Join Patty Hayward as she reveals how AI-enabled contact centers are revolutionizing healthcare access and patient engagement. Learn how Talkdesk's technology is bridging critical communication gaps between patients and providers, while delivering more personalized care experiences through intelligent automation.
Patty Hayward, GM of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Talkdesk
Megan Antonelli, CEO, HealthIMPACT Live
Welcome 0:01 Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't. As we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:29 Hi everyone. Welcome to Health Impact, live digital health talks. This is Megan Antonelli, and we are here to talk to today to Patty Hayward, General Manager of healthcare and life sciences, at talk desk, as healthcare faces unprecedented access challenges, Patty brings a unique insight into how AI powered contact centers are revolutionizing patient, provider, communication and care delivery. Hi, Patty. How are you today?
Patty Hayward 0:56 I'm great. How are you doing? Thanks for having me. Absolutely. It's a
Megan Antonelli 1:00 pleasure. It's so good to finally meet you and, you know, hear kind of about your your work at talk desk as well as, you know, tell our audience a little bit about, you know, your background and your healthcare technology journey. Yeah,
Patty Hayward 1:11 sure. So you know, I've been in healthcare, it for probably about 25 years. I've worked across a lot of different sectors, whether that was in pharmacy, working at McKesson, or on the payer side, working for Aetna. I've done a lot of different things in population health, and about four years ago, talk desk was looking at, how do we really take a look at contact center and look at Deep verticalization so we know healthcare is really different. So they came and asked me to help them really look and come up with a different perspective of how we really look at patient journey, member journey, across the spectrum here. So it's been a lot of fun building and and really looking at the category and trying to move the needle, which I think we've done fairly well.
Megan Antonelli 1:59 Yeah. I mean, I often say this because I've been in events for a long time. So sometimes I think I've done an event on everything and everywhere, but I did do an event for many years on Managed Care customer service and contact centers and all of that. It was years ago, though. So the technology, I'm sure, has changed dramatically. You know, it was definitely pre AI. So tell me a little bit about what you know, what does that technology look like right now? Yeah,
Patty Hayward 2:29 wow. It has changed so much, even in the four years that I've been here. You know, we've seen such a shift. So when I came in, I'll give you a little history lesson for just the past four years that I've known contact center when I came in, everything was very horizontal, right? Everything, like a contact center in healthcare, didn't look that different from a contact center in retail or financial services. They were pretty much the same technologies, connections, etc. And when we came in, it was a really we we came in with a different perspective, and that was, how do we think about the patient journey and making it more personalized? You mean, I used to joke about, I've been going to my primary care provider for over 20 years, and every time I call, it's like the first time. You know, how do we fundamentally change that. And the concept was, how do we take an interaction and really make things more proactive, make things more personalized, really feel known, and allow people to communicate in various ways, not just I have to call and talk to someone on the phone. And that really was other than a few adoptions here and there of patient portals. There really wasn't a lot of options for communication and healthcare and and there certainly wasn't a lot of AI being used. There was some, but it was kind of behind the scenes and more around workforce management and different things like that. So being able to actually see this revolution unfold with AI integration into these areas as well as, you know, we really, we were the first ones to integrate into the the EHRs, you know. We went in and said, look, the systems of record inside of healthcare contact centers is actually the electronic health record. So we went to Epic and said, hey, you know, we want to start integrating and more than just a screen pop. A lot of people were doing screen pops, but they weren't doing anything really meaningfully deep in there and looking at all that rich information, and how do we utilize it and present it to an agent in a way that's consumable? And so that's kind of where we started, and it's unfolded and changed and moved around a lot along the way. But the basic premise of how do we make a patient feel more known and understood as they're calling in and and taking easy calls off of the agent's plate, so that we can make more space and room to deal with more complex matters that really are important and need that. Time for mycube,
Megan Antonelli 5:02 right? I mean, if you think about how much time is wasted just even collecting the information or
Patty Hayward 5:07 just even look someone up, yes, right? Yeah, no, that's
Megan Antonelli 5:11 amazing. And then you know, and that element of the integration with epic, so how does that work? Exactly,
