Podcast Summary: "The Future of Healthcare Marketing with AI and Agentic Technology"

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast – September 16, 2025
Guests:

• Chris Bevelo, Chief Transformation Officer, BPD
• Andy Chang, Chief Marketing Officer, UChicago Medicine
  Host: Becker’s Healthcare

Episode Overview

This episode dives deeply into the rapidly evolving world of healthcare marketing, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), particularly agentic technology, and its profound impact on marketing strategy, patient experience, and everyday operations for health systems. Chris Bevelo and Andy Chang explore tangible ways AI is reshaping work—from automating mundane tasks to fundamentally changing the way patients and consumers interact with healthcare brands. The discussion offers strategic insights, bold predictions, and actionable examples from the front lines in both technology and healthcare marketing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Use of AI: From Search Engines to Everyday Productivity

• Andy Chang reveals that AI has become deeply embedded in his daily life, stating he has "stopped using Google" and now only uses Perplexity for searches ([05:06]), leveraging it for everything from drafting emails to finding restaurant recommendations.
• He frequently utilizes "Agentic" AI and is particularly interested in emerging 'connectors' or open language connectors (MCP), which enable more seamless integrations across platforms and tasks.

"Let's just say a lot. A lot. Yeah." – Andy Chang ([06:01])

2. What is Agentic AI and Why It Matters

• Definition: Andy defines agentic AI as technology that can "handle tasks automatically"—replacing manual work with intelligent agents that interact with interfaces for the user ([07:30]).
• Impact: He argues that agentic is more transformative than generative AI: while generative AI saves time on tasks, agentic AI can save entire days and produce real financial ROI.
• Example: Andy shares a compelling example where he used agentic AI to complete mandatory compliance training and testing for him, and to automate complex website searches ([09:43]).

"Agentic, you save days and you save real dollars... That's where the true ROI of AI comes in from my standpoint." – Andy Chang ([08:23])

3. The End of Websites (As We Know Them)

• Prediction: Andy predicts a seismic change as agentic AI makes front-end websites less relevant for conversion activities ([12:01]).
• Rationale: If digital agents can interact directly with each other (e.g., booking flights or medical appointments), traditional websites become unnecessary for users—they leverage their agents instead.
• Marketing Implications: This shift signals the end of content-based SEO and the need to rethink digital presence; traffic to traditional web content, like blogs, is already declining sharply.

"It is the beginning of the end of websites as we know it. Think about that." – Andy Chang ([12:01])
"Websites are going to be more just for content curiosity, but not for conversion... That's going to be handled by your agent." – Andy Chang ([13:31])

4. The Fate of the Internet and Email in an AI World

• Internet Content Chaos: With AI making it trivial to flood the internet with content, the risk of information overload and veracity issues is real ([16:09]).
• Andy predicts more sophisticated fact-checking bots and possible paywalls for AI scraping content, but believes that human content consumption habits and the need for connection will keep the internet relevant ([17:46]).
• Email Extinction: AI will increasingly handle (and respond to) communications via email, automating sorting, responding, and categorization—making human-written emails rare ([20:30]).
• New connectors (e.g., Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s Gmail integrations) are already automating communication and could soon render email as we know it obsolete for interpersonal connection.

"Email is going to just become another way of an outdated mode of transportation, so to speak. And we'll just use that infrastructure to build more modern stuff on top of it." – Andy Chang ([21:24])

5. Engineering Personalized, Frictionless Healthcare Experiences

• Beyond Traditional Marketing: Andy emphasizes that marketing is more than just “pretty pictures and ads.” It encompasses every patient touchpoint—from the parking garage to phone calls ([25:45]).
• MarTech Stack Vision: UChicago Medicine is building an integrated technology stack (with Salesforce partnership) to collect all touchpoint data into a CDP (customer data platform), then activate agentic AI for hyper-personalized interactions.
• Goal: Any patient, regardless of communication preference (phone, SMS, chat, email), should find frictionless access. This requires a radical reorientation and operational overhaul with cross-functional buy-in across compliance, IT, operations, and marketing ([30:41]).

"We shouldn't care how you choose to interact... We force you to only interact with us one way—that day and age is I'm trying to make it come to an end." – Andy Chang ([28:48])

• Analogy: He likens it to how fast food apps let you order your meal exactly how and where you want it—healthcare must become equally “easy” and responsive.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |---|---|---| | 06:01 | "Let's just say a lot. A lot. Yeah." | Andy Chang | | 07:30 | "My definition of agentic is being able to handle tasks automatically. That even with a generative AI would have required you to do some manual clicking or typing..." | Andy Chang | | 08:23 | "Agentic, you save days and you save real dollars... That's where the true ROI of AI comes in from my standpoint." | Andy Chang | | 09:57 | "The AI took the [compliance training] test for me and got an 80% which was the minimum required to pass." | Andy Chang | | 12:01 | "It is the beginning of the end of websites as we know it. Think about that." | Andy Chang | | 13:31 | "Websites are going to be more just for content curiosity, but not for conversion activity or calls to action. That's going to be handled by your agent." | Andy Chang | | 20:30 | "I think [the death of email] is way more feasible... Email is going to just become another way of an outdated mode of transportation." | Andy Chang | | 21:24 | "We'll just use that infrastructure to build more modern stuff on top of it." | Andy Chang | | 25:45 | "Marketing is more about rating that perception in someone's mind in a positive way using every touch point." | Andy Chang | | 28:48 | "We shouldn't care how you choose to interact... That day and age is I'm trying to make it come to an end." | Andy Chang |

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:21] – AI in daily work: shifting away from Google, using Perplexity, agentic AI
• [07:30] – Andy defines agentic AI, why he finds it more exciting than generative AI
• [09:43] – Real-world example: agentic AI completing compliance training, website data extraction
• [12:01] – Prediction: The end of websites as primary interfaces
• [14:43] – Decline of traditional content, impact on SEO and marketing
• [16:09] – Concerns over content overload and AI-generated noise on the Internet
• [20:30] – Email’s future in the AI era: automation, obsolescence
• [25:45] – Reimagining the MarTech stack: moving to frictionless, multi-channel patient experience
• [30:41] – Cross-disciplinary approach to technology transformation at UChicago Medicine

Episode Tone & Dynamics

• Conversational, humorous, and open, with occasional light banter (e.g., discussing video games and analogies with intestines to healthcare experiences).
• Both guests challenge traditional mindsets and rally listeners to “leave status quo thinking in the dust” and aggressively embrace innovation.

Summary & Takeaways

This episode offers an unflinching look at where healthcare marketing is headed in the age of AI, especially agentic AI, which is poised not just to automate tasks but to upend fundamental assumptions about digital presence, communication, and patient experience. The pace of change is accelerating, with real examples already in play. Healthcare systems—and their marketing leaders—must act now to stay relevant, creating customer journeys that prioritize choice, ease, and personalization at every turn.

For those in healthcare leadership, digital strategy, or marketing, this episode is both a wake-up call and a practical guide for what’s possible—and essential—in a rapidly changing technological world.