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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Leadership, Compassion, and the Future of AI in Critical Care with Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa
00:16:20
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- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant physician leader. We're joined today by Dr. Hesham Hasselbala. And Dr. Hasselbal has got sort of a combined role. He serves as the associate Regional Medical Director, Critical Care with the Rush Health System, and just a tremendous leader. He's also a senior partner with Sound Physicians. He's got a fascinating background. I've had a chance to visit with Dr. Hasabella recently. He's an author as well. He's a podcaster. He's just a pleasure of a person. We're going to Talk Today with Dr. Hasselbala about trends that he's watching, where he's most focused for next year, advice for leaders, and a lot more. Hashem, Dr. Hasselbala, can you take a moment to introduce yourself?
- [00:51]
B
Sure. Thank you. This is an honor and a privilege to be on the show. I've been watching your stuff for quite a long time and I was honored to have you on the podcast and I'm very excited to be here. Thank you for having me. You know, I'm born and raised in the Chicago area. In fact, something that I mentioned to when I was interviewing for medical school, that I was born at Rush. And so when I applied to medical school at Rush, I think I mentioned maybe 50 times during my medical school interview that I was born there. And, you know, it must have, must have, must have done something because they, they, they accepted me later that year. So I have been in after, after finishing all my, all my training along with Dr. Omar Latif, who's the CEO of the system. He and I were in the same fellowship class. I went out in private practice, lived the private practice life, tried to, you know, saw the ins and outs of what it was like to be on your own, to, to deal with all the, the things of private practice and watched the trend of hospital systems acquiring practice after practice. And they started acquiring more and more of our referral physicians, which made it difficult because now they're going to, of course, refer to their own specialists that they've, that they've already hired. And so I started seeing the consolidation of healthcare systems and the. Acquire the acquisition of more and more physician groups. Then I had the opportunity to come back to the Rush system and lead the critical care program at Rush Copley in Aurora. And I've been there ever since. And so running the practice, leading clinical initiatives, and we've done fantastic things at Rush Copley. And then with my role as sound, I have been overseeing both on site and telecritical care programs in the Midwest and on the east coast and again bringing clinical excellence and process improvement and outcome improvement to multiple people. So. And that's, that's what I've been doing for the last more than, more than 10 years.
- [02:58]
A
Fantastic. And tell us Dr. Asabal, what trends are you watching in healthcare currently? What's most top of mind? You mentioned already a bit ago, sort of independent physicians and practices being combined and consolidated independent practice changes, independent practice medicine. What are you watching today? What's the big trends that you're focused on currently?
- [03:22]
B
I think the accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence in healthcare is already changing the game. And on an individual level with myself, I'm using an AI scribe with doximity and it's really revolutionized the way I document, right. Because it takes the difficulty of having to sit and type. My fingers are very big and I can't type anymore without making a million mistakes. And this is just, I just talk to it and generates paragraphs of words that I, that it would take me forever to do if I had to sit there and type it myself. And I can just have the scribe open, look at the record and just generate documentation very easily. And now EHRs are having, and the one that I, that, that's in my hospital at Rush Copy EPIC has an AI summary tool that really, I mean I showed it to a colleague who's an infectious disease and I think I made his century because it's, it just summarizes everything in the, in the end, during the encounter and that saves him again if he has 40 people to see and if he can save 20 minutes per person going through the record, that's real time. That's time back in your life. And so on the individual physician level and clinician level, how is AI helping your helping your documentation? How always, as the medical LLMs get better, how, how can they help you be a better diagnostician? I was resistant in the beginning to using AI as a physician until I had an AI, someone, an expert in the field on my own podcast. And he told me he'd much rather have a doctor with an AI co pilot compared to a doctor without an AI co pilot. And it made me think like, if this LLM can help help me be a better diagnostician, why not? And so it softened my resistance. I used one on a patient and, and I kind of had the idea, I kind of had the diagnosis and it just confirmed what it was in my mind and it was right. And we got the patient on the right treatment and he got better and he walked out of the hospital safe and sound. That's huge. Right? And so as the medical LLMs get better, I don't think I'm always an advocate of keeping a physician or clinician as the human in the loop. And if it can make us better diagnosticians, then why not on the larger scale? Now we're going to see what others have coined the term, like an arms race with artificial intelligence between providers. I hate using that word, but there's no thing between hospitals and doctors and clinicians and practices. AI trying to get as much reimbursement as possible and then AI trying to combating that. Right. Stopping that. So there's going to be this battle of the bots, I call it, with each side trying to get the most from the, from the other. And it's just very interesting to see where that's going to go. So I think the way do I think AI is going to replace a doctor? I don't think. I don't think so. An AI chatbot there. I did, I did talk about this on my podcast where they are more compassionate, more empathetic. They have all day and they can. Where a physician frequently, unfortunately, some, many physicians or some physicians are not. They don't have all day and sometimes they're not empathetic, sometimes they're not caring, but the AI chatbots are. This is a major threat that we have to think about and we have to up our game. And the, the way, the way it's going to transform healthcare on the individual and system level is what I'm looking, what I'm looking at. And it's a major theme of what I'm exploring on my podcast.
