Episode #212. AI Can’t Speak Every Language, But Leaders Still Have To, with Koh Kerdsri, Chief Information Officer at Clever Care Health Plan

Summary

Podcast Summary: Risk Never Sleeps Podcast

Episode: #212. "AI Can’t Speak Every Language, But Leaders Still Have To"
Host: Ed Gaudet
Guest: Koh Kerdsri, Chief Information Officer, Clever Care Health Plan
Date: April 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features a candid conversation between host Ed Gaudet and Koh Kerdsri, CIO of Clever Care Health Plan, live from the VIVE event. The discussion revolves around the challenges and innovations in digital healthcare, especially the complexities of integrating AI in linguistically diverse environments. Koh shares his journey from Thailand to the US, his philosophy on leadership, the risks facing patients and organizations in the digital age, and why language and cultural competence are critical for both technology and leadership in healthcare.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background and Role at Clever Care

• Koh’s Experience: 26 years in healthcare IT, experience on both payer and provider sides (including 16 years at Centene) [01:03–01:49].
• Organization: Clever Care Health Plan focuses on culturally sensitive, competent Medicare Advantage in Southern California, serving ~45,000 members, many of whom speak Korean, Vietnamese, Cantonese, or Mandarin [01:03].
• Scope of Role: Koh is responsible for enterprise IT, AI governance, data strategy, and innovation [01:03–01:39].

2. Strategic Priorities & Challenges with AI

• Strategic Focus: Strengthening IT security, developing effective AI strategies tailored to their diverse, senior member base [02:11].
• Multilingual AI Limitations: Struggles to find AI tools offering accurate translation/transcription for multiple Asian languages [02:11–02:41].
  • Notable Insight: “To find any AI agent that able to do transcription translation accurately in these languages is not easy to find.” – Koh Kerdsri [02:29].
• Current Solutions: Testing various AI tools for at least 90%+ accuracy; continuous refinement and vendor selection process [02:43].

3. Serving a Multilingual, Culturally Diverse Population

• Geography Covered: Orange County, LA County, Inland Empire, Riverside, San Bernardino County [03:01–03:09].
• Member-Centered Approach: Audience Q&A at a recent panel emphasized the importance of patient/member feedback and advocacy—not just provider- or plan-driven strategies [03:53].
  • Notable Quote: “Many times we try to do a lot of things that are provider-driven and plan-driven rather than member-centric.” – Koh Kerdsri [03:57].
• Operational Approach:
  • High-touch concierge services.
  • Immediate language recognition at call centers.
  • Salesforce-driven “member360” profiles for personalized service [04:27].

4. Personal Journey and Lessons Learned

• Immigrant Experience: Koh moved from Thailand (Tuan Ani, near Bangkok) to the US at 22 for a master’s degree, citing the risk and reward of leaving family and adapting to a new language and culture [06:00, 08:21].
  • Memorable Reflection: “That first flight, it’s the riskiest thing that I believe I took, but it has been rewarding.” [08:21]
• Career Motivation: Initially knew little about healthcare; viewed the field’s tech lag (vs. finance) as an opportunity to make a meaningful impact, especially due to privacy and HIPAA standards [05:22–05:59].
• Advice to Younger Self: “Pause and celebrate small wins and smell roses along the way because sometimes we forget to enjoy the surrounding... Be present.” [06:16–06:48]

5. Leisure, Risk, and Resilience

• Hobbies/Balance: Enjoys hiking (notably Potato Chip hike in Arizona), working out (body pump, boxing, HIIT, yoga), and sitcoms for relaxation [07:08–09:35].
• Perspective on Risk: The act of immigrating to the US was the greatest risk—and most rewarding decision [08:21].
• Cultural Adaptation: Reflects on choosing the US over Australia or England, ongoing visits back to Thailand [08:59–09:10].

