Tony Ambrozie on AI, Digital Health and the Future of Pharmacy
In this episode, Tony Ambrozie, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital & Technology Officer - Pharmacy, CVS Health Enterprise Digital, discusses Health 100, healthcare interoperability and how AI can help connect fragmented patient data, coordinate care and improve the consumer experience. He also shares his perspective on responsible AI, leadership and using technology to keep people at the center of healthcare transformation.
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- Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
- My name is Chanel Banger. And today, I
- have the pleasure of speaking with Tony Ambrosie,
- the senior vice president and chief digital and
- technology officer pharmacy at CVS Health Enterprise
- and Health one hundred who joins the podcast
- today to share insights and his background,
- health care trends he's keeping an eye on,
- and a bit more. Tony, thank you so
- much for joining me today. Thank you for
- inviting me. Of course. Of course. Well, it's
- great to have you. To get us started
- out, could you please introduce yourself and tell
- us a bit about your work in health
- care?
- So I'm currently the, as you described, I
- am responsible for the digital product engineering for
- all things
- pharmacy systems that deal with real with with
- physical,
- medications
- across CVS health, which obviously is a super
- important thing for
- for our our patients and consumers.
- I also have responsibilities
- for a new endeavor that I may we
- may be talking later
- called Health one hundred, which is a separate
- subsidiary of of CVS Health
- that is focused on
- consumer engagement,
- digital engagement.
- I've been here for about three years almost.
- And then before
- that for about three years, this is where,
- Beckers and I and Scott and I
- have met as the,
- similar role to digital information officer at a
- well known hospital system in in South Florida.
- So if you count the years
- I've joined, I've moved into,
- health care in the middle of the pandemic
- in the fall of twenty twenty.
- And I think it was one of where
- you where your previous podcast that we did
- together
- where, basically,
- somebody said,
- you had moved from Disney, which is the
- I spent the seven years before, to health
- care in the middle of a pandemic
- in the sense of what were you thinking,
- but that was exactly the right thing to
- do with with all the the needs for,
- digital and now
- more than that with AI that health care
- has. So
- before that, Disney for about seven years, and
- before that, American Express for twelve years,
- and all focused on
- consumers,
- customers, members,
- patients, whatever whatever you wanna call them. So
- just in case you're wondering about this, you
- know, finance,
- you know,
- entertainment,
- then health care, I,
- I usually go where
- I believe the biggest,
- opportunity for
- change and transformation
- is
- and, clearly, health care, not,
- CVS in particular, but, clearly, health care as
- an industry as an ecosystem
- probably could benefit from folks like myself coming
- from other industries
- with a,
- intense focus on on consumer experience.
- Whether I find these opportunities or they find
- me, that's still an open question.
- I love it. Thank you so much for
- the introduction.
- And now before we,
- go any further, can you give us a
- sense of Health one hundred and the mission
- there?
- Oh, so it's,
- what we want to do,
- is solve a number of,
- somewhat,
- problematic
- issues
- in health care. One is
- ask these patients because we're all patients of
- one kind or another.
- All our information, medical records, and
- and insurance, and pharmacies
- all over the place.
- So,
- if you think about it, a relatively simple
- health
- care journey
- that starts with, oh, I have a
- I have a pain, then I go to
- see a doctor. Maybe they send me to
- another doctor, a specialist, maybe some labs, maybe
- MRI,
- and maybe some, medications.
- In that journey, I just described in, like,
- five seconds, there are probably multiple places where
- that information my information is.
- It's all truncated
- for the purpose of that particular
- silo.
- Right?
- And then it's a challenge for me and
- for us as a patient to put all
- that together.
- And if you multiply with journey like this
- with a major journey that one would, well,
- would have, some shorter, some longer,
- it becomes a lot of a lot of
- homework
- for a patient to,
- see everything in one place. So that's one
- thing that we want to solve,
- with, Health one hundred, the consumer engagement part,
- which is bring all this information together. Alright?
- Now and that's enormously,
- valuable.
