How AI Is Helping Healthcare Companies in Winston Salem Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency

Winston‑Salem is emerging as a practical testbed for health‑care AI because local institutions pair research with rapid clinical pilots: Wake Forest Center for Artificial Intelligence Research is explicitly charged with translating AI research into usable tools for patient care, and the Center for Healthcare Innovation's LAUNCH accelerator is bringing discovery‑to‑bedside projects back to Winston‑Salem this fall.

Across North Carolina, reporting shows clinicians are already using AI to triage scans, draft patient messages and flag high‑risk patients - concrete examples include Wake Forest Baptist's Virtual Nodule Clinic and Novant Health's behavioral‑health risk models - signaling local capacity to pilot cost‑saving, efficiency gains; see the North Carolina Health News coverage of AI in North Carolina healthcare for reporting on these developments.

For staff and leaders who want practical skills to navigate these changes, the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp teaches workplace AI tools, prompt writing, and applied projects in 15 weeks; learn more and register at AI Essentials for Work registration (Nucamp).

Winston‑Salem providers can tap the same AI levers that other North Carolina systems are already using to shave administrative cost and tighten staffing: local research-to-clinic pipelines support tools that draft and triage patient messages (WakeMed and Atrium reported cuts of 12–15 portal messages per provider per day), flag high‑risk patients for focused care, and even route staff to the right tasks so clinical teams aren't stretched thin; North Carolina Health News details these use cases and shows how OR scheduling models (about 13% more accurate in pilot work) and automated follow‑ups cut wasted time.

Novant Health's DAX Copilot demonstrates how ambient documentation can remove after‑hours paperwork - nearly 900 clinicians used it across 550,000+ encounters and report meaningful time savings - while benchmark studies suggest AI agents can lower nurse administrative load by roughly 20% and deliver rapid ROI when focused on revenue‑cycle and prior‑authorization work.

For Winston‑Salem leaders, that means fewer routine messages, smarter shift planning, and measurable hours reclaimed for patient care - one vivid payoff being systems that reduced post‑op messages and calls by about 70%, freeing clinical staff to focus on the patients who need them most.

Metric - Source / Value:
Provider portal messages reduced - WakeMed/Atrium: ~12–15 messages/provider/day (North Carolina Health News)
DAX Copilot adoption - Nearly 900 clinicians; 550,000+ patient encounters (Novant Health)
Nurse administrative workload - Reduction up to ~20% (Thoughtful.ai benchmark)
OR scheduling accuracy - ~13% more accurate than human schedulers (North Carolina Health News)

Winston‑Salem providers aiming to cut readmissions can point to local partners turning data into better handoffs: CHESS Health Solutions - tied to a Winston‑Salem ACO - used the Innovaccer Health Cloud to standardize transitional care management, unify patient records, and drive a 23% reduction in 30‑day all‑cause readmissions while generating more than $3 million in value (CHESS and Innovaccer Health Cloud case study).

At the same time, the state's rollout of CHESS's eRecovery Connections app - fully funded by NCDHHS and offering 24/7 peer support, moderated groups, and digital CBT - strengthens the bridge between hospital discharge and community recovery, reducing isolation that can lead to readmission (CHESS eRecovery Connections NCDHHS press release).

Together these tools turn disparate records and siloed follow‑ups into automated workflows and continuous patient connection - a tangible payoff is fewer revolving‑door hospital visits and a smoother, measurable transition to outpatient care.

“One of the things we appreciate about Innovaccer is its ability to identify and ingest multiple data sources. … We want to be sure that when we put data in front of physicians, it is accurate and dependable so we don't lose engagement.” - Dr. Yates Lennon, CHESS Health Solutions

In Winston‑Salem, Novant Health's deployment of DAX Copilot is reshaping clinical documentation and clinician well‑being by folding ambient AI directly into the Epic workflow so notes, orders and after‑visit summaries appear with far less typing; internal reporting shows nearly 900 clinicians have used DAX across more than 550,000 patient encounters, and users report meaningful time savings, less “pajama time,” and stronger focus on patients rather than screens (see Novant Health's DAX Copilot program and Microsoft's year‑one report).

