Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Andrew Chang on AI, Marketing and Responsible Growth at UChicago Medicine
Transcript
- 0:02- The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
- 0:04- leaders right now is not a short list.
- 0:07- Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
- 0:09- a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
- 0:12- favor,
- 0:12- a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
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- 0:58- This is Laura Dirdo with the Rutgers Healthcare
- 1:00- podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
- 1:02- Andrew Chiang, chief marketing officer at UChicago Medicine.
- 1:05- Andrew, it's a pleasure to have you on
- 1:07- the podcast today. Thanks for having me. Pleasure
- 1:09- to be here. Absolutely. Now I'm excited for
- 1:12- our discussion. I know we've got a lot
- 1:13- to talk about. We'll dig into some of
- 1:14- the cool things you're doing at UChicago as
- 1:16- well as your perspective on the future. But
- 1:18- before we dive in, can you tell me
- 1:20- just a little bit more about yourself and
- 1:22- your background?
- 1:23- Yeah. Happy to.
- 1:24- I am going on year three of, my
- 1:28- tenure here as chief marketing officer at UChicago
- 1:31- Medicine, and I can honestly say it's been
- 1:33- one of the most fulfilling and exciting
- 1:36- times of my life, being involved with all
- 1:39- of these things that that UChicago Medicine has
- 1:41- been leading the way on in in the
- 1:43- way that we are trying to
- 1:45- set the bar in in how health care
- 1:47- gets delivered and how,
- 1:50- technology
- 1:50- and how marketing really shifts
- 1:53- with AI and moves the needle, when it
- 1:56- comes to,
- 1:57- trying to change our health care industry for
- 1:59- the better for everyone.
- 2:01- Absolutely. No. And it's definitely an exciting place
- 2:03- to be. And and as you mentioned with
- 2:05- technology and AI being at the forefront of
- 2:07- a lot of transformation across the health care
- 2:09- system,
- 2:11- you know, it takes a very special kind
- 2:13- of leader to make sure you're doing that
- 2:15- in the right way and and really
- 2:17- transforming for the better. So could you give
- 2:19- us a quick state of the union of
- 2:21- what you're doing at UChicago,
- 2:22- what's going well this year, and what you
- 2:24- focus on for the rest of 2026?
- 2:27- Sure. Yeah. We have been
- 2:29- all cylinders firing at New Chicago Medicine. It's
- 2:32- been
- 2:33- a incredible year. We've we've really pushed
- 2:37- ourselves hard
- 2:38- to achieve
- 2:39- and also surpass our goals.
- 2:42- Our fiscal year ended in June '26, and
- 2:47- the results of our fiscal year were were
- 2:49- pretty exciting.
- 2:50- I I would say that
- 2:52- we have done so much for the community.
- 2:55- We've we just released our f y twenty
- 2:57- five community benefit
- 2:59- guide, for the South Side and for Northwest
- 3:01- Indiana and and a total to be over
- 3:03- $1,100,000,000.
- 3:05- And
- 3:06- we are continuing to expand in Northwest Indiana.
- 3:10- We have our
- 3:12- Crown Point micro hospital that opened up, over
- 3:14- a year ago and continuing to see just
- 3:17- the demand of of serving that community, and
- 3:20- it's been really exciting to see that growth.
- 3:22- The other thing is
- 3:24- we also just announced our our first dedicated
- 3:27- president of our children's hospital, Comer,
- 3:30- that
- 3:31- is going to be effective as of September
- 3:34- with Emily Chase. And so that's a it's
- 3:36- a pretty big deal. And
- 3:38- we also named Krista Correll as president of
- 3:40- the Hyde Park campus for UChicago Medicine. She's
- 3:43- also our system COO as well.
- 3:46- So seeing all these leaders just take the
- 3:49- reins and rise up,
- 3:51- especially
- 3:52- female leaders and diverse leaders come up and
- 3:55- and
- 3:57- be part of the change that UChicago Medicine
- 3:59- is is striving to to hit is really
- 4:02- exciting. And then lastly, from a marketing standpoint,
- 4:06- we've been driving a
- 4:08- a marketing program that's continuing to show positive
- 4:11- ROI in a pretty significant way and and
- 4:13- driving incremental appointments and doing in a way
- 4:16- that is showing true incrementality
- 4:18- and using that as a model for other
- 4:20- health systems across the country to hopefully replicate
- 4:23- and follow so that we can really show
- 4:26- that the value of of marketing and what
- 4:28- marketing brings to the table.
