounds like there's no one better than you to tell this tech talk.

[00:01:51] So can you give us a quick snapshot of what you covered, especially its impact on providers, payers and patient care?

[00:01:58] Vijayashree Natarajan The power of AI, I would say the evolution of the AI technologies is literally creating a revolution in every domain.

[00:02:06] And when it comes to healthcare industry, it is really predominant because it touches humans' lives.

[00:02:12] Vijayashree Natarajan Spursky So when you say the power of AI in the healthcare industry or the transformational influence of AI in the healthcare,

[00:02:19] the three main stakeholders are all the patients, the providers and the payers.

[00:02:23] It cuts across and transforms each and every stakeholder in this space.

[00:02:28] So that's the power of technology, that's the power of AI.

[00:02:31] And I'm really excited to be a technology leader playing around with these technologies.

[00:02:36] Vijayashree Natarajan Absolutely.

[00:02:36] So let's break it down.

[00:02:38] What's AI's biggest impact on the provider side?

[00:02:41] Especially when it comes to rep cycle management and billing.

[00:02:45] I think people, when they think of AI, they think of robots doing surgeries, right?

[00:02:48] But AI is being used for more pragmatic purposes.

[00:02:51] So tell us a little bit about that.

[00:02:52] Vijayashree Natarajan See, when it comes to the provider space, the hospitals need to focus more on giving personalized treatments and the innovation for the patients,

[00:03:01] rather than spending more time in the administrative activities.

[00:03:05] Vijayashree Natarajan So the way AI is helping, that is where Omega Healthcare is actually helping the RCM space,

[00:03:10] where your providers can actually use the power of AI to improve their overall collections, to automate all the administrative activities.

[00:03:20] Vijayashree Natarajan So we have an Omega digital platform, which we use for our RCM space for our customers, where we are actually transforming the end-to-end lifecycle of an RCM space,

[00:03:30] be it the front office, the middle office, and the back office.

[00:03:34] So we have AI-powered solutions, which takes care of complete transformation of this lifecycle,

[00:03:40] which is helping the providers to focus more on innovating on the treatments which they may have to provide on the patients,

[00:03:46] rather than taking care of the typical paperwork-dominated administrative work.

[00:03:52] Vijayashree Natarajan So in that way, I would say the complete lifecycle can be, it's getting transformed with the power of AI.

[00:03:58] Vijayashree Natarajan Covering the things that they shouldn't have to worry about because AI can do it.

[00:04:01] Vijayashree Natarajan Yes.

[00:04:02] Vijayashree Natarajan So they can focus on the things that they studied and they work on.

[00:04:04] Vijayashree Natarajan Yes, and it also helps in improving their overall collections,

[00:04:08] because you can actually reduce your cost of operations, and that, whatever you are saving,

[00:04:14] can be invested for your futuristic treatments which you can provide for the patients.

[00:04:19] So that's the best part of it, I would say.

[00:04:21] Vijayashree Natarajan Moving into now the payer side,

[00:04:22] how are things being shaken up in the payer side of AI and how that's being used there?

[00:04:28] Vijayashree Natarajan The biggest challenge in the payer world is identifying the fraudulent transactions.

[00:04:33] So AI helps in identifying the fraudulent transactions for the payers,

[00:04:36] and also helps the payers to provide value-based care, right?

[00:04:42] For the payers to provide more value-based care, deviating from their traditional kind of

[00:04:49] the plans which they might be providing.

[00:04:51] If they need to move towards a value-based care, they need to have lots of analytics around

[00:04:55] the people health data and the records.

[00:04:58] So they actually use the power of AI so that they can actually focus on the insights that they can get out of

[00:05:05] the patient health record.

[00:05:07] They can actually provide more value-based care, personalize their treatments, and also understanding the population through analytics,

[00:05:15] which will help in the risk and also the identifying your care get.

[00:05:21] So that is very important for the payers.

[00:05:25] And it also helps for having a better communication between your payer and the providers.

[00:05:30] So that is also, I would say, the power of the influence of AI is helping the payer in the brain.

[00:05:35] Very interesting.

[00:05:36] I'd love to dive even deeper into kind of serving the underserved populations.

[00:05:40] How is AI being used to do that?

[00:05:42] You're saying to help with risk and stratifying patients.

[00:05:45] What are other ways that AI is being used to help serve the underserved?

[00:05:49] It actually helps because you need to have more data to understand the undeserved people's real problems

[00:05:57] so that you can actually fine tune your plans to meet their needs.

[00:06:01] Rather than trying to fit in the plans for that, instead of you need to customize the plans,

[00:06:06] for that you need more analytics and insights and AI is actually helping the data

[00:06:11] so that you can have focused treatment on the plans, which can actually take care of the underserved population.

[00:06:18] I saw a survey the other day that was talking about this,

[00:06:21] and it was also talking about patient preferences and what patients want from care.

[00:06:26] And the survey said that patients want to have care virtually.

[00:06:29] So is AI stepping into this virtual space as well?

[00:06:32] I would say AI has already stepped in.

[00:06:34] When it comes to the patients, providing a patient-oriented care

[00:06:39] and personalizing the treatments and more the preventive missions.

