The reset: Artificial intelligence in the daily workflow

AI in the daily workflow

Medical Economics spoke with Shannon Sims, M.D., Ph.D., FAMIA, chief product officer at Vizient, and Matthew Bates, M.P.H., managing director at Kaufman Hall, about Vizient's 2026 State of the Industry Report and what it describes as a reset moment for U.S. health care. When asked what changes physicians will feel first, both pointed to the same two shifts: artificial intelligence (AI) moving into everyday workflow and advanced practice providers (APPs) taking on a larger share of clinical care.

Bates framed the AI transition as a move out of the hype cycle and into practical use. Ambient listening — tools that generate clinical notes from recorded patient encounters — is the clearest example. "It is moving from a niche to really changing the way we practice, particularly in clinic and office settings," Bates said.

Sims explained that, “what most physicians will see day to day is the use of AI tools to automate or reduce the burdens they feel,” pointing specifically to documentation, billing, medication refills and patient access as areas where meaningful improvement is already within reach. Now, he says the window for sitting it out is closing. "If [physicians] do not [embrace these tools], they risk falling behind and losing some of the relevance and ability to practice in the way they would like to."

On APPs, Bates was equally blunt. The physician shortage is real, it isn't resolving quickly, and APPs are filling the gap. How health systems build effective, high-quality teams around that reality, rather than just plugging holes, is one of the central operational questions of the moment.