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Why Your Bank Knows You Better Than Your Doctor: Closing the Healthcare Experience Gap · Connectivity Without Chaos - The Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's unpack this.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can tap a screen right now and a hot pizza or like a ride across town arrives
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: in, what, 15 minutes.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the app knows exactly who you are, where you are, what you need.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know,
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: you call your doctor's office and suddenly you're trapped
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: in this like 1990s time warp.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're spelling your name for the third time, repeating your date of birth, your SSN.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just hoping you don't get transferred to a deadline.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right, which happens all the time.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So for today's deep dive,
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: we're looking at a recent interview with a senior CX and AI consultant.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this person spent 12 years managing hospital contact centers.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of experience there.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And our mission today is
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: to figure out why healthcare customer service is just decades behind retail.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And more importantly, how hospitals can actually, you know, dig themselves out of that hole.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's a big hole.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I call my TV warranty company,
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: their automated system knows my model number and my problem before
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: a human even picks up.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So why does healthcare struggle with basic caller ID?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it basically comes down to fundamentally fragmented data.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, in retail, your profile is centralized, right?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: But in healthcare, patient data lives in these heavily siloed EHR systems.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And often, it's multiple different systems within the exact same hospital network.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they just don't talk to each other?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, they simply do not talk to each other.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: So every single time a call moves from scheduling to billing to, you know, a specialist...
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: The identity verification process has to start from scratch every time.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Which, I mean, that isn't just frustrating for the patient.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's incredibly expensive.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, hugely expensive.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: What's fascinating here is how
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: the consultant noted this friction creates this severe domino effect.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Patients get fed up and they just abandon the call, right?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then they go book with a quick one-stop digital clinic instead.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's easier?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's easier, meaning the hospital loses that immediate appointment revenue.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I imagine that impacts the staff too.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, big time.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: On the operational side,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: a telecom costs spike because patients are calling back three
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: or four times just trying to reach the right department.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just to get someone on the line.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the staff are fielding those redundant calls,
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: which forces them to create these like messy manual workarounds just to process
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: the sheer volume.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Which has to lead to burnout.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: It directly drives staff burnout and turnover.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a huge issue.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I hear the structural problems, but hospitals are massive entities.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: They have millions in funding.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't they just buy an off-the-shelf enterprise AI system like an airline does
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: and just brute force the problem?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, because AI is an amplifier, not a fixer.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you drop an AI into a hospital network, it tries to learn from the existing processes.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right, which are broken.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And in healthcare,
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: those processes are heavily reliant on what the consultant calls tribal knowledge.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tribal knowledge.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning the official manual says one thing,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: but the staff actually does something completely different.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, standardized data is what AI actually needs to function.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: But hospital staff are relying on like sticky notes on their monitors
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: or literal sticky notes or whispered workarounds to bypass a legacy billing system
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: or, you know, a shared spreadsheet that one single nurse updates manually.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if an AI system learns from chaotic,
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: undocumented workarounds, it just automates that chaos at scale.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where it gets really interesting to me.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like upgrading a regional transit system to a high-speed bullet train,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: but leaving it on crooked wooden tracks.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That is a great analogy.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the speed doesn't fix the commute.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: It just guarantees a derailment much faster.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is exactly the danger.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you add in the reality that clinical,
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: administrative, and IT departments, they often have fiercely competing budgets.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right, so they're fighting each other.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, so you get gridlock.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: The source emphasizes that you can't just mandate an AI rollout from the top down
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: and expect it to fix this.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to involve the actual people doing the work.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Precisely.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: You have to build culture first through frontline champions.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: the clinical and administrative users who actually navigate those sticky notes
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: and spreadsheets every day.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: The ones who actually know how the system works.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: They have to be the ones who guide and design the new standardized process.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if a hospital actually takes the time to straighten the tracks
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: and standardize those workflows, what does the payoff look like?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because we aren't just talking about selling more shoes here, right?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about patient health.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if we connect this to the bigger picture,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: the ultimate goal here is better medical outcomes.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: The consultant shared a really cool scenario where the technology runs quietly in
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: the background.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So imagine an agent is on a call with a patient, you know, scheduling a follow-up.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: While they talk,
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: an AI is analyzing the patient's centralized record and it just gently prompts
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: the agent on their screen.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: A little pop-up.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Noting that the patient is also due for their annual exam.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the agent doesn't have to manually dig through five different tabs in
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: the EHR system to notice a gap in care.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to hunt for it.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: They just see the prompt and offer to book it right then and there.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: It seamlessly closes a vital care gap.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the agent's cognitive load is reduced and the patient feels like
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: the hospital actually knows their health history.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which makes preventative care rates go up.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So what does this all mean for, say, an operational leader at a hospital right now?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're staring at a massive backlog, tired staff.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do they actually initiate this without totally paralyzing the organization?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: The main advice is don't boil the ocean.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: You need to pick a single measurable bottleneck.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like what?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's solely focusing on reducing your internal transfer rates
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: or maybe just cutting down the number of abandoned calls on Monday mornings.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just one specific thing.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Just overhaul that one specific workflow first.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Clean the data,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: remove the tribal knowledge,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: and test your new process there before you try to revolutionize
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: the entire hospital network.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So fix the wooden tracks in one station first.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, there's a final thought from the source that really stuck with me.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: They point out that a bad front desk experience creates
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: a negative preconceived notion about the clinical care itself.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Before they even
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: see a doctor.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: How might that subtle frustration impact their willingness to actually follow
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: a doctor's critical medical advice later on?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is a profound point.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: It really makes you wonder if the healing process actually begins
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: the moment they pick up the phone.