6. Security and Social Engineering Threats in Healthcare

• AI-Driven Scams: Personal anecdote of a friend whose mother was scammed by AI deepfakes mimicking her son’s voice, underlining sophisticated threats faced by patients and families [10:36–11:28].
  • Notable Quote: “The mom believe it is her son and she transferred the money to him not one time. Two times. Until the third time she felt like what’s going on?...But it’s the voice, the sentiment is exactly her son.” – Koh [11:01–11:18]
• Education & Awareness: Emphasizes the importance of staying ahead of scam tactics, both for professionals and patients [10:01–10:30].

7. Leadership Philosophy and Change Management

• Coaching Mindset: Sees leadership as modeling both technical and soft skills, mentoring/guiding staff at all levels [12:04–12:36].
  • “Be a servant leader is good.” – Koh [12:36]
• On Change: Understands change as unavoidable and chooses to see it as a growth opportunity. Uses his own adaptation story to guide others through uncertainty [12:54–13:42].
  • Notable Analogy: “When the wind of the direction change people create a wall…Or a windmill. It’s up to you.” – Koh [13:34–13:40]
• Giving Back: Guest-lectures at USC and actively mentors students and professionals—even post-class via LinkedIn [14:25–14:48].
  • “Make myself as a give back to the community and talk to them. And become a mentor.” – Koh [14:33–14:48]

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Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 02:29 | Koh Kerdsri | “To find any AI agent that able to do transcription translation accurately in these languages is not easy to find.” | | 03:57 | Koh Kerdsri | “Many times we try to do a lot of things that are provider-driven and plan-driven rather than member-centric.” | | 06:16 | Koh Kerdsri | “Pause and celebrate small wins and smell roses along the way because sometimes we forget to enjoy the surrounding... Be present.” | | 08:21 | Koh Kerdsri | “That first flight, it’s the riskiest thing that I believe I took, but it has been rewarding.” | | 11:01–11:18 | Koh Kerdsri | “The mom believe it is her son and she transferred the money to him not one time. Two times...But it’s the voice, the sentiment is exactly her son.” | | 12:36 | Koh Kerdsri | “Be a servant leader is good.” | | 13:34–13:40 | Koh Kerdsri | “When the wind of the direction change people create a wall…Or a windmill. It’s up to you.” |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:03] Koh’s background and current role overview
• [02:11] AI and IT security as strategic priorities
• [03:53] Discussion of member-centric vs. provider-centric approaches
• [04:27] Operations: member360, call center language integration
• [05:22] Koh’s entry into healthcare and industry differences
• [06:16] Advice to his younger self: “Be present”
• [08:21] “Riskiest thing”: moving to the US
• [10:36] AI-driven social engineering attacks (deepfake voice scam anecdote)
• [12:04] Reflecting on leadership and mentoring
• [12:54] Change management: wall or windmill analogy
• [14:25] Mentoring through guest lecturing and giving back

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Memorable Moments

• The harrowing story of a family targeted by voice-based AI scams, illustrating real-world risks for healthcare organizations and their members [10:36–11:28].
• The “wall or the windmill” analogy encapsulating Koh’s philosophy on change [13:34–13:40].
• Koh’s emphasis on presence—both as a professional and in personal life—provides a humanizing note to the conversation.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a rich blend of pragmatic leadership advice, strategic insights into AI’s limitations for culturally diverse healthcare populations, and personal anecdotes that illuminate both the risks and rewards of working—and living—at the intersection of technology and humanity. Koh Kerdsri models a leadership approach rooted in adaptability, mentorship, and continuous learning—vital for leaders navigating both digital and cultural complexity in healthcare today.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to Risk Never Sleeps where we meet and get to know the people delivering patient care and protecting patient safety. I'm your host, Ed Gaudette. Welcome to the Risk Never Sleeps podcast in which we learn about the people that are on the front lines protecting patient safety and delivering patient care. I'm Ed Gaudette, the host of the program and I'm live at VIVE and I'm here with CO Curtsey from Clever Care Health Plan. Hello sir. Good morning.

[A]

Good morning and happy to be here.

[B]

Yeah. Happy Tuesday.