- 4:30- Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. And,
- 4:33- you know, it's exciting to see, as you
- 4:34- mentioned,
- 4:36- the leadership,
- 4:37- really growing in talent pipeline evolving there at
- 4:39- UChicago and then,
- 4:41- you know, the marketing in particular having such
- 4:44- a positive impact. And you mentioned looking at,
- 4:47- the ROI of what you've been doing.
- 4:49- Could you tell us a little bit more
- 4:51- about that? How are you,
- 4:53- thinking about, you know, measuring those types of
- 4:55- results? What is really necessary in order to
- 4:58- consider a project successful? And and and what
- 5:00- have you found over the last year or
- 5:02- so that's been,
- 5:03- truly showing that value?
- 5:06- Absolutely.
- 5:07- Yeah. So we've set up
- 5:09- a marketing technology stack that allows us to
- 5:13- be
- 5:14- very,
- 5:16- I would I would describe it as as
- 5:17- very deliberate in how we communicate
- 5:21- with with our patients. And
- 5:23- we're not doing just for marketing's sake. We're
- 5:25- doing it to really help
- 5:28- improve their health care. We're doing it in
- 5:31- a way that helps fill,
- 5:33- their care gaps. We're doing it in a
- 5:35- way that
- 5:37- that makes sure that, we increase their their
- 5:39- screenings.
- 5:40- If they if they miss a screening for
- 5:42- whatever reason, or their annual physical or their
- 5:45- wellness visits to to make sure that they're
- 5:48- getting the health care that they need. And
- 5:50- and so, again, we're very deliberate in how
- 5:53- we set these up.
- 5:54- We're not just talking about ourselves and bragging
- 5:57- about ourselves that a lot of health care
- 5:59- systems tend to do. It's really more about
- 6:01- being there at the right time in a
- 6:03- the right place to the right person.
- 6:05- And the way that we've also set up
- 6:07- our marketing tech stack is is that we
- 6:09- do this on a test versus control basis
- 6:12- where we have a holdout group when when
- 6:15- we send out these messages.
- 6:17- And
- 6:18- we measure the difference in,
- 6:21- appointments booked and and visits
- 6:23- completed
- 6:24- of the holdout group versus the test group
- 6:27- and or the treatment group, and and we
- 6:30- measure the the delta between the two. So
- 6:32- we know exactly the lift that marketing has
- 6:35- been able to contribute to these types of
- 6:38- campaigns and these messages
- 6:40- to,
- 6:41- show the ROI of these efforts and also,
- 6:45- how many patients we've been able to
- 6:47- serve,
- 6:48- and also care gaps that we can fill.
- 6:51- So it it's a different way of of
- 6:53- looking at how marketing is done in health
- 6:55- care. It's not just about brand and brand
- 6:58- awareness and brand perception. It's it's both brand
- 7:00- and
- 7:01- appointments and, making sure that we're we're taking
- 7:05- care of the community. And and that is,
- 7:08- frankly, one of the most exciting things that
- 7:10- I've ever worked on, and it's been a
- 7:13- a great ride. And we're doing a lot
- 7:14- more of it for the rest of this
- 7:15- year.
- 7:17- Awesome. Amazing to hear. And, you know, really
- 7:18- cool to have that opportunity to evolve how
- 7:20- you're thinking about
- 7:21- marketing and what's that really looks like when
- 7:24- you are,
- 7:26- promoting and building health care access. It's just
- 7:29- really truly exciting to see.
- 7:31- Now what are some of the headwinds as
- 7:33- well that you're keeping your eye on and
- 7:34- prepared for? I know we'll talk a bit
- 7:36- about the next couple of years.
- 7:38- So
- 7:39- for the future, what are some of the
- 7:41- things that you're keeping your eye on and,
- 7:43- preparing for?
- 7:44- Yeah. What you know, something that, we're we're
- 7:47- really proud of is the work we're doing
- 7:49- with AI and AgenTek AI and how we
- 7:52- could
- 7:53- shape the way that
- 7:55- health care is delivered.
- 7:57- We
- 7:58- launched our
- 7:59- omnichannel patient engagement strategy last year and went
- 8:03- live with our first chatbot on their website
- 8:06- where it is, answering basic questions, and now
- 8:09- it's evolved to booking,
- 8:11- appointments using our chatbot
- 8:13- and also the ability to cancel appointments or
- 8:16- or change appointments using our chatbot. But that's
- 8:19- just on our website. What we are working
- 8:21- on now is for the next phase is
- 8:24- could we allow patients to do this using
- 8:27- texting or SMS? Could we allow patients to
- 8:30- use this,
- 8:32- with by talking to a bot via the
- 8:34- phone?
