How we made patient experience a strategic priority and got buy-in to do it.

If you’ve ever tried to book a medical appointment, you know how challenging the experience can be. You call during business hours, leave a voicemail, play tag, wait days for a response — and often still don’t get what you need. Meanwhile, in many other industries, your needs are anticipated: Your food is delivered when and where you want it, your packages arrive with real-time tracking, and your media is personalized down to the thumbnail.

The gap between consumer-grade service and healthcare is staggering — and unacceptable. That’s what drives my work every day and that’s why, at UChicago Medicine, we’re laser-focused on delivering a new kind of healthcare experience: One that treats people like people, not patient IDs.

At 17% of the U.S. GDP, healthcare is the largest industry in the world and, if we’re being honest, somehow the most antiquated when it comes to modernizing the customer experience. The burden to navigate it falls entirely on the patient, even during some of the hardest moments of their life. And the irony? We sit on more data that could accelerate tech adoption than just about any industry out there.

What we lack isn’t information. It’s integration. It’s usability. It’s empathy at scale.

When I joined UChicago Medicine, I wasn’t looking for a job. But they said they wanted “digital transformation” and I asked what that meant to them, they said, “You tell us.” That’s when I pitched a simple but powerful idea: Healthcare should be as easy as ordering a Whopper™.

You should be able to schedule, reschedule, ask a question, or follow up whenever and however you want. That means on your phone, via voice, email, or text, 24/7, with no handoffs, no confusion, no hoops. It means Netflix-level personalization with Fort Knox security, as other experts put it. And it means transforming the systems under the hood to make that seamless experience possible. 

And you know what they said to that? “Do it here.” So here we are.

To lay the data foundation for this vision, we were initially looking for a customer data platform (CDP). Frankly, Salesforce wasn’t the first name that came to mind. But then I looked deeper and saw an important distinction: Most CDPs are ad-centric, but Data 360 is experience-centric. It’s designed to collect every touchpoint, every behavioral signal, and make them actionable.

I wanted Data 360 to be our cross-enterprise capability to segment smarter, personalize responsibly, and act in real time. But it wasn’t an easy pitch internally. I’m a marketing guy. I’m supposed to ask for money to make commercials, not solve our data woes. But I come from the analytics side of marketing. I believe data is our differentiator, so I built the business case, department by department. What’s in it for the CIO? The analytics team? Clinical teams? Every stakeholder got a custom deck with a clear “What’s in it for me?”

We got buy-in across the board, and were able to expedite launch. We’re building over 100 audience segments in the first six months. We set up control groups. We’re measuring incremental lift. And we’re seeing massive ROI in the first three months of launching personalized journeys.

It’s not rocket science. It’s about using what we already know to help people get the care they need.

Of course, all that segmentation only matters if you can act on it. That’s where Agentforce comes in.

Agentforce is how we will scale access. Scheduling an appointment, refilling a prescription, confirming availability, even finding the parking deck — it can all and should all be automated and humanized at the same time. We’ve defined our first seven use cases for Agentforce, with many using voice AI as part of a pilot, and anticipate major impacts, especially in after-hours access.

But these are just the obvious wins. If we stop at automated scheduling and FAQ assistance, shame on us. Think of the entire experience: Understanding your plan, talking to a loved one in the hospital, navigating a large medical center, paying your bill. Every touchpoint matters. And data and AI, when brought together to augment our people, lets patients redirect their time and energy to what really matters – taking care of themselves, getting healthy, living their life.

If any of this tracks with you – whether you’re in healthcare or hospitality – and you want to lead change in your company that will truly better the lives of your customers, here’s my advice on how to get the buy-in and the traction to make your data and AI vision a reality:

No one buys software — they buy outcomes. The fastest way to get buy-in is by clearly articulating the low-lift, high-return use cases that prove value right away. Ours was patient segmentation and smarter outreach, and it paid for itself in 90 days. If you're in healthcare, I've got five use cases ready to go. Just ask.

Position Data 360 and Agentforce as a platform for everyone. Clinical operations, clinical trials, access centers, billing. If they touch the customer experience, they benefit. That’s how we got traction beyond comms and marketing. The more people who feel ownership, the faster the adoption.

If you want to prove incremental lift, you need to build the test plan from day one. We also set up a control group, activated with our Data 360 segments — no spreadsheets or hand-waving. Then we tracked ROI in Tableau. That’s how you silence skepticism and keep the funding door open.

You don’t win hearts with dashboards alone. Tell the real stories: For us, that’s the patient who’s been trying to call for weeks, the mom who just wants to check in on her child in the hospital, the person who goes bankrupt after surviving cancer. Bring your customer to life so your audience is motivated by the people, not just the numbers.