Healthcare has a data problem, but not the kind most people assume. The information exists. It's scattered across dozens of systems that don't talk to each other, and every provider encounter requires reconstructing your story from scratch. In this live Vive 2026 episode, I sit down with three leaders each working on a different layer of that gap.

Joe Hickey, VP of HIE and Provider Solutions at Verato, makes the case that stable patient identity is the foundation everything else is built on. Healthcare poured billions into EMRs, CRMs, and data lakes over the past decade and got fragmentation in return.

Patty Hayward, GM of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Talkdesk, returns to the show with a view of where AI earns its keep (scheduling, reminders, billing) while keeping clinical decisions with humans.

Lathe Bigler, SVP of Business Strategy at Buzz Health, closes with the case for price transparency as a patient right. Buzz Health embeds affordability intelligence as an API layer so providers and patients see the same price at the moment it counts.

Key Moments:

• [00:04:26] Identity as Infrastructure: How a decade of data investment created fragmentation, and how Verato unifies patient identity across the enterprise.
• [00:16:00] The AI Signal Worth Noticing: Physicians who planned to retire in two years now have three to five more, because ambient listening transformed their daily workload.
• [00:20:59] Where AI Belongs Right Now: Patty draws the line between what AI handles in patient communications and where human judgment stays essential.
• [00:25:00] The Change Management Blind Spot: Bring physicians into contact center projects early or they become the biggest blocker — Patty's most consistent advice.
• [00:34:10] The Prescription Abandonment Numbers: 75% of providers say cost barriers prevent patients from picking up prescriptions. Buzz Health puts the solution inside the prescribing workflow.

Three conversations, one clear thread — the gap between what patients need and what they get comes down to information that exists but isn't connected, surfaced, or trusted.

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A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.

At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.

In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.

If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link.

One pattern keeps showing up in the hundreds of conversations I have with CEOs and clinical innovation leaders: the companies that last are the ones that stay in service of the human relationship. Dr. Louise Chang, Global VP of Clinical Strategy at Elsevier and practicing internal medicine physician, is one of the clearest examples of that principle in action.

"What if AI could actually take the jargon and confusion out of healthcare — so patients and clinicians could finally talk like real people?"

Louise has spent 20+ years asking that exact question. She's building toward AI that bridges the gap between the clinician's workflow and the patient's journey, making care feel more human, not less.

She's moved through startups and scale-ups, nonprofit and for-profit, consumer to provider to payer. And she's watched wave after wave of hype roll through the industry. What she's learned: staying grounded matters more than staying ahead.

Episode Key Moment Highlights:

• [00:05:26] Healthcare AI today: why we're seeing a wide range of outcomes, from "working fast and failing fast" to genuine clinical value at the point of care.
• [00:06:37] ClinicalKey AI in action: how physicians are using it to access patient-specific insights instantly, enabling quick decisions and deeper learning at the same time.
• [00:08:22] The Glow Up for 2026: Louise's vision for AI that doesn't flash — it smooths, bridging the patient and clinician workflow so care actually feels more connected.
• [00:10:18] Closing the care loop: Louise and Nathan align on the big idea — patient AI research and clinician AI tools eventually speaking the same language.
• [00:13:39] Contact lenses, not glasses: Embedding AI so naturally into clinical workflows that it stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like part of you.

Louise is the clinician who became the strategist — the translator between how medical minds work and how product teams build. Her personal mission is making sure someone is on the clinician's side, and that drives everything she does.

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About Our Guest:

Louise Chang, MD, FACP is a physician executive and internal medicine physician with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of clinical care, digital health, and healthcare innovation. She currently serves as Global Vice President of Clinical Strategy & Partnerships at Elsevier, where she leads clinical strategy for a global portfolio of evidence-based clinical decision support and workflow solutions, including the development of responsible, AI-enabled tools used by clinicians.

Dr. Chang has held senior clinical and product leadership roles across startups, scale-ups, and established organizations, including Babylon Health, WebMD, and the American Cancer Society.

A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.

At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.

In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.

If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link.

Rural communities often face a grim choice: drive three hours for a specialist or wait nine months. This massive barrier to specialty care is one of the biggest drivers of health inequity.

What if a primary care provider could get a specialist consult and a clear next step for their patient in a matter of seconds, right there in the exam room? Reza Sanai, a cardiologist and founder of Picasso MD, is on The Tech Glow Up to detail the curbside consult platform that’s transforming specialty access.

Picasso MD’s three-pronged approach is designed to reinforce the primary care office, the most critical space in the world, by eliminating a significant percentage of unnecessary referrals and optimizing care. Reza explains that the technology is designed for physician adoption: three clicks, and a provider is live-chatting with a specialist in an average of 17 seconds.

This ensures a patient walks out with an answer, not a phone number and a nine-month wait. The philosophy driving the company is simple: connect with your community and practice value-based care.

By making specialists more accessible, Picasso MD is not only improving patient outcomes but is also optimizing the patient before their in-person visit, which is a key value proposition for the entire healthcare system.

Episode Highlights

• Techquity Definition: Tech equity in healthcare means technology that drives better access, personalized care, and inclusion of marginalized populations.
• Specialty Access Gap: The Picasso MD platform was created to bridge the 9- to 12-month wait times often seen for specialty care in rural and underserved communities.
• Physician-Designed Workflow: The platform is engineered for speed, allowing a PCP to connect with a specialist in under 20 seconds for real-time clinical decision support during a normal 15-minute patient visit.
• Referral Optimization: A sophisticated algorithm prioritizes provider favorites and local networks for referrals before relying on the platform's network, ensuring local care is always first.
• Patient Navigation: The company believes the next major wave of health innovation is helping patients navigate their path from an initial AI/LLM inquiry to thoughtful, value-oriented specialist throughputs.

Reza’s origin story, rooted in giving out his mobile number to colleagues to build trust and cut down on unnecessary ER visits, proves that scaling impact begins with prioritizing the provider and patient experience.

Watch the full video on YouTube, and please like and subscribe to The Tech Glow Up!

A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.

At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.

In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.

If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link.