Magna GenAI Consulting CEO Dr. Sahar Hashmi talks about the behind-the-scenes tension when a new vendor is brought on.
Q. What should the audience expect from the session? (Closing the AI Implementation Gap in Healthcare)
Hashmi: Attendees will walk away with practical, real-world advice for bringing AI into their clinics and hospitals — and how to avoid expensive mistakes along the way.
I’ll share some of the behind-the-scenes tension that happens when a health system brings on an AI vendor, including what most people get wrong. We’ll cover the right questions to ask a vendor, the right questions to ask your own leadership, and the simple but easy-to-miss hurdles that trip people up early on.
Q. What are the disconnects between health systems and technology partners?
Hashmi: I see three main ones. First, health systems often skip a basic step: clearly defining the problem before shopping for a solution. A vendor might have a great AI tool — but if it’s solving a different problem than the one your clinic actually has, it’s the wrong fit no matter how good the technology is.
Second, it matters what data the AI was trained on. A tool that works beautifully in one hospital might not work well in another, simply because the patient population is different. Great technology doesn’t automatically mean great fit.
Third, health systems need to honestly evaluate their own readiness — do they have the infrastructure to actually support and integrate this AI tool? A great vendor paired with an unprepared hospital is still a recipe for failure, and that needs to be figured out early, not after the contract is signed.
Q. As CEO of Magna GenAI Consulting, what are your recommendations to close these gaps?
Hashmi: My biggest recommendation is to bring all the stakeholders — physicians, IT, leadership, legal — into the conversation from the very beginning, starting at the design stage, not after the decision is already made. Healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all, so AI solutions shouldn’t be either; every clinic has its own data systems, culture, and level of AI readiness, and those differences are exactly where implementation tends to break down.
A common mistake is leadership treating AI adoption as “an IT problem” and handing the whole thing to the IT team. In reality, this is an institution-wide shift. It only works smoothly when physicians, IT, leadership, and legal are working together as one team from day one.
Q. What’s the future of AI adoption for health systems?
Hashmi: Right now, many health systems are focused on building AI readiness — training their staff, building AI literacy, and putting the right infrastructure in place. I believe the future belongs to organizations that create an “AI Center of Excellence” — a dedicated team that helps every department use AI well, guided by clear, standardized frameworks built for each specific area of care.
When that happens, AI stops being a side project and becomes part of how healthcare runs every day — improving patient care, supporting more personalized treatment, and reducing costs across the system. That’s the future I’m working toward: healthcare leaders using AI to its full, well-tested potential, for the benefit of patients and the system as a whole.
— Hashmi will be among panelists who speak at the session “Closing the AI Implementation Gap in Healthcare” from 2:15-3 p.m. Thursday, June 25 in the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Boston Seaport District during the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum Boston.
Other panelists include Randy Kosmalski, area vice president, Health Systems Assort Health; Sandra Powell-Elliott, chief innovation and commercialization officer, Hackensack Meridian Health; Jill Seys, senior director, North America Analytics and Advisory Services, HIMSS; and Tiffany Kuebler, medical director of Clinical Informatics, University of Maryland Medical Center.
HIMSS is hosting the one-day AI Executive Leadership Summit in Boston on June 24, 2026, followed by its AI in Healthcare Forum June 25-26. Register separately for the two events here and here.