- [07:20]
A
It's a fascinating discussion. And I'll tell you an example. Just today, I'm dealing with a specific company, a director of customer experience. And you could tell this director of customer experience wants to have nothing to do with me. And I don't mean that in a negative way, just is what it is. And at that point, having a chatbot that could answer my relatively simple question feels like would be a huge improvement over the human experience. There's. And so it is fascinating to see the areas where the human experience really can be helpful or where the machine experience can be better and trying to sort all this out and it'll all evolve over time and obviously we need some of both. But it is really fascinating to hear what you say about the chatbot sometimes saving the time and the patience. And you know, when you get on the phone with somebody, you could tell almost immediately whether they're inpatient or patient, whether stressed or not stressed. And that, of course, impacts your experience with that person. And there's all kinds of reasons why they can or cannot be. But the chatbot seems not to be stressed, but obviously can't have the depth and sometimes solve the problems you want it to solve. So it really is finding this great mix of what is going to be the effective way to give people the customer and patient and clinical experience they need to have. I think it's fascinating. Dr. Hasabella, I appreciate your comments on it so much, and it's so easy for us to connect dots on these thoughts that you have. Talk to us for a second about when you look at 2026, where are you most, most focused and excited going into the next year?
- [08:53]
B
That's a great question. I just wanted to also highlight one thing when it goes back to the human, the one thing a chat bot can't do. Even as empathetic and kind and nice, it can be one. It can make mistakes. And it doesn't say, it doesn't say, I don't know, and that's a problem. Whereas I can say, you know what? I don't know exactly what's going on, but I'm committed to working with you to find out. The other thing an AI chatbot can never do is hold your hand and comfort you while your family's dying in the hospital. And that's something that, I think that's a superpower that physicians have that we should never give up and we should always hone that skill because that's, you know, what helped me when I lost my child is people holding my hand. And when I reach out and hold the hand of a family member as they're struggling with the death of their loved one in the icu. Because I work in the icu, I think that's a superpower that physicians and clinicians and apps nurses, they have that an AI chatbot can never do. And so we have to keep that always at front of mind as far as 2026 is concerned. I think just what I'm excited about, continuing to grow, continuing to bring clinical excellence to wherever I can. The beauty about being a physician leader is that I can do good at the bedside right there, one on one with the patient. And that's why I became a doctor. I became a doctor to help, to heal, to hold hands, to help someone feel nothing. More phenomenal to see a patient walk back into the icu, grateful I May not remember them, unfortunately, but they remember me. Right? They remember us and what we did for them. And that feeling is just indescribable. And that's fuel and oxygen that can keep me sustained forever. The other thing that as being a physician leader is to that you can bring good to so much more people. So, you know, the more hospitals I can bring, our process improvement, our clinical excellence was sound. The more, the more hospitals I can do, the better, the more good I can do for more people, and that's even better. So it's good at the bedside, good on a larger scale, and that's only can be with a physician leader much.