Patty Hayward 5:19 yeah. So we do real time information data. We call them data dips where we can go in. And there's a lot of different APIs which are basically just real time data dips into the electronic health record to get information. It's really important, obviously, that we validate who that person is and that they have the right to access that information. So we do a lot of security up front. We know that's a really big deal right now, especially you think about, you know, all of the different fraudulent issues that we're dealing with in this day and age. So, you know, being able to make sure you maintain your security as well as then going in and, you know, helping patients really feel like they're known going into the agents. We know who they are. We know that they have a set of appointments that are upcoming. I mean, you think about it, when you call Delta Airlines or one of the airlines that have a pretty good, automated experience, I know when I call and they say, Well, hello, Patty, I see you have a flight today, and I see that flights delayed. Is that why you're calling? We don't get that experience in healthcare. So that's where we're working, and really changing that experience with a lot of our providers. So that you know when patients, or, man, you know patients families call, because we do a lot of work with children's hospitals, is being understood, helping navigate to the right place. So you're not having to transfer a bunch of different times, making sure they get to the right place, and then supporting the agents with real time information that's plugged into their knowledge base, so that you know they're not I literally have sat in these contact centers and they're sticky notes all over the screens, and there's Google sheets with all this information. We actually can now automate the presentation of that layer to them in real time, so that they're coached on what they should be doing and information they should be gathering and asking, so that they can make sure they schedule appointments correctly, or that they can help someone if they need to work on how do I, you know, I can't afford to pay all of my bill right now. What are my parameters? What are the things I need to do in order to get that that person on a payment plan that they can meet. So there's a lot of different information and things that we're doing in the healthcare space right now. Yeah,
Megan Antonelli 7:29 that's amazing. I mean, as someone with two sons, both, you know, sort of of the age where they're supposed to be independent, but we know they're not going to
Patty Hayward 7:39 be. I'm in that same spot.
Megan Antonelli 7:41 You're certainly still managing their appointments, if not, you know, on the occasion, still driving them to the appointment itself. But it is, you know, that's, it's a lot of management and a lot to know. And then, of course, the numbers and all the things to get to the right place, right? So I can see how that can, can make things super convenient. And you know, time being one of them, but obviously, you know, what are some of the other kind of positive outcomes of this, right? So time saved, both for the patient from an experienced side and and from the organization, but what are some of the other kind of benefits of this?
Patty Hayward 8:17 So here's where I think we need to go next right when we think about the complexity of healthcare, and I think about, in an ideal situation, what we'd want our agents to be doing. We want them to be care guides. We want them to help patients understand what their next step is, what should they be taken care of that they haven't thought of So presenting next best actions to these folks, and at the same time, we have a lot of health systems that are entered into value based care contracts that have metrics that they have to meet, and if they don't meet them, they get penalized. If they do meet them, they get bonus payments. And a lot of organizations are really in the penalty phase, and that's devastating to their financials, which also impacts clinical and all the different things that we need to be able to do, so being able to take that time that we save and really redirect that towards helping patients with more complex chronic diseases or acute conditions that need to be addressed, and helping guide them and make sure they're doing the right things. That's one hand the healthy patient, making sure they're doing there were things they need to do in order to stay healthy, right? Are they getting their vaccinations? Are they having their annual exams and their screenings that they need so that we can have early detection and get people healthy quicker and we don't have catastrophic results down the road? You know? What are those different aspects that we can really redirect this time for? That's an imperative, I believe, as we go forward here, so we really are we always talk about, how do we get doctors and nurses working at the top of their license? I think we should also think about, how do we get our ancillary folks in, like the contact center, etc, working at a higher level? I think you get a couple of things from that. One, obviously you're going to get. A better care environment for your patients, the employees will have more satisfaction because they get more and more training and more invested in