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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Aaron Patzer, the founder & CEO of Vital.io, for one of the most energizing and candid conversations in the series. Aaron built Mint.com, saved consumers $9 billion in bank fees, and then turned his attention to one of the most anxiety-inducing experiences a person can have: sitting in an emergency room not knowing what is happening.  Vital now guides 7 million patients through ER, inpatient, and urgent care visits in real time at hundreds of health systems, including Ascension, CommonSpirit, Emory, and MedStar. Aaron also shares his work on the AI Care Standard, a growing coalition of health systems and patient advocates building a framework to evaluate AI tools before they go anywhere near a patient. This one is packed with insight, sharp opinions, and genuinely important ideas. In this episode, they talk about: Vital sits on top of the EHR and guides patients through their ER or inpatient visit in real time, in plain language 65 to 70% of patients actively use Vital during their visit, one of the highest adoption rates in health tech Vital reduces leave without being seen rates by 35 to 50%, and those walkouts are worth $2,000 each, plus readmission penalties Health systems using Vital have seen up to 48 million dollars in additional top-line revenue across two hospitals Vital improves Press Ganey and HCAHPS scores by about 10 points and increases system retention by 30% Before showing any patient their doctor's notes, Vital runs 14 separate safety checks, including flags for new cancer diagnoses, pregnancy loss, and self-harm The AI Care Standard is a free, dynamic evaluation framework at aicarestandard.com that grades AI tools across 10 patient safety principles Most consumer-facing AI tools like ChatGPT cite Reddit and pop health blogs, not peer-reviewed clinical sources, and that is a patient safety problem A Little About Aaron: Aaron Patzer is Founder & CEO of Vital.io (AI-powered patient experience at 100+ hospitals), Mint.com (25m users), and five other startups. He served as Head of Product Innovation and an officer at Intuit. If you've used TurboTax, Quicken, Mint, or QuickBooks, you and 200M other people have used software he's designed. Fortune Magazine named Aaron one of the Top 40 Executives Under 40, has won 5 product design awards, and done over 600 press interviews, at one time appearing as a regular on CNBC, and writing a column for Parade Magazine. He is an angel investor in dozens of startups, including Carbon Health, Radix (now Relatient), HealthTap, and more. He holds degrees in electrical engineering & computer science from Duke, with PhD work at Princeton, and 10 patents as lead inventor, all in algorithms

