AI Amplified with host Dr. Heather Bassett
Season 1: Episode 12
Guest:Â Rom Eizenberg, CRO and Head of Product Innovation, Kontakt.io
From Computer Science to Care Delivery
Host of AI Amplified, Dr. Heather Bassett, interviewed Rom Eizenberg, Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Product Innovation at Kontakt.io. The conversation opened with Rom’s unconventional path into healthcare, a background spanning computer science and international economics, shaped by a longstanding interest in bridging technology with human needs. After six years at Kontakt.io, Rom described how healthcare’s sheer scale and universal relevance drew him in: it touches every person, drives a significant share of the economy, and remains stubbornly resistant to the operational improvements that have transformed other industries.
The Investment Gap Nobody Talks About
Rom and Heather quickly zeroed in on a blind spot in healthcare AI investment. Clinical technologies, physician-facing tools, diagnostic systems, EMR infrastructure, have attracted enormous attention and funding. But the operational layer that actually delivers care has been largely overlooked. Heather drew a direct parallel to her own experience at Xsolis, where challenges like patient transportation and utilization review were perennial afterthoughts despite their outsized impact on efficiency and outcomes. A recent Kontakt.io white paper examines five operational domains where the gap between current performance and what’s achievable is both measurable and fixable: asset and supply chain management, staff safety, staff productivity, patient flow and the patient journey, and infection prevention. The opportunity is hiding in plain sight.
Building AI-First and Building Lean
At the core of what Kontakt.io does is a deceptively simple idea: hospitals have demand (patients who need care) and supply (staff, equipment, space), and the two are rarely well-matched in real time. Traditional coordination relies on human-driven processes that are slow, inconsistent, and difficult to scale. Rom explained how Kontakt.io uses AI to bridge that gap, enabling data-driven resource allocation and decision-making that responds to what’s actually happening across a facility at any given moment.
Why RTLS Changes the Data Equation
A key enabler of that capability is real-time location systems (RTLS), which generate millions of timely, machine-generated records tracking the movement of people and equipment throughout a hospital. When layered with EMR data, that stream of information enables something new: the ability to predict patient paths and prepare for clinical needs before they arise. Rom offered a concrete example, knowing in advance that a syringe pump should be staged in the cardio ICU before a patient arrives, rather than scrambling to locate one after a clinical decision has already been made. It’s a shift from reactive coordination to predictive workflow management.
Agentic AI That Rewrites the Playbook
Heather raised a concern that resonates across healthcare AI conversations: what happens when AI simply automates broken workflows rather than improving them? Rom offered that Kontakt.io’s agentic AI system starts by attempting to apply standardized workflows to a given situation. When something falls outside the norm — and in a hospital, that happens constantly, the system escalates to an AI agent capable of reasoning through the irregularity and rewriting the workflow in real time. The goal isn’t to replicate what humans do. It’s to handle the routine so that humans can focus on what only they can do.
The Excel Analogy That Reframes the Workforce Conversation
No conversation about agentic AI goes long without arriving at the question of jobs. Rom shared an exchange from a candidate interview that reframed it in a way worth remembering: when Microsoft Excel automated the routine work of accountants, it didn’t shrink the accounting profession, it grew it, because individual accountants became dramatically more productive and valuable. The same logic applies here. AI that handles coordination, logistics, and workflow management doesn’t replace clinical expertise. It creates the conditions for that expertise to be applied where it matters most.
Robots, Reality, and the Irreplaceable Human
The episode closed with a look at what’s already underway in hospitals, robotic pilots and automated delivery systems are more widespread than most people realize. Rom was careful to draw a clear line: automation can move supplies, but it cannot replace the human relationships at the center of patient care. That boundary isn’t a limitation of the technology. It’s a feature of what healthcare fundamentally is.
About the Show
AI Amplified: Healthcare AI Discussions with Dr. Heather Bassett
AI is here. It’s real. And it’s making a major impact. If it seems like artificial intelligence is everywhere, you’re not wrong. Dr. Heather Bassett, Chief Medical Officer at Xsolis, is at the forefront of innovation and she cuts through the noise as she speaks with industry leaders who are making a real impact in the world of healthcare AI. AI Amplified focuses on the amazing innovations in AI, challenges the industry is facing, lessons learned, and how to ensure future success to bring back the joy in medicine.