the organization that they're working in, because they have a more and more important job. So you end up with people staying around more there's more support for them, so they get more information delivered to them. You know, there's a lot of job satisfaction that comes from taking care of people versus just scheduling an appointment based on XYZ metric. So there's a lot of things I think, that we can turn and make this more positive and make it more proactive, versus today, the experience that you have if you're discharged from the hospital or if you're leave a doctor's office with a diagnosis. You're handed a sheet of paper or sent in your portal. Here's a list of things you should you should go do. Mr. Patient, is patient, right? You tell you to go do it. You know, I think that really needs to be more proactive, right? How do we help let people know that, you know, you have a screening that you need to go get and sending out proactive notifications. Hey, you can schedule here, right? Here's your list of options, pick a pick a provider, you know, here's some information on them, so you can understand who's better, you know, for you and your personal needs, and then be able to schedule appointments like that without having all the rigmarole, yeah. I mean, it's
Megan Antonelli 11:17 almost like I'm hearing there's an element of, you know, health navigation and health coaching, or, you know, sort of that member navigation, that those member services that you're embedding into this, which is really interesting, because when you think of, and I think when we talk, you know, so many conversations, events come, you know, papers research around patient experience, and where does the physic patient Experience go off the rails. You know, yes, of course, often it's you know in the emergency room, or you know you're waiting too long, or something like that. But the reality is, for most of us, yes, it's in that phone call. It's the conversation,
Patty Hayward 11:54 yes, yeah. And most patient experience officers focus on inside the four walls of the hospital, which is important, do not get me wrong, that is extremely important, delivering excellent clinical care and making sure people are taken care of and communicated well with, and all the different things that you want to do must have. But we also need to understand that a large part of the journey is outside of the four walls of the hospital. So how do we make that better? And it dictates how often you go inside the full wells of the hospital, right? It's not a good experience. And you can't get a hold of someone, you tend to avoid care, which then ends up escalating. That's kind of what happened with my mom, you know, we I wrote an article recently just kind of talking about my personal journey and why this was such an important topic for me. But, you know, she, when she was alive, she had a she had a really bad hip. It was getting very arthritic. She's also a diabetic, and so when she went to the orthopedic they suggested a cortisone shot in her hip, which is a standard thing you do when you have an arthritic joint. But the downside of that is it also raises your blood sugar. And they told her about the side effects, you know, worked with their primary care doc to give her sliding scale insulin. But it went off the rails, right? It got her blood sugar went up really fast. They had a really hard time, you know, keeping it with just injection insulin. Her primary care doc suggested, okay, let's call your the endocrinologist and get them involved. Well, they called over and over again to that office and never got a response back. They got voicemail every time, because nobody at the front desk had time to answer the phone, or apparently, to call anyone back who'd left messages so and you know, there was definite urgency around what they were calling about, and they stated that, but it still wasn't responded to. But you know that generation can be very much, my dad's a very much a rule follower. He's a great caregiver. But he was also like, Look, I need to, you know, this is what I'm supposed to do next. And I said, you know, you need to either do one of two things, go to the office physically and talk to them. They'll see you, or they'll send you to the ER if they don't think they can help you. And both of those things are good options, but neither were ones that he wanted to take because he felt like this was what he was supposed to do. And so ended up happening. She collapsed, ended up in the ICU for five days because her blood sugar was over 500 for five days straight. And that's just didn't need to happen, right? She could have gotten some IV insulin. They could have stabilized everything, and it just it didn't happen. So it almost cost her her life, and it definitely took years off of her life. And so I look at that, and I say, Gosh, how do we have better communication? How do we have better guidance, right? How do we have better communication between the physicians? Because really, you know, that primary care doc should have talked to that endocrinologist, and the endocrinologist, and the endocrinologist should have reached out right away. So, you know, those are the types of things that I think, as we think about or, you know, our daily interactions and different things like that, there needs to be time to do that. Everybody's so crushed with