Podcast Summary: Kunjan Divatia, VP of Digital Technology Solutions at Yale New Haven Health
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast | December 16, 2025
Host: Gracelyn Keller
Guest: Kunjan Divatia
Episode Overview
This episode features Kunjan Divatia, Vice President of Digital Technology Solutions at Yale New Haven Health, speaking live from the 10th Annual Health IT Digital Health and RCM Meeting. Divatia discusses his personal journey in healthcare technology, practical advancements in AI for care delivery, the challenges and imperatives of digital transformation (especially post-COVID), and strategies to balance innovation with legislative and financial pressures. The episode serves as a concise, insightful guide for healthcare leaders navigating rapid technological and regulatory change.
Guest Background & Experience
- Kunjan Divatia’s Journey (00:49—01:55)
- Started in healthcare as an EMT in college, gaining firsthand understanding of hospital operations.
- Over 20 years with a single health system; past 12 years in leadership roles.
- Experience includes large EMR and ERP transformations, pharmacy technology, and revenue cycle improvements.
- Recent focus: Enhancing employee/caregiver experiences and optimizing enterprise applications like ServiceNow, workforce management, and Microsoft systems.
“That early experience really gave me a sense of how critical hospital operations are and what it takes to actually provide care in a healthcare setting.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 00:56)
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. AI in Healthcare—From Buzzword to Impact (01:59—04:36)
- Current High-Impact AI Use Cases:
- Ambient Listening & Documentation:
- AI streamlines provider note-taking, improving EMR documentation and clinician efficiency.
- “With AI, the creativity of how quickly it can take a good note for providers in the EMR is just fascinating and providers are expecting it.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 02:26)
- Drafting Patient Messages:
- AI drafts responses to patient messages in the EMR, saving clinicians significant time.
- Diagnostic Imaging:
- AI expedites image screening and impressions, benefitting radiology and diagnostics ahead of other care areas.
- Revenue Cycle & Coding:
- AI improves coding accuracy and compliance, enhancing billing processes.
- Large Language Models & Custom LLMs:
- Yale is building its own LLM to provide comprehensive patient insights.
- AI used for anomaly detection in EKGs and personalizing chemo regimens.
- “We’re just scratching the surface of how these tools can improve both the provider experience and the patient outcome.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 04:32)
- Ambient Listening & Documentation:
2. Virtual Care & Digital Transformation—Challenges and Best Practices (04:36—06:47)
- Post-COVID Virtual Care Expansion:
- COVID’s impact continues; virtual care is now a core, permanent care model.
- Importance of patient engagement forums to align virtual services with patients’ needs.
- Virtual visits should be integrated in providers’ daily workflow, not tacked on as an afterthought.
- Specialty consults via virtual care reduce patient travel and accelerate care plans, especially in community hospitals.
- “The ability for a provider to quickly see a patient, triage what’s needed, or even replace an in-person appointment is incredibly powerful.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 05:07)
- Balancing Innovation & Operations:
- Embed virtual care into everyday practice to improve access and care without adding operational burden.
3. Navigating Regulatory & Legislative Change (06:47—09:04)
- Impact of Legislation:
- Current context includes government shutdowns and uncertainty around virtual care reimbursement.
- Medicaid/Medicare financial pressures heighten the need to efficiently allocate services.
- New AI-related legislation from Washington D.C. is on the horizon; governance and audit processes are being aligned in anticipation.
- Strategic Response:
- Maintain efficient, patient-centered service delivery.
- Focus on engaging patients with primary/urgent care to minimize unnecessary ED visits.
- Discharge safely and early whenever possible.
- “Legislation at both the state and federal levels have always influenced healthcare, but I would say its impact has never been as significant as it is today.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 07:22) - Looking ahead: Regulatory developments in AI, privacy, and reimbursement will directly shape digital strategies.
- Leaders need to balance compliance with innovation to survive financial pressures and sustain patient outcomes.
- “Over the next few years, leaders who can balance compliance with innovation, embedding virtual care, automation and AI into their everyday operations, will be the ones that will get and sustain the financial pressures that we’re all dealing with and still maintain good patient outcomes.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 08:36)
4. Advice for Healthcare Leaders Facing the Future (09:04—10:41)
- Data-Driven Strategy:
- Start with understanding and leveraging data amid financial pressure and staffing shortages.
- Future legislation will increase operational strains, especially for rural systems.
- Workforce Challenges:
- Projected provider shortages mean organizations must optimize resources.
- Provider decision fatigue is a genuine risk; technology’s purpose is to mitigate this.
- Technology Adoption:
- Embrace AI and digital tools safely and purposefully.
- Automate routine/repetitive tasks and surface essential clinical insights to reduce burnout and improve care.
- Ensure technology serves clinicians, not the other way around.
- “My message to leaders is embrace AI and advanced digital tools, but do it safely, securely and with purpose... That’s how we reduce burnout, improve care, make sure technology is serving people and not the other way around.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 09:53)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “AI has really moved from being a buzzword to having measurable impact in healthcare.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 02:19) - “Virtual visits shouldn’t be an afterthought. They should be baked into the provider’s templates with a spread of in-person visits and virtual visits into the same day.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 05:27) - “We need to use these solutions to take routine, repetitive tasks off of clinicians’ plates, to surface critical insights from charts and notes, to put the right information in front of providers at the right time.”
(Kunjan Divatia, 10:04)
Important Timestamps
- 00:49 – Kunjan’s background and healthcare technology journey.
- 01:59 – AI use cases: ambient listening, patient messaging, diagnostic imaging, coding.
- 04:36 – Virtual care expansion, operational best practices, patient engagement.
- 06:57 – Legislative impact, strategies for compliance and innovation.
- 09:15 – Advice for leaders: data-driven strategy, AI adoption, supporting clinicians.
Summary Flow
This concise conversation moves from Divatia’s personal journey to a practical examination of AI in healthcare, sharing firsthand examples of success and remaining challenges. He emphasizes the intertwining of regulatory adaptation, operational efficiency, and digital innovation, especially as financial pressures mount and the workforce landscape shifts. The recurring message: purposeful, people-centered technology adoption is the key to thriving in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.