Episode Overview

Title: Interview with Reed Smith, Chief Consumer Officer at Ardent Health
Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Scott King
Guest: Reed Smith, Chief Consumer Officer, Ardent Health

This episode explores the evolving landscape of healthcare consumer experience, as Reed Smith discusses his career journey, current opportunities and challenges in healthcare, the integration of technology (including AI), and the future growth trajectories he sees for health systems. Smith also shares his philosophies on leadership and maintaining purpose in challenging times.

Guest Background and Career Journey

• Reed Smith’s Start in Healthcare

  • Began 25 years ago as Director of Marketing at a Central Texas hospital.
  • Experience includes roles at the Texas Hospital Association, in consulting, and four years leading consumer-facing initiatives at Ardent Health.
  • Quote:
    “It feels like not very long ago, but it’s been probably close to 25 years now. I took my first job in healthcare as the director of marketing at a hospital in Central Texas.” — Reed Smith [01:11]

• Evolution of Responsibilities

  • Early on, led experience-based initiatives, blurring the line between marketing and patient experience.
  • Notes a modern shift toward integrated functions, especially around consumer experience.
  • Quote:
    “Some of the opportunities I had early on...turns out this day and age, it’s really hard to delineate where one starts and the other one stops.” — Reed Smith [02:04]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Healthcare Headwinds and Tailwinds

• Current Challenges

  • Ongoing industry uncertainty—particularly regarding payment models and structural changes.
  • Need to adapt to rapid changes and maintain focus on both short- and long-term strategies.

• Opportunities in Technology & Consumer Expectations

  • Growing capacity to meet patients where they are, especially through virtual care and telehealth.
  • AI is positioned as a vital opportunity for both care providers and recipients.
  • Quote:
    “We’re only a couple of minutes in and I’m going to say the word AI, but I think we’ve got a lot of opportunity both to help those that are delivering the care and receiving the care.” — Reed Smith [03:46]

Solution-Based Mindset in Healthcare

• Balanced Approach to Innovation

  • Advocates for identifying real points of friction in the patient journey.
  • Warns against implementing technology for its own sake (avoiding a “solution looking for a problem”).
  • Quote:
    “I don’t want to be solution oriented where I’ve got a solution looking for a problem. Right? So again, we have to make sure that we’re identifying the value that we would be creating both for the customer and for the organization.” — Reed Smith [05:13]

• Focusing on the Consumer Experience

  • Use consumer feedback to target real needs.
  • Success is defined by tangible improvements rather than simply adopting new tech.

Vetting New Technologies in Health Systems

• Process for Evaluating New Tools
  • Center evaluation on feedback from different consumer segments (patients, referring physicians, employers).
  • Determine whether needs are best met by process changes, people, or by technology—tech is rarely the only answer.
  • Importance of real-world evidence—consult others in the industry.
  • Memorable Moment:
    “Technology outpaces our ability to really see it mature a lot of times. And so the idea that anything’s going to come in and be exactly what you thought and solve every problem you have is probably slim to none.” — Reed Smith [07:43]

Strategic Investments for 2025

• Improving Consumer-facing Experiences

  • Prioritize reducing friction and aligning digital experiences with consumers’ expectations from other sectors.
  • Example: Deploy payment options like Apple or Google Pay—small changes with high impact.
  • Quote:
    “You don’t have [mobile payment options], then you’ve created an extra layer, an extra friction point that takes people out of the course of what they would normally do...” — Reed Smith [09:07]

• Data Quality and Searchability

  • Investing in robust data hygiene to enable trustworthy answers from AI tools and search engines.
  • Recognizes the impact of tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Future Growth Areas in Healthcare

• Virtual Care as a Growth Driver

  • Lower-acuity entry points—primary care, urgent care, and especially virtual care—will see expanded demand.
  • Emphasizes the growing role of convenience in patient choices.
  • Quote:
    “If you’re looking at entry points to the healthcare system...it’s going to be through the lens of a kind of virtual type scenario.” — Reed Smith [10:48]

• Connected Care and Wearables

  • Increasing focus on remote patient monitoring, wearables, and a seamless continuum of care.
  • The shift towards addressing both acute and broader social determinants of health (e.g., wellness, prevention).

Leadership Evolution

• Leading Post-COVID
  • Greater awareness of workforce well-being and the need to lead with empathy and recognition.
  • Leadership focused on energizing teams and supporting resilience to enable high-quality patient care.
  • Quote:
    “Evolving as a leader is really requiring you to think about the whole person that’s on your team...trying to heighten the way that we look for ways to reward and recognize folks and provide gratitude and grace even in and amongst all of that.” — Reed Smith [12:03]

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “It’s really hard to delineate where one starts and the other one stops...especially as it relates to the consumer.” — Reed Smith [02:04]
• “We’re only a couple of minutes in and I’m going to say the word AI...” — Reed Smith [03:46]
• “Look for friction...and how do you reduce that, how do you eliminate that in their lives as they interact with us?” — Reed Smith [05:45]
• “Technology outpaces our ability to really see it mature a lot of times.” — Reed Smith [07:43]
• “It’s going to be through the lens of virtual...people want to get the care they need in, out and move on.” — Reed Smith [10:48]
• “Evolving as a leader is really requiring you to think about the whole person that’s on your team.” — Reed Smith [12:03]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:44: Reed Smith’s introduction and career overview
• 03:23: Current healthcare opportunities and headwinds
• 05:11: Importance of a solution-based mindset
• 06:41: Vetting new technology in health systems
• 08:24: Most promising investments and risk areas
• 10:31: Future opportunities for health system growth
• 11:58: Reed Smith’s evolution as a leader

Summary

This episode provides actionable strategic insights for healthcare executives and those interested in organizational transformation. Smith emphasizes the ongoing integration of marketing and patient experience, the need for frictionless digital consumer experiences, pragmatic technology adoption, and leadership rooted in empathy and adaptability. His perspectives are grounded in real-world examples and future-focused thinking, especially around the continued rise of virtual care and the foundational role of reliable data.