the paperwork and all the processes and people. Are doing their very best. So we've got to get this automation. And the AI that's come out in the last few years, especially in the last year with the large language models, has really allowed us to accelerate at such a rapid pace to be able to handle a lot of these more complex problems. You know, it's a lot easier in some of the banking and, you know, what's my balance? Some of these just very straightforward things that have been automated for 20 years. When was the last time you walked into a bank? Right? I mean, you know, you can do a lot of these things. Retail, we don't go into stores very much anymore either. But in healthcare, we just haven't gotten there. Everything is really very, you know, interactive and person to person, and not a lot is automated, and it doesn't have to be that way. It does take, it is going to take some shifts in process. It is going to take some shifts in thought, right? We saw a lot of rapid adoption of technology over COVID, and then we screeched to a halt and said, All right, did we do we adopt the right things? Do we adopt the right platforms of those things? You know, how are we going through all of this? And so, you know, we definitely can adopt things fast when needed, but we do need to be mindful and make sure that the ROI is there. And I do believe that in this instance, this is an area where we definitely have incredible return
Megan Antonelli 16:19 opportunities. Yeah, I think I mean that automation and the application of AI, you know, in some ways that you know, we talk about, you know, kind of the low hanging fruit, which a lot of this does seem to be. Where do you see some of that, you know, what is that kind of role, where, what you know, when you see it happen, what are some of the things that make you so, you know that you're like, This is amazing. I can't believe, you know, I can't believe we have this to do this. Yeah,
Patty Hayward 16:44 well, I think the agentic AI is mind blowing, right? The ability to speak to a robot that sounds just like a person and is empathetic and can change cadence and tone, and all the things that you would have speaking to a human, right? It's built into those because it it on the algorithms that are in there are able to adjust it can even change languages for you. So if you start speaking and it realizes you're speaking in Spanish, it'll adjust to speaking in Spanish. Just pretty amazing, right? It's mind being literally
Megan Antonelli 17:20 better than the human call centers that we've had for years, right? And they
Patty Hayward 17:25 have empathy, right? Like, sometimes you someone's having a bad day, and they're not going to be empathetic, so they agentic. AI is not going to have that. And really, again, there's going to be a lot that still needs to be done by a human. There's a lot of complexity built in, and we're going to need the human agents to do the more complicated things, 100% the easy stuff, primary care appointments, paying your bills, some of these other just different things that we still do very manually today in healthcare, as much as we've tried to push people to portals, they still call us. So we've got to be able to automate a lot of those things as well, for those who prefer the voice channel, and then also offer great digital agentic digital AI too, which can do this in an overlay of your website, so being able to do that same interaction and then escalate as needed. So if you do enter into a digital channel, being able to then escalate to either a live chat or a live call that would be able to happen with these connected systems, right? So being able, the thing we have to look out for is all these sort of point solutions that only do this, or only do this, or only do this, and none of it flows that becomes difficult. So being able to have that unified experience is really important, and be able to escalate as needed, I think, is also a break. It's just crucial, yeah.
Megan Antonelli 18:42 And where are you seeing when you look at your customers to say, kind of, you know, what are the best places to implement this? Where is it working the best? Yeah.
Patty Hayward 18:51 So, you know, obviously, I think the patient access centers are a very, you know, critical piece for most health systems. They're overwhelmed, overworked, and we can do a lot of good there. Same with revenue cycle, right? You're going in and you're paying your bill. Those two areas tend to be a lot of areas. We do a lot with help desks, as well with things as mundane as password reset. You wouldn't imagine the amount of calls because people forget their my chart, or Cerner, you know, web, you know, I can't get into my portal, right? And people call. So the ability to automate that piece for people as well is really important. And internal help desks too. You know, forgetting your password for your EHR because you're trying to get in as a nurse and you're completely locked out. You got a call. So, so how do we automate a lot of those things? Again, so important to have really good security there, because, you know, we have a lot of people that are are wrongdoers and looking to do, you know, some bad things, especially since. A phi, and all the information that we are safeguarding inside those EHRs is is so valuable, so you got to make sure that we're doing that right.
