The 229 Podcast

March 4, 2026: What happens when AI stops being a buzzword and starts showing up in your bottom line? Kali Ihde, Director of Ventures and Innovation at Northwestern Medicine, joins Bill Russell to share how ambient AI has moved from pilot to proven. Reducing documentation time by 20-30%, generating nine additional patient visits per physician per month, and measurably easing clinician burnout. Kali also pulls back the curtain on Northwestern's disciplined approach to innovation: champion-first pilots and a startup accelerator designed to bridge the gap between great ideas and real-world healthcare operations.
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Key Points:
06:20 Innovation Focus Now: AI Myth-Busting
13:03 Scaling What Works and Adoption Barriers
20:39 Access, Startup Reality Checks, and What’s Next

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March 2, 2026: Is the CIO role evolving? Or is it quietly being replaced? Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson dig into the emerging CITO trend, the rise of citizen developers, and what AI-powered platforms like Epic's Agent Factory actually mean for healthcare IT leadership. The CIO of the future isn't a gatekeeper; they're the "architect of safe velocity." With 32 years in the industry, they’re also sounding the alarm on executive burnout in an era where the pace of change never lets up.
Key Points:
03:31 CIO vs CTO explained
07:10 From gatekeeper to “Chief Intelligent Officer.”
18:20 Scaling innovation fast: hackathons and building vs buying
24:18 The human side of hyper-change
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February 26, 2026: What does it actually take to govern AI across a major health system without losing speed or safety? Bill Russell sits down with Dr. James McCabe, CMIO at Jefferson Health, Dr. Benjamin Hohmuth, CMIO at Geisinger, and Kristin Myers, Chief Digital Officer at Northwell Health, for a candid conversation on managing enterprise-wide AI implementation. From building governance engines and risk-tiering intake processes, to measuring ROI and preparing for agentic AI, these three leaders pull back the curtain on what's working, what's not, and what's coming next in healthcare AI governance.
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Key Points:
06:30 Executive AI Ambitions + Managing Expectations
14:55 Building Enterprise AI Governance & Monitoring at Scale
24:10 Measuring AI Impact: Adoption & Patient Experience
30:25 Build vs Buy in Practice: Supporting Entrepreneurial Clinicians
34:21 ROI, Transparency, and Regulation

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February 25, 2026: The nursing crisis is real, and the solutions may be closer than we think. In this executive Interview, Bill Russell sits down with Allison Morin, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Symplr, to explore what's burning nurses out and what technology can actually do about it. From staffing automation and ambient listening to AI-powered scheduling, Allison paints a compelling picture of a smarter, more humane future for bedside care. But first, the hard truth: nurses still aren't at the table when technology decisions are made — and that has to change now.
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Key Points:
02:10 Do Nurses Have a Seat at the Table?
08:59 The Near-Future Nurse Workflow
12:32 How to Get There: Strategy and Workflow Integration

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February 23, 2026: Scott Gildea, EVP of Global Delivery at Optimum Healthcare IT, reveals why major healthcare organizations are turning to Costa Rica for managed services. With Epic support now approved, time zone alignment with the US, and massive investments from ServiceNow, Workday, and Amazon creating a skilled talent pool, Costa Rica offers the full-suite IT services healthcare desperately needs. Gildea explains Optimum's strategic expansion, their innovative Career Path training program, and how CIOs can selectively outsource everything from security to EHR support while maintaining quality and reducing costs.
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Key Points:
01:41 Optimum Healthcare's Costa Rica Initiative
03:59 Selective Outsourcing Strategies
07:39 Optimum's Career Path Program

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