Apryl Childs-Potter, president of the Nashville Health Care Council, and Natalie Cooper, plan president of Amerigroup Tennessee, discussed future opportunities in healthcare during the 2023 Tennessee State of Reform Health Policy Conference closing plenary last month.
Childs-Potter said ongoing collaboration is important to make improvements and changes in the healthcare field.
“In Nashville and really across Tennessee, there’s a spirit of collaboration … We don’t always agree on everything but we do try and work together. And so I think you’re seeing now and you will see more community partnerships coming up.”
— Childs-Potter
Cooper discussed the future of the healthcare workforce. She emphasized the importance of organizations making more efforts to recruit and retain employees.
“I think it comes down to organizations recognizing where that need is and actually doing the work, whether that is with your pipeline [or] interns. But ensuring that we’re communicating as more senior leaders within the Nashville community to those up-and-coming folks who want to get into healthcare about what the things they can do to really make a difference [are].”
— Cooper
Both speakers addressed AI and their thoughts on its future in healthcare. Cooper described herself as curious about AI.
“AI could really change the spectrum of healthcare if used responsibly … So when I think about it, it really excites me. It’s something I’m really curious about and I do want to see how it could make an impact in Nashville.”
— Cooper
Childs-Potter said local hospitals are already partnering with companies like Google to adopt AI services into their systems. She echoed Cooper’s focus on the responsible use of AI.
“[What’s] going to be really interesting is [seeing] how healthcare leadership is at the table when we start to talk about the importance of the guardrails around that responsible use of AI and that technology. That’s something I’m hearing consistently. It’s really important that, as those guardrails are being developed, healthcare leaders are the table for those discussions.”
— Childs-Potter