Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer of North Country Healthcare

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast (Feb 4, 2026)

Guest: Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer, North Country Healthcare
Host: Scott King

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Episode Overview

This episode features a dynamic discussion with Darrell Bodnar, CIO of North Country Healthcare, on the evolving landscape of healthcare IT in rural environments. Topics include the integration of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, ongoing challenges with payers and regulatory changes, and the balancing act between innovation and sustainability. Bodnar also provides an inside look at his leadership evolution in a sector marked by rapid change and uncertainty.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Unique Organization Structure and Bodnar's Career Journey

• North Country Healthcare: Composed of three critical access hospitals and a home health agency, operating independently without tertiary affiliation.
• Darrell Bodnar: Over 36 years in healthcare IT, six as CIO of North Country Healthcare.
  • “We’re a really interesting use case where three critical access hospitals function independently... It makes us unique in the sense that we can really control our own destiny… Of course, there are risks involved.” — Darrell Bodnar [01:14]

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2. Current Key Responsibilities as CIO

• Navigating rapid regulatory and policy changes, particularly those coming from Washington.
• Positioning the organization to benefit from New Hampshire’s Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund.
• Ensuring responsible and effective integration of advanced technologies like AI and machine learning.
  • “A lot of it’s the technology, the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, machine learning, those types of technologies, and responsibly making sure those have a place to fit appropriately within the organization.” — Darrell Bodnar [02:25]

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3. Major Initiative: AI and Ambient Voice Technology Deployment

• Highlight: Rapid adoption of ambient voice technology in primary and specialty care.
  • Not about productivity—focus is on easing provider burden and increasing provider and patient satisfaction.
  • Providers feel less encumbered by technology, creating more meaningful patient interactions.
  • Patients give positive feedback due to more natural provider engagement.
  • “The deployment of these technologies was never about productivity, but it was clearly focused on trying to ease some of the provider’s burden... We’ve also received, surprisingly, a lot of positive feedback from the patient population.” — Darrell Bodnar [03:11]

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4. Priorities & Headwinds for 2026

• Balancing innovation and sustainability:
  • Changing payer market: Payers leaving the ACA marketplace, Medicaid patient challenges.
  • High dependency on government-funded programs causes risk for rural organizations.
  • Need to enhance technology for clinical and operational efficiency amid uncertainty.
  • “That is our biggest priorities. Just trying to keep that balance going, because there’s a lot of unknowns of what’s going to happen…” — Darrell Bodnar [04:15]

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5. Relationship with Payers: From Adversarial to Collaborative?

• Acknowledgment that payers face similar regulatory pressures as providers.
• Emerging trend of increased collaboration and transparency, partially driven by AI.
  • “It seems adversarial at times... but I’m starting to see they’re working through that. I also think the introduction of AI in a lot of spaces is making it more transparent... I’m hoping at some point we can make that entire process objective as opposed to the subjectivity…” — Darrell Bodnar [05:30]

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6. Hardest Challenge Ahead: Navigating Uncertainty

• Difficulty planning amid changing ACA, uncertain Medicaid funding, and nascent transformation funds.
  • Rural providers lack depth/resources larger organizations enjoy; must be especially prudent with spending.
  • “For me, trying to navigate the uncertainty is the biggest thing. I think in 12 months we’ll have a much better feeling for where they are. But I’m a planner by nature… Trying to watch spending but still deliver what the organization needs is probably the biggest challenge.” — Darrell Bodnar [06:40]

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7. Opportunities for Growth: Technology, Care Delivery, and Workforce

• Intersection of technology and care/workforce is the greatest opportunity.
• Responsible adoption of AI: Ambient technologies, documentation intake, document summarization.
  • Grassroots, high-impact technologies over “shiny objects.”
  • “To corral that and get that into a place where we can start to make operational and clinical differences... that is what I think is one of the biggest opportunities for growth. It’s more about the responsible adoption and true business use cases.” — Darrell Bodnar [07:36]

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8. Leadership Evolution

• CIO role is now inseparable from CTO; occupies a more prominent and strategic position at the leadership table.
• Technology has increasing influence on day-to-day operations and long-term strategy.
  • “You by default become the CTO and the CIO are one and the same... There’s also a more pronounced seat at the leadership table... trying to make coordinated business decisions with the direction of the organization.” — Darrell Bodnar [08:44]

