Episode Overview

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Guest: Kaitlyn Torrence, Senior Director, Innovation, WellSpan Health
Host: Grace Lynn Keller
Date: November 27, 2025
Event: Live recording at the 10th Annual Health IT Digital Health and RCM Meeting
Theme: How WellSpan Health innovates and navigates AI, digital health, and legislative changes, with actionable advice for healthcare leaders.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Kaitlyn Torrence’s Background & Role ([00:45]–[01:19])

• Recently joined WellSpan Health as Senior Director of Innovation, focusing on partnerships, investments (via Spotlight Ventures), and advancing innovation and AI work.
• Previous experience at MUSC Health and Providence Health.

Current AI Use Cases in Healthcare ([01:26]–[03:19])

• Administrative and Back-Office Automation:
  • Most AI adoption began in areas with high pain points and lower risk, especially administrative functions.
• Ambient AI:
  • "Ambient AI has really taken the industry by storm. Beginning as a tool for provider time savings, it has now morphed into a tool for coding, ordering and really so much more..." — Kaitlyn Torrence [01:49]
  • Delivers significant provider time savings and now extends to coding, ordering, etc.
• WellSpan’s AI Agent “Anna”:
  • Developed with Hippocratic, Anna is a conversational AI handling high call volumes and repetitive tasks:
    • 680,000+ outbound calls in the past year.
    • Now manages 140,000 calls/month at call centers.
  • Purpose: "Really focusing on helping our existing workforce practice at the top of their human capacity." — Kaitlyn Torrence [02:34]

Balancing Innovation With Operations & Governance ([03:28]–[05:29])

• Governance Approach:
  • Early fear regarding generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) led to some gatekeeping, but staff found ways to use these tools regardless.
  • "We've had to put in the appropriate amount of governance without going overboard... that's been a learning for all health systems." — Kaitlyn Torrence [04:00]
• Patient Engagement Examples:
  • Implementing AI agents like Anna required re-examining processes for capturing patient input and educating teams about agentic AI.
• Safety and Validation:
  • Ongoing work includes using third parties to test, validate, and ensure the security, safety, and efficacy of AI solutions.

Navigating Legislative and Regulatory Shifts ([05:29]–[07:45])

• Monitoring Telehealth and Funding:
  • WellSpan closely watches changes in telehealth coverage, CMS proposals, and rural health transformation funding.
  • "We just submitted in Pennsylvania for that funding. So I think we're continuing to keep an eye on any funding changes." — Kaitlyn Torrence [05:55]
• Commitment to Hybrid Care:
  • Regardless of changing policies, WellSpan is "creating that hybrid care delivery ecosystem" as a foundation for value-based care.
• Revenue Cycle and Bot Wars:
  • Anticipates increased automation (and even “bot wars”) between payers and providers, especially in denial management.
• Data Interoperability:
  • Investing in cloud deployment to enable better data access/retrieval and enhance consumer experience.
  • Building a consumer experience platform to facilitate patient engagement and data sharing across care.

Top Advice for Healthcare Leaders ([07:45]–[08:43])

• Put the Problem First:
  • "Don't chase the shiny objects, really lead with the problem... If you can really get obsessed with the problem, deploy UX research, user design thinking principles [...] It’s not always just going to be technology. I think about a solution as a people, process, and a technology." — Kaitlyn Torrence [07:55]
• Emphasizes the importance of user research, design thinking, and not defaulting to technological solutions for every problem.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Ambient AI] has really taken the industry by storm... for provider time savings, now really morphed into a tool for coding, ordering and really so much more...” — Kaitlyn Torrence [01:49]
• “Anna... one of the first healthcare agent to AI solutions across healthcare. Over the past 12 months, Anna has made over 680,000 outbound calls. She now handles 140,000 inbound calls per month at our call center.” — Kaitlyn Torrence [02:23]
• "We've had to put in the appropriate amount of governance without going overboard... that's been a bit of a learning for all health systems." — Kaitlyn Torrence [04:00]
• "I envision there will be a bit of a bot war happening between payers and providers..." — Kaitlyn Torrence [06:38]
• "Don’t chase the shiny objects, really lead with the problem... It’s not always just going to be technology." — Kaitlyn Torrence [07:55]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | [00:45]–[01:19]| Kaitlyn’s background and role | | [01:26]–[03:19]| AI in healthcare—major use cases at WellSpan | | [03:28]–[05:29]| Governance, challenges, and operational balance with innovation | | [05:29]–[07:45]| Legislative/regulatory changes; telehealth, revenue, interoperability | | [07:45]–[08:43]| Top advice for healthcare leaders |

Conclusion

Kaitlyn Torrence’s discussion spotlights WellSpan Health’s agile and thoughtful approach to AI: driving innovation while addressing governance, engaging patients, maintaining operational balance, and preparing for regulatory flux. Above all, she emphasizes a pragmatic ethos—always center on the real problem, apply design thinking, and choose solutions that fit the issue, not just the latest technology.