[A]

Happy Tuesday.

[B]

When did you get into town?

[A]

I had to speak on Sunday, so I dropped in Sunday.

[B]

Oh, what was your topic, what was your session on the topic about how

[A]

to balance between technology, AI with human being.

[B]

Oh, we have a lot to talk about. I love that. I love that topic. Let's start off with maybe sharing a little bit with our listeners about yourself, your organization and your current role.

[A]

Yes, a little bit about myself. I have been in the healthcare industry for 26 years, responsible for the information technology security along with the data services, data structure including star rating research men. My role at clevercare is a cultural sensitive and competent Medicare Advantage. We serve about 45,000 member in Southern California and my role is responsible for the entire enterprise, IT innovation, AI governance and data strategy and services.

[B]

Excellent. Is this the first time you've done a health plan or.

[A]

I have been on the both the health plan side and also provider side. Yeah.

[B]

I saw you were at Centene for a while, correct?

[A]

Yeah, 16 years. Yeah.

[B]

What's the difference difference between the two or types of organizations?

[A]

Sentient. Definitely a bigger organization, big corporation there and this is smaller organization. So I feel like I have a really great impact into a smaller organization here. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Over the next couple of years, what do you see as your top strategic initiatives?

[A]

I think strengthening the IT security IT become a big deal and also exploring AI strategy. AI agentic for us it's a little bit challenging given that our population that we serve, the senior who, you know what we have is the Korean speaking, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin. So to find any AI agent that able to do transcription translation accurately in these languages is not easy to find

[B]

anybody out there any solution out there that can.

[A]

We are looking to that solution. We doing a particular use case in particular languages to make sure that we meet a minimum 90 plus percent accuracy there. But we in the process of refining and retuning to make sure that we pick the best partner with us. Okay.

[B]

And you said Southern California, so Orange

[A]

County, LA County, Inland Empire, Riverside, San Bernardino County, Okay. Yeah.

[B]

It's a pretty large area. Yes.

[A]

Surface area.

[B]

What as you talked about your session the other day, what were some of the top. What were some of the key learnings that. That you felt like? Was it a panel or was it just you speaking on the panel? Panel.

[A]

Ye.

[B]

Was there anything you picked up on the panel from the other participants?

[A]

That it's always a good learning from the other panel how they deploy AI agentic in particular, how successful. Certain things that went well. There's certain things that they have to pull back to learn from that. I think it's a good opportunity. And at the same time we do get the Q and A from the audience.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For that. Really interactive. And get to hear their perspective. Yeah. How we position the organization there.

[B]

Could you summarize that? Like what were you hearing from the audience in terms of maturity?

[A]

Yes. The audience is asking specifically how we put the patient or the member at the core there. You know, many times we try to do a lot of things that are provider driven and plan driven rather than member centric. Right. For example, they're asking, do you have member advocacy? What do you do to get the member feedback to improve the overall engagement, to improve the outcome?

[B]

Yeah. And I imagine as part of your AI governance committee, you probably want to have that patient advocacy.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

As part of that.

[A]

Right, it's part of that. We have that and also we. Our concierge services high touch member. So we listen to all the feedback and we continue to improve using data analytics, prediction analytics and all of that to make sure that we improve our re stratification. And we have the language is the first queue in our call center there. So therefore once the member call in, we know right away what language the member speaking. And we have the CRM salesforce tool that pretty much we try to do a member360 profile. So when the member call in with the phone number, if a one to one match, we able to populate the member screen so that our representative can have all the interaction that the member has with us. Right. Any campaign that we have with our member at their fingertips.

[B]

Okay. As you think about your personal journey, what inspired you to get into healthcare? How did you.

[A]

When I first came here, I came here as an immigrant student visa. Okay. I don't know much about healthcare. The company that hired me at the time, at that time and sponsor happened to be in healthcare industry. So once I get into it, I get to learn. Wow, this is really interesting how the technology is from healthcare perspective. It's a little behind compared to financial.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

The technology there. So I look at that as a good opportunity to make an impact because we have protected health information, we have HIPAA and all of that which is not basically a standard that outside is considering of United States there. Yeah.