In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes back Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust, for her third time on the show. This time the conversation goes deeper than ever, covering three major developments: DirectTrust's role in vetting apps for the new CMS Medicare App Library, the launch of a groundbreaking AI accreditation program built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and the urgent but widely misunderstood gap in HIPAA coverage that leaves millions of consumers thinking their health data is protected when it really isn’t. If you work anywhere in the health tech ecosystem, this episode is essential listening. In this episode, they talk about: HIPAA only covers covered entities and business associates, meaning most consumer health apps have little obligation to protect your data The CMS Medicare App Library is a vetted directory of trusted digital health apps, and DirectTrust is helping validate which apps earn a spot in it When CMS moves, the rest of the industry follows, making this app library a trust signal far beyond Medicare beneficiaries DirectTrust's AI accreditation program is built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and assessed by independent third-party reviewers The program will offer two tiers: a foundational version for organizations early in their AI journey and a comprehensive version for those with greater maturity The four pillars of the AI accreditation program are governance, management, mapping, and measurement AI is unlike any other technology implementation because it touches every aspect of an organization simultaneously DirectTrust's annual conference is October 20th and 21st in Kansas City at the Oracle Innovations Campus A Little About Kathryn: Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, MBA, FACHDM, CHPC, is Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust®, the national non-profit alliance and accreditor building trust in healthcare technology and secure information exchange. With nearly two decades of advancing interoperability, identity, privacy, and technical trust, she leads community engagement, communications, and strategic partnerships, shaping national standards and policy. Kathryn is a recognized thought leader featured in outlets like Healthcare IT Today and Health IT Answers, and under her leadership, DirectTrust has earned multiple HITMC awards, including Marketing Team of the Year in 2025. She has been named among the Top 50 Women Chief Strategy Officers and Becker’s 100 Women in Health IT to Know.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Matthew Stern, the CEO at MyStart Health, and Nick Mortek, Strategic Consultant at Vouched. They have a practical and energizing conversation about one of the most underestimated problems in telehealth: patient identity verification. Matt built MyStart Health to help patients access GLP-1 medications and other telehealth services, only to discover that a clunky ID upload process was costing him nearly 28% of his patients before they ever got started. Nick and the Vouched team solved that problem in under a month and delivered a 40% net impact to the business. If you are building or running a telehealth product and wondering why your funnel is leaking, this episode has the answer. Telehealth funnels bleed revenue at identity verification. Telehealth provider MyStart Health boosted patient intake through passive identity checks with Vouched identity verification, keeping high-intent buyers on their platform. In this episode, they talk about: Up to 40 to 50% of telehealth patients drop out of the funnel at the ID upload step alone Vouched runs passive identity verification through 3,000 data providers in under 400 milliseconds MyStart Health saw a 20% increase in front-end conversion and a 20% improvement in backend verification after implementing Vouched The total impact was a 40% net swing to the bottom line in the first month Implementation can take as little as a few days for agile teams and no more than two weeks for larger organizations Patients are more comfortable with low-friction passive verification than with uploading sensitive documents to an unknown system Trust is the real product in telehealth, and every touchpoint in the patient journey either builds it or destroys it The future of healthcare is a personalized, data-rich hub connecting blood work, DNA, connected devices, and medications into one patient experience A Little About Matt and Nick: Matthew Stern is the CEO and founder of MyStart Health, a rapidly growing telehealth company focused on improving patient access, engagement, and long-term health outcomes. A seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building and scaling businesses across multiple industries, Matthew brings deep expertise in customer acquisition, brand growth, and digital marketing. At MyStart Health, he is pioneering a more personalized, data-driven healthcare experience—leveraging technology, telehealth, and emerging treatments to help patients take greater control of their health and longevity. Nick Mortek is a Strategic Consultant at Vouched, where he helps healthcare and digital health organizations implement secure, low-friction identity verification solutions. With a background rooted in financial services and identity technology, Nick specializes in helping companies streamline patient onboarding, reduce fraud, and improve conversion across digital experiences. At Vouched, he works closely with founders and product teams to build trust-driven, HIPAA-compliant verification systems that enhance both security and user experience in the evolving telehealth landscape.

Healthcare has more data than any industry in the world—but without trust in that data, it’s almost useless. In this episode, Clay Ritchey, Chief Executive Officer of Verato, breaks down why identity is the missing foundation behind interoperability, AI, and better patient experiences. From fragmented records to failed digital transformation promises, Clay shares how solving “who is who” unlocks everything from improved clinical outcomes to lower costs—and why now is the moment healthcare can finally get it right. In this episode, they talk about: Why healthcare generates massive amounts of data but struggles to use it effectively The core problem: lack of trust in data due to poor identity resolution What it means when one patient exists as 10 different records across systems How fragmented identity impacts patient experience and clinical outcomes The connection between clean data and successful AI adoption Why consumers are driving change with higher expectations for digital experiences The role of identity in enabling true interoperability across organizations How Verato creates a single longitudinal view of patients across thousands of data sources The impact of identity on reducing duplicate tests, costs, and delays in care Why this moment—AI + regulation + consumer demand—is a tipping point for healthcare A Little About Clay: Clay Ritchey is the Chief Executive Officer of Verato. Clay brings more than 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation in market-leading healthcare technology organizations to Verato. As CEO, Clay is passionate about working with healthcare, life science, and government organizations across the care continuum to transform the way that consumers and patients engage with them to build deeper relationships resulting in improved outcomes and sustainable growth for our customers.