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Notable Quotes

• On provider satisfaction and AI:
  “The deployment of these technologies was never about productivity, but it was clearly focused on trying to ease some of the provider’s burden and the challenges they have.” — Darrell Bodnar [03:11]
• On the payer relationship:
  “It seems adversarial at times... but I’m starting to see they’re working through that. I also think the introduction of AI in a lot of spaces making it more transparent.” — Darrell Bodnar [05:30]
• On balancing innovation and fiscal responsibility:
  “Trying to watch spending but still deliver what the organization needs is probably the biggest challenge.” — Darrell Bodnar [07:03]
• On the evolving CIO role:
  “You by default become the CTO and the CIO are one and the same... There’s also a more pronounced seat at the leadership table.” — Darrell Bodnar [08:44]

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Important Timestamps

• Introduction & Career Journey: [00:53–01:57]
• Current CIO Responsibilities: [02:05–02:43]
• Major AI Initiative & Results: [02:51–03:42]
• 2026 Priorities and Headwinds: [03:47–04:39]
• Provider–Payer Relationship & Policy: [04:39–06:10]
• Biggest Anticipated Challenge: [06:17–07:14]
• Growth Opportunities: [07:14–08:27]
• Leadership Evolution: [08:31–09:16]

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Memorable Moment

• Bodnar’s candid expression on navigating uncertainty:
  • “I’m a planner by nature. I want to make sure I have a good understanding. And when there’s uncertainty, it sort of makes me uneasy.” [06:55]

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By focusing on the practical application of technology, strategic partnerships, and adaptive leadership, Darrell Bodnar offers valuable insights into how rural healthcare providers can not only survive but thrive amid industry transformation.

Transcript

[A]

Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues facing the industry. And every year, those conversations shift in profound and unexpected ways. This April, more than 3,500 healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's 16th annual meeting. 795 elite speakers will offer new lessons, new case studies and predictions about what comes next. Join us April 13th through the 16th. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right.

[B]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Scott King, thrilled today to be joined by a very special guest, Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer, North Country Healthcare. Darrell, how you doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.

[C]

I'm doing, I'm doing great, Scott. Thank you so much for having me.

[B]

Yeah, it's great to have you. I know we're going to dive into a lot of kind of big topics facing healthcare right now and some trends and even some news. But before we get into all that, I just wondering if you could please tell us a little about yourself and your career journey.

[C]

Yeah, sure. My name is Daryl Bodnar. I'm a Chief Information Officer for North Country Healthcare. North Country Healthcare is a group of three critical access hospitals and a home health agency. I've been the CIO in this role for about six years now, but I've actually been in healthcare it for a total of 36, if you can believe it at this point. But we're really interesting use case where three critical access hospitals functioning independently without a tertiary affiliation. And it makes us unique in the sense that we can really control our own destiny without having to worry about some of those. But there's of course risks involved with that without having some additional support in the mix. But it's a very interesting use case and we've made some pretty impressive, impressive statistics over, over our time in the last six years.

[B]

Appreciate you sharing all that background info. Darrell, Let me ask you, as you as the CIO of your org, what do you see as your biggest responsibility right now?

[C]

So right now, I think as we continue to move forward, trying to navigate the changes going on from a regulatory perspective and some changes coming out of Washington that we're trying to adapt and handle. The Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund is a big one as we're trying to look to position ourselves in alignment with the state of New Hampshire to be able to look at how we'll leverage those dollars. But you know, from, from that perspective internally, I think a lot of it's the technology, the, the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, machine learning, those types of technologies, and responsibly making sure those have a place to fit appropriately within the organization.

[B]

What was the most important initiative you led last in the past year? And you know, what did you do for that and what were the results?

[C]

Well, I'd have to say it'll go back to some of the AI deployments that we've done, and in particular, I'm sure, like everybody else, the rapid adoption of ambient voice technologies within the patient interaction space, primarily in our primary care offices, but also in specialty practices and other areas. We saw a huge deployment and a huge adoption of it. Quickly and honestly, we started to see improved outcomes on two areas that we wanted to see. One was provider satisfaction. The deployment of these technologies was never about productivity, but it was clearly focused on trying to ease some of the provider's burden and the challenges they have. And we've also received, surprisingly, a lot of positive feedback from the patient population because now they feel more engaged with their providers as the providers talk to them as opposed to provide care over the top of a laptop screen.

[B]

As you look ahead, what are the big priorities and headwinds you're focused on for this year?

