The ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook (ATD Press, November 2021) addresses the many opportunities and challenges TD professionals face in the growing and rapidly changing healthcare space. Effective talent development is the thread that weaves through an entire healthcare organization to ensure it is up to standard with the latest practices in treating patients while providing a safe and engaging environment for staff. TD professionals have the unique role of tying together organizational and employee advancement in healthcare systems—and likewise, this handbook dives into areas for both business and professional evolution.

Written by 25 fellow healthcare practitioners with extensive experience in the field—from nurses, physicians, and administrators to instructional designers, chief learning officers, technology experts, and leaders across the industry, it covers six key themes across 26 chapters:

• Learning and Development Basics

• Organization Development

• Employee Development

• Business Acumen for the Health System

• Digital Transformation and Literacy

• Patient-Centric Care

Tushar Mehrotra, senior vice president of analytics for Optum, is author of a chapter focused on artificial intelligence in ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook. In this spotlight Q&A, learn more about Mehrotra and his contribution to the book.

How have your experience(s) in digital transformation and analytics shaped the best practices you shared?

My experience in digital and analytics has been shaped by my experience at McKinsey & Company, where I witnessed firsthand how organizations across healthcare embarked on their journeys, and Optum, where I’m leading analytics portfolio within OptumInsight. These experiences have helped me grasp how to drive value in AI, how to think about capabilities needed to scale, and where the pitfalls might be along the journey.

How do you foresee the advancement of artificial intelligence within healthcare? (For example, in an ideal world, how do you see this area flourishing for employee or organizational development?)

I believe organizations will continue to experiment, explore, and scale their capabilities in AI throughout the upcoming years. Many healthcare organizations have already set a foundation with creating a vision or strategy for how AI will shape their corporate priorities. The key next step will be to develop or partner on the right capabilities to explore AI in a meaningful way.

What is something unexpected you learned while working on this book?

The biggest learning moment for me was understanding how quickly we are seeing innovation in AI in healthcare. As more organizations experiment, it continues to drive new areas of value creation, new use cases, and opportunities to fundamentally transform how we deliver care.

Is there something professional or personal you are proud of accomplishing in the past year?

My family recently transitioned to a new state and city in the last 12 months. While it was a whirlwind trying to move with two little kids during the middle of the pandemic, we made it in one piece!

What is a fun fact about yourself or one sentence of advice you’d like to share?

Be bold and provocative in experimenting and pushing the boundaries. Analytics and AI continue to be a means for innovation and driving change.