Eagle’s process automation patents prove that innovation equate to new technology
We are in an extraordinary moment for technology. AI is in every boardroom conversation, every investment thesis, every product roadmap and every strategic plan I see. The attention is earned. What’s emerging could change how we work, how we deliver care and how we support the people doing that work.
At Eagle Telemedicine, we’re leaning in. We’re looking hard at how AI can take administrative work off our physicians’ plates, clean up workflows and give us better visibility into how we operate. The goal is simple: make it easier for our physicians to take care of patients.
But there’s one thing I want us to be careful about.
AI and innovation are not the same thing.
You know the old line: if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. Right now, AI is one hell of a hammer. The risk is that we fall in love with the tool and stop asking the question that matters most.
What problem are we actually trying to solve?
Start with the problem
A few years ago, we were stuck on a very practical challenge.
Our physicians practice remotely across hundreds of hospitals and health systems, and each has its own systems, logins and unique way of doing things. From the physician’s chair, none of that complexity adds value. Nobody becomes a better neurologist or intensivist by getting good at navigating other people’s technology. Every extra click, password and handoff is friction between that physician and the patient waiting on them.
So, we started with the problem. We didn’t ask what new technology we could buy. We asked what we already had and how we could put it together differently. We combined automation, authentication, robotic process automation, workflow design and a few other existing tools into systems that are built around how remote physicians actually work. None of those pieces was new. The way we put them together was.
That work led to Eagle being awarded multiple U.S. patents for Systems and Methods for Automating Processes for Remote Work.
We’ve never really talked about these patents publicly. That isn’t because we aren’t proud of them. We just weren’t doing the work to build a marketing story. We were trying to make the work better.
The best technology disappears
Our approach to innovation shaped something I believe even more strongly today: technology doesn’t create value by looking impressive. The value is in what it lets people do.
For us, that means less friction for physicians. It means less administrative drag, more reliable processes and more specialty access for our partners. And in the end, it means getting a physician to patients and hospitals in need.
The best technology usually isn’t the technology people notice. It’s the technology they stop noticing, because the work happens the way it should.
This matters more as AI enters every technology conversation. Some problems will be transformed by AI. Others are better solved by a straightforward automation that’s faster and cheaper. Sometimes the answer is getting two existing systems to talk to each other. And sometimes the breakthrough has nothing to do with technology at all. It’s fixing a bad process.
Innovation is knowing the difference.
The tool is not the strategy
I’m bullish on what AI can do for healthcare. But I don’t want Eagle, or this industry, to become technology first.
Healthcare is already complex. Put sophisticated technology on top of a problem you don’t understand and you usually get a more sophisticated version of the same problem. Anyone who has done real process improvement work knows the discipline doesn’t change:
Find the problem.
Understand the work.
Use the right tools.
Build something better.
Sometimes the tool will be AI. Sometimes it will be technology we’ve had for a decade. And sometimes the innovation comes from combining existing capabilities in a way nobody thought to combine them before.
Those patents hang on our wall now. They represent technology, sure. More than that, they’re a reminder of how we want to think. Innovation isn’t about chasing whatever is newest. It’s about finding better ways to solve problems that are persistent and that matter. Healthcare still has plenty of those.
Learn more about Eagle’s approach to innovation from our Chief Technology Information Officer Jeff Adams and his recent appearance on the Slice of Healthcare podcast.