- It's for ourselves as patients to kind
- of see it all in one place. It's
- very valuable when we have this information and
- we can go and with the next doctor
- that we see, we don't start with, you
- know, that paper clipboard with 50 questions that
- most people don't remember the eight questions for.
- You have you ever been allergic to blah?
- I can't remember that. Right? So that's that's
- where this this information, this data here that
- belongs to me as a patient
- or in the consumer.
- I can, share it with whoever,
- needs it in the process of my care,
- and and things become become easy.
- Now if we layer on
- something like AI,
- I would say a very well thought through
- AI
- that can then look at all these
- multiple
- points data points and whether it's longitudinal
- or or,
- transversal.
- Very likely,
- we could be seeing something that individual
- data points don't show a story.
- You know? It's just a this going up,
- whatever,
- the measurement is or the lab is, plus
- that going down, plus the other going sideways,
- that's probably
- a interesting
- signal
- that individual look at looking at these,
- three things individually probably will not will not
- see.
- That's a it's a huge deal. And the
- more of these measurements and visits and
- whatever it is, there are, the more
- signal, I believe, is there, but it gets,
- simply
- not detected because,
- you know, participants in this journey
- and providers in this journey tend to have
- limited access to just,
- a a small part. Sometimes that small part
- is frankly not bigger than a keyhole.
- Right? So that's that's a that's a it's
- a huge benefit.
- Then what we wanna do with this is
- not we call this the front door to
- health care,
- trusted front door to health care, which means
- we want this to be this consumer engagement
- platform app where to
- be the place where people go.
- When they have a need, they go in.
- And then somehow, either we we help them
- in there, obviously.
- I'm talking about consumer engagement. This is not
- a doctor of any kind, certainly not a
- AI doctor.
- But at least, we we provide if nothing
- else,
- we provide the guidance where to where to
- go next, what to do next.
- So they're not abandoned in the middle of
- a problem
- with what do I do next,
- where do I go, who do I see.
- So these are some of the
- big aspects of,
- of what we're trying to do.
- Of course, as I said in that journey,
- clearly,
- pharmacy is important. So
- how do you do do do I get
- the drugs, the medications?
- How do I manage that? How do I
- manage my,
- my prescriptions the best way possible?
- And then, of of course, is the insurance.
- How does that fit in order to,
- for me as a patient, and get the
- best benefit?
- One thing that I would say is this
- consumer engagement is not
- just for
- CVS,
- customers.
- It's open to anyone.
- And, of course, the more partners we bring
- into this ecosystem, whether it's payers, that is
- insurance companies,
- whether it's pharmacies, etcetera, etcetera,
- the more richer this ecosystem is for the
- benefit of the consumers.
- Got it. Got it. Thank you so much.
- And now that we have a sense of
- your background and the mission of Health one
- hundred, kind of broadening out the conversation a
- bit, can you talk about the trends that
- you're
- currently watching either in digital health, pharmacy, or
- just health care overall?
- So one thing and then it kinda links
- to what what I was just describing. One
- thing is a it's a interesting trend. It's
- a great trend.
- Is
- we
- and, frankly, yes,
- the we includes me only in the last
- six years. I appreciate that,
- but a lot of others have been
- talking and working on interoperability,
- which is
- the ability for a patient data to be
- exchanged between players that need it in the
- course of that patient journey.
- I think in the last year or so,
- and I give,
- CMS,
- a lot of credit on this.
- And we have made a lot of progress.
- A lot of progress. Obviously, you can you
- can read about it, but I think we
- made more progress in the last year than
- the last the previous five years,
- because it's it's very important when doctors and
- insurance companies and pharmacies
- and the patients themselves
- don't
- really have the
- that view
- of all the pieces of information that this
- patient me as a patient have,
- that's the problem. So it's a great it's
- a start of the first, frankly, the first
- year of probably,
- multiyear,
- process,
- but it's a great thing.
- And, yes, we can talk about other things,
- but this is a very concrete,
- element that it's,
- that is what is happening here.
- Lots and lots of participants.
- Lots of participants as I describe all these
- companies. They have,
- all, you know, their role to play.
- And so getting everybody on board, it will
- it's a journey. It will be a journey,
- but I think as a patient,
- if I look at what's happening for my
- own selfish benefit as a patient,
- it's wonderful.