Megan Antonelli 20:08 So is that, when you are looking at the security, is that generally a series of questions? What are the
Patty Hayward 20:13 Yep, yeah, there's, there's, there's different kinds of both security questions and using voice imprint, although voice and print, you know, we've got different ways to detect that. That's why there's, there's combinations of different things where you have, you know, guardians and shield products that are, you know, able to detect different aspects of of both the voice and the questions and things like that. There's also a lot of folks that want to incorporate video, like, I want to see you, especially if you're a an employee, because the employees obviously have different access than than patients, and usually that's they're worried about ransom, Ransom attacks, right? I mean, that's we've seen several organizations have pretty big events,
Megan Antonelli 20:58 way too many lately, yeah. And as you add all of these various applications and tools and, you know, access points, it does become more concerning for sure. Yeah, as you look sort of to the, you know, to the future of what, what this is going to look like, what's the most you know, what are you most excited about? Yeah
Patty Hayward 21:22 so I think, you know, take technology out of it, because I love tech. It's fun, it's great. I love talking about it. But what I'm really passionate about is the end result, which is really having, you know, an easier time and an easier journey through healthcare, right? I'm in it. I'm in it to win it, right? I want to make sure that the experience that I have and that my kids have is better than the ones my parents had, you know, to be able to get through and to navigate through healthcare and to really be able to access in an easier manner, I think, is really the paradigm, right? So, and I think if you keep those goals in mind, then you can really think about the technology in a different way, because you're looking at an ultimate goal, and you're going to have bobs and weaves as you kind of go through time to figure out how to get to that end goal. But that's really in my mind. My end goal is, how do we make access easier? How do we allow folks to really take care of themselves in a better way and understand what it is they need to do in order to take better care of themselves. And I think all of those are really important. And I think that, you know, not only do we work with providers, but we work with, you know, our health insurance partners as well, on how do we ensure that folks are able to have conversations and to get the information they need to pay for these services and to get them to have access to that. So that's really important. And then the connection between the payers and the providers, as well as, how do they how do they align better and get information easier back and forth to each other so that care can progress in the right way, but it's both fiscally and clinically appropriate
Megan Antonelli 23:03 when you look at your customers and Azure or future customers, or what have you you know, where there is some sort of resistance or hesitation? Are you seeing other than, you know, kind of your standard? Well, we don't have the we don't have the funds for this right now, you know, find me the resources. What are some of the you know, are there hesitations? What are the hesitations? And what do you say to those who had
Patty Hayward 23:25 some really great and very interesting conversations lately with physicians? I think that the physicians, rightfully so, by the way, are concerned about wanting to make sure that as we're implementing some of this automation, that they're not losing control of being able to make sure that their schedules are appropriately planned for them to deliver excellent clinical care, especially when it comes to our academic partners, who those physicians have very specific specialized practices, they're more difficult to make sure we get the right people in the Right slots, and so that's not easy to just do with, like, a, you know, a few codes. So it's really important to be able to really, truly understand what it is that they need, and to be able to deliver that ability to automate what we can, to make sure that the things that we can't, we're making sure that we're freeing up the space and time to deal with those patients. I think that's really important, and I think that's we do get stuck a lot more with like, Hey, I just, I want my I want my patients to experience a very specific, curated experience. Again, I don't blame them. It's their practice, right? But at the same time, we've got to balance that with access, spend, etc, right? We don't always have the I'll just call her Carol. You know, who? Who knows my practice, you know, in and out. You know, you had that one doc practice where she just knew how to schedule and was all things to all people. It's, it's really hard. You know, Carol retires, or she gets sick, and, you know, you get more docs, and she can't handle all the loads. So you end up with that, that situation, so that, that. Culture of, how do we continue to innovate and look at this, but also continue to try to curate an experience that works for both sides? I think that's where the challenge and the opportunity lies. But I think that's that's, you know, like I said, I've purposefully delved into the physician side, because I do find that's where we run into the barriers to adoption. And so, you know, Seek first to understand then to be understood. So I want to make sure I'm really understanding the challenges that they're seeing with some of the stuff that we're putting in, so that we can go back and figure out different ways to do it. And maybe it's, you know, we don't automate that piece over here, but these are the things that we do automate, we're not trying to solve world peace. We're not going to get there in one step. So what are the things we can automate that allow your staff to now do that curated piece that you really want, because you don't have time to do that today,
Megan Antonelli 25:53 right? Yeah, no, I think that's so important. And I think as we think about the, you know, the patient experience and what they want it to be seamless or frictionless. But it's also so important to think about what you know, the physician, the physician practice, and how those two things then meld together, you know, and and automation is such a powerful tool,
Patty Hayward 26:16 but it can also feel dehuman, so like it's really important to bring those two worlds together and to figure out how to allow us to do the things. Because I think, you know, if you'd look talk to someone in the 1980s and you'd say, I could just order whatever I want, it would just be delivered to your doorstep, they wouldn't believe you, right? I mean,
Megan Antonelli 26:37 absolutely need for personalization in healthcare, you know, it's just, you know, that much more than anywhere else, right? And finally, it's a bit, you know, it is numbers, it is, you know, experience, but sort of expect
Patty Hayward 26:50 a little bit more of a sterile feel. But in healthcare, it's the very essence of person, like personal, right? You can't get more personal than your health, right? For
Megan Antonelli 27:01 empathy on the other line, whether it's, you know, frustrations because you're trying to get an appointment, right, I mean,
Patty Hayward 27:07 then you're scared because you have to, you, you feel Time is of the essence, right? You want to get in, because if you don't get seen quickly, your disease state could progress. And there's a lot there that you wouldn't necessarily have another industry,
Megan Antonelli 27:21 and that ability to for it, to have that sensitivity, and also maybe to know when, when it's time, to pass it to a human because that situation might not be manageable otherwise, because that need or that urgency is there, and even if that's, you know, urgency for just the empathy or the appointment, right? Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. And there's, you know, and there's just, there's so many different paths. And so training the AI to do that, but it is also amazing what, what it is capable of, and it's absolutely,
Patty Hayward 27:53 and the way we even train the AI used to be really hard, and now it's gotten so much easier, which is we call democratizing. Ai used to be able to add someone who could, you know, knew the language. Spent a lot of time. You had to anticipate every variation of a response that someone a question someone would have and what you wanted the response to be. So you got a lot of, I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean. You can ask me things like, right? That's evolving rapidly.
