Kayce Degenhardt, Vice President of Clinical Applications at Inova Health System

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Guest: Kayce Degenhardt, Vice President of Clinical Applications at Inova Health System
Host: Chanel Bunger (Becker’s Healthcare)
Release Date: January 25, 2026
Episode Focus: Healthcare trends, innovation at Inova, leadership lessons

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Episode Overview

This episode features Kayce Degenhardt, Vice President of Clinical Applications at Inova Health System, discussing the evolving landscape of healthcare, with a focus on key trends including AI and automation, operational optimization, and staff well-being. Kayce also highlights recent achievements at Inova, reflects on successful initiatives, and offers advice for current and future healthcare leaders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Inova Health System

[01:02 – 01:44]

• Inova is a large nonprofit health system serving over 2 million patients annually across five hospitals and 300+ clinics in Northern Virginia.
• Under CEO Dr. Stephen Jones, Inova achieved the distinction of being the first large U.S. health system with all hospitals rated five stars by CMS.
• Inova was named 2025 Health System of the Year by Press Ganey last year.

“Inova became the first large US health system to have every hospital rated five stars by CMS. And actually last year we were named 2025 Health System of the Year by Press Ganey.” — Kayce Degenhardt [01:17]

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2. Key Healthcare Trends to Watch

[01:54 – 04:20]

Kayce identifies three main trends shaping healthcare’s future:

a. AI & Automation

• AI is currently healthcare’s hottest topic, especially systems like ambient listening and automated messaging.
• The challenge lies not just in implementation, but in clinical governance, ROI validation, and ensuring proper funding and team structure for safe deployment.

b. Automation in Operations

• Focus is shifting from automating “tasks” to integrating automation into holistic workflow orchestration, with the goal of reducing waste and simplifying processes.
• Automation is seen as essential to addressing ongoing cost pressures and enhancing overall system efficiency.

c. Protecting Healthcare Workers & Combating Burnout

• There’s a strong emphasis on employee well-being, inspired by the belief that leaders are responsible not just for their team members, but for their families too.
• Leveraging automation to reduce backend administrative burden is key to fostering a sustainable environment.

“The goal isn’t automating individual tasks, but orchestrating workflows throughout the system in a more intentional way to reduce some of that overhead that also increases the cost of care.” — Kayce Degenhardt [03:29]

“A mentor once reminded me that you're not just responsible for the people you lead, but their families too.” — Kayce Degenhardt [03:45]

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3. Excitement for Value-Based Access Innovation

[04:35 – 06:29]

Kayce is most excited about redesigning patient access pathways using a value-based care lens:

• Draws analogy to travel industry’s transparency and self-service, highlighting healthcare’s current lack in user-friendly, immediate patient access.
• Argues that access friction is not just a customer service problem but impacts health outcomes and costs directly; poor access leads to delayed care, unnecessary ER visits, and missed preventive measures.
• Streamlining access equates to fewer handoffs, predictable system capacity, and better outcomes for both patients and providers.

“If we can get access right, everything else works better.” — Kayce Degenhardt [06:25]

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4. Recent Achievements & Team Successes

[06:43 – 09:13]

Reflecting on her two-year leadership:

• Restructured internal teams and processes for clearer value creation and measurable outcomes.
• Successes include:
  • 35% reduction in provider documentation time, saving over 900 hours monthly—time now redirected to patient care or improving work-life balance.
  • Advanced imaging appointment wait times decreased by 6 days, accelerating diagnosis and treatment.
  • Recognition in the EPIC community:
    • Achieved Gold Stars—Configuration Level 10, Utilization Level 8.
    • Voted #2 EHR by nurses.
    • Reached EPIC honor roll (summa cum laude) for their grant program in 6 months (vs. industry norm of 13 months).