- Absolutely. And now you've already spoken a lot
- about,
- what you're most focused on currently. But if
- you were to narrow it down, as we
- close out 2026,
- what are you most focused on and excited
- about?
- So here is the and, obviously,
- we cannot not have a
- a a conversation like this without
- me or you or both talking about AI.
- Right? And everybody's talking about AI.
- But,
- sometimes
- that those conversations are not very focused,
- and they're not focused necessarily on safety
- and are not necessarily focused on outcomes.
- Good outcomes for consumers, patients, members, whatever you
- wanna we wanna call them. So that's the
- the very important thing. And then I mentioned
- a little bit earlier on,
- Health one hundred is
- just bringing all this data
- in one place is wonderful as we've never
- had it. We're starting to have it. That's
- wonderful.
- But now there's a lot of data,
- for somebody,
- like a like a patient, the consumer,
- to make sense of. And a lot of
- it is in very medical
- terms, so
- you know, reading after visit summary is usually
- a exercise or used to be an exercise
- in,
- checking on Google, translating on Google from those
- medical terms to something that we all can
- understand.
- I think this is where AI has the
- biggest,
- could have the biggest impact.
- Again, to make things intelligible
- to connect,
- those dots that otherwise
- are not
- easy. And, also, and something very important is
- if you think about it, PCPs, primary care
- providers, have had the immense role
- in health care for a long time, you
- know, all the way back to
- the, you know, family doctor and and and
- and and,
- the small towns.
- Huge, huge,
- role.
- And that is they were able to try
- to coordinate
- the the,
- health care journey for a patient.
- Right? Now that has become a lot more,
- difficult because so many so many,
- players in that
- that journey
- and also so many other complexities.
- Yes. PCPs are still trying to do that,
- but they have a limited time
- and focus and an attention and bandwidth
- to do that. So now it's either them,
- but it's limited or the patient, and there's
- all sorts of challenges.
- I believe
- that AI can be that,
- let's call it care coordinator, don't quote the
- necessary. That's not a
- that's not a copyright term or on any
- kind, but it's something that kind of
- pulls all these things together and
- and tracks things and making sure make sure
- that,
- good things happen
- for that particular,
- patient. So
- this is where,
- AI done well again
- is a net added value. It doesn't replace
- doctors. It doesn't replace nurses.
- Maybe replaces a lot of the,
- homework that we have to do
- ourselves about our, health
- health,
- well-being and well-being.
- Well, that's that's a good thing. But,
- it's something that doesn't exist, is not being
- done,
- and there's a true opportunity for AI to
- actually play a very useful
- role for the patients.
- Well, that is definitely exciting. And, yeah, you
- can't have a conversation about health care without
- bringing up AI for sure. But now that
- you've shared what you're looking forward to, looking
- back for a moment, what are you most
- proud of accomplishing over the last six to
- eighteen months or so?
- Definitely,
- bringing,
- Health one hundred from a an idea in
- some of us'
- heads and
- as it makes sense, would it be good
- to something that,
- is happening today?
- And this is,
- something that
- when some of us started talking across CVS,
- including up to the executive leadership team and
- CEO and and even into the board,
- you know, I'm I'm very pleased.
- And frankly, I'm proud of CVS as a
- company and as a culture. So the reaction
- was,
- wow. This is a great idea.
- It would be very good for people whether
- they're our customers or not.
- It it would be,
- it would be,
- making a big difference.
- Sometimes,
- the way the the best of
- of efforts by all the players,
- there are still
- broken or missing links between players, and something
- like this could also
- give,
- consumers the ability to
- mend or create those links in a way
- that's that's good for for us. And so,
- we're very pleased with the the reaction and
- the support inside
- inside Cervillos
- because we do wanna
- do good things. We wanna do change things
- as much as possible, as much as a
- particular initiative or a particular company,
- could do in this
- huge industry,
- complex industry,
- very fragmented industry.
- And, frankly, I'm not telling you probably anything
- that
- you haven't heard and you haven't known for
- for a while. So how do we solve
- how do we solve a little bit? Maybe
- a little bit more. I don't know where
- where this could go.
