The University of Nebraska System has released the newest episode of its “Heart to Heart” podcast series. Hosted by University of Nebraska President Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, the podcast features in-depth conversations with leaders, educators, researchers, alumni and university partners who are making a difference in Nebraska and beyond.
In this month’s episode, Dr. Gold is joined by Jim Linder, MD, chief executive officer of Nebraska Medicine — UNMC’s clinical partner. As Dr. Linder prepares to step down from his role in the coming days, the two reflect on his legacy and explore the transformative role artificial intelligence will play in the future of health care.
After earning his medical degree from UNMC and completing training in pathology at Duke University, Dr. Linder joined the UNMC faculty in 1983. Later, he served as interim dean of the UNMC College of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for research and interim president of the University of Nebraska System. Dr. Linder has led Nebraska Medicine since 2018, and under his leadership, the health system has experienced significant growth.
“We teach about 3,000 students their clinical skills, have about 1.3 million patient visits a year in our clinics and make about a $6 billion economic impact every year on the economy of the state of Nebraska,” Dr. Linder said. “It’s an exciting time to be involved in medicine.”
At Nebraska Medicine, artificial intelligence is beginning to make its way into day-to-day operations and the patient experience — helping transform both the back office activities of hospital care, the activities that the care providers have directly with the patients, and the experience that the patients have when they’re in the hospital. More than 30 different AI initiatives are in place at Nebraska Medicine, with most intended to reduce administrative challenges.
“Currently, health care in the United States is about a $5 trillion expenditure, and about 30% of that is related to administrative costs,” Dr. Linder said. “By using AI, we can reduce the cost through proper preauthorization, more accurate billing and removing some of the friction that exists between providers and payers.”
He believes that AI tools will help to enable physicians to do their best work possible and ensure positive outcomes.
“By taking a patient’s entire medical record, studies and physical findings and comparing those to validated databases of literature, you may be able to come up with diagnostic possibilities that wouldn’t be at the top mind for a physician,” Dr. Linder said.
As he looked to the future, Dr. Linder also spoke about the potential integrations between AI, wearable devices and medical education.
“We foresee a time where an interaction between a student and patient is monitored by AI; when the student leaves the room, he or she will get feedback on how well they did,” he said. “That will allow us to teach more students, and I think it could be helpful in increasing our enrollment at UNMC.”
A close friend and colleague, Dr. Gold praised Dr. Linder’s years of leadership and service to Nebraska.
“I want to thank you for your years and years of visionary leadership, your service to Nebraska Medicine and to health care, and of course, for your friendship,” he said. “Your time and your talent has changed so many lives and that impact will be present for generations to come.”
New episodes of “Heart to Heart” are released monthly on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.