Sam Shields with Dartmouth Health

Sam Shields, System VP of Strategy and Regional Operations at Dartmouth Health, joins Panda Perspectives to discuss how the academic health system is navigating digital transformation in a rural setting. With a recently completed strategic plan, Dartmouth is focused on enhancing care for its aging population through innovative models, AI governance, and robust telehealth infrastructure. Sam shares how Dartmouth is using digital tools—like ambient listening and tele-ICU—to extend high-quality care locally, easing the burden on centralized facilities. He emphasizes the importance of building AI strategy around people, not just efficiency, and highlights the system’s measured approach to value-based care and remote patient monitoring.

Recent Episodes

Healthcare isn’t short on strategy right now—it’s short on people, access, and experienced leadership where it matters most. In Texas alone, more rural hospitals have closed than in any other state over the past decade, leaving entire communities with limited access to care. At the same time, many health systems are realizing they haven’t…

As healthcare costs continue to rise, more patients are finding themselves navigating not just illness, but the growing complexity of paying for treatment. Specialty pharmacy sits right at the center of that challenge—often out of sight, but increasingly essential to how modern care actually works. These high-cost, high-touch therapies now make up more than…

There’s a growing tension inside healthcare right now—between the people leaving the workforce and the patients still arriving every day. It’s a dynamic that leaders can no longer afford to ignore. The numbers make that clear: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. could be short of as many as 86,000 physicians…