- But,
- certainly,
- you know, a huge support, which I'm which
- I'm very proud of frankly,
- not for myself, but,
- about CVS.
- And who knows where this could be in,
- you know, small steps,
- but who else where we'll all be? And
- if we and others like us, because we're
- not the only ones,
- we'll be doing this,
- let's say, in how we're where where we
- will be all be as patients and and
- players in the health care ecosystem,
- who knows where we will be in, let's
- say, five years.
- Hopefully, in a much better,
- ecosystem.
- Absolutely.
- And now as someone with all of your
- experience in and out of health care and
- who wears, frankly, a lot of hats, I'd
- be curious to hear what advice you'd give
- to evolving leaders looking to have the same
- impact and drive in their careers as you
- have.
- Well,
- it's it's funny because, this is, you know,
- leaders and leadership is the
- is the is the,
- focus of my second book. The first one
- I read I wrote three years ago was
- do doing digital.
- And, yes, there was some AI in there.
- Well, now
- I I came back to a theme that
- I've always wanted to,
- to talk about because it's been the hardest
- journey I've ever taken. You know? I've
- technology. I believe there should be something that
- we're all
- we're all still students of however long we've
- we've done this. But so there I'll I'll
- answer this in two ways. There are two
- parts, I would think.
- You know, the general things. You know?
- Optimism,
- courage,
- drive,
- accountability.
- These are all things that you've heard others
- others talk about for a very long time.
- They're still important.
- And all of them are based on
- listening well,
- learning a lot, reading a lot constantly
- in order to make sense of what's what's
- going on, whether it's some years ago about,
- digital,
- doing digital, like the title of my first
- book,
- or,
- the cloud or any other technology, generic technology.
- Right?
- And now
- now AI. So,
- learning constant learning, constant processing, constant
- thinking about
- the topics,
- are,
- is important. Now the second part of my
- answer
- is going back to AI.
- We hear a lot and we read a
- lot, and and you at Deckers are very
- good at kind of a toning down
- some of the noise that exists in the
- in the ecosystem and in the industry.
- We hear about AI,
- and you you hear some folks' AI
- is like a, you know, super,
- intelligent toaster. You plug it in the in
- the wall, and
- everything will be different, and everything will be
- wonderful.
- And it's not like that at all. It's
- a powerful tool, and it can help us
- solve some of our problems the way I
- described it earlier
- with that coordination.
- That's a problem that doesn't have solutions because
- we don't have
- those millions of PCPs.
- We just simply don't have them
- to do that for for patients and is
- needed.
- So AI does and could do a lot
- of great things.
- Certainly not hacking into other people's companies as
- if we've seen
- OpenAI Entropic and whoever else. That's not the
- good thing.
- But the I think we as leaders at
- all levels,
- we are more needed than ever. And it's
- just these transformational
- moments where leadership shows, true leadership shows,
- and how we guide this transformation,
- where we take it,
- where we adjust it, where sometimes we push
- back,
- especially
- in the face of
- unreasonable
- expectations
- of
- of things.
- Remembering
- that
- what we do,
- whether as leaders or as companies or as
- countries,
- is about people,
- not technologies,
- not tools.
- And therefore, we have a huge
- responsibility
- for to our,
- teams,
- the folks that work
- with us and our companies and
- our local communities and our nation
- to guide this
- incredible
- piece of technology
- in a way that benefits the most folks
- most of the time.
- And it's funny because those last two statements,
- most most people most of the time,
- It's what I used in, you know, years
- ago in digital is how do we build
- experiences that benefit most people
- most of the time? And that's even true.
- With AI, we, as leaders, makes must make
- sure that
- we evaluate
- the reality
- with the focus on them and and keeping
- in mind
- the purpose of,
- which is people, whether it's
- our own people or the consumer or the
- customers.
- How do we guide all this? And it's
- a huge challenge
- that all of us have to are responsible
- for.
- I love it. Well, Tony, that's a great
- note to end on. I wanna thank you
- once again for your time today and for
- sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
- Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you.