Andrew Chang on AI, Marketing and Responsible Growth at UChicago Medicine

In this episode, Andrew Chang, Chief Marketing Officer, UChicago Medicine, discusses using AI and marketing technology to improve patient access, measure ROI, support responsible growth and transform the healthcare experience. He also shares UChicago Medicine's plans for its new cancer center and its broader vision for the future of care.

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- This is Laura Dirdo with the Rutgers Healthcare

- podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by

- Andrew Chiang, chief marketing officer at UChicago Medicine.

- Andrew, it's a pleasure to have you on

- the podcast today. Thanks for having me. Pleasure

- to be here. Absolutely. Now I'm excited for

- our discussion. I know we've got a lot

- to talk about. We'll dig into some of

- the cool things you're doing at UChicago as

- well as your perspective on the future. But

- before we dive in, can you tell me

- just a little bit more about yourself and

- your background?

- Yeah. Happy to.

- I am going on year three of, my

- tenure here as chief marketing officer at UChicago

- Medicine, and I can honestly say it's been

- one of the most fulfilling and exciting

- times of my life, being involved with all

- of these things that that UChicago Medicine has

- been leading the way on in in the

- way that we are trying to

- set the bar in in how health care

- gets delivered and how,

- technology

- and how marketing really shifts

- with AI and moves the needle, when it

- comes to,

- trying to change our health care industry for

- the better for everyone.

- Absolutely. No. And it's definitely an exciting place

- to be. And and as you mentioned with

- technology and AI being at the forefront of

- a lot of transformation across the health care

- system,

- you know, it takes a very special kind

- of leader to make sure you're doing that

- in the right way and and really

- transforming for the better. So could you give

- us a quick state of the union of

- what you're doing at UChicago,

- what's going well this year, and what you

- focus on for the rest of 2026?

- Sure. Yeah. We have been

- all cylinders firing at New Chicago Medicine. It's

- been

- a incredible year. We've we've really pushed

- ourselves hard

- to achieve

- and also surpass our goals.

- Our fiscal year ended in June '26, and

- the results of our fiscal year were were

- pretty exciting.

- I I would say that

- we have done so much for the community.

- We've we just released our f y twenty

- five community benefit

- guide, for the South Side and for Northwest

- Indiana and and a total to be over

- $1,100,000,000.

- And

- we are continuing to expand in Northwest Indiana.

- We have our

- Crown Point micro hospital that opened up, over

- a year ago and continuing to see just

- the demand of of serving that community, and

- it's been really exciting to see that growth.

- The other thing is

- we also just announced our our first dedicated

- president of our children's hospital, Comer,

- that

- is going to be effective as of September

- with Emily Chase. And so that's a it's

- a pretty big deal. And

- we also named Krista Correll as president of

- the Hyde Park campus for UChicago Medicine. She's

- also our system COO as well.

- So seeing all these leaders just take the

- reins and rise up,

- especially

- female leaders and diverse leaders come up and

- and

- be part of the change that UChicago Medicine

- is is striving to to hit is really

- exciting. And then lastly, from a marketing standpoint,

- we've been driving a

- a marketing program that's continuing to show positive

- ROI in a pretty significant way and and

- driving incremental appointments and doing in a way

- that is showing true incrementality

- and using that as a model for other

- health systems across the country to hopefully replicate

- and follow so that we can really show

- that the value of of marketing and what

- marketing brings to the table.

- Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. And,

- you know, it's exciting to see, as you

- mentioned,

- the leadership,

- really growing in talent pipeline evolving there at

- UChicago and then,

- you know, the marketing in particular having such

- a positive impact. And you mentioned looking at,

- the ROI of what you've been doing.

- Could you tell us a little bit more

- about that? How are you,

- thinking about, you know, measuring those types of

- results? What is really necessary in order to

- consider a project successful? And and and what

- have you found over the last year or

- so that's been,

- truly showing that value?

- Absolutely.

