Artificial intelligence is here to stay in healthcare, and the industry's largest players, like CVS Health, are making huge commitments to the tech.
But embracing AI requires a workforce that's ready for the revolution. With that backdrop, CVS has rolled out its internal AI Learning Academy, which aims to educate its workforce on practical applications for the technology and how it can impact and improve their workflows.
The program was built in collaboration between human resources and tech leaders at the company. Greg Karanastasis, senior vice president for talent and development at CVS, told Fierce Healthcare that the aim was to build something bigger than just a training program.
"I don't think of the goal of learning as training someone," he said. "What I thought about this was, 'How do I give people confidence understanding what AI is? What it's not? What it can do for them, what it can't do for them, as well? And how is it going to change the experiences that they see every single day?'"
Another element of the program was to assuage fears among workers that the AI technology was set to replace them. Sherif Kamel, chief digital and technology officer for corporate functions, said in an interview that employees are well aware of layoffs and the role AI may be playing in those.
So ensuring that they understand the technology is there as a support for their day-to-day work and not a threat is critical to making sure the benefits are being felt, he said.
"We never thought about it as a replacement for individuals," Kamel said. "This is kind of how can you package all the stuff that you don't want to be doing every day—you give it to AI."
Having the HR team involved and not just the technologists gave credence to that, he said.
CVS has made significant investments in both patient-facing and internal AI deployments, so the employees were seeing the technology reach their workflows, Karanastasis said. Where they were unclear, he said, is how exactly they were supposed to be using it.
So in rolling out the AI Learning Academy, the training was customized to meet the needs of individual teams to highlight where AI may benefit them specifically and where it fits into their personal day-to-day work. The program also brought in speakers to discuss ethical and safe use of AI, so that workers could get an outside perspective on the topic, Kamel said.
"You have to do this in pockets to really understand the technology," said Karanastasis, "because it's not the technology that comes in first, it's the workflow processes that you have to understand. Break them into tasks, and then you think about where the technology can help your people."
Kamel said that employees frequently fell into two camps. A number of people had sought out AI training of their own accord in advance, and were very enthusiastic about using the technology. There were also individuals who rejected the use of AI entirely, and told their team they would not use it.
Meeting those different groups where they are and bridging the gap was a challenge the team had to take on through the Learning Academy, he said. It also further emphasized the need to personalize training for different segments, Kamel said.
"When we go do the AI week for the finance team, it's different when we do the AI week for the pharmacy team, because we have to give them examples," he said.
Karanastasis said that the specific, tailored workshops were paired with training in basic AI literacy as a foundation.
In addition to making sure different parts of the business went through the program, Karanastasis said it was critical for company leadership to also engage with the AI Learning Academy, ensuring they were aligned with the frontline teams on how CVS is using AI.
"I can tell you that they gravitated towards this because they know the importance of what this means to our workforce in the future," he said.
Beyond the impact of tech in their day-to-day work at CVS, the academy offers an opportunity for workers to gain skills they can carry with them if they leave the company, too, said Kamel. As AI proliferates, there will be an expectation across the board that workers will have some level of comfort with it, he said.
"This is part of investing in the team, whether they stay in the same organization, they have mobility or decide to leave the company," he said. "We're trying to build the skills for their life."