Megan Antonelli 28:26 So we always like to ask, as we have a couple couple minutes left in terms of like, what's the one challenge in healthcare that you think whether it's this technology or another technology, but that you think you would love to see, you know, technology kind of help with that challenge, or remove that barrier, eliminate the challenge.
Patty Hayward 28:46 Hmm, um, yeah. I mean, I like, I was saying, I think that, that I'd like us to see health care become more proactive less so we know, like, Okay, so I've been in healthcare for 25 years, so at least. And I'm not a clinician, but I know enough, having spent so much time with different clinicians in different areas, how to somewhat navigate. I know that I have friends who call me and are like, we have this event happening. I'm not sure what to do. It's really hard for folks that are outside of healthcare to go into healthcare and try to figure out what to do. So however we solve that problem, I think that's, you know, that's going to be a combination of things. That's not just a contact center thing, that's not just a patient experience thing. There's so much that, I think we there's so much complicating factors in healthcare that it's very difficult to understand what to do next and and on top of that, the incredible stress that you feel when you're diagnosed with something like cancer or Parkinson's disease or some of these different things. I've had some family members recently. You've had. Some pretty devastating diagnoses, and it's really difficult, especially as we're aging. You know, the aging population is getting older, like the average age is growing, which also means we have so many more complicated factors that come up and that we have to deal with, so being able to understand the different options, the costs associated and different things like that. Today, it's, it's pretty opaque. We don't know them. It's really difficult to know. And it's not just clinical care. It's social work, you know, it's, it's, you know, how do I just get from A to B when I've got a family member who's elderly and I have to go to work and I need to get this person to the doctor. There's so many different aspects of care coordination that I look forward to continuing to work on. But, you know, I think those are so important for us as a society to figure out how to solve in a way that also has empathy towards the folks that are living it. Yeah,
Megan Antonelli 30:59 no, that's really interesting. That's it, you know. I think that that navigation, you know, but also information, right? Because, in some ways you think, I mean, you talk about the democratization of AI, right? And sort of the internet was the democratization of information, sort of, except for so much disinformation. And so to get to that right place where it's the right information, getting them to the right care at the right time, in a way that doesn't, you know, feel like that ivory tower, or the you know, inability to, you know, just sort of making it worse, ultimately, so. But AI does have the power, you know, they certainly could see the promise of being able to do that.
Patty Hayward 31:41 Well, you can see the difference between a Google search and going in and asking chatgpt or any Gemini, whatever, the different large language model of choices if you ask a question in those two spots, and you can look at the way it presents you with information. You get 4000 sites that you can go spend hours and hours reading on Google, or you can get a nice summary that you can then continue to dig and ask more questions about over here, which is much more of a conversational flow, and I think, way more consumable as a way to get information. I never even go to Google anymore, unless I'm looking for a specific site that I just want to get to. I go
Megan Antonelli 32:21 to, I think, right, even though it's the accuracy is still somewhat questionable. Well, I think that's an area. I think
Patty Hayward 32:28 that's, that's the web in general, because right, face it, everybody's throwing disinformation out there, and it's going to take what is out there and summarize it for you. So yes, you
Megan Antonelli 32:38 have to check, yes, which, right, which, of course, is, though you're so the case with with Google and search, but it's, it's when those can come together that it will be so, so amazingly powerful in terms of, you know, helping people with that and, you know, and I have a lot of friends who, you know, it's like healthcare subjects come up, and they have a wall. They don't even, you know, the fear and the elements of it that they don't even want, they really sort of hand that to the to the clinician or the caregiver. And you know, I think once that information can become more accessible and less confusing and less overwhelming, that that you know will change, you know. And I think as the generations change, where they get, where they are used to and also good at, kind of sifting through the information to get to the right answer, or at least, I like to think they are, they'll have to get better at it. Another thing we like to always talk about is, sort of the good thing. We always end on a positive note. We talk about the five good things in our segment every month, when you think of like the what's the good thing happening in digital health right now? What's that?
