I recently sat down with B.J. Moore, CIO of Providence, to discuss how one of America’s largest health systems is rethinking technology innovation through a fundamentally human lens. What emerged was a compelling vision of healthcare technology that puts patients and providers first while still driving meaningful operational efficiencies.
“Technology should never be implemented just for technology’s sake,” Moore told me during our conversation at Providence’s Seattle headquarters. “Every digital solution we consider must answer one crucial question: How does this improve the human experience of healthcare?“
This philosophy forms the cornerstone of Providence’s 2025 technology roadmap, which aims to solve a paradox that has long plagued healthcare IT: how to implement sophisticated technology that simplifies rather than complicates care delivery. For Moore, who joined Providence after 26 years at Microsoft, this means applying consumer tech principles to clinical settings.
Providence’s approach represents a significant shift in healthcare IT thinking. Where previous generations of medical technology prioritized features and functions, Moore’s team starts with human needs and works backward. This methodology has already yielded impressive results across Providence’s 51 hospitals and 900+ clinics serving communities across seven western states.
Consider their reimagined patient check-in system. Rather than digitizing the existing paper-based process, Providence engineers observed patients navigating facility entrances and identified numerous pain points. The resulting solution eliminates redundant form-filling through intelligent data integration while using location-aware services to guide patients precisely where they need to go.
“We discovered patients were completing the same information up to seven times during a typical visit,” Moore explained. “By connecting our systems intelligently, we’ve reduced that to a single verification step, saving patients time while actually improving data accuracy.”
According to a recent KLAS Research report, healthcare organizations that adopt such human-centered design methodologies see patient satisfaction scores improve by an average of 18% compared to traditional technology implementations. Providence’s own metrics show a 22% improvement in patient-reported satisfaction with administrative processes since implementing their redesigned systems.
What makes Providence’s approach particularly noteworthy is their comprehensive research methodology. Before writing a single line of code, Moore’s team conducts extensive ethnographic research, observing how patients and providers actually interact with existing systems rather than how they’re supposed to work in theory.
“We had physicians spending nearly 60% of their time on documentation and administrative tasks,” Moore said. “That’s unacceptable. Our ambient clinical intelligence system now automatically captures and categorizes relevant clinical information during patient encounters, reducing documentation time by 43% in our initial pilots.”
The Providence team calls this approach “invisible technology” – sophisticated systems that fade into the background rather than demanding constant attention. This philosophy extends to their innovative work with AI, which focuses on augmenting human capabilities rather than replacing them.
Dr. David Rhew, Chief Medical Officer at Microsoft, who has collaborated with Providence on several initiatives, told MIT Technology Review: “What makes Providence’s approach unique is they’ve rejected the false choice between technology efficiency and human connection. They’re showing how thoughtfully designed digital tools can actually create more space for meaningful patient-provider interactions.”
Providence’s strategy emphasizes another often overlooked aspect of health technology: the caregiver experience. Studies from the American Medical Association indicate that poorly designed technology remains a leading contributor to physician burnout, with EHR-related tasks frequently cited as particularly problematic.
“We won’t solve healthcare’s most pressing challenges by burning out our most valuable resource – our people,” Moore emphasized. “Technology should lift administrative burdens, not add to them.“
This holistic view extends to how Providence evaluates technology investments. Beyond traditional metrics like ROI and efficiency gains, they’ve developed a “human impact score” that quantifies how new technologies affect everyone involved in the care journey.
“A solution might check all the technical boxes but still fail our human impact assessment,” Moore explained. “Those don’t make it through our pipeline anymore.”
Providence’s approach holds valuable lessons for health systems nationwide grappling with digital transformation. As the industry faces persistent challenges around interoperability, patient engagement, and workforce sustainability, human-centered technology offers a promising path forward.
The health system’s 2025 technology strategy particularly emphasizes reducing “digital friction” at key moments in the care journey. Their research identified transition points – like hospital admission, discharge planning, and follow-up care coordination – where technology often creates confusion rather than clarity.
Providence’s success suggests healthcare organizations might benefit from recruiting talent beyond traditional healthcare IT backgrounds. Moore’s team includes designers from consumer technology companies, human factors specialists, and even behavioral economists who bring fresh perspectives to longstanding healthcare challenges.
As we wrapped up our conversation, Moore emphasized that true innovation in healthcare technology requires looking beyond the tools themselves to the human systems they’re meant to serve.
“The most sophisticated AI or seamless interface means nothing if it doesn’t help a caregiver provide better care or a patient feel more supported,” he said. “That’s the standard by which we’ll measure success in 2025 and beyond.“