[00:06:43] Prevention is always better than cure.

[00:06:46] And AI is really helping in preventing rather more than, I won't say more than,

[00:06:50] it is actually an important aspect where the prevention is actually taken care by the AI.

[00:06:55] When it comes to the virtual telemedicine, I think five years back,

[00:07:00] many of us would have been really hesitant to have a virtual call with the physicians.

[00:07:04] Now, if you actually see the telemedicine market has picked up like anything.

[00:07:08] And we actually prefer, because there are many AI-powered virtual agents,

[00:07:13] which can actually help in having a better communication, though you may not be in person.

[00:07:18] Because many of the problems for which patients have to meet the physicians,

[00:07:23] you don't need to be physically in person, right?

[00:07:25] So these AI-powered systems, the telemedicine, I would say the technology is really helping

[00:07:32] to have a better connect virtually between the patients and the doctors.

[00:07:37] There is a big paradigm shift, I would say, that is happening in the healthcare,

[00:07:41] which is called as the internet of medical things,

[00:07:44] where many devices are getting connected, be it your smart hospitals, smart beds,

[00:07:49] your smart phones can actually monitor your health, it can actually feed in data to your hospitals.

[00:07:55] So more and more you can get unified data from this internet of medical things,

[00:08:00] which is nothing but your connected devices,

[00:08:02] which provides an unified view for the hospitals and the physicians

[00:08:08] to take care of a patient, to provide a patient-oriented care.

[00:08:12] So that's a big, I would say, big transformation.

[00:08:16] Especially in healthcare, the influence of AI can be felt by everybody

[00:08:20] because it touches humans' lives, right?

[00:08:23] So you becoming an user of the power of AI is the best thing can happen.

[00:08:28] I love hearing from one of the greatest experts here that we have at health on the topic of AI.

[00:08:34] So I want to go into the next frontier, generative AI.

[00:08:37] So what's the next, where is that going to have the most impact in this space?

[00:08:42] The evolution that is happening in the evolution of the AI technologies

[00:08:47] is really creating a revolution in the healthcare industry.

[00:08:50] The advanced technologies like generative AI, which is powered by your large language models,

[00:08:56] this actually helps in generating content.

[00:08:58] If I have to quote a specific healthcare example, the physicians, the clinical documentation,

[00:09:03] the notes taken by the physicians.

[00:09:05] Now everything can be automated.

[00:09:07] You can actually get it generated using your generative AI.

[00:09:10] So that the doctors need not spend in actually taking notes and tracking it.

[00:09:15] You actually get the AI-powered systems too on big offer.

[00:09:19] That is the power of generative AI.

[00:09:21] And there is another, I would say, very cutting edge technology,

[00:09:25] which the industry is moving towards, which is an advanced form of generative AI,

[00:09:29] which is called as agentic AI.

[00:09:31] This is not a buzz in the industry.

[00:09:34] I would say this is a paradigm shift that is poised to redefine the boundaries of AI capabilities.

[00:09:41] So this agentic AI will actually, it has a training capability, which goes beyond your traditional AI.

[00:09:47] It can actually give you, it can actually think almost near human cognition accuracy, which can actually,

[00:09:54] while the generative AI can help in generating the content, the agentic AI will help in executing and taking actions.

[00:10:00] So you don't need the humans to do the actions or the execution.

[00:10:05] This agentic AI will actually be the one which is taking the decision on big offer, which will be executing and taking the actions as well.

[00:10:14] So these advanced technologies, I would say, is actually helping to overcome some of the challenges which we might have had in the AI.

[00:10:23] For example, if the AI is not trained with the right set of data, say a medical equipment for diagnostic treatment, like a mammogram,

[00:10:34] where you cannot afford to have a false positive result from an AI-powered mammogram system, right? You can never have.

[00:10:42] So it has to be accurate, right? You cannot.

[00:10:45] So some of the challenges which we were facing in the, with the AI, now this generative AI is actually helping to identify the right set of training data

[00:10:54] and helps to improve the accuracy of your AI so that you can actually prevent or minimize your false positives.

[00:11:01] So this is, I would say, an approach called AI for AI.

[00:11:05] Like the way humans help each other in the human world, technology is helping each other and AI is actually helping how beautiful it is.

[00:11:13] Wow. AI for AI. So do you think that's the future? Do you think AI for AI?

[00:11:18] I would say that's a current state, which is, which is even more getting advanced when we get into the future.

[00:11:24] With the, with the, I would say, with the introduction of generative AI, this AI for AI has started picking up.

[00:11:31] And now with more agentic AI coming in, so the AI for AI is becoming more powerful.

[00:11:36] So I would say AI for AI is not future and we are already there.

[00:11:40] And it is going to be even more advanced when we step into the future.

[00:11:43] So fascinating.

[00:11:44] Yes.

[00:11:44] On Hi Tea with Grace, we like to learn about our women leaders and who they are as people.

[00:11:50] So I would love to hear from you.

[00:11:52] You are advancing AI and healthcare technology and doing so many amazing things, helping improve care, improving outcomes, improving the way that things are done operationally across the healthcare spectrum.