What does it really take to get a healthcare AI product past the proof-of-concept stage and into production? In this episode of the AI at ViVE series on the BEAT Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Tushar Puri, CEO of Pegasus One, and Sebastian Ouslis, Co-Founder of ChartR Health, to find out. Together, they pull back the curtain on how ChartR is building an autonomous analytics platform that lets hospitals interrogate their own data across silos in real time, and how Pegasus One's SONG framework is the foundation making it possible. From managing agent drift to the very real stakes of lagging data in sepsis care, this conversation is a masterclass in building healthcare AI that can actually go from pie-in-the-sky to impact you can quantify.  In this episode, they talk about: Why most healthcare AI projects never reach production The real meaning behind the SONG framework How data silos slow down hospital decision-making Turning weeks of analysis into minutes with AI The hidden cost of poor workflow integration Why governance must be built in from day one The importance of designing for real-world healthcare systems How ChartR enables continuous analytics across hospital data What agent drift is and why it matters long term The role of partnerships in building scalable AI products A Little About Tushar and Sebastian: Tushar Puri is the Founder and CEO of Pegasus One, where he helps organizations build scalable AI and software products that actually make it to production. With more than 15 years in product engineering, he specializes in bridging the gap between technical innovation and real-world implementation, especially in healthcare. Sebastian Ouslis  is the Co-Founder of ChartR, an AI-driven healthcare analytics platform focused on turning complex clinical data into real-time insights. His work centers on using AI to help hospitals continuously learn, adapt, and improve patient outcomes.

What if the biggest barrier to better healthcare outcomes is… the blood draw itself? In this episode, Web Golinkin, President at Babson Diagnostics, discusses how his company is reinventing blood testing with a patient-friendly, fingertip-based system. He explains why traditional venipuncture drives anxiety and non-adherence, and how BetterWay improves both experience and outcomes. He also shares how automation and simplified workflows reduce operational burden and expand access points for care. Finally, he explores why patient experience is becoming the key competitive differentiator in ambulatory healthcare. Tune in to learn how rethinking a decades-old process could unlock better care, better business, and better patient engagement. About Web Golinkin: Web Golinkin has focused his career on making health information and care more accessible and affordable. He has done this as CEO of five companies over the past 35 years, including three he co-founded. These companies include the largest cable TV network devoted to health (America’s Health Network), one of the nation’s largest operators of retail-based clinics (RediClinic), a leading population health management company (Health Dialog), and one of the nation’s largest operators of urgent care clinics (FastMed). Web also co- founded the Convenient Care Association and served as its Chair for many years. He has been widely covered in the national media and has spoken at numerous healthcare conferences. Things You’ll Learn: Blood testing drives around 70% of medical decisions but has not fundamentally changed in decades. About one-third of patients skip testing due to discomfort or inconvenience. BetterWay uses a fingerstick method and requires 90% less blood. The system eliminates the need for a phlebotomist, enabling more flexible staffing. Automated sample preparation reduces errors and manual workload. The approach is backed by extensive validation, including IRB studies and peer-reviewed data. With an NPS of 79, compared to negative industry scores, it delivers a significantly better patient experience while supporting ambulatory growth, reducing leakage, and improving chronic disease management. Resources: Connect with and follow Web Golinkin on LinkedIn, visit his website, or reach out via email. Follow Babson Diagnostics on LinkedIn and explore their website. Learn more about BetterWay here.

