Hype Around AI Turns Into a Quest to Separate Real-World Clinical Applications From ‘the Pretenders’
The weather outside was frightful, but the vibe inside ViVE 2025 was insightful—with a focus on transcending the AI hype to address healthcare’s biggest challenges.The event, a collaboration between the leadership of CHIME and the marketplace of HLTH, returned February 16-19 to the wet and chilly city of Nashville, Tennessee. It brought together C-suite executives, senior digital health leaders and buyers, health startups and investors, and more.
DrFirst was there, celebrating our 25th anniversary and a quarter-century of innovation. In addition to getting free, AI-enhanced headshots, visitors to our booth learned about the patented, clinical-grade AI in our end-to-end medication management solutions.
And across the exhibit hall, the bloom was still on AI for the 500-plus healthcare tech companies represented.
“I don’t think there’s a single booth here that doesn’t have AI on it,” said Colin Banas, M.D., M.H.A., Chief Medical Officer of DrFirst. “If anything, I think it is more real than a year ago. That said, there is a fear that AI as a buzzword is being over-used, and it takes a lot of digging to separate what is really AI from the pretenders.”
Dr. Banas praised Tuesday’s session, “Evaluation of Generative AI for Clinical Decision Support,” by Elsevier, held in the AI Pavilion. Amber Featherstone-Uwague, M.D., M.P.H., Elsevier’s Physician Lead for Evaluation, shared the company’s ClinicalKey AI and methodology being used to ensure its safe, responsible, and ethical application in real-world clinical settings.
On the CHIME stage Monday, Aaron Miri, Executive VP and Chief Digital & Information Officer at Baptist Health Jacksonville, was part of the panel discussion, “Healthcare CIOs—Navigating Complexity.”
Miri said AI is expanding the CIO role and is being used as a tool to attract top talent during a major clinician shortage. Recently, the CHIME member shared how collaboration with DrFirst saved 19,000 clinical hours during a system migration by using AI to translate sigs in Baptist’s Epic EHR.
This became a differentiator that aligned with Baptist’s goals of reducing clinician burnout exacerbated by manual data entry, according to Miri, while also reducing the margin for error and adverse drug events (ADEs).
An emphasis on medication management and monitoring was a big focus at ViVE, Eric Wicklund reported in Health Leaders Media. “Health systems and hospitals are investing in their pharmacy services to improve the nation’s dismal medication adherence rate and, in doing so, boost clinical outcomes,” Wicklund wrote.
Dr. Banas shared how DrFirst is optimizing the medication journey—from prescribing to adherence—in interviews with This Week Health, Health Data Management, and Provider’s Edge with Sabrina Runbeck, M.P.H., M.H.S., PA-C.
Overall, he said ViVE was a satisfying place to be.
“The weather was, quite frankly, terrible—but there was a lot of good energy,” Dr. Banas said.
If you missed it, don’t worry! DrFirst will be at HIMSS25 in Las Vegas, where the weather is sure to be warmer. Find us at booth 1058 from March 3-6, or schedule a meeting here.