[C]

For 2026, I would have to say it's probably in the area of balancing innovation and sustainability. As we look at a changing payer market, we look at a lot of payers leaving the marketplace in terms of ACA and some of those challenges with Medicaid patients. Those all create risk for a rural hospital organization where we see a big part of our paramecs being those government funded. That along with the need to increase technology, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our staff clinically, but also in the operational space as well, to me, that is our biggest priorities. Just trying to keep that balance going because there's a lot of unknowns of what's going to happen over the next one to two years as we plan this out.

[B]

It's just interesting. I've been interviewing people on the payer side this week as well. And you know, certainly with that relationship, there's always a lot of give and take. But do you find also that from the payer side they're also kind of in the same situation as providers in that they're facing so many regulatory elements that sometimes in that relationship, do you feel like it's kind of like, all right, look, we both, we both have, have a full load here. Let's just see what we can get done. Let's try to work together on xyz.

[C]

Absolutely. And it's odd, you know, I realize that they're having some of the same regulatory changes that are occurring and in their models and what we're, what we're starting to see, and I think this is finally, maybe the catalyst that gets us to a place we should have been, was to work closer with the payers. It's been, without a doubt, it seems adversarial at times through, even through negotiations and feelings of, you know, what's prior auth, what isn't and how complex can we make that process so that we, you know, you get these procedures approved or not. But I'm starting to see that they're working through that. And I also think the introduction of AI in a lot of spaces that, making it more transparent. So as we go through and there's specific requirements, we're leveraging technology to meet those requirements. And in turn, I think the insurance companies, the payers, are doing the same. I'm hoping at some point we can make that entire process objective as opposed to the subjectivity that's currently spread across the board when it comes to those types of service approvals.

[B]

Yeah. So I think that would be great. Absolutely. What's the hardest thing you'll have to do this year, you think, Darrell?

[C]

Well, I think, I think making sure that we, we try to better understand how the, the, the payers are going to work and how reimbursement is going to work. The, the challenges for rural healthcare, I think we just don't have the depth that I think a lot of PPS hospitals and larger organizations have and trying to maintain those deliverables with, with the unknown surrounding it because we have yet to see what it's going to look like with the changes in the ACA for the market. We haven't seen what the Medicaid cuts are going to look like and we're just starting to see what the Rural Health Care Transformation Fund dollars are going to look like. So for me, trying to navigate the uncertainty is the biggest thing. I think in 12 months we'll have a much better feeling for where they are. But I'm a planner by nature. I want to make sure I have a good understanding. And when there's uncertainty, it sort of makes me uneasy. So trying to watch spending but still deliver what the organization needs is probably the biggest challenge.

[B]

Where do you see the best opportunities for organizational growth?

[C]

Oh, God. I think the intersection. I'm going to keep going back to it, Scott, on this one. I'm going to keep Going back to where technology and care delivery and the workforce meet is where I see the biggest opportunities to go. I hate to keep using the term AI because everybody uses it, but when I think of the technology space and some of the advancements that we're seeing, just to corral that and get that into a place where we can start to make operational and clinical differences and eventually get to hopefully some substantial changes in outcomes, that is what I really think is one of the biggest opportunities for growth. I see that growth continuing for the next few years, but it's more about the responsible adoption and the actual true business use cases than it is for some of the shinier objects that are out there. I mentioned ambient, but now we're looking at documentation intake and document summarization to make an easier burden and more accurate depiction for the patient, for the providers. Very grassroots, very, very easy to understand technologies. But to fully deploy it and adopt it takes an effort. And I think that's where you'll see our continued focus.

[B]

And the last question I want to ask you, Darrell, how do you think you have evolved as a leader?

[C]

Oh, my God. So as an organization, and I think this is probably typical of every CIO that's that's out there, is that you by default become the CTO and the CIO are one and the same. You have to work hand in hand. There's also a more pronounced seat if there wasn't one at the leadership table. Because technology plays such an important role. As you start to look at operations, they're becoming more and more impacted by technology. So I see the role being more diverse. I see us being spread across multiple areas, more so than we ever were before, and really trying to make coordinated business decisions with the direction of the organization and honestly, the direction of healthcare in general.

[B]

Daryl, thanks so much for joining us on the podcast. It was a great conversation. I look forward to working with you again soon.

[C]

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Scott. I really appreciate it.