The network is no longer just a hidden utility. It is becoming an intelligent engine for safer, smarter healthcare operations. In this episode, Matt Roberts, Healthcare Business Lead at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, discusses how AI-native networking is changing the role of infrastructure in healthcare. He explains why traditional networks have created operational blind spots, how self-driving network capabilities can improve user experience and security, and why modernizing infrastructure is no longer just about keeping systems running. Matt also shares how the Juniper acquisition expands HPE’s ability to support healthcare providers across data center networking, AI-ready environments, and built-in security, while also opening new possibilities for asset tracking, wayfinding, staff safety, and more proactive IT operations. Tune in to learn how smarter networking could help healthcare organizations modernize infrastructure without compromising care delivery. About Matt Roberts: Matt Roberts is a healthcare industry leader focused on helping provider, payer, and life sciences organizations modernize their networking infrastructure to support better user and operator experiences. His background spans healthcare IT, business development, sales strategy, and digital transformation, with a strong emphasis on making the network a more intelligent and proactive part of healthcare operations. Before his current role, Matt served in healthcare leadership positions at Juniper Networks, Brocade, and Cerner, where he helped shape go-to-market strategies, lead healthcare business development, support large-scale implementations, and build strategic partner ecosystems across the industry. His work has consistently centered on helping healthcare organizations reduce complexity while improving performance, security, and infrastructure readiness. Things You’ll Learn: AI-native networking can help remove blind spots and make the network more proactive, secure, and easier to operate.  The cost of inaction can be just as risky as the fear of disrupting care during modernization efforts.  Built-in security and policy-driven infrastructure are becoming essential as healthcare organizations prepare for more digital and AI-powered environments.  Modern networks can support far more than connectivity, including wayfinding, asset tracking, and staff safety use cases.  User experience is becoming a central metric for evaluating network performance and value.  Partner ecosystems remain critical for helping healthcare organizations navigate infrastructure and security transformation. Digital twins and virtual network assistants are likely to play a growing role in future IT operating models. Resources: Connect with and follow Matt Roberts on LinkedIn. Learn more about Hewlett Packard Enterprise. 

In this episode of the AI at Health series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Vadiraj Guttal, VP and Business Head for Infosys Helix, for a thoughtful and candid conversation about why health plans are still stuck in batch processing, what it actually means to be cloud native versus just cloud hosted, and how a platform-centric approach is delivering two to three times the improvement that incremental fixes never could. With Helix now six-plus years in the making, Vadiraj brings a grounded, practitioner's perspective to one of the most complex transformation challenges in healthcare today. If you are a health plan executive trying to reduce administrative costs, modernize operations, and prepare for an AI-driven future, this episode is essential listening. In this episode, they talk about: Most health plans moved to the cloud without actually taking advantage of what the cloud can do Batch processing is still the norm in healthcare, and it is the root cause of most administrative delays Platform-centric thinking means cloud-native architecture, reusable data, event-driven workflows, and composability Provider credentialing that takes two to three months today could be reduced to one week with the right platform Helix targets a 40% reduction in IT operations costs and a 50 to 60% reduction in workflow fallouts True digital-native health plans do not exist yet, and that is exactly the gap Helix is built to close Tier two and tier three health plans without large digital transformation budgets are the ideal Helix candidates The next big challenge is using AI at scale in production while keeping outcomes deterministic, not probabilistic A Little About Vadiraj: Senior Health-tech and IT Consulting professional with 23+ years of experience in software development, project management, sales, and delivery of strategic consulting engagements, product and solution development for the payer segment of US healthcare. He partners with senior executives to address their business and technology needs through innovative solutions, resulting in IT efficiencies and business outcomes. As Business Head of Platforms at Infosys Healthcare, he is responsible for ideating and developing digital-native, AI- and cloud-run business applications. In this role, he also partners with other healthcare start-ups and academic institutions to industrialize their research and solve problems for large healthcare payers.

Healthcare doesn’t have a technology problem; it has a workflow problem. In this episode, Kshitij Jaggi discusses why healthcare’s digital tools have failed to improve efficiency and how agentic AI can transform operations by completing work rather than creating more of it. He explains the critical difference between task automation and system-level orchestration, and why administrative bottlenecks, such as prior authorizations, delay care. He also explores how governance, traceability, and new oversight roles are essential for responsible AI adoption. Finally, he shares how throughput should define ROI and unlock better outcomes across the healthcare system. Tune in to learn how AI can eliminate friction, improve access to care, and reshape the future of healthcare operations.  About Kshitij Jaggi: Co-founder and CEO of RISA Labs, Kshitij (KJ) leads the company’s mission to accelerate oncology innovation through data-driven collaboration and transformative technology. Things You’ll Learn: Most healthcare software fails because it adds work for users instead of reducing it, making time the primary barrier to adoption. True transformation in healthcare requires system-level orchestration rather than isolated task automation. Embedding clinical intelligence into administrative workflows reduces errors, delays, and inefficiencies in care delivery. Administrative processes are the biggest source of friction in healthcare systems. Integrating agentic AI with EMR systems can significantly increase throughput in a labor-constrained healthcare environment. Long-term success depends on platform-based solutions, governance and oversight of AI, and measuring ROI through throughput, timeliness of care, and reduced treatment leakage while enabling more seamless care and faster innovation. Resources: Connect with and follow Kshitij Jaggi on LinkedIn. Follow RISA Labs on LinkedIn and visit their website.

