QuickHITs

In this episode of QuickHITs, Tyler Smith sits down with Simon Nazarian, System EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at City of Hope, and guest co-host Maroussia Petryk. Simon shares how one of the nation's largest cancer research and treatment organizations is turning decades of complex oncology data into a strategic asset, and how that foundation led to the development of Hope LLM, City of Hope's proprietary generative AI platform. He explains why data migration should be treated as clinical and operational infrastructure rather than an IT checkbox, what AI readiness really requires beyond having a model, and how governance built into the architecture from day one is what earns clinician trust. The conversation also covers ROI versus return on opportunity, where organizations tend to overestimate or underestimate AI's impact, and Simon's outlook on the next three to five years of clinical innovation, including a blended intelligence model where technology surfaces insight, and humans keep the final say. From treating data migration as strategic infrastructure to reducing administrative burden through Hope LLM to building AI governance in from the start, this episode covers a lot of ground for anyone thinking about what it takes to modernize a complex health system responsibly.

In this episode of QuickHITs, Tyler Smith sits down with Dr. Nicholas Gavin, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at Mount Sinai, and Dr. Robbie Freeman, Mount Sinai's Chief Digital Transformation Officer. Nicholas and Robbie unpack what it actually takes to move a digital health tool from a small pilot to system-wide scale, including the operational gap, the Hawthorne effect, and why Mount Sinai builds for scale from day one rather than treating pilots as an endpoint. They share how a culture of bottom-up idea submission, paired with rigorous co-design with patients and clinicians, has led to products like an AI tool that predicts pressure injury risk and a digital triage platform shaped directly by patient focus groups. The conversation also covers interoperability, standardizing on a single EMR across seven hospital campuses and 400-plus ambulatory locations, and where Nicholas and Robbie see the next wave of healthcare technology heading, including agentic AI and computer vision. They close with a candid take on healthcare's long struggle with administrative burden, and why current tools may finally offer a real path forward for clinicians and patients alike.

In this episode of QuickHITs, Tyler Smith sits down with Nitin Agarwal, CIO of Wayne Memorial Health, a rural health system in northeastern Pennsylvania serving patients who, in many cases, have nowhere else to go. Nitin shares how he climbed to the C-suite by learning to delegate, why he believes the best technology decisions start with conversation rather than a vendor deck, and what it really means to be a trusted partner to clinical and operational teams. He also digs into data migration, the importance of intentional data mapping before a single record moves, and why rural health systems have to be far more deliberate than their larger counterparts when adopting new technology. And on AI? Nitin isn't waiting for the hype to clear. He's watching for the moment AI truly frees clinicians to just be clinicians.

In this episode of QuickHITs, Tyler Smith, CEO of Health Data Movers, sits down with Dr. Bill Winkenwerder, Chairman of CitiusTech, for a wide-ranging conversation spanning four decades at the highest levels of healthcare leadership. Dr. Winkenwerder's career began with a simple but powerful realization: that the physician-patient relationship, while meaningful, wasn't enough to fix a broken system. That conviction drove him well beyond the clinic. He went on to serve as Medical Director at Kaiser Permanente, Vice President at Emory Healthcare, CEO of Highmark Health — the 7th largest health insurer in the U.S., serving more than 34 million Americans — and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, overseeing healthcare across the entire U.S. military. Today, he brings that depth of experience to his role as Chairman of CitiusTech. Together, Tyler and Bill explore the forces reshaping healthcare today — consolidation, aging infrastructure, and the accelerating pace of technological change. Bill makes the case that clean, reliable data isn't just an IT priority; it's the prerequisite for everything else, including AI. And he offers a grounded, experience-backed take on where agentic AI will actually deliver in the next three to five years, and where human judgment remains irreplaceable. The conversation also turns to the bigger picture: what it means to build a healthcare system that helps everyday people live healthier, more informed lives, rather than just treating them when they're sick. This episode is for healthcare leaders who want perspective from someone who has operated at every level of the system and still believes the most important work is ahead. Topics covered: How Bill's career evolved from medicine to policy to healthcare leadership The compounding challenges of legacy systems, consolidation, and constant change Why data quality is the true foundation for AI in healthcare Where CitiusTech and HDM fit in the next phase of healthcare IT The real-world potential of agentic AI and its limits Empowering patients through better data, education, and technology