What Did Healthcare Optimize Away? The Business Case for Humanness

The Operator | Healthcare Business · Aug 17, 2026 · 30m · transcript

Healthcare has spent decades getting better at measuring, scheduling, automating, and optimizing care.

But what if some of that progress has quietly removed the very thing patients value most?

In this episode of The Operator, Jimmy McKay and Larry Benz examine the business case for “optimizing humanness”, treating warmth, attention, empathy, trust, and human connection with the same seriousness operators give productivity, technology, and financial performance.

Larry argues that these aren't merely soft skills. They can influence whether a patient accepts treatment, returns for another visit…