Simplifying the complex world of healthcare reimbursement. In this episode, Jason Considine, President of Experian Health, discusses shifting the industry's focus from denial management to denial prevention by leveraging AI at the point of registration. He discusses the implementation of the Patient Access Curator, a tool that automates insurance discovery and validation to reduce human error and administrative costs. He also explains how Experian leverages rich data assets, such as employment data, to help providers navigate new regulatory requirements, such as the OBBA. This episode explores the mission of leveraging advanced technology to eliminate administrative waste, enabling resources to be redeployed into direct patient care. Tune in to start from the start with denial prevention.  About Jason Considine: Jason Considine is the President of Experian Health, having taken the helm in April 2025. He previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer for more than 3 years, leading sales, marketing, and business development. With nearly 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Jason is dedicated to using data analytics and software solutions to simplify administrative processes for hospitals and medical practices. Things You'll Learn:  How Experian Health aims to simplify healthcare by improving the efficiency of how providers are reimbursed by patients and payers. The industry shift from costly back-end denial management to proactive denial prevention by leveraging AI at the point of registration. How the Patient Access Curator tool automates insurance discovery and updates registration systems in seconds to reduce denials by over 30%. The importance of transparency in AI to build trust and unlock the "black box" of decision-making in highly regulated healthcare environments. How providers can prepare for the OBBA regulation by using employment data to automate Medicaid qualification decisions. Why the AI "arms race" between payers and providers makes adopting intelligent automation essential for an organization to thrive and survive. Resources:  Connect with and follow Jason Considine on LinkedIn. Follow Experian Health on LinkedIn and explore their website.

AI is advancing rapidly in healthcare, but speed without governance can create serious clinical, legal, and enterprise-level risks. In this episode, Peter Bonis, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Wolters Kluwer Health, explores how his team is developing reliable, evidence-based AI tools to support frontline clinicians without compromising trust or safety. He explains why clinicians are adopting AI faster than health systems can govern it, creating risks like the rise of “shadow AI.” Peter highlights the importance of transparency, human oversight, and trusted source material in ensuring safe clinical decision support. He also discusses how even experts can be influenced by faulty AI output and why governance models must evolve with frontline input to keep pace. Tune in and learn how healthcare leaders can approach AI governance more responsibly while still supporting innovation at the point of care. About Peter Bonis: Peter A.L. Bonis, MD, is Chief Medical Officer at Wolters Kluwer Health, where he serves on the executive leadership team and oversees content, informatics, and industry partnerships. He was also part of the founding group at UpToDate, which grew into one of the world’s leading evidence-based clinical knowledge resources.  Dr. Bonis is a physician entrepreneur and academic leader with more than 25 years of experience in healthcare. At Wolters Kluwer Health, he leads teams spanning physicians, pharmacists, engineers, informaticists, and business development professionals focused on clinical content, drug information, and patient engagement solutions. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at Tufts University School of Medicine and previously served on the faculty at Yale University School of Medicine. His background also includes healthcare investing, advisory work with venture capital and private equity firms, more than 70 published research articles, and the co-founding of the UpToDate donations program in partnership with Ariadne Labs to expand access in low- and middle-income countries. He earned his AB from Harvard University and his MD from New York University.  Things You’ll Learn: AI in healthcare must be grounded in trusted evidence, transparency, and human oversight to be safe for clinical use.  Shadow AI is already creating enterprise-level risk as clinicians and staff adopt unvetted tools outside formal governance structures. Even experienced specialists may not reliably detect faulty AI-generated clinical information when it appears credible. Healthcare leaders need governance models that focus on safety, privacy, compliance, and real clinical value rather than hype. Effective AI governance must be iterative and shaped by input from frontline clinicians who understand how these tools affect care delivery. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Peter Bonis on LinkedIn! Follow Walters Kluwer Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

