Becker's Hospital Review

12 INNOVATION Why Orlando Health became Walmart's 1st hospital partner By Giles Bruce O rlando (Fla.) Health said it became Walmart's first health system partner to provide patients with care not offered at the retailer's clinics and because both organizations share a goal of expanding access to healthcare. Under the arrangement finalized Nov. 1, Orlando Health and Walmart Health will work together to coordinate care for the retail giant's patients who are admitted to the health system's hospitals or need specialty care. "We have a respect and appreciation for Walmart's mission to broaden access to care in the local community," Timothy Traver, assistant vice president of strategic planning at Orlando Health, told Becker's. "eir efforts align with — and are complementary to — Orlando Health's mission to provide high-quality care to the community." e first Walmart Health center launched in 2019, providing primary, behavioral and dental care in a 10,000-square-foot facility adjacent to a Walmart store in Georgia. Walmart Health has since opened nearly 50 more of the clinics across Arkansas, Florida, Illinois and Texas. Florida has the most, with 23, more than a third of them in the Orlando market. Until November, though, Walmart Health hadn't partnered with health systems on specialty and hospital care. Other retail disruptors such as Amazon's One Medical and CVS MinuteClinic have long had health system referral agreements in their local markets. Asked about the financial details of the partnership, Mr. Traver said it is "solely focused on care continuity for community patients and is not transactional." e union is also facilitated by both organizations using Epic for their EHRs. "We have a shared interest in providing continuity of care for patients needing additional care services not offered in the Walmart Health clinic setting," Mr. Traver said. "e healthcare landscape is continually evolving, and our goal is to pursue partnerships which can benefit the community's access to healthcare and overall wellness." n Former Optum exec joins healthcare VC firm By Noah Schwartz T rip Hofer, the former CEO of Optum Behavioral Health Solutions, joined healthcare venture capital firm .406 Ventures as a venture partner. Simultaneously, Mr. Hofer took on the role of CEO of Redox, a .406 portfolio company. Prior to his time at Optum, Mr. Hofer held leadership positions at CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group, according to a Nov. 15 .406 Ventures news release. In his new role, Mr. Hofer will work to advise portfolio companies and identify investment opportunities. e venture firm focuses on early-stage investments in healthcare, data, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence companies. n If AI gets it wrong, do physicians pay the price? By Naomi Diaz I f a physician uses an AI system and the technology steers that physician in the wrong direction, it's unclear who has to compensate the patient, Politico reported Nov. 30. Maulik Purohit, MD, chief health information officer of Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network, raised the question to the news outlet, if an AI system makes a mistake, "is that the responsibility of the technology itself?" or "is that the responsibility of the user?" Currently there is no answer to those questions, but the American Hospital Association recently said it will continue to advocate for limitations on physician liability related to the use of AI-enabled technologies. In the meantime, Dr. Purohit recommends AI be looked at as a "GPS system" for physicians, meaning they should be able to assist them with data, but not make or dictate decisions. This sentiment is shared among many hospital and health system leaders who say they are proceeding with caution when it comes to the technology. "We are approaching this evolving technology with cautious optimism," UPMC CIO Ed McCallister told Becker's. "Recently, we published an AI policy and standard that governs how our employees can ethically and safely use AI, with a focus on automation and analytics." n

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