[B]

And where were you born? Where did you.

[A]

Thailand.

[B]

Thailand. Oh, nice.

[A]

Whereabouts I was born about the city is called Tuan Ani which is like two and a half to three hours north of Bangkok. Bangkok. Yeah.

[B]

Okay, excellent. If you could go back in time and see your 20 year old self, what would you tell him?

[A]

I am a person that career driven and productivity driven multitask. I would tell my 20 years old self that. You know what, at the end of the day let's pause and celebrate small win and smell roses along the way because sometimes we forget to enjoy the surrounding. Forget to enjoy the moment. Yeah. So there's a good time. Hey, you know what is a lot of things that you can enjoy? So your people, your surrounding that would be.

[B]

Yeah. Be present.

[A]

Be present. Exactly.

[B]

Because you're going to blink and it's gone.

[A]

Yeah. Sometimes that you have to tell myself because I Too many things going on your mind, it get distracted.

[B]

My father used to tell me that all the time. They like.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What would you think about the things that you do outside of work? What would you be doing if you weren't doing this job? Any hobbies or.

[A]

Yes, I enjoy. My family enjoy hiking. We enjoy to explore different places that we haven't been, get used to, see what's going on. We always plan vacation ahead of time, but on a regular routine. I enjoy working out so I do body pump, body combat, kickboxing, boxing. Oh wow. Okay. Pilates, yoga, high intensity training. I felt like when I exercise my mind is up, my phone is down. So I pay attention to the class, I pay attention to what I do at that time and it make me physically stronger and at the same time it make me mentally stronger.

[B]

Yeah, mentally clearer too.

[A]

Mentally clear. Sleep well and you get a good rest. Yeah.

[B]

Have you been to Bryce or have you been to Zion hiking or where are some of the places you've been?

[A]

Oh, the latest one is the potato ship hiking.

[B]

Where's that?

[A]

In Arizona. Oh, it's a hard hiking because it's elevated and then you get to walk into. They call it potato ship because it's out in the air. So it's a little scary to walk into that path. Yeah.

[B]

What's the riskiest thing you've ever done? You've done anything like skydiving or anything?

[A]

I Haven't. But I think the riskiest thing for me is to come here, take the first flight, leave all what the family behind. English is not the primary language in Thailand, so to learn new languages, don't know what's going to happen there. That first flight, it's the riskiest thing that I believe I took, but it has been rewarding. How old were you? I was 22. I finished my bachelor degree and then come here for my master degree.

[B]

Wow. Was your family able to join you at some point?

[A]

Oh, yes, they came to visit after that. Great.

[B]

And you came here first and you've been in California.

[A]

Yes, So I came here. I have my uncle there, so I. He said, oh, come over. I was thinking United States. Australia. Yeah. And England at that time. Yeah.

[B]

Have you been back to Thailand?

[A]

Oh yeah, we've been back a lot and I plan to go back this year too.

[B]

Do you ever see that show White Lotus?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is it accurate in terms of the beauty of time?

[A]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, they are. Yeah. What's the storyline? Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Interesting. What types of music do you like or movies?

[A]

I like on the movies. I like sitcom. You do a lot like the Big Bang Theory?

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Okay. Good friends office. I feel like this smart character awkwardness conversation. It made me have a good laugh at the end of the day. You know what we need?

[B]

We need to laugh.

[A]

We need to laugh. Sometimes we take life too seriously.

[B]

Amen. Yeah, so true. What advice would you have to maybe someone coming to the US for the first time or graduating school that wants to get into healthcare or it.

[A]

I would say, you know what, take that risk. There's a lot of opportunity to grow, a lot of opportunity to learn with the AI, with the security, social engineering scam tactics nowadays.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's make people vulnerable or to be able to get in front of it and be aware of what's coming. I think it's. It's really nice to know what's coming and to learn how to protect yourself and the family.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is really, really useful. Useful.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As you think back in your career, what was the greatest lesson you learned throughout your journey?

