AI Amplified Podcast with Heather Bassett

Career Journey and AI Insights

Justin shared his career journey, which began with a chance encounter while working in college, leading to a role at McKesson in Pittsburgh and eventually a career in healthcare IT. He emphasized the importance of hard work and being open to opportunities, noting that saying “yes” can open doors. Justin also discussed his recent focus on AI, highlighting his efforts to learn and listen more at conferences, which informed his article on leadership in an AI-powered world..

AI and Leadership in Business

Justin discussed his experience building companies and emphasized the importance of leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and creating a trusting work environment to retain employees and foster innovation. He highlighted how AI can help reduce friction in the market and assist in research, modeling, and quality aspects of business, but stressed that it cannot fix broken processes. Dr. Bassett agreed, noting the efficiencies gained from using AI tools like ChatGPT and the potential for AI to transform industries, similarly to how Google did.

AI Healthcare Regulation Process

Dr. Bassett and Justin discussed the current state of AI regulation in healthcare, with Justin expressing optimism about the federal government’s pragmatic approach that balances innovation with necessary guardrails. Justin noted that while states are developing their own rules, the federal government is allowing other organizations to propose ideas and potential regulations without rushing to implement them. They agreed that the current environment represents a shift from having to push for innovation to now managing its rapid pace.

Trusted Data for AI Models

Justin emphasized the importance of using trusted and validated data when setting up language models, whether small or large, to ensure accuracy and credibility. He advised curating data from peer-reviewed and reliable sources, especially for fields like healthcare, and highlighted the benefits of AI in enhancing business processes. Dr. Bassett agreed with this approach, and both encouraged continuous education in AI to understand both its benefits and risks for responsible use.

AI Healthcare and Innovation Insights

Justin expressed excitement about the current AI landscape, particularly in healthcare, and highlighted his fortunate position of working with long-term relationships and major companies like Amazon and AWS. He enjoys helping these companies go to market in healthcare while also enabling innovators, which provides continuous learning opportunities.

Chronic Care Management and AI

Justin discussed his passion for chronic care management, emphasizing its potential to significantly improve the U.S. healthcare system by reducing costs and improving efficiency. He highlighted the role of AI and technology in enabling predictive analytics for early detection of health issues, such as heart attacks and strokes, and reducing waste in the healthcare system. 

Host
Heather Bassett, MD
CMO
Xsolis

Dr. Heather Bassett continues to drive AI innovation in healthcare to address operational challenges for health systems and plans, guiding them toward positive operational and patient outcomes. Rare among Chief Medical Officers at healthcare technology companies, she leads both the clinical services and data science teams. She architected Xsolis’ Care Level Score™, which integrates clinical expertise and data science to provide a numerical representation of the appropriate care status for each patient. This score and Xsolis’ AI-driven platform, Dragonfly, are uniting payers and providers during concurrent authorization processes to improve utilization management, patient outcomes, and reduce costs. Dragonfly is in use at hundreds of hospitals, health systems and health plans across America.

Dr. Bassett is passionate about advancing responsible AI in healthcare and is actively leading Xsolis’ involvement with the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), an organization advancing the responsible development, deployment, and oversight of AI in healthcare, which Xsolis joined as an Early Member. Dr. Bassett was recognized by Nashville Business Journal’s Health Care Innovation Awards as Chief Medical Officer of the Year 2021 and by Becker’s Hospital Review’s Women in Health IT to Know 2023-2025. She has contributed articles or been featured in Newsweek, Forbes, AARP Magazine, InformationWeek, Becker’s, Fierce Healthcare, Medical Economics, MedCity News, Physicians Practice, and Patient Safety Quality Healthcare.

She earned a B.S. in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University and her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, where she worked as a research associate in the field of DNA repair. She undertook her residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and worked as a hospitalist at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., for eight years. She is board-certified in internal medicine.

Guest
Justin Barnes
CEO
Growth Performance

Justin is a healthcare innovation executive, corporate growth leader, and industry strategist. In addition, he’s Chairman Emeritus of the HIMSS EHR Association and Co-Founder of the Health Innovation Think Tank. Mr. Barnes is also the host of healthcare’s most popular weekly syndicated radio show and Swaay Health 2024 Podcast of the Year “This Just In,” which airs on Healthcare Radio, Business Radio X, Health Podcast Network, HLTH, ViVE, and HIMSS Radio. Justin has 30 years of experience in accelerating companies, associations, and industries. He brings essential expertise from Silicon Valley day-one start-ups to industry-leading Fortune 5 and Global 300 corporations.

Beyond corporate leadership, Justin is a recognized voice in healthcare and public policy, having formally addressed and testified before Congress, the White House as well as the last six Presidential Administrations on more than twenty occasions with statements relating to digital health, chronic care management, value-based care, connected health, virtual care, precision medicine, population health, consumerism, revenue cycle management, interoperability, innovation and the globalization of healthcare. Barnes is a regular public speaker on these issues and has appeared in over 4,000 journals, magazines, and broadcast media outlets.

Barnes majored in Legal Studies and holds a BA & BS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He holds a Certificate of Diagnostics from Emory’s School of Medicine and is also a HIMSS Fellow. Justin proudly served Rotary International as a Board Member and Chairman of Public Relations for the Amherst Rotary Club. He is also a veteran, having served in the United States Army within Infantry (11B) & Communication (31M) Units.