Empowering safety net health organizations to harness AI for better patient outcomes, improved care provider experience, and operational excellence

“AI in Action: Practical Applications for Safety Net Providers” is a monthly Zoom series, co-hosted by the Center for Care Innovations, Health AI Partnership, and Alliance Chicago that is dedicated to exploring research and implementation of AI-based solutions that address the unique challenges and opportunities within Federally Qualified Health Centers and safety net healthcare organizations, promoting equitable access and improved patient outcomes.

Date and Time

October 7 at 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the link to join the meeting.

Topic

85 Years of Community-Oriented Innovation: Guiding Today’s AI Implementation

Session Description

As organizations explore the opportunities and challenges of AI, community health centers have decades of experience balancing innovation with accountability to the people they serve. In this session, Dr. Abhyankar and Dr. Nieves will explore how the principles that have guided community-oriented care for more than 85 years can help shape thoughtful, effective approaches to AI implementation today.

​Together, they’ll discuss the role of patient governance, design thinking in service of patients and communities, trust and transparency, and how health care organizations can embrace innovation while staying true to their mission.

​Participants will leave with practical insights for implementing AI in ways that strengthen, rather than compromise, community-centered care.

Speakers

Lalita Abhyankar, MD, MHS

​Dr. Lalita Abhyankar is a board-certified family physician, writer, and multimedia journalist with a decade of experience in primary care, including at the Institute for Family Health, a Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Brooklyn, NY, and Carbon Health, a health-tech startup. She currently provides home-based wound care to medically complex patients through Wounds-R-Us and serves as a supervising physician and board member for Milagros Medical, a clinic serving Latinx communities in the Bay Area. She also serves on the California Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors and is a Trustee of the CAFP Foundation.

​Her media work explores the intersection of medicine, technology, and health policy; she co-hosts and produces the One Click at a Time Podcast with Dr. Kelly Neives and created Piecemeal, a six-part investigative series for Health Affairs examining healthcare consolidation and its impact on independent primary care. Across her clinical, journalistic, and creative work, she is committed to bringing the perspective of family medicine to conversations about how technology and changing healthcare systems can shape a more human, equitable, and effective future for medicine.

​​Kelly Nieves, MD

Dr. Kelly Nieves is the Chief Medical Information Officer at Waco Family Medicine, a Federally-Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC) in central Texas. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Clinical Informatics; maintains an active clinical practice providing primary care and prenatal care; and serves as Associate Program Director of the Applied Clinical Informatics Fellowship. She co-hosts the podcast One Click at a Time: Technology Empowered Family Medicine, sharing lessons learned as a CMIO with a broader audience of clinicians and patients.

​She is passionate about clinical informatics and the ethical integration of technology and data analytics into primary care. Her work focuses on reducing administrative burden, preserving relational care, and advocating for systems that support both patients and professionals.

past AI in action events