In this episode

Adam Glasofer, MD, founder and principal at Vertex Health, joined the podcast to discuss the realities of healthcare innovation.

Drawing on his experience as a clinician and health system leader, he shared lessons on electronic health records (EHRs), innovation leadership, and what it takes to solve healthcare’s most persistent challenges.

• Electronic health records (EHRs) are foundational to health systems, but realizing their value requires thoughtful integration and forward planning.
• Despite new technology, healthcare’s core challenges remain largely unchanged.
• Dedicated health system innovation officers can help cut through “innovation theater.

“You always need to keep in mind: Is the gain worth the pain?”

– Dr. Adam Glasofer

Key takeaways

Dr. Glasofer offered a candid look at healthcare innovation. Here’s what he covered:

Electronic health records (EHRs) are foundational to health systems, but realizing their value requires thoughtful integration and forward planning.

Glasofer emphasized that EHRs remain central to modern health systems, but unlocking their full value requires intentional evolution. He noted that EHRs were originally built “to capture data and bill,” with little input from clinicians or care teams. “No clinicians, no people delivering care, no nurses — no one in the care delivery spectrum was involved,” he said.

Glasofer found it encouraging that health systems are increasingly involving clinicians in shaping how these tools function. “We need to make these tools more than they were built to be,” he said. He discussed the importance of improving workflows, streamlining efficiencies, and “bringing knowledge” closer to the point of care.

He also pointed out that progress has been uneven despite significant innovation. “There’s been a ton of innovation in that space. Have we stuck the landing? Definitely not,” he said. Still, systems are “light years beyond where we were” compared to the early days of EHR adoption. The path forward isn’t about forcing EHRs to do everything. It’s about recognizing their central role and surrounding them with tools that improve care delivery.

Despite new technology, healthcare’s core challenges remain largely unchanged.

“While I think we’re getting more creative at finding solutions, the problems are almost the same as they’ve been for the last twenty years,” Glasofer said. He noted that organizations still struggle with reducing length of stay, lowering costs, and capturing revenue.

He discussed both the impact of these challenges and the opportunities they create. “If you can find a problem somewhere along those lines and solve it, you can often create a pretty good business case to come in and work with health systems,” he said.

Glasofer encouraged both health systems and technology vendors to clearly define the problem they’re solving. He emphasized that vendors, in particular, need to communicate ROI concisely. “Make it really easy for me to just walk over to someone and say, ‘I just met with this company. They do this, it would fix this for us, here’s what it would cost, and here’s what it would make or save us,’” he said.

Dedicated health system innovation officers can help cut through “innovation theater.

To extract real value from innovation, Glasofer stressed that health systems must evaluate more than the technology itself. While healthcare innovation is accelerating, success depends on determining whether a solution is truly worth the operational effort required to implement it.

Drawing on his experience inside health systems, Glasofer emphasized the importance of assessing both vendor readiness and internal readiness. Organizations must evaluate alignment, available resources, staffing capacity, and approval processes before adopting new technology. “What’s the biggest problem that your organization has approval to fix, money to buy, and people to implement?” he asked.

He concluded that innovation works best when organizations move beyond experimentation and “innovation theater” and instead focus on solutions aligned with real clinical workflows and measurable outcomes. As technology continues to evolve, disciplined evaluation — not hype — drives lasting impact.