- 8:35- And what that enables us to do is,
- 8:40- a couple things. First, it allows patients to
- 8:43- access their health care and book appointments on
- 8:45- their own terms, on their own schedule instead
- 8:47- of having to call between certain hours of
- 8:49- the day and talk to a human to
- 8:51- do so if they choose not to. And
- 8:53- then second is
- 8:54- those, patients, especially like my mom who who
- 8:58- will never talk to a bot and never
- 9:00- wants to talk to a bot, she always
- 9:01- wants to talk to a live person. So
- 9:04- we absolutely
- 9:05- should let that happen anytime our patients want
- 9:08- as well.
- 9:09- And
- 9:10- so our our human agents will have the
- 9:12- ability to have deeper relationships and conversations,
- 9:17- without having to have the stress of of
- 9:19- trying to make sure that all the calls
- 9:21- are answered, etcetera, etcetera. Like, we're we're we're
- 9:24- trying to let health care,
- 9:26- come on the patient's terms as opposed to
- 9:28- health care come on the hospital's terms. So
- 9:31- so stay tuned, but but we have some
- 9:34- pretty ambitious announcements to make around the strategy,
- 9:37- and it's only just the beginning. So,
- 9:40- it's it's quite the quite the exciting times
- 9:43- to be,
- 9:44- in at UChicago Medicine and hopefully will lead
- 9:48- the way,
- 9:49- to
- 9:50- improve how health care is delivered for our
- 9:51- communities.
- 9:53- That's very exciting to hear. And I think
- 9:55- especially when you talk about,
- 9:57- you know, some of the different opportunities, whether
- 9:59- it's the human agents, the bots, how AI
- 10:03- is really working with the human workforce in
- 10:06- order to superpower them and create those accessibility
- 10:10- touch points, across the care continuum.
- 10:13- And and so when you look at the
- 10:14- strategy and and you kind of think through,
- 10:16- you know, where everything is headed, obviously, it's
- 10:19- hard to have a crystal ball, but where
- 10:21- are some of those opportunities for growth and
- 10:23- development? What are you focused in on even
- 10:25- two to three years down the line?
- 10:27- Yeah. From a growth and development standpoint, there's
- 10:31- it's it is health care, so we're full
- 10:32- of opportunities.
- 10:34- We're continuing
- 10:35- to expand in areas,
- 10:37- outside of Chicago and and
- 10:40- in North like, in Northwest Indiana, like I've
- 10:42- mentioned, as well as continuing to grow our
- 10:45- our joint venture with AdventHealth in the Western
- 10:47- Suburbs.
- 10:48- And and we have very ambitious growth goals
- 10:51- that
- 10:52- are outlined in our ten year strategic plan
- 10:54- called Elevate 2035.
- 10:57- So,
- 10:58- you know, the board and Dean Anderson and
- 11:02- Tom Jack was our president. They're really pushing
- 11:04- hard to make sure that UChicago Medicine is
- 11:07- continuing to grow, but doing it in a
- 11:09- way that is responsible and making sure that
- 11:12- we're doing it in a way that is
- 11:13- beneficial for the entire community
- 11:15- and doing it in a cost efficient way
- 11:17- and trying to honestly lower the cost of
- 11:19- care overall.
- 11:21- And,
- 11:22- again,
- 11:23- just become a role model in in how
- 11:26- growth can be done responsibly in this country.
- 11:29- That makes a lot of sense. And, you
- 11:31- know, to your point, when you think about
- 11:32- growth, obviously,
- 11:34- it needs to be responsible in the health
- 11:36- care side so you can,
- 11:38- make sure you've got a stable organization and
- 11:40- and,
- 11:41- something that's sustainable,
- 11:43- you know, for years to come. And so
- 11:45- when you think about that, think about the
- 11:46- benefits as well as,
- 11:48- making sure you're responsible with the resources you
- 11:51- use and dollars you spend. What does that
- 11:53- look like for you on the marketing side?
- 11:56- Yeah. You know, it is
- 11:58- a
- 11:59- it is something that keeps me up at
- 12:01- night is
- 12:02- how do we make sure that the dollars
- 12:04- that we are,
- 12:06- given the privilege to spend is spent in
- 12:08- the most beneficial way for the community and
- 12:11- for our health system.
