AVIA Forms Generative AI Strategic Collaborative

Chicago-based AVIA, which works with health systems on digital transformation, has formed a Generative AI Strategic Collaborative, a consortium of health systems, industry associations, technology experts, and government stakeholders working to develop a comprehensive, actionable strategy for the adoption of generative AI capabilities in healthcare.

Generative AI—a category of artificial intelligence algorithms that generate new outputs based on the data they have been trained on— has great potential, AVIA noted. However, the healthcare industry has just started on the path toward unlocking that potential. In response to requests from its member health systems, AVIA is spearheading a collaborative research initiative to identify risks, opportunities, and actionable steps for responsible, impactful, and ethical healthcare AI adoption for the healthcare industry.

AVIA is bringing together more than 20 health systems, key industry associations, and government leaders—including Providence, Memorial Hermann Health System, MedStar Health, Geisinger, the American Hospital Association, and others—to produce a board-ready, network-validated expert playbook that will be shared with participating organizations. The report will outline actionable strategies to invest in and deploy AI in a way that benefits not just health systems and solution companies but patients, clinicians, and caregivers, AVIA said.

AVIA said the research will address “now, near, and far” concerns for topics such as: 

• Key AI Opportunities and Risks
• IP and Data Rights/Ownership 
• Privacy and Regulatory Implications
• Governance Oversight and Deployment Framework and Recommendations
• Federated AI Trust Framework
• Ethics, Patient Transparency, and Health Equity Framework
• Priority Use Cases for Immediate Benefit

In a statement, Karen Murphy, executive vice president, chief innovation and digital transformation officer at Geisinger, said, “This AVIA-led initiative provides a unique opportunity for Geisinger to collaborate with other health systems, national industry experts and technology leaders. Together, we can navigate new waters, develop and share best practices, insights and lessons learned – all in the mission of leveraging technology to transform health care.”

“Providence is excited to be part of the AVIA-led initiative, embracing the power of collaboration at an inflection point for the technology enablement of healthcare across the industry. By collaborating with other health systems, industry experts, and technology leaders, we are leaning into the transformational potential of generative AI to responsibly and rapidly learn while translating our learnings into change,” says Sara Vaezy, Providence’s executive vice president and chief strategy and digital officer at Providence, in a statement.

.A partial list of participating organizations includes:

• Children’s Health 
• Geisinger
• Henry Ford Health
• MedStar Health
• Memorial Hermann Health System
• MemorialCare
• MUSC Health
• NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health
• Northwestern Medicine
• Presbyterian Healthcare Services
• Providence
• RUSH
• Sentara
• Silver Cross Hospital
• The Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network
• University Hospitals