[A]

I think it's tied to the cybersecurity attack, the scam tactics. It happened to one of my close friends too. My friend and her mom was called by her brother which is the son and AI using the son's voice, learning how to speak like the son. The voice is matching perfectly and the sentiment. So the mom believe it is her son and she transferred the money to him not one time. Two times. Until the third time she felt like what's going on? And her son is a doctor. Until the third time. And then she called, hey, what's going on? And then she realized that she hasn't talking to her son, but somebody else. But it's the voice, the sentiment is exactly her son. And this is the mom and son relationship. You wouldn't believe that they wouldn't catch it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But yeah, they missed that. I felt like, wow, the tactic is up there. So we recently or last year.

[B]

Wow, that's incredible. Yeah. Deep fakes are scary. And there's individuals that are taking jobs using deep fake technology too.

[A]

And scamming companies, romance scam, a lot of stuff out there. And people even with the organization click this, click, click that and people believe it's real. Once they click it, it's exposed to. Yeah. Yeah. All of that.

[B]

You've had several leadership roles throughout your career. What do you love about leadership?

[A]

I think the leadership what I like the most is to be able to coach the team, to be able to be used yourself as a sample that people can look up to and use that opportunity to coach them, to guide them. Not just on the technical side aspect of it, but on the soft skill side of it too. Yeah. To so to be able to blend both hard skill and soft skill is critical. It's important. Yeah. And set as a good sample. Be a servant leader is good.

[B]

And how do you help people when they're. Most people don't like change and we live in a world and certainly in an industry that change is a center of our life. How do you get people to put themselves out there and not be afraid of change and actually transform themselves along with their job or their role or their organization.

[A]

Yes. I think change management is something that you cannot avoid. Everyone's going to have to experience at some point in my career. I experience changes throughout my career too through changing job acquisition and a lot of that. So I always looking at change as an opportunity to grow and to learn new things. And I like to learn new stuff too at the same time. Because once you not stop learning, you're not growing.

[B]

Yes. Yeah.

[A]

Have that mindset of learning and willing to take that change. Some people block the change. Like when the wind of the direction change people create a wall.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Or a windmill. Yes. Oh, yeah. Yes.

[B]

Yeah. The wall or the windmill.

[A]

Yeah. It's up to you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You have that option.

[B]

And I wonder if it goes back to events in our childhood along our journey that we take. Like you left Thailand and You came to the us That's a huge change and very scary as you said. Right. Very challenging. But yet you did it. So now your DNA is wired to change. Right. I similarly I left home at an early age. So I wonder if that actually has a lot to do with how people embrace change or create the wall versus the windmill.

[A]

Yes. So that my story is helping chaping people. I have an opportunity to have a one on one skip level one on one with my team to help them. Anything that I can do to coach them. And I also teaching as a guest lecturer at usc.

[B]

Oh, you are?

[A]

Oh yeah. So therefore to be able to take that question that they have and be able to respond and answer and helping them.

[B]

I love that.

[A]

And then they coming back and connect through LinkedIn and then hey, can we have additional conversation? I would like to learn more about this, about that and then make myself as a give back to the community and talk to them. Yeah.

[B]

And become a mentor.

[A]

A mentor.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think. And that's rewarding.

[B]

I love that. I love that. Thank you so much Ko for your your time today. This has really been enlightening. I really enjoyed speaking with you.

[A]

Thank you so much for the opportunity too.

[B]

This is Ed Gaudette from the Risk Never Sleeps podcast. If you're on the front lines protecting patient safety and delivering patient care, remember to stay vigilant because risk never sleeps. Foreign. Thanks for listening to Risk Never Sleeps. For the show, notes, resources and more information and how to transform the protection of patient safety, Visit [e-mail] that's C-E N S I N E T.com I'm your host, Ed Gaudet. And until next time, stay vigilant because Risk never sleeps.