- 12:13- And
- 12:16- the the worst thing that I could do
- 12:17- is use these marketing dollars and just waste
- 12:20- it and have nothing to show for it
- 12:22- because
- 12:23- all that does is contribute to the overall
- 12:26- health care, spend problem.
- 12:28- And so it's something that really drives me
- 12:30- on a personal level is is making sure
- 12:32- that we are using these resources to the
- 12:34- best of our ability in a responsible way.
- 12:37- And that's why we do the incremental testing.
- 12:39- That's why we measure our ROI. That's why
- 12:41- we have a
- 12:43- pretty quantified goal that we set for the
- 12:45- entire department that we,
- 12:47- try to strive for and then work with
- 12:49- our partners outside of marketing, whether it's, population
- 12:53- health or or our urban health initiative or
- 12:56- our hospital leadership or our service line and
- 12:59- specialty leadership,
- 13:00- making sure that we're putting our dollars and
- 13:02- time in areas that are the biggest priorities
- 13:05- and needs for our hospital system, which is
- 13:08- a reflection of the biggest needs
- 13:11- of our community.
- 13:12- A great example, honestly, is is the cancer
- 13:15- pavilion that we're opening next year about,
- 13:18- in the April time frame.
- 13:20- And
- 13:21- we're we're building,
- 13:24- you know, Illinois' first stand alone cancer center,
- 13:27- and it is the first one that the
- 13:29- state has.
- 13:31- But, you know, that fact alone isn't necessarily
- 13:34- something that we're gonna wanna brag about and
- 13:36- and try to
- 13:37- help change perceptions. It's really what are we
- 13:40- gonna do with it? What are we gonna
- 13:41- do with our freestanding
- 13:43- cancer center or what we call the,
- 13:46- cancer pavilion?
- 13:47- And
- 13:48- how do we make sure that
- 13:50- physicians
- 13:51- are allowed to
- 13:53- refer to us, and we have innovative research,
- 13:56- innovative treatments that is was not possible before.
- 13:59- The experience that the patients have
- 14:02- will be a totally different and new and
- 14:05- unmatched experience that we've been very focused on
- 14:08- the experiential aspect.
- 14:10- And so, really, at the end of the
- 14:12- day, it's
- 14:13- How do we make sure that?
- 14:15- The the appropriate people and communities are aware
- 14:19- of those aspects of it so that we're
- 14:21- not just talking about a building, right? We're
- 14:24- we're talking about
- 14:25- about how we're transforming the way that cancer
- 14:27- is is treated and cared for, and that's
- 14:30- going to wanna make people
- 14:32- increase the trust in in the health care
- 14:35- system as a whole.
- 14:37- Absolutely. That's amazing to hear, and what a
- 14:39- great example illustrating,
- 14:41- everything you're trying to do with the cancer
- 14:42- pavilion. I think, you know, exciting to have
- 14:45- that type of innovation and resource
- 14:47- available to the community,
- 14:49- because I know cancer is such a big
- 14:51- challenge for so many. And,
- 14:53- having those treatments available and,
- 14:56- services for the patients really makes a big
- 14:58- difference.
- 14:59- Yeah. For sure. Absolutely. And and we're really
- 15:02- serious about it. And I think I think
- 15:04- it will be a game changer
- 15:06- for
- 15:07- the Chicago,
- 15:08- metro area.
- 15:10- Absolutely. Well, fantastic. And, you know, before we
- 15:14- wrap up, I wanted to ask you about
- 15:15- leadership too.
- 15:17- Who is a leader that you admire really
- 15:19- from any industry and why?
- 15:23- Well,
- 15:24- there's a lot of leaders. I,
- 15:28- one of my personal hobbies is to
- 15:30- understand the biographies of every US president that
- 15:33- we've ever had and and even collect, like,
- 15:37- a memento of each president.
- 15:39- So it's something that I think about
- 15:42- quite a lot.
- 15:44- But the the person that really comes to
- 15:46- mind right now is is probably
- 15:48- not someone you would expect, not a US
- 15:50- President, I would say.