What if the biggest opportunity in healthcare reimbursement is finally having a clear view of what “fair” actually looks like? In this episode, Dilpreet Sahota, CEO and founder of Trek Health, discusses how his company is helping health systems and health plans turn price transparency data into a strategic tool for payer negotiations. He explains why publicly available reimbursement data is still difficult to use in practice, how AI can simplify both massive pricing datasets and highly complex payer contracts, and why providers need a clearer benchmarking strategy as reimbursement pressures continue to shift. He also shares his perspective on trust, validation, and explainability in AI, along with a future vision in which providers negotiate with greater clarity, and patients can better predict the true cost of care before receiving services. Tune in to learn how better reimbursement intelligence could reduce friction, strengthen negotiation strategy, and increase transparency for both providers and patients. About Dilpreet Sahota: Dilpreet Sahota is the CEO and founder of Trek Health, a company focused on building healthcare payment products that help organizations better understand reimbursement, contracts, and market benchmarks. Since founding Trek Health in 2022, he has worked to make price transparency data more usable for healthcare finance leaders and provider organizations navigating payer negotiations. Before launching Trek Health, Dilpreet held roles across healthcare growth, analytics, operations, and research, including work at Big Health, Health IQ, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Stanford University School of Medicine. He holds an M.Sc. from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Things You’ll Learn: Price transparency data is now public, but it is still difficult for providers and payers to access and use strategically.  AI can help sift through massive pricing datasets and extract key terms from payer contracts in seconds rather than hours.  Providers need plan-specific reimbursement strategies instead of treating all payer relationships the same way. Trust in AI depends on validation, sourcing, auditability, and the ability to trace outputs back to underlying truth. Lower-cost outpatient alternatives will likely play a major role in reducing total cost of care over the next decade. A more mature transparency ecosystem could help patients predict healthcare costs much more accurately before treatment. Resources: Connect with and follow Dilpreet Sahota on LinkedIn. Learn more about Trek Health on LinkedIn and visit the website here. 

Healthcare payments are often discussed as a transparency problem, but the deeper issue is structural fragmentation across contracts, claims, remittances, and workflows. In this episode, Ted Ferrin, Senior Vice President of Payments Innovation at Zelis, explains how the acquisition of Rivet is bringing provider-facing payment intelligence into Zelis’s broader infrastructure. He discusses why achieving financial clarity between payers and providers has been so difficult due to fragmented systems and legacy technology. Ted highlights that true transparency goes beyond simply displaying data and requires meaningful, actionable insights. He also shares how tools like Claims Insights and Zap Edge embed intelligence into payment workflows to reduce rework, improve visibility, and create a smoother experience for providers, payers, and patients. Tune in and learn how better payment intelligence could help turn transparency from a buzzword into real operational trust.  About Ted Ferrin: Ted Ferrin is Senior Vice President of Payments Innovation at Zelis, where he focuses on building solutions that improve healthcare payments and strengthen financial clarity for providers. He joined Zelis through its acquisition of Rivet, the company he founded and led as CEO for more than eight years. Before Rivet, Ted held leadership and sales roles at Canopy, Instructure, and Qualtrics. His work has centered on building organizations, products, and customer-focused growth strategies, with a particular passion for making healthcare more efficient and easier to use for providers. He studied psychology and business management at Brigham Young University.  Things You’ll Learn: Healthcare payment transparency breaks down when contracts, claims, remittances, and analytics all live in disconnected systems. True transparency requires clean, normalized data delivered in real time within workflows, not just static reporting. Providers still face a major administrative burden because the old payment infrastructure often forces manual reconciliation and rework. Shared financial clarity can improve trust by reducing disputes, errors, delays, and unnecessary administrative effort for both providers and payers. Embedding payment intelligence at the point of transaction can help organizations move from passive visibility to more actionable decision-making.  Resources: Connect with and follow Ted Ferrin on LinkedIn. Follow Zelis on LinkedIn and visit their website. 