- [11:09]
A
And I love your comments about compassion and about the actual bedside that there's so many people, places where we need people, professionals, people that really feel like they're taking care of us beyond the technology and so forth. And then the comments on bringing technology and process improvement and improvement to systems on a broader scale. We appreciate that so much as well. Dr. Hassabal, you've had this fascinating leadership experience and growth. I have a great pleasure to get to visit with you periodically, including on your podcast recently, an incredible person and leader. What advice, Dr. Hasselbal, would you give to other emerging leaders?
- [11:54]
B
I think one of the rules I have in the ICU is to take the lulls when they come. You know, sometimes it's go, go, go 100 miles an hour, the whole, the whole shift. And there are other times where there are lulls and when there are lulls, you take them. When you just take them into stride. I don't necessarily worry about the finances of the lull. Now, if the lull was six months, that' thing, but if it's a few days, a few hours, take the levels when they come and take advantage of it. That's where, you know, people say, oh my God, how do you do what you do? How come you. How do you do so much? Well, I mean, I may quickly, you know, like a thing that's got Becker posts on X or repost something that Becker's healthcare will do, stop and read an email, maybe put something on LinkedIn. But it's only a few minutes. That's where I say, okay, where am I going to generate my next podcast episode? How am I going to write my next newsletter? Where am I going to think about doing the schedule for my team? Whatever it takes. Take advantage of the downtime, where I can't necessarily leave the hospital, I can't leave where I'm at, but I can do something productive. And whether it's getting a thought piece out there, commenting on something, but not scrolling for hours and hours and just seeing things that don't benefit myself. And always. And then always remember the other thing that keeps me going is just the amount of gratitude that I have to be in the position that I'm. That I'm in. I've. You know, there's a lot of physicians and clinicians that will sarcastically say they're living the dream. I am living my dream. There's nothing else I wanted to be but a physician. Ever since I was a little kid, ever since I can remember, this is what I wanted to do. And so, you know, I was running the Chicago Marathon in 2010 through the Grand Avenue Bridge or under the Grand Avenue Bridge. My cousin told me, step back and take it in, man. Right.
- [13:55]
A
And.
- [13:55]
B
And I. And I did. And even though it was painful and I couldn't feel my legs and I couldn't sit down and it. When I crossed the finish line, it was the. One of the happiest moments in my life that I could do something my daughter could never do because she couldn't walk. And so. But I finished the marathon in her honor, and I knew she was there. And so always take it from. Take a step back and take it all in and see where you are and see what you're doing and take that in and be grateful and always thank others around you for all the hard work that they're doing. It's really nice to be acknowledged and thanked. And so it's great when I get recognition, whether it's from a patient or for my own boss or for people that I work with.
- [14:42]
A
With.
- [14:42]
B
It's also really important that we be grateful and express appreciation not for the things that they do, but for the people themselves. I don't say. I don't say I appreciate that anymore. I've stopped. When I was working in the South, I noticed people were saying, I appreciate you, I appreciate you. And I. And I took that to heart. Now I say I appreciate you because of who you are. Thank you for the thing that you do that you did. And I appreciate you. And so I think showing, showing appreciation, expressing appreciation, appreciation and gratitude for those around you that are doing, that are helping you be successful is also absolutely critical.
- [15:22]
A
Dr. Hasabala, I. I can't tell you how much you appreciate you and both you and what you do, but this tremendous life story and compassion and your willingness to share it with you, I. I love these thoughts on gratitude and gratefulness. And you're a special person. So it is fascinating to hear you talk about what you're talking about and how you convey it. It's really remarkable human being. Dr. Acebella, we are so thankful to visit with you today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. What a tremendous pleasure. Thank you so much for being you and for joining us. Thank you.
- [16:04]
B
That's so kind of you. It's really my honor and my privilege to be here and thank you for all that you do. The information you Becker's Healthcare arms people like me to give the information, to be the best leader possible. So thank you.