- Yeah. So we've set up

- a marketing technology stack that allows us to

- be

- very,

- I would I would describe it as as

- very deliberate in how we communicate

- with with our patients. And

- we're not doing just for marketing's sake. We're

- doing it to really help

- improve their health care. We're doing it in

- a way that helps fill,

- their care gaps. We're doing it in a

- way that

- that makes sure that, we increase their their

- screenings.

- If they if they miss a screening for

- whatever reason, or their annual physical or their

- wellness visits to to make sure that they're

- getting the health care that they need. And

- and so, again, we're very deliberate in how

- we set these up.

- We're not just talking about ourselves and bragging

- about ourselves that a lot of health care

- systems tend to do. It's really more about

- being there at the right time in a

- the right place to the right person.

- And the way that we've also set up

- our marketing tech stack is is that we

- do this on a test versus control basis

- where we have a holdout group when when

- we send out these messages.

- And

- we measure the difference in,

- appointments booked and and visits

- completed

- of the holdout group versus the test group

- and or the treatment group, and and we

- measure the the delta between the two. So

- we know exactly the lift that marketing has

- been able to contribute to these types of

- campaigns and these messages

- to,

- show the ROI of these efforts and also,

- how many patients we've been able to

- serve,

- and also care gaps that we can fill.

- So it it's a different way of of

- looking at how marketing is done in health

- care. It's not just about brand and brand

- awareness and brand perception. It's it's both brand

- and

- appointments and, making sure that we're we're taking

- care of the community. And and that is,

- frankly, one of the most exciting things that

- I've ever worked on, and it's been a

- a great ride. And we're doing a lot

- more of it for the rest of this

- year.

- Awesome. Amazing to hear. And, you know, really

- cool to have that opportunity to evolve how

- you're thinking about

- marketing and what's that really looks like when

- you are,

- promoting and building health care access. It's just

- really truly exciting to see.

- Now what are some of the headwinds as

- well that you're keeping your eye on and

- prepared for? I know we'll talk a bit

- about the next couple of years.

- So

- for the future, what are some of the

- things that you're keeping your eye on and,

- preparing for?

- Yeah. What you know, something that, we're we're

- really proud of is the work we're doing

- with AI and AgenTek AI and how we

- could

- shape the way that

- health care is delivered.

- We

- launched our

- omnichannel patient engagement strategy last year and went

- live with our first chatbot on their website

- where it is, answering basic questions, and now

- it's evolved to booking,

- appointments using our chatbot

- and also the ability to cancel appointments or

- or change appointments using our chatbot. But that's

- just on our website. What we are working

- on now is for the next phase is

- could we allow patients to do this using

- texting or SMS? Could we allow patients to

- use this,

- with by talking to a bot via the

- phone?

- And what that enables us to do is,

- a couple things. First, it allows patients to

- access their health care and book appointments on

- their own terms, on their own schedule instead

- of having to call between certain hours of

- the day and talk to a human to

- do so if they choose not to. And

- then second is

- those, patients, especially like my mom who who

- will never talk to a bot and never

- wants to talk to a bot, she always

- wants to talk to a live person. So

- we absolutely

- should let that happen anytime our patients want

- as well.

- And

- so our our human agents will have the

- ability to have deeper relationships and conversations,

- without having to have the stress of of

- trying to make sure that all the calls

- are answered, etcetera, etcetera. Like, we're we're we're

- trying to let health care,

- come on the patient's terms as opposed to

- health care come on the hospital's terms. So

- so stay tuned, but but we have some

- pretty ambitious announcements to make around the strategy,

- and it's only just the beginning. So,

- it's it's quite the quite the exciting times

- to be,

- in at UChicago Medicine and hopefully will lead

- the way,

- to

- improve how health care is delivered for our

- communities.

- That's very exciting to hear. And I think

- especially when you talk about,

- you know, some of the different opportunities, whether

- it's the human agents, the bots, how AI

- is really working with the human workforce in

- order to superpower them and create those accessibility

- touch points, across the care continuum.

