The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 20, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 21.
Next is Sean Harrison, chief analytics officer at Acentra Health, and finalist in the Artificial Intelligence Executive of the Year, Private Company, category. Here, he talks about recent achievements, shares career advice and more.
What were your key achievements in 2024?
This year has been one of AI innovation for Acentra Health, with the delivery of new tools that are accelerating better outcomes for our federal and state public sector healthcare clients and our employees. Our proprietary MedScribe GenAI app transformed the Medicare appeals letter-writing process, cutting drafting time for our nurses by 50% while maintaining high clinical accuracy. The tool has boosted user satisfaction and increased overall productivity. It remains one of the few GenAI tools to be approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
For our state Medicaid clients, our newly released AI Modernization Suite for care management is enhancing efficiency across our care management contracts, positioning Acentra Health as a leader in AI-powered care management solutions. For our employees, our “Elevate AI” initiative is improving AI adoption and proficiency. To date, we have launched over 250 custom internal GPTs, which are saving employees an average of 5.4 hours per week. Ever mindful of the need for responsible and transparent AI use, our AI Council meets regularly and has established a governance model and policies to ensure our AI tools are effective and compliant. The Council developed a risk management framework aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
In keeping with our mission to innovate health solutions that deliver maximum value and impact for our federal and state public health sector clients, we are focused on leveraging AI and accelerating better health outcomes. We are expanding our AI Modernization Suite beyond care management to include claims administration, provider management, and emerging Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) products.
This will help us streamline complex processes, reduce administrative overhead, and enable our clients to make better decisions that improve care delivery. To ensure transparency and trust, we will also continue refining our AI Governance Framework — which we aligned to the NIST AI Risk Management Framework — and promoting employee’s use of AI through training and custom GPTs. Lastly, we are heavily focused on ensuring the quality and reliability of our AI tools using applied approaches that measure the reliability of our AI outputs against nurse experts.
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
My best career advice is to be curious and embrace continuous learning. Understanding the technology at a fundamental level helps you make better strategic decisions and empowers your team to innovate, which helps you adapt and stay at the forefront. Also, master the art of storytelling. It’s not enough to focus on the technology itself — what truly matters is how AI impacts people. It’s essential to tell stories that create an emotional connection and show how AI is improving lives.