Patty Hayward 33:55 Well, I love that. You know, folks are really trying to solve these problems, right? Every day I talk to leaders who are really looking and thinking about transformation and understanding that we do need to change and seeking out ways to do that. And I love to see that we're not just sort of sitting on our laurels saying we're fine. There's a lot of like, look, we know we've got to evolve, and here's our challenges, and here's how I would like to go about it, and being open with their partners. And I, you know, I find the collaboration to be really amazing right now. I think that, you know, you obviously have to prove that you are that partner that they want to share with but I think once you do the collaboration is amazing, and I see a lot of really great collaboration between organizations, especially on the provider world. I think you get outside of provider, and maybe not so much, because IP is involved, and people aren't necessarily going to share as much. But our provider, even when they're competing in the. A market, they still share so much information around best practices and things that they do to make them better. Because, you know, the wonderful thing about working in healthcare is we're all in it to to take care of people, and that's the ultimate goal. And always, you know, as I talk to folks in other verticals, as they're kind of, you know, trying to solve problems. I get a lot of jealous you what you're doing, like, it's just so meaningful and impactful. And I'm, you know, I'm jealous that, you know, I mean, yes, I feel like I'm making an impact, but it's just a little different when you're, you know, looking at healthcare and providers, and, you know, we do a lot of work with children's hospitals, so, you know, especially when I look at the kids and, you know, and all the work that we need to do to get, to keep, take care of those families and those patients, it's, it's, no,
Megan Antonelli 35:47 it is, actually, we're just in speaking with Stephanie, Laura in the last one, she was talking about, sort of the creativity and the creativity of collaboration that's so exciting. But it is, you know, I think, I mean, that's why we're all here in healthcare, and there is this collaboration. And I think we've, we've done events in all different spaces, for the insurance side and pharma and the provider space is much, you know, it's a different type of collaborative environment, and also that that seek, seeking for innovation and education that they have. So it is. It's exciting to see. And of course, we have a couple events coming up where we'll all be together. So I'm sure you'll you'll be there, so our find you there. But other than those, those conferences, what's a good way for folks to reach you?
Patty Hayward 36:35 Well, they can always get me at talk desk. So very easy to find me my first name and last name. Patty dot Hayward at talk desk com. You can always kind of look me there. And then, of course, on LinkedIn, you know, I post a lot of things, a lot of thoughts, a lot of ideas about, you know, what I'm what I'm thinking about, what I'm doing, what we're working on. And I love when people kind of reach out, and I end up having different off the cuff discussions about what's going on, because I do really value those conversations. Don't have anything to do with selling anything. It's just really, here's what's going on, and here's some things that you should think about.
Megan Antonelli 37:09 Yeah, well, it's that collaboration, right, you know, and hearing what people need and then trying to fill, fill that those needs. But thank you so much. It's really, you know, it's fascinating to hear, and it is such a pain point within the healthcare system that you guys are working on at talk desk. So thanks so much for joining us.
Patty Hayward 37:27 Thanks for your time. Appreciate you having me absolutely and to our
Megan Antonelli 37:31 audience, thank you for joining us today on digital health talks. And I hope you enjoy Patty's insights into AI empowered healthcare communication. That highlights the tremendous potential for technology to enhance patient access and care delivery. As she said, you can connect with Patty on LinkedIn and to learn more about her work transforming healthcare communication and for more innovative perspectives on healthcare technology, please subscribe to digital health talks. That's Megan Antonelli signing off.
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