Welcome to another episode of Impact Unfiltered, where host Philippe sits down with Dr. Lisa Birdsall Fort, emergency physician and Associate Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) at Ochsner Health. Dr. Fort shares her journey into clinical informatics and explains how she bridges clinical care, technology, and administration to improve patient outcomes.

The conversation explores Ochsner's virtual emergency department, the growing role of AI in healthcare, and innovations such as ambient listening, smart rooms, wearables, and agentic technology. Dr. Fort also discusses the future of remote care, particularly for rural and aging communities, and shares leadership lessons on adaptability, lifelong learning, and embracing innovation. Whether you're in healthcare or simply curious about its future, this episode offers valuable insights you won't want to miss.

1. Introduction to Impact Unfiltered and Episode Overview

• Introduction of guest: Dr. Lisa Birdsall Fort of Ochsner Health

• Setting the themes: clinical informatics, artificial intelligence, and virtual care transformation

2. Meet Dr. Lisa Birdsall Fort: Roles and Day-to-Day

• Emergency physician who still practices clinically, calling it “the best day of my week”

• Associate CMIO over inpatient care at Ochsner Health, spanning EDs, medical-surgical areas, ICUs, and procedural areas

• Medical director and leader over Ochsner’s virtual care center, providing centralized monitoring across 40-plus hospitals

3. What Is a CMIO?

• Chief Medical Information Officer, a relatively new title emerging over the past decade to decade and a half

• One of four associate CMIOs, each covering a domain such as inpatient, digital medicine, pediatrics, or ambulatory care

4. The Path from Provider to Technology Leader

• Started in operations as an ED medical director around 2011–2012

• Tasked with bringing electronic health records into the emergency department during the “meaningful use” era

• Joined Ochsner in 2017 and moved into quality work on sepsis, heart attack, and stroke care

5. Finding Her “Why”: Hurricane Katrina

• A third-year medical student who evacuated to Baton Rouge during Hurricane Katrina

• Volunteered at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSU, caring for evacuees arriving from New Orleans

• Inspired by an emergency physician’s breadth of skill: “that’s what I wanna be”

6. Defining Impact: “Clin-gineering”

• The humanity of emergency medicine lies in being present with patients during acute injury or illness

• “Clin-gineering” pairs bedside insight with an understanding of the system needed to support it

7. Technology in Practice: The Virtual Emergency Department

• Stood up in roughly five weeks to help patients who don’t truly need the ED find the right care

• Navigates patients coming from nurse-on-call, urgent care, primary care, and specialty clinics

8. Staying Aligned with Community Need

• Observe the environment and talk to the people doing the work, not just the leader voice

• Consolidate, centralize, and standardize resources through the virtual care center and virtual nursing program

9. Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Augmentation, Not Replacement

• AI is not new to healthcare, but tools like ChatGPT opened an entirely new toolkit

• Ambient listening captures the conversation so clinicians focus on the patient, not the screen

• Smart rooms, wearables, and patches help monitor for fall risk, pressure injuries, and more

10. The Future of Healthcare: Remote Care and Agentic Technology

• Strategy horizons are shrinking, making it hard to project even seven months, let alone seven years

• Delivering care beyond “the four walls of the hospital,” including in patients’ homes

• “Faith or fear”: partnering with trusted digital companions to free people for the most complex work

11. Legacy, Leadership, and What’s Next

• Advice to her younger self: stay flexible and pivot when opportunities cross your path

• “Never give up on the next amazing thing”