​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 Center for Care Innovations and the Health AI Partnership, 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.

​The Little Clinic That Could: An AI Scribe Adventure Story

​Safety net healthcare organizations face unique challenges in adopting AI technologies, from limited resources to complex regulatory requirements. Clinics in rural settings, like North Country HealthCare’s Kingman Clinic encounter additional barriers including infrastructure limitations, staffing constraints, and financial pressures. This session chronicles the determined journey by one federally qualified health center to implement an AI scribe and contribute to critical AI governance development despite facing numerous obstacles.  We’ll share how the organization navigated technical hurdles, built organizational AI governance from scratch, and addressed clinician burnout while operating with limited bandwidth—both digital and human. Attendees will learn practical lessons about AI implementation in safety net settings and understand how even smaller, lower-resourced healthcare organizations can successfully harness AI to support their mission of caring for underserved populations.

​Speaker

​Jennifer Cortes, MD

​Jennifer Cortes, MD is a primary care clinician and the Quality & Population Health Medical Officer for North Country HealthCare, a community health center with multiple sites across Northern Arizona.  She is dual-board certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics with extensive experience in public health and healthcare leadership.  Driven by a commitment to healthcare equity, Dr. Cortes is passionate about extending AI technology to the lower resourced settings where she has spent much of her career.  By combining medical expertise with technological innovation, she looks forward to working with the Health AI Partnership Practice Network to overcome barriers to AI adoption in healthcare so that all communities, especially those in underserved areas, can benefit from these advancements in a safe, effective, equitable and patient-centered way. 

​Dr. Cortes’s career spans diverse settings including work with the US Public Health Service as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service fellow and a medical officer on the Navajo Reservation with Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation.  She served as a Med-Peds hospitalist for Northern Arizona Healthcare, a regional hospital in Flagstaff, AZ, where she helped lead the hospital’s COVID pandemic response.  She currently works at North Country HealthCare, a federally qualified health center, focusing on primary care, quality improvement, and population health.  She completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria.

​Sean L’Huillier, FNP-C

​Sean L’Huillier, FNP-C, is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Deputy Chief Medical Officer for North Country HealthCare’s Western Region. With over 30 years of diverse healthcare experience, including roles in the US Navy, EMS, nursing, and as a Nurse Practitioner, Sean has been the lead clinician at the Kingman clinic for the past nine years. As an EHR Super User, he is dedicated to improving clinician efficiency and the EHR experience. Sean is passionate about serving underserved communities and is excited about the potential of AI to enhance patient care and provider workflows.