The tool's specialty‑aware draft notes, problem‑based charting and pre‑charting reduce cognitive load and after‑hours work, and early sentiment data - 95% would be disappointed to lose it, 87% say it improves patient experience - suggests a real impact on burnout and work‑life balance as Novant scales to more care settings including ED and inpatient areas.

“For me, the real life-changer is the decreased burden of working memory. It is like carrying an increasing number of books while doing other tasks. Not carrying this mental load is a game changer.”

Novant Health's Institute of Innovation & Artificial Intelligence, established in Winston‑Salem to accelerate “predictive, diagnosis and treatment” solutions, has become the system's local hub for turning pilots into operational tools by partnering with vendors, universities and clinician leaders; the institute - co‑led by Dr. Eric Eskioglu and Angela Yochem - focuses on safety, fairness, and actionable improvements in care and flow (Novant Health Institute for Innovation & Artificial Intelligence overview).

Its inaugural partnership with prescriptive‑analytics firm Jvion demonstrates the institute's practical approach: Jvion's AI, deployed on Microsoft Azure and fed clinical plus socioeconomic signals, targets “impactable” patients to reduce CHF readmissions and concentrate interventions where they matter most (Novant Health and Jvion partnership press release).

Leadership and governance are explicit priorities as Novant scales AI - Onyeka Nchege and other digital leaders stress governance, education and experimentation as a service so pilots don't tie up core operations, a model that helped Novant move from proofs of concept to systemwide programs (HealthTech interview with Onyeka Nchege on digital transformation and governance).

One vivid payoff: Jvion's models have historically prevented roughly 130 readmissions per 1,000 discharges, the kind of reduction that can free up an entire small ward for new patients.

“Our patients are counting on us to get it right the first time.” - Onyeka Nchege, Executive VP & Chief Digital and Information Officer (HealthTech Q&A)

Winston‑Salem's radiology community is central to the economic argument for health‑care AI: local leaders like Triad Radiology's Drs. Lauren Golding and Gregory Nicola have framed AI as “the currency of improved quality and reduced cost,” showing how algorithms can speed workflows, surface missed findings, and tie imaging to value‑based outcomes (see the Triad Radiology business case on the PubMed article about AI in radiology: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31492415/ Triad Radiology AI business case on PubMed).

National analyses reinforce the point that payment and metrics matter - CMS recognition (like Viz.ai's NTAP) and emerging CPT codes shape whether hospitals buy subscriptions or pursue population‑health deployments - so choices hinge on both improved turnaround, fewer diagnostic errors (a leading source of malpractice claims) and clear measures of quality over time; Applied Radiology's overview walks through those reimbursement and value metrics (Applied Radiology: Economics of Artificial Intelligence - reimbursement and value metrics).

On the vendor‑partner side, Winston‑Salem practices already use data sharing and clinical decision support as leverage with hospitals, proving that careful governance and physician‑led pilots - rather than vendor hype - unlock real savings and better patient flow (Radiology Business: collaboration, consolidation, and clinical partnerships).

The practical “so what?”: when AI trims turnaround and perceptual misses, systems reduce costly recalls and downstream admissions, turning an expensive imaging backlog into measurable cost savings and safer care.

“disruption is actually wonderful, and the only way to survive is to innovate, to be part of the disruption. I don't think any doctor should be afraid of it; we've got to dive in and guide it.” - Gregory Nicola

As Winston‑Salem health systems scale AI pilots - from ambient scribes to risk‑scoring models - the state conversation has shifted from excitement to careful oversight: North Carolina providers were early adopters, but lawmakers and boards are now asking how to manage bias, privacy and liability at scale.

State bodies aren't yet prescriptive - the North Carolina Medical Board notes physicians remain responsible for decisions informed by AI and has avoided rules that might “chill innovation” - while the N.C. Department of Information Technology has published an official NCDIT AI Framework for Responsible Use to guide agency risk management.

At the same time Senators like Jim Burgin have signaled plans for legislation and national trackers show a flood of state activity (Manatt reports 46 states introduced 250+ AI bills and 17 states passed 27 laws by mid‑2025), meaning Winston‑Salem hospitals face a coming patchwork of rules; local leaders are already responding by building vetting committees and bias‑checks - Duke's experience revising a sepsis algorithm after data revealed delayed blood tests for Hispanic children is a sharp reminder of how subtle biases can ripple into care.