[00:12:05] But in your personal life, like what are things that you do or habits that you have that help keep you at the top of your game?

[00:12:12] I would say in my experience, I would say doing the right thing has always helped.

[00:12:17] And doing the right thing is the most difficult part as well.

[00:12:20] And I've seen many of the other leaders also in the industry have actually quoted about it.

[00:12:24] Always trying to do the right thing, however much ever it is difficult, not losing the battle.

[00:12:30] But just focus on doing the right thing.

[00:12:32] Because that is very important for us to move forward and progress.

[00:12:36] Because it is difficult if we take a step back, especially as a women leader.

[00:12:40] We all, we prefer to do the right things in the right way.

[00:12:43] And you need to stick to it however difficult it is.

[00:12:46] That's one, I would say, suggestion which I would give for any women leader.

[00:12:50] Be who you are and do the right thing.

[00:12:52] And do what your heart says.

[00:12:54] Do not worry about the difficulties or the challenges it might bring in.

[00:12:58] You can actually overcome it.

[00:13:00] So inspiring. I have a tear in my eye.

[00:13:01] I'm like, I just want to do the right thing.

[00:13:03] And I'm sure all of you feel the same way.

[00:13:06] It's hard when you're up against profits versus doing the right thing.

[00:13:09] And sometimes just doing the right thing, you realize that actually does lead to better profits down the road.

[00:13:15] Right?

[00:13:15] And it does end up being not only the right thing to do ethically, but the right thing to do financially.

[00:13:20] So another question that I had for you is,

[00:13:23] what's a piece of advice you would have for women leaders looking to get into a role similar to the role that you're in now?

[00:13:29] They should focus on the continuous learning.

[00:13:31] Because the pace in which the technology is advancing, we need to keep ourselves updated with the latest trends.

[00:13:38] And we should never lose our interest in the continuous learning,

[00:13:42] how much ever the position you might reach.

[00:13:45] You should keep on learning because there are new things, new opportunities that are coming up,

[00:13:50] which you might need to adapt in your role.

[00:13:53] Right?

[00:13:53] Focus on continuous learning and keep updating your skills.

[00:13:57] That is very important because in the current world, in the futuristic world,

[00:14:01] humans will be competing whether we like it or not with all the artificial intelligence.

[00:14:06] The beauty of artificial intelligence is when it joins hands with the human intelligence,

[00:14:12] you get the collective intelligence.

[00:14:13] So the humans need to ensure that our intelligence is actually enhanced so that you get the best out of the humans,

[00:14:21] so that you get the collective intelligence joining hands with the artificial intelligence.

[00:14:25] So keep learning, keep innovating new things.

[00:14:29] That's one thing which I would like to quote.

[00:14:31] So true.

[00:14:32] Now, a little birdie told me that it's your birthday today.

[00:14:36] Happy birthday!

[00:14:37] Thank you so much.

[00:14:38] So if you could give your younger self a piece of advice, what would that be?

[00:14:43] Being my birthday, I just want to quote about my late mom, late mother, she's no more.

[00:14:48] She has always taught me to be a bold, to take bold decisions and to be very bold.

[00:14:54] I've literally learned that heart from her, I would say, whatever comes, be bold and be bold to take the right decisions.

[00:15:01] One advice which I would like to give for the younger generation is like,

[00:15:05] you should keep, you should take bold decisions, especially when you are getting into this technology space as a technology leader.

[00:15:12] You need, you should have the boldness to take the decisions because without, which might, which might require some amount of risk taking as well.

[00:15:20] So my mom, I've always taught me to take risk with having a mitigation plan in a place so that you don't fail by taking the risk.

[00:15:28] But if you're not taking that one step forward, you will never be able to move forward.

[00:15:32] So I really wanted to remember learnings which I got from her.

[00:15:37] So I would suggest every younger generation to be bold to take the decisions.

[00:15:42] Don't worry about taking risks. Keep your mitigation plan in place.

[00:15:46] You have a plan B, plan C.

[00:15:48] If that, whatever the risk you are taking, if that fails, you should have a plan B and plan C.

[00:15:51] But you should keep marching, moving ahead.

[00:15:53] So that is one thing which I would like to quote.

[00:15:55] I love that. Be bold people. You hear that? There's no excuse. Be bold.

[00:16:01] So to finish this conversation off, where can our listeners find you online?

[00:16:05] They can find me online in LinkedIn.

[00:16:07] They can actually reach out to me in LinkedIn.

[00:16:09] I'm active in LinkedIn, I would say, in responding to messages and accepting invitations.

[00:16:14] And my marketing team should be able to help me in case if you need to reach out to know more about our organization and what we are doing it.

[00:16:23] My corporate team can actually help in reaching out to the technology leaders as well as business leaders,

[00:16:29] so that we can actually partner and help the customers who are looking forward for a technology transformation.

[00:16:34] Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining me today. It was great to learn from you.

[00:16:37] Thank you so much, Grace. Nice meeting you.

[00:16:40] And thanks to you folks for joining us too.

[00:16:42] Check out the Hi Tea with Grace podcast website for more great interviews with esteemed guests like the one today. Cheers.

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