Photo courtesy of Nathan Eddy
LAS VEGAS – During a panel at the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exposition here on Monday, experts said digital technologies are rapidly reshaping healthcare delivery, but the growing array of tools is raising new questions about whether innovation is truly improving care or simply adding complexity for clinicians and patients.
Leaders discussed how organizations can rethink digital health design to better support clinicians and patients, during "The Digital Dilemma," a session focused on balancing innovation with usability.
Rebecca Mishuris, chief medical information officer and vice president of digital at Mass General Brigham (MGB), and Kimberly Cronsell, chief medical information officer at Children's Wisconsin, said the challenge is rolling out and deploying digital tools that balance the needs of stakeholders and creating holistic workflows.
Mishuris cited AI-powered ambient documentation, which automatically captures clinical conversations and generates draft notes, explaining the technology has delivered measurable improvements in clinician well-being.
She said MGB initially tested ambient documentation with a small group of physicians, focusing closely on safety concerns, such as hallucinations, but the response from clinicians was overwhelmingly positive.
After expanding the pilot to 800 clinicians to evaluate its effect on burnout, the system saw meaningful results.
"That clearly had an impact on burnout, and it's because it didn’t just make people go faster, but it changed how they interacted with their patients," Mishuris said. "That was truly transformational."
Cronsell said tools like ambient documentation succeed because they operate largely in the background, minimizing disruption to established workflows.
"Ambient is one of the best technologies that really gets out of the way," Cronsell said.
She noted one of the biggest drivers of burnout is the growing volume of administrative tasks clinicians must complete outside normal working hours.
Yet, even promising tools face adoption challenges. Mishuris said clinicians often struggle to find time to learn new systems, even if those systems could ultimately reduce workload.
"People don't feel like they have the bandwidth to learn," she said.
To address that barrier, MGB has emphasized minimal training requirements and peer-led support programs.
The organization is also experimenting with "super user" programs – clinicians within each specialty who help colleagues learn best practices and encourage adoption.
Cronsell said that approach can significantly improve uptake, particularly when it respects clinicians' existing workflows.
"Don’t mess with their templates," she said. "But you can find a super user in the specialty, and then your user adoption goes way up."
Another challenge is the pace of technological change itself. Many digital tools evolve rapidly, which can create discomfort for clinicians accustomed to stable systems.
"The fact that the products change constantly makes adoption difficult because they are sort of in a constant beta," Mishuris said.
Health systems must, therefore, introduce new tools carefully and help clinicians understand that capabilities will improve over time.
Beyond documentation, AI is also beginning to reshape how clinicians interpret patient information. Mishuris pointed to emerging tools that summarize complex medical records, helping providers quickly understand a patient's history.
"It can put that patient's story together in a different way," she said.
Cronsell added that surfacing previously overlooked data points can improve clinical decision-making and strengthen collaboration with families.
"Having that additional content lets us make better decisions in partnership with our families," she said. "That's what I am most excited about."