- 15:53- Well, so on the board
- 15:55- of WABE, which is the
- 15:58- NPR station for
- 16:00- the Atlanta region because that's where I'm from,
- 16:02- and and so I continue to serve on
- 16:04- that board. And,
- 16:05- you know, when I when I think about
- 16:07- leadership, I think about mister Rogers, actually,
- 16:10- because
- 16:12- he,
- 16:13- I don't know if you remember this, but,
- 16:16- in the late sixties, he had a testimony,
- 16:20- in front of Congress, to the senate where
- 16:23- he was speaking on behalf of
- 16:26- public media,
- 16:28- and the proposal was to cut funding by
- 16:31- about 50%.
- 16:32- And so public broadcasting asked mister Rogers Fred
- 16:36- Rogers to testify in front of congress and
- 16:38- and and convince them and tell them why
- 16:40- this is a big mistake and why
- 16:43- and and why public media is such an
- 16:45- important asset for the community.
- 16:47- And,
- 16:49- because of his testimony, he was able to
- 16:52- change
- 16:53- the recommendation of that subcommittee that he was
- 16:56- testifying in front of.
- 16:58- And of all people, mister Roger was the
- 17:00- one that did it. And and you think
- 17:01- of him as, like, the nicest guy and
- 17:03- and then and our neighbor and and someone
- 17:05- someone that we just watched growing up. But,
- 17:08- man, he he he was able to really
- 17:10- step up,
- 17:12- in a really dire
- 17:13- environment and time in front of,
- 17:16- a committee that was
- 17:17- pretty much set on making these cuts. And
- 17:21- I think the testimony
- 17:22- as a whole was only, like, six minutes,
- 17:24- but
- 17:26- he was so articulate
- 17:28- and
- 17:29- calm and poised and convincing in the way
- 17:32- that he delivered his remarks.
- 17:34- And to me, that's kind of
- 17:36- how leadership is is
- 17:38- you don't necessarily
- 17:40- expect leaders to,
- 17:42- be the, you know, the presidents. You you
- 17:45- you can
- 17:47- anyone can be a leader, and and show
- 17:49- up and
- 17:51- even in front of congress to argue up
- 17:54- for a position that's
- 17:56- best for the community,
- 17:58- and be able to succeed.
- 18:00- So when I think about leadership, when you
- 18:02- ask that question, I'm I'm thinking mister Rogers
- 18:04- right now because of what he was able
- 18:06- to do for for public broadcasting. And I
- 18:08- think health care is in that same position
- 18:10- today.
- 18:11- You know, we need leaders to step up
- 18:13- and fight and and
- 18:16- step up to help defend
- 18:18- what we think is best for our patients
- 18:21- and for
- 18:22- the communities that we serve.
- 18:24- And I just wish more people did that.
- 18:26- And, you know, UChicago Medicine is absolutely at
- 18:30- the table and pushing to
- 18:32- have a voice, and and they do have
- 18:34- a voice. But the point is it it
- 18:35- can just come from anywhere where you least
- 18:37- expect it. So I'm sorry for that long
- 18:39- winded answer, but that was a
- 18:41- timely question.
- 18:43- No. I I love that.
- 18:45- You know, really truly to your point and
- 18:47- seeing how one person can make such a
- 18:49- big impact and difference and then knowing,
- 18:52- you know, that mission that was involved of
- 18:54- connecting people and really,
- 18:56- strengthening the health and wellness of communities is
- 18:59- another shared space where, you know, having that
- 19:02- type of, leadership and ability,
- 19:04- to communicate what's going on, in a meaningful
- 19:08- way,
- 19:08- makes a big difference. So I love that.
- 19:11- CEO of Public Broadcasting. Right? It wasn't it
- 19:14- wasn't the president of the Public Broadcasting,
- 19:17- corporation. It was mister Rogers,
- 19:20- who no one
- 19:21- like, it it was just kind of out
- 19:23- of the blue, and it was just the
- 19:25- perfect person to do it.
- 19:27- Yeah. Absolutely.
- 19:28- For sure.
- 19:29- Well, perfect. I I love that. And, you
- 19:31- know, thank you so much, Andrew, for your
- 19:33- time today. This has been such a fun
- 19:35- conversation, and I'm excited to see you as
- 19:37- well,
- 19:38- at our health IT RCM event and then
- 19:41- CEO CFO roundtable too coming up this fall.
- 19:43- I know you'll be speaking on panels and
- 19:45- really providing some great context and information
- 19:48- for,
- 19:49- leaders right now in terms of what you're
- 19:51- doing in your Chicago Medicine. So I'll be
- 19:52- excited to see you there and catch up
- 19:54- and continue the conversation.
- 19:56- Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity, and it's
- 19:59- always fun to talk to you.