AI in healthcare is moving fast, but what does real, operational impact actually look like? In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Aditya Bansod, CTO and co-founder of Luma Health, and Michelle Winfield-Hanrahan, RN BSN MHA MSN about this very topic. They share how the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is scaling AI beyond the call center and into complex, high-friction workflows like fax processing and patient access. From backfilling missed appointments to transforming referral intake, this conversation dives into what it takes to build trust, move quickly, and turn AI into measurable results across an entire health system. In this episode, they talk about: How UAMS identified a high-impact, low-risk entry point for AI in call center workflows Turning after-hours cancellations into filled appointments and improved patient access Why trust in the partner matters just as much as trust in the technology Expanding from AI call handling to backend fax automation How AI is reducing referral lag time and improving data visibility The power of an EHR-first strategy and working inside existing workflows Avoiding “AI sprawl” and the challenge of managing too many point solutions Real talk on ROI: operational efficiency, revenue lift, and happier patients Why success builds momentum for scaling AI across departments Practical advice for health systems navigating the explosion of AI vendors A Little About Aditya and Michelle: Aditya Bansod is CTO and co-founder of Luma Health. With a lifelong passion for building software, Bansod leads Luma Health’s technical vision and strategic direction for building a Patient Success Platform that empowers healthcare providers to serve their patients better and improve healthcare outcomes. With over 15 years of experience as a product management leader developing mobile solutions at Adobe and Microsoft, and at venture-backed start-ups, Bansod made the transition from B2B software solutions to healthcare in 2015 to have a meaningful and measurable impact on how providers use mobile technologies to engage with and communicate with their patients.   Michelle Winfield-Hanrahan, RN BSN MHA MSN, is a seasoned healthcare clinical operations executive with over 20 years of experience in optimizing patient access, improving patient engagement, and streamlining clinical operations. Throughout her career, Michelle has demonstrated a strong ability to lead cross-functional teams and implement strategic initiatives that enhance the patient experience, increase operational efficiency, and drive sustainable growth. In her current role as Chief Clinical Access Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor of Access at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Michelle oversees patient access and flow from both the outpatient and inpatient setting, ensuring seamless patient flow and appointment scheduling, reducing wait times, and improving overall patient satisfaction. She has spearheaded innovative solutions that leverage technology to enhance patient communication and engagement, ensuring that patients remain informed, involved, and empowered throughout their healthcare journey. Michelle is dedicated to driving innovation in healthcare operations and is committed to making quality healthcare more accessible and efficient for all.

Healthcare is drowning in documentation and fragmented data, but what if the system worked for clinicians rather than against them? In this episode, Dr. Richa Gupta, Vice President of Care Transformation at Ambience Healthcare, explains how Ambience provides a layer of intelligence on top of electronic medical records to optimize clinician workflow and patient interactions. Ambience’s ambient listening system captures physician-patient interactions, supports documentation, and ensures accurate coding and billing, boosting clinician satisfaction and reducing revenue leakage. ROI is driven by high clinician utilization, validated outcomes, and measurable improvements in documentation burden, coding accuracy, and physician retention. In 2026, Ambience is expanding across the full care continuum, including ambulatory, emergency, and inpatient settings, offering a platform that surfaces real-time insights and enhances patient care. Tune in to hear how Ambience is transforming physician workflows and delivering real ROI across the care continuum.  About Dr. Richa Gupta: Dr. Richa Gupta, Vice President of Care Transformation at Ambience Healthcare. Dr. Gupta partners with hospital leaders to apply AI to the most complex clinical and operational challenges in health systems. She brings more than two decades of experience leading projects and teams at large academic medical centers. Things You’ll Learn: Ambience reduces documentation burden by using ambient listening and chart-aware intelligence. Clinician satisfaction drives ROI, with utilization rates reaching up to 80%. Accurate coding and diagnosis capture prevent revenue leakage and claim credit for physician work. Ambience can improve physician retention, even delaying retirements during labor shortages. In 2026, Ambience is expanding beyond ambulatory care to emergency and inpatient settings, providing insights across the patient journey. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Richa Gupta on LinkedIn. Follow Ambience Healthcare on LinkedIn and visit their website.