Dr. Michelle Wallen, Director of Emergency Services at UCF Lake Nona Hospital, demonstrates a new clinical documentation tool that uses artificial intelligence for high school students participating in the Seminole County Summer Internship Program as well as community leaders
July 16, 2025 – Community leaders and Seminole County high school students gathered today at UCF Lake Nona Hospital, part of HCA Florida Healthcare, to learn more about medical innovations underway at HCA Healthcare’s first Innovation Hub. Located at 6700 Lake Nona Boulevard, UCF Lake Nona Hospital was dubbed “the hospital of the future” when it opened in 2021, quickly becoming the site of groundbreaking medical innovation and technology in patient care.
Attendees experienced firsthand how artificial intelligence and medical technology are solving tomorrow’s healthcare issues today for care team members at the bedside, in the emergency department, and in workforce management, ultimately enhancing patient care.
“Our team is boldly embracing our role as an Innovation Hub to develop, test and scale digital solutions to transform healthcare,” said Wendy Brandon, CEO of UCF Lake Nona Hospital. “We are creating tools that improve care for patients and make the work easier for our caregivers.”
Highlights of promising technology on display and in practice at the hospital included:
Timpani – an automated scheduling and staffing platform, first developed at UCF Lake Nona Hospital in 2022, is saving nursing leaders significant time and has been scaled to 106 HCA Healthcare hospitals with more on the way .
Nurse Handoff – a first-of-its-kind technology solution designed with Google Cloud to solve the industry-wide challenge of the critical handoff from one nurse to another between shifts . This digital assistant resource was developed by nurses for nurses to improve and enhance communication by consolidating the summary of a patient’s encounter from admission to current date into one succinct and logical interactive handoff process.
Advanced Documentation in the ER – ambient listening technology assists with clinical documentation, reducing clinician time on paperwork and allowing more time on patient care.
The Seminole County students, led by Sean Esler, owner of Edge Consulting, Inc., are participating in an immersive internship exploring real business world experience and career opportunities, including those in new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
“The goal is to open the students’ eyes to the variety of innovation, challenges and opportunities out there,” Esler said. “They see where the industry is right now, and they are already thinking about where it could go in the future. They want to see what they can contribute next.”
Geetika Kesavan is an incoming senior at Seminole High School who is interested in pursuing a career in AI and automation.
“I saw the future today,” Geetika said. “Coming here made me realize the importance of the back end of healthcare and how AI and automation can make care better and safer for patients.”
Brothers Jai and Avi Gupta, rising seniors at Seminole High School, shared their impressions of the hands-on experience.
“It was great seeing all of these new innovations being applied in an actual healthcare setting and not just in theory,” Jai said.
Avi added, “Seeing how these innovations directly impact the lives of healthcare workers and how the people working on them are using the nurses’ feedback is amazing. Their collaboration is making the technology that much better.”
HCA Healthcare is responsible for 43 million annual patient encounters each year. By utilizing this data and investing in digital and AI technologies, HCA Healthcare is driving meaningful change, improving patient outcomes and elevating the standard of care.
“Because of our size and our scale, and obviously our success and capabilities, we have the ability to make these kinds of investments and to think long-term,” said Dr. Michael Schlosser, senior vice president and chief transformation officer, Digital Transformation and Innovation, HCA Healthcare. “The Innovation Hub at UCF Lake Nona Hospital in Orlando is truly leading the way in revolutionizing delivery of care, across HCA Healthcare and the entire healthcare industry.”
About UCF Lake Nona Hospital
Located in the heart of Orlando’s Medical City, UCF Lake Nona Hospital, part of HCA Florida Healthcare, is a 64-bed, full-service medical and surgical acute care hospital serving Lake Nona and surrounding communities in Orange and Osceola counties. UCF Lake Nona Hospital offers 24/7 emergency care, advanced cardiac care, luxury family birthing units, inpatient and outpatient surgery including minimally invasive and robotic technology, oncology, diagnostic imaging, weight loss surgery and laboratory services. The hospital employs the latest innovative solutions and life-saving technology, including non-invasive focused ultrasound incisionless brain surgery for the treatment of debilitating tremors and Parkinson’s disease. UCF Lake Nona Hospital is HCA Healthcare’s first innovation hub, and is a partnership between UCF Academic Health and HCA Healthcare.
About HCA Florida Healthcare
HCA Florida Healthcare, a part of HCA Healthcare, is a family of more than 650 affiliated sites of care, including hospitals, physician practices, freestanding emergency rooms and urgent care centers. As one of the state’s leading healthcare networks, HCA Florida Healthcare’s 11,100 experienced doctors and more than 84,000 colleagues work together to deliver equitable, evidence-based collaborative care through more than 12 million patient encounters annually. HCA Florida Healthcare is committed to improving more lives in more ways and giving back to the communities it serves. In 2024, the network provided more than $1 billion in uncompensated care and contributed more than $3.7 million to community organizations across the state. In addition, HCA Florida Healthcare offers patients access to highly trained specialists, including the state’s most comprehensive cardiovascular network. A strong advocate for the next generation of healthcare professionals, HCA Florida Healthcare is a leader in in training future healthcare professionals, offering 151 Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs at 27 different hospitals with more than 2,400 residents. For more information, please visit HCAFloridaHealthcare.com.
