KPMG’s Ash Shehata: Three reasons for excitement about AI | ViVE 2025

Nashville - Ash Shehata, KPMG’s U.S. sector leader for healthcare, doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for artificial intelligence to help providers, payers, and patients.

Shehata moderated a panel on claims and denials, and the potential for AI to help ease friction. Panelists said AI could help but the process needs fundamental reforms that tech alone won’t produce.

He spoke with Chief Healthcare Executive® after the forum in a wide-ranging discussion about AI, and he sees plenty of reasons for optimism. Here’s a portion of that discussion. (For more, check out our extended interview.)

Q: Where do you see just the most excitement around AI and healthcare right now?

A: “I always love the question around AI and healthcare. There's just so many areas to talk about. I think the first one is just the energy and the excitement we're seeing from the investment community. You know, AI has been dramatically changing at the pace of unimaginable innovation. Every six months you see the maturity of these models. So bringing that to healthcare is something that I think everybody's very enthusiastic about.

“The second area is really trying to pick some of the hard topics that we've had trouble with. So the topic we had today around prior (authorization), being able to create a clean claim and submit it effectively, and get all the historical records, put it in the right spot, it really is a dramatic opportunity to really make a difference in everything we do. We also found that doing it effectively will also help the patient experience.

“And then the third one, which I think is really fantastic, is about helping the workforce. You know, we've had these shortages in healthcare, but imagine bringing an idea like ambient listening. We're going to be able to more effectively use those clinicians and spend more time in front of the patients and then more effectively help them manage their administrative processes.

“So it's those three things. There's a great financial model, great impact to our communities, and a great way to innovate. We just need to figure out how to do that while we're doing all the other priorities in healthcare right now.”