“Provider documentation time decreased by 35%, saving more than 900 hours every month... our advanced imaging appointment wait times decreased by six full days.” — Kayce Degenhardt [07:45]

“I'm really proud of my team who has embraced me and embraced the clarity, accountability, and the outcomes. And we've really turned that focus into real impact for clinicians and patients.” — Kayce Degenhardt [09:01]

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5. Leadership Advice for the Next Generation

[09:28 – 10:51]

Kayce’s advice centers on empathy, translation, and the human-technology connection:

• Effective leaders bridge gaps between clinical, operational, and tech stakeholders by listening closely and synthesizing insights into action.
• Leaders should cultivate the ability to “decode” across disciplines and align teams with clarity for sustainable change.

“Effective leadership today isn't about having all of the answers, but if you can listen and you can decode what people are really saying and synthesize that into a clear, actionable direction, I think that you really connect on all of the levels.” — Kayce Degenhardt [09:32]

“If you can listen with empathy and synthesize with intention, communicate more clearly, then you can create that momentum and enable change that actually sticks.” — Kayce Degenhardt [10:37]

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Notable Quotes

• “A mentor once reminded me that you're not just responsible for the people you lead, but their families too.” — Kayce Degenhardt [03:45]
• “If we can get access right, everything else works better.” — Kayce Degenhardt [06:25]
• “Provider documentation time decreased by 35%, saving more than 900 hours every month.” — Kayce Degenhardt [07:45]
• “Effective leadership today isn't about having all of the answers, but (about) listen(ing) and decode(ing) what people are really saying and synthesiz(ing) that into a clear, actionable direction.” — Kayce Degenhardt [09:32]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:02] – Introduction to Inova Health System
• [01:54] – Three Healthcare Trends to Watch: AI, Operations, Staff Burnout
• [04:35] – Retooling Patient Access Through Value-Based Care
• [06:43] – Team Achievements & Process Overhaul at Inova
• [09:28] – Advice for Next-Gen Healthcare Leaders

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Tone and Style

Kayce Degenhardt’s tone throughout is thoughtful, direct, and highly practical—grounded in day-to-day realities while optimistic about healthcare’s potential to improve through technology, teamwork, and strong leadership.

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For listeners or readers seeking actionable insights and real-world examples from a large health system, this episode offers a current snapshot of priorities, challenges, and leadership lessons in U.S. healthcare management.

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 and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. My name is Chanel Bunger. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Casey Dagenhart, the Vice President of Clinical applications at Nova Health System, who joins the podcast today to share insights in a healthcare trend. She's keeping an eye on advice for leaders and a bit more. Casey, thank you so much for joining me.

[C]

Thank you for having me.

[B]

Perfect. Well, to get us started out, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about ANOVA Health System?

[C]

Yes. So my name is Casey Degenhardt and I'm the Vice President of Clinical applications at Inova for the last two years. Inova is a large non for profit health system in Northern Virginia and we operate five hospitals and more than 300 clinics and we serve over 2 million patients annually. Under our CEO, Dr. Stephen Jones leadership, Inova became the first large US health system to have every hospital rated five stars by CMS. And actually last year we were named 2025 Health System of the Year by Press Ganey.

[B]

Got it, Got it. Thank you so much for the introduction. And now moving into the meat of the podcast a bit, what trends are you currently watching in healthcare in your role today?

[C]

I think that's a great question. The biggest backdrop right now, I think, is the uncertainty in healthcare, particularly around reimbursement. So you see the layoffs and the cost cutting headlines almost daily in Beckers that comes out and the pressures forcing health systems to rethink how they operate. So there are three key trends that I'm watching, specifically, the first one being around AI and automation, which is clearly the biggest buzzword in the industry and has been for the last couple of years. But the things like ambient listening, auto generated patient messaging, early imaging reads, but the real questions are around how we govern it in the clinical space, how we evaluate whether it's truly improving care, how we achieve a real return on investment, and then also funding the teams that we need to support it safely and sustainably. The second trend that I'm watching is not only How AI and automation are being applied to the clinical use cases, but how are they being applied to operations and the business of health care? With those cost pressures that we're facing, how do we eliminate waste, simplify workflows? With automation, the goal isn't automating individual tasks, but orchestrating workflows throughout the system in a more intentional way to reduce some of that overhead that we're seeing that also increases the cost of care. Then the last thing that I'm watching is how we protect our people in this world. Managing burnout. A mentor once reminded me that you're not just responsible for the people you lead, but their families too. I don't think that there is a health system in the country right now that's untouched by the pressures. Using AI and automation to help the back end operations and support project management and administrative work I think is critical and to help helping to create a more sustainable environment for our teams.

