Summary
Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and co-founder of Abridges, and Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA, recently engaged in a discussion about artificial intelligence in healthcare during a segment of Becker's Healthcare Podcast Series. Recorded live at the New York Times Center, the conversation highlighted the inadequacies of generic AI in medical contexts and the need for specialized solutions tailored to healthcare's complexities.
Powell emphasized NVIDIA's long-standing commitment to healthcare technology, tracing it back to the company’s early involvement in image reconstruction for radiology. Both speakers acknowledged the rapid advancements in AI, noting major breakthroughs in just the last 18 months, and discussed their collaboration to create a clinical conversation foundation model designed specifically for healthcare.
They stressed that effective AI in medicine cannot rely on generic models due to the unique clinical language, reasoning, and interconnected workflows inherent in the field. Instead, they championed an open model strategy that enables domain experts to develop AI applications that are trustworthy and effective for healthcare settings.
The partnership between Abridges and NVIDIA aims to enhance the speed and accuracy of clinical tools, making them more useful for clinicians. Rao noted that their ongoing work has already shown significant improvements in predictive accuracy for medical coding processes. Both leaders expressed excitement about the potential of their collaboration to transform healthcare through AI, emphasizing the importance of continuous feedback and iterative improvement in developing effective AI solutions.
As they look to the future, Rao and Powell underscored the significance of making advanced AI capabilities accessible to all clinicians and establishing a robust foundation for ongoing innovation in healthcare technology. Their partnership represents a forward-looking approach to leveraging AI for better patient outcomes and reducing administrative burdens in clinical environments.
Show Notes
In this segment of a keynote recorded live at the New York Times Center on June 11th, 2026, Shiv Rao, the CEO and co-founder of Abridge, and Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA, discuss why healthcare requires purpose-built AI and how their partnership is advancing clinical conversation models designed specifically for medicine.
This episode is sponsored by Abridge.
More from Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
In this episode, Matt Hare, Vice President of Network Growth and Client Success, CoverMyMeds, and Bill Sicheneder, Vice President of Network Sales, CoverMyMeds, discuss how healthcare organizations can reduce medication access barriers through stronger connectivity, streamlined workflows, and strategic partnerships. They also explore preparing for benefits reverification season and building scalable systems that improve efficiency and patient access.
In this episode, Bahar Bazmi, Chief Revenue Cycle Officer at WVU Health System, joins the podcast to discuss the revenue cycle through the lens of the “sandwich analogy” and how its different components work together to support financial performance. She also shares insights on defining success over the next year and empowering staff to strengthen revenue cycle operations.
This episode recorded live at the Becker's 11th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference features Tinu Tadese, MD, System Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Boston Medical Center, who discusses reducing data fragmentation, preserving clinical context across care transitions and turning patient data into actionable insights
In this episode, John D’Angelo, MD, President and CEO of Northwell Health, discusses a fundamentally different approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA): bioelectronic medicine, which uses the body’s own nervous system to help regulate the inflammation that drives the disease. Delivered by a small implanted medical device that stimulates the vagus nerve, the FDA-approved therapy offers an alternative to costly medications that can also cause significant side effects or fail to provide adequate relief.
In this episode, Ryan Mezinger, Senior Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer at MetroHealth, and Dr. Amit Gir, CEO and Co-Founder of Phox Health, discuss how MetroHealth's pharmacy delivery model is improving medication access, adherence, patient satisfaction, and care continuity while strengthening chain of custody and pharmacy operations.