For local CIOs and compliance teams, the takeaway is clear: institutional governance, transparent data review, and alignment with state frameworks will determine whether AI saves hours and dollars without trading away equity or patient trust (NC Health News coverage of state oversight and AI in North Carolina healthcare; Manatt Health AI Policy Tracker for state AI legislation).

“AI is making all these decisions for us, but if it makes the wrong decision, where's the liability? Who's responsible?” - Sen. Jim Burgin

North Carolina's research and CRO ecosystem is turning AI and real‑world data into a practical engine for faster, fairer clinical trials - and Winston‑Salem stands to gain from that momentum: UNC's secure platforms (ORDR‑D and SHIRE) and RENCI's data infrastructure unlock nearly 3 million deidentified UNC Health records for hypothesis testing and model training, while state CROs and tech‑enabled sites - exemplified by Velocity and the Triangle's deep industry cluster - bring scale and patient databases that speed recruitment and site selection; see UNC's AI research and Business North Carolina's coverage of the clinical‑research industry for context.

AI tools that “flip the funnel” (Premier's PAS work) use NLP and matching to screen millions of records per hour, cut screening time substantially, and surface eligible participants who would otherwise be missed, which can compress enrollment timelines, reduce trial costs, and improve medicine‑supply forecasts at hospital pharmacies.

For Winston‑Salem providers, that means better trial catchment, richer local real‑world evidence for payers and regulators, and supply‑chain models that keep investigational drugs on hand when they're needed most - imagine recruiting the right cohort in weeks, not months.

“Improvements in trial administration - from data collection to recruitment - can dramatically accelerate delivery of innovations to patients.” - Etta Pisano, ACTR Portfolio Lead (ARPA‑H)

For Winston‑Salem health providers, a practical implementation roadmap means moving from enthusiasm to a staged, clinically led program: start with precise problem definition, then build or adapt algorithms, run robust validation, and deploy with monitoring and governance - steps spelled out in the Curr Opin Anaesthesiol roadmap for AI in pain medicine (four-phase methodological framework for AI in pain medicine).

Locally, Wake Forest's Center for Artificial Intelligence Research can serve as a hub for clinician–developer partnerships, education and workflow testing - Wake Forest teams already juggle more than a dozen live projects and emphasize explainability and cross‑disciplinary buy‑in (Wake Forest CAIR partnership and training).

Practical measures for pilots include prioritizing mature tools from adjacent specialties, mandating diverse, multimodal training data, using federated learning or privacy‑preserving validation, and setting clear outcome metrics tied to staffing and readmission goals; pairing these steps with implementation‑science approaches can compress learning cycles and reveal ROI faster.

The “so what?” is concrete: a staged, governed rollout - led by clinicians and informed by local research - turns prototypes into reliable tools that save clinician hours and improve patient flow without sacrificing equity or safety.

“We can make a difference because we know that segments of the population are negatively impacted by the current health system. Something is not working, so how can we make use of the power of artificial intelligence to help?” - Metin Nafi Gurcan, PhD

Winston‑Salem's future with AI looks like a pragmatic blend of research, workforce impact and operational wins: Wake Forest's Center for Artificial Intelligence Research is positioning the city as a trusted hub for translating models into safer workflows and broader access, Novant Health's systemwide scale - generating roughly $18.2 billion in economic activity and supporting tens of thousands of jobs across the Carolinas - illustrates how even modest productivity gains can ripple through local labor markets and community health, and national analyses suggest AI could shave 5–10% off U.S. health spending if deployed thoughtfully.

The clearest near‑term savings in North Carolina are operational - smarter scheduling, automated prior‑authorization and ambient documentation that reclaim clinician hours - while clinician‑led governance and equity checks keep deployment from amplifying disparities.

For local leaders and staff looking to convert pilots into measurable cost and efficiency wins, the pathway is familiar: partner with research centers, prioritize high‑value operational targets, and build staff skills - starting with programs like Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work bootcamp: practical AI skills for the workplace - so teams can steward AI safely into everyday practice; learn more about the Wake Forest Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) and read the Novant Health economic impact report.

“We can make a difference because we know that segments of the population are negatively impacted by the current health system. Something is not working, so how can we make use of the power of artificial intelligence to help?” - Metin Nafi Gurcan, PhD