Jefferson Convenes National Summit to Advance the Future of AI-Enabled Healthcare

Healthcare executives, technology innovators, policymakers, and academic leaders addressed the critical questions shaping the next decade of care delivery as Jefferson is achieving 1 million hours returned to care through AI-enabled solutions

October 23, 2026

PHILADELPHIA, Pa - Jefferson brought together healthcare leaders from across the country to help shape the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, convening executives, clinicians, researchers, policymakers, technology innovators, and industry leaders for a national summit, Designing the Learning Health System for the AI Era, on October 21, 2026, at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia.

Healthcare is entering a period in which AI is no longer simply a technology discussion. It is becoming a discussion about the future design of care delivery, professional practice, education, accountability, governance, and outcomes.

On the role of AI in healthcare, Jefferson's Chief Executive Officer Joseph G. Cacchione, MD, said, "The future of healthcare has to be both high tech and high touch. The more technology enables us to do, the more intentional we have to be about preserving what makes healthcare human: judgment, trust, compassion, and the connection between a patient and the people caring for them. Technology should empower our people to spend more time doing what only people can do: caring for one another."

Key themes

Conversations focused on how healthcare organizations can responsibly redesign care delivery for the AI era by aligning people, processes, technology, workflows, and data, with participants emphasizing that the greatest opportunities may lie not in AI itself but in reimagining how healthcare systems are designed, connected, and coordinated.

A major focus was the need for greater interoperability and connected data ecosystems to leverage AI that can help improve outcomes, reflecting broader federal efforts to improve information sharing and coordination across healthcare. Discussions also examined governance, accountability, and the evolving regulatory landscape, including how policies can both enable and constrain innovation.

Participants considered how care teams should evolve alongside AI while preserving the elements of care that must remain clinician-led, and how medical education, workforce development, and competency assessment must adapt to prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals. Across these discussions, attendees agreed that technological advancement alone is insufficient, and that future innovation must ultimately be measured by its impact on access, value, continuity, and overall outcomes across populations.

Looking forward

The most important outcome was not a single conclusion, but a shared commitment to continued collaboration. To build on that momentum, Jefferson will continue convening these healthcare leaders and beyond through ongoing Learning Together AI Roundtables focused on a collaborative approach to responsible innovation and improving outcomes for patients and care teams.

"I was glad to join the discussion at the Jefferson AI Summit, which reinforced several key principles as we consider the future of education and the health workforce," said Kelly Gebo, Dean, Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University. "Our responsibility is not simply to teach students about new technologies, but to empower the next generation of healthcare leaders to use these tools thoughtfully, responsibly, and effectively. By focusing on practical competencies and leveraging representative data, we can ensure AI expands human potential and improves health outcomes for everyone."

"The Jefferson AI Summit represents exactly the kind of conversation we need to be having as healthcare explores the extraordinary potential of AI," said Ken Grubbs, Chief Nursing Executive and Executive Vice President, Accreditation and Certification Operations for Joint Commission. "We want healthcare organizations to be able to move forward with confidence, innovate boldly, and take advantage of what AI can offer. That means helping put the right governance, processes, and guardrails around innovation so organizations can move quickly and responsibly, always with better, safer care for patients as the goal."

AI at Jefferson: A Major Milestone

At the summit, Dr. Cacchione also announced a major milestone in the organization's ongoing effort to improve patient care through innovation. In September 2025, Jefferson pledged to return 10 million hours to patient care by reducing administrative burden and streamlining clinical workflows. Today, Jefferson reports it is on track to achieve 1 million hours returned to care this month.

Jefferson Study Highlights Impact of Ambient AI

Jefferson's focus on returning time to care and experience implementing AI-enabled documentation tools was recently examined in a study published in NEJM Catalyst by Jennifer Stephens, DO, MBA, Bracken Babula, MD, MSc, Melanie McArthur, MSN, RN, Baligh Yehia, MD, MPP, MSc, and Patricia C. Henwood, MD. This manuscript provides one of the largest real-world evaluations of ambient AI in clinical practice.

The study, which evaluated implementation across Jefferson between July 1 and December 31, 2025, found that ambient AI is helping reduce the documentation demands that often pull clinicians away from direct patient care and contribute to after-hours work, or "pajama time." Across multiple clinician groups, users spent less time writing notes, less time documenting outside regular work hours, and significantly less time closing patient charts, while maintaining productivity. The study also found improvements in same-day chart closure rates, allowing clinicians to complete documentation more efficiently and devote more time to patient interactions. Perhaps most notably, the study revealed top quartile improvers regained approximately 17 minutes per scheduled day, while patient experience was maintained or improved across more than 280,000 encounters linked to patient experience surveys.

Jefferson Health Media Contact

Jamie Stover

[email protected]

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