[B]

Absolutely. Thank you so much for walking us through that and obviously a lot going on in healthcare today. And with that and looking forward into as we go into 2026. Can you talk about what you're most focused on and excited about at ANOVA Health System?

[C]

Yes. So I'm most focused on and really excited about retooling access and specifically through a value based care lens. So when you look at other industries like travel I think is the easiest comparison. You can book a flight, you can plan, change plans, you can get your real time updates without ever talking to a person. Which I think is what the world is looking for right now. And it's built around transparency, self service and respect for the consumer's time. And from my perspective, healthcare access is still behind on that. Patients don't always know where to go, how to get in or it takes forever. They have to talk to a person just because it's not really intuitive. And so if you think in a value based world, the friction isn't just experience an experience issue. I think it directly impacts outcomes and the total cost of care. And so delaying or confusing access has much more downstream effects like more ED visits, missed preventative care and avoidable other downstream utilization. So what excites me about that is having a way to get patients to the right care at the right time, in the right setting, with fewer handoffs, less potential points of failure. And I think it can also help with predictable capacity for the system. So if we can get access right, everything else works better.

[B]

Absolutely. And now that we've looked into the future of it, looking back at the last or 2025, maybe even 2024. Can you talk about maybe an initiative or a project or just something that you're proud of from that time period?

[C]

I'm proud of my team, without question. So I stepped into this role two years ago, and we were working incredibly hard, but we weren't consistently able to articulate what our value was and show progress in a clear and measurable way to the system. So when I came in, I did a deep dive and we rebuilt some internal structures, cleaned up processes, reorganized teams to better be able to support the organization. From that shift, we were able to work with the organization and tie outcomes to everything that we did and asking that each initiative how it would benefit patients, how it would create efficiencies, contribute financially, or improve care delivery in a tangible way. And so with that shift, we saw significant outcomes. So our provider documentation time decreased by 35%, saving more than 900 hours every month. And now clinicians can either reinvest in patient care or spend time with their families if it was outside of hours. And we also saw our advanced imaging appointment wait times decreased by six full days, so helping to accelerate the diagnosis and the treatment. So those were two major outcomes that we saw from it. In addition to that, our team was recognized within the EPIC community for achieving Gold Stars, Configuration Level 10 and Utilization Level 8. We were voted number 2 EHR by our nurses this year. And then we. We also achieved the EPIC honor roll, summa cum laude, the highest award for their. Their grant program. And we did that in six months. And most organizations, it's taking 13 months to get there, and they don't always achieve the highest. And so I'm really proud of my team who has embraced me and embraced the clarity, accountability, and the outcomes. And we've really turned that focus into real impact for clinicians and patients.

[B]

That's amazing to hear. Well, Casey, I want to thank you for your time today. But before I let you go, healthcare is evolving rapidly. And with that and all of your experience, I'm curious to know, what advice do you have for the next generation of healthcare leaders stepping into the field today?

[C]

So the advice that I'd give to evolving leaders is to focus on connecting the human and the technology worlds. I think effective leadership today isn't about having all of the answers, but if you can listen and you can decode what people are really saying and synthesize that into a clear, actionable direction, I think that you really connect on all of the levels. Because in healthcare, you have clinicians and operators and technologists and they all speak different languages. So from my perspective, the leaders who make the biggest impact are the ones that can translate between all of those worlds, listening to frontline realities, understanding operational and technical constraints and possibilities, and then to convey clarity in a way that aligns everyone and drives progress. I think if you can listen with empathy and synthesize with intention, communicate more clearly, then you can create that momentum and enable change that actually sticks.

[B]

Excellent advice and a great note to end on. Casey, I want to thank you once again for your time today and for sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much.

[C]

Thank you so much.