For Houston Methodist, the idea of designing a fully integrated smart hospital was extremely exciting. Not just for the facility itself, which is equipped with advanced AI, voice-activated smart rooms and other innovations, but also what it meant for the entire 9-hospital system.

“We saw a unique opportunity to build a hospital from the ground up with technologies that had already been proven,” said Michelle Stansbury, Associate Chief Innovation Officer and VP of IT Applications.

Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital presented “an opportunity to put them all together,” according to Roberta Schwartz, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer. Indeed, when the 100-bed facility opened on March 17, 2025, staff were able to hit the ground running because of the groundwork that had been put in place, and the strategic way in which it happened.

Recently, Schwartz and Stansbury spoke with This Week Health about Houston Methodist’s journey, sharing insights on the ambitious vision that was laid out, and how their teams were able to execute on it.

The Big Question

Roberta Schwartz

It started, as many initiatives do, with a simple question: What do we want in a new hospital? An opportunity to build in innovation from the ground up doesn’t come along often, noted Stansbury. And so, they developed a 12-step framework identifying the overarching themes, one of which was to design for the technologies and capabilities of tomorrow.

“We wanted to be able to think about what’s coming down the pike in the future and put that infrastructure in,” said Schwartz. It was also about building an infrastructure that “we won’t have to change for the next 10 years, making sure every plug and piece is there so that it works from the moment we walk into a room. That’s what Cypress was designed for.”

What won’t have to happen, ideally, is the retrofitting her teams had to do to install MyChart Bedside TVs at Houston Methodist’s existing hospitals. After the technology had been seamlessly integrated in the new hospital, leaders didn’t expect it to be a big lift in other places – not realizing that steps had been taken to bring up “almost a special network for Cypress,” Schwartz added. “We figured out that they had gone around the infrastructure to bring it up. And so, when we wanted to scale it, we had to stop and say, ‘what did we do?’”

Vendors in the Room

They needed to find a way to run MyChart Bedside on the Epic app. That’s where another critical component comes into play: vendor partnerships. And it wasn’t going to happen through a video call. “I’ve been in IT long enough to know that wouldn’t work,” said Schwartz. “We needed to do something quickly.” 

What Houston Methodist needed was partners in the room, working side by side with developers to incorporate changes in real-time. “We could walk right over to our inpatient room of the future, which we have within our tech hub, and try it out. Did it work? Did it not work? Because if you’re just trying to get a vendor to make one change, it could be a week before you try it out. This was happening in hours. It was amazing to see.”

With the issues resolved, patients were able to realize the benefits of MyChart Bedside, including real-time access to care team information, schedules, medication lists, test results, and educational materials. For staff, it helps facilitate direct communication for non-urgent needs and enable virtual visits.

Michelle Stansbury

Although Stansbury was impressed with the results, she wasn’t surprised. “That’s what happens when you get a group of smart individuals together and say, ‘here’s what we need. How can we make it happen?’” she noted. “If you get everybody together, you’ll see the magic that can happen.”

‘Widgetized’ Approach

The reality, however, is that managing change is much more about people and processes than the technology itself. If people aren’t fully on board, the magic simply won’t work. Therefore, a change as potentially impactful as replacing whiteboards with digital tools must be navigated carefully, according to Stansbury.

And it starts with face-to-face conversations. “We sat down with the nurses and said, ‘We know you’re used to whiteboards, but you need to switch to this solution to be able to talk with patients.’” Having those discussions “helped us to drive what we need to change and look at how we train nurses going forward,” she said.

With virtual nursing, Houston Methodist created a “widgetized” approach where users could click on icons to access different functions such as admission, discharge, and checking meds, according to Schwartz. The reported time savings have been so significant that Cypress is calling for a model in which virtual nurses become part of the care team on the floor.

“As you look at our strategies, we’re putting more control in the hands of the patient, whether it’s scheduling, registration, or other areas,” she said. “They’re interacting with us differently, and we need to be ready.”

Solving Problems

It’s not something they take lightly. Implementing any change into the complex healthcare system is going to be a big lift; for that reason, Houston Methodist’s leaders make it a point to carefully weigh every decision, especially around technology.

“We know that we have to get human behavior to change, and there’s so much involved in that,” said Stansbury. “And so we have to ask, what’s worth our time? We don’t do innovation for the newest, shiniest toy. We innovate to solve problems.”

One of those problems? Physician offices would get flooded with calls from patients six days after a procedure to find out if they had the green light to drive. The solution? Schedule automated text messages to go out on day six providing them with pertinent information, as well as contact information for follow-up questions. 

The result? A 60 percent drop in phone calls and a boost in patient satisfaction, according to Schwartz. And all her team had to do was ask about the nature of calls coming into the office. “We said, ‘let’s put it in an automated message. It’s quick and no one has to intervene,” she said. “And we found that people really do like interacting with us via text.”

Usable, Not ‘Hot’

Although there’s certainly buzz around the use of conversational AI agents to send out communications, Houston Methodist is employing a careful approach before diving fully in. 

“You have to weigh these technologies,” Schwartz emphasized. “The availability and the excitement doesn’t always translate financially. But now we’re seeing that these fields are starting to mature. Doctors are more comfortable doing things virtually.

And now, they’re looking into having mobility techs on the floor who can do consultations, rather than having a physical therapist show up on the floor. “We’re looking at, what evaluations can we do on our wound care patients? Can we do them on the virtual highway? We’re starting to look more at all of that.”

For Houston Methodist, it’s not about what’s “new or hot,” but rather, what’s going to serve the organization and patient population, and what tools will mature into usability in the coming years. 

“To me, that’s the exciting part,” said Stansbury. “When everyone starts to get engaged and see the benefits of the technology we’ve brought in.”