- And and so when you look at the

- strategy and and you kind of think through,

- you know, where everything is headed, obviously, it's

- hard to have a crystal ball, but where

- are some of those opportunities for growth and

- development? What are you focused in on even

- two to three years down the line?

- Yeah. From a growth and development standpoint, there's

- it's it is health care, so we're full

- of opportunities.

- We're continuing

- to expand in areas,

- outside of Chicago and and

- in North like, in Northwest Indiana, like I've

- mentioned, as well as continuing to grow our

- our joint venture with AdventHealth in the Western

- Suburbs.

- And and we have very ambitious growth goals

- that

- are outlined in our ten year strategic plan

- called Elevate 2035.

- So,

- you know, the board and Dean Anderson and

- Tom Jack was our president. They're really pushing

- hard to make sure that UChicago Medicine is

- continuing to grow, but doing it in a

- way that is responsible and making sure that

- we're doing it in a way that is

- beneficial for the entire community

- and doing it in a cost efficient way

- and trying to honestly lower the cost of

- care overall.

- And,

- again,

- just become a role model in in how

- growth can be done responsibly in this country.

- That makes a lot of sense. And, you

- know, to your point, when you think about

- growth, obviously,

- it needs to be responsible in the health

- care side so you can,

- make sure you've got a stable organization and

- and,

- something that's sustainable,

- you know, for years to come. And so

- when you think about that, think about the

- benefits as well as,

- making sure you're responsible with the resources you

- use and dollars you spend. What does that

- look like for you on the marketing side?

- Yeah. You know, it is

- a

- it is something that keeps me up at

- night is

- how do we make sure that the dollars

- that we are,

- given the privilege to spend is spent in

- the most beneficial way for the community and

- for our health system.

- And

- the the worst thing that I could do

- is use these marketing dollars and just waste

- it and have nothing to show for it

- because

- all that does is contribute to the overall

- health care, spend problem.

- And so it's something that really drives me

- on a personal level is is making sure

- that we are using these resources to the

- best of our ability in a responsible way.

- And that's why we do the incremental testing.

- That's why we measure our ROI. That's why

- we have a

- pretty quantified goal that we set for the

- entire department that we,

- try to strive for and then work with

- our partners outside of marketing, whether it's, population

- health or or our urban health initiative or

- our hospital leadership or our service line and

- specialty leadership,

- making sure that we're putting our dollars and

- time in areas that are the biggest priorities

- and needs for our hospital system, which is

- a reflection of the biggest needs

- of our community.

- A great example, honestly, is is the cancer

- pavilion that we're opening next year about,

- in the April time frame.

- And

- we're we're building,

- you know, Illinois' first stand alone cancer center,

- and it is the first one that the

- state has.

- But, you know, that fact alone isn't necessarily

- something that we're gonna wanna brag about and

- and try to

- help change perceptions. It's really what are we

- gonna do with it? What are we gonna

- do with our freestanding

- cancer center or what we call the,

- cancer pavilion?

- And

- how do we make sure that

- physicians

- are allowed to

- refer to us, and we have innovative research,

- innovative treatments that is was not possible before.

- The experience that the patients have

- will be a totally different and new and

- unmatched experience that we've been very focused on

- the experiential aspect.

- And so, really, at the end of the

- day, it's

- How do we make sure that?

- The the appropriate people and communities are aware

- of those aspects of it so that we're

- not just talking about a building, right? We're

- we're talking about

- about how we're transforming the way that cancer

- is is treated and cared for, and that's

- going to wanna make people

- increase the trust in in the health care

- system as a whole.

- Absolutely. That's amazing to hear, and what a

- great example illustrating,

- everything you're trying to do with the cancer

- pavilion. I think, you know, exciting to have

- that type of innovation and resource

- available to the community,

- because I know cancer is such a big

- challenge for so many. And,

- having those treatments available and,

- services for the patients really makes a big

- difference.

- Yeah. For sure. Absolutely. And and we're really

- serious about it. And I think I think

- it will be a game changer

- for

- the Chicago,

- metro area.

- Absolutely. Well, fantastic. And, you know, before we

- wrap up, I wanted to ask you about

- leadership too.

- Who is a leader that you admire really

- from any industry and why?

- Well,

- there's a lot of leaders. I,

- one of my personal hobbies is to

- understand the biographies of every US president that

- we've ever had and and even collect, like,

- a memento of each president.

- So it's something that I think about

- quite a lot.

- But the the person that really comes to

- mind right now is is probably

- not someone you would expect, not a US

- President, I would say.

- Well, so on the board

- of WABE, which is the

- NPR station for

- the Atlanta region because that's where I'm from,

- and and so I continue to serve on

- that board. And,

- you know, when I when I think about

- leadership, I think about mister Rogers, actually,

- because

- he,

- I don't know if you remember this, but,

- in the late sixties, he had a testimony,

- in front of Congress, to the senate where

- he was speaking on behalf of

- public media,

- and the proposal was to cut funding by

- about 50%.

- And so public broadcasting asked mister Rogers Fred

- Rogers to testify in front of congress and

- and and convince them and tell them why

- this is a big mistake and why

- and and why public media is such an

- important asset for the community.

- And,

- because of his testimony, he was able to

- change

- the recommendation of that subcommittee that he was

- testifying in front of.

- And of all people, mister Roger was the

- one that did it. And and you think

- of him as, like, the nicest guy and

- and then and our neighbor and and someone

- someone that we just watched growing up. But,

- man, he he he was able to really

- step up,

- in a really dire

- environment and time in front of,

- a committee that was

- pretty much set on making these cuts. And

- I think the testimony

- as a whole was only, like, six minutes,

- but

- he was so articulate

- and

- calm and poised and convincing in the way

- that he delivered his remarks.

- And to me, that's kind of

- how leadership is is

- you don't necessarily

- expect leaders to,

- be the, you know, the presidents. You you

- you can

- anyone can be a leader, and and show

- up and

- even in front of congress to argue up

- for a position that's

- best for the community,

- and be able to succeed.

- So when I think about leadership, when you

- ask that question, I'm I'm thinking mister Rogers

- right now because of what he was able

- to do for for public broadcasting. And I

- think health care is in that same position

- today.

- You know, we need leaders to step up

- and fight and and

- step up to help defend

- what we think is best for our patients

- and for

- the communities that we serve.

- And I just wish more people did that.

- And, you know, UChicago Medicine is absolutely at

- the table and pushing to

- have a voice, and and they do have

- a voice. But the point is it it

- can just come from anywhere where you least

- expect it. So I'm sorry for that long

- winded answer, but that was a

- timely question.

- No. I I love that.

- You know, really truly to your point and

- seeing how one person can make such a

- big impact and difference and then knowing,

- you know, that mission that was involved of

- connecting people and really,

- strengthening the health and wellness of communities is

- another shared space where, you know, having that

- type of, leadership and ability,

- to communicate what's going on, in a meaningful

- way,

- makes a big difference. So I love that.

- CEO of Public Broadcasting. Right? It wasn't it

- wasn't the president of the Public Broadcasting,

- corporation. It was mister Rogers,

- who no one

- like, it it was just kind of out

- of the blue, and it was just the

- perfect person to do it.

- Yeah. Absolutely.

- For sure.

- Well, perfect. I I love that. And, you

- know, thank you so much, Andrew, for your

- time today. This has been such a fun

- conversation, and I'm excited to see you as

- well,

- at our health IT RCM event and then

- CEO CFO roundtable too coming up this fall.

- I know you'll be speaking on panels and

- really providing some great context and information

- for,

- leaders right now in terms of what you're

- doing in your Chicago Medicine. So I'll be

- excited to see you there and catch up

- and continue the conversation.

- Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity, and it's

- always fun to talk to you.