Kim Perry Spills the Tea on Healthcare AI Beyond the Buzzword

[00:00:00] Welcome to the High Tee With Grace Podcast, where we spilled the tea on HIT.

[00:00:09] I'm thrilled to introduce you to my friend and one of the smartest people in the industry,

[00:00:15] Kim Perry, Chief Growth Officer and Intelligent.

[00:00:18] Kim, thanks for coming onto the show.

[00:00:20] Absolutely, nice to see you, Grace.

[00:00:22] So, I decided to have the conversation.

[00:00:24] So thrilled to see you.

[00:00:25] I just saw her at 5, 2024.

[00:00:28] We were to chat in AI and lots of other things related to the show.

[00:00:32] It was very exciting time and so great to be together finally.

[00:00:37] Agreed.

[00:00:38] So, I'm wondering, as someone that's deeply involved in the business of AI and healthcare,

[00:00:44] can you elaborate on your career journey and how you found yourself at the intersection

[00:00:49] of artificial intelligence and healthcare where it is today?

[00:00:53] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:00:54] I mean, it was mostly happenstance to be honest, which I think a lot of careers unfold that

[00:00:58] way.

[00:00:59] My background, I like to say, functionally grew up in sales and account management.

[00:01:02] I spent 14 years of my career at a Fortune 500 company where I like to say learned from

[00:01:08] the best.

[00:01:09] I learned from the most mature, but I found myself into healthcare because my clients

[00:01:12] were health plans, the health insurance companies.

[00:01:16] I essentially ran the portfolio of health plan clients and we outsource their back office

[00:01:21] functions.

[00:01:22] I not only became familiar with payers and their business processes, but just really that

[00:01:28] ugly back office kind of manual intensive labor intensive stuff.

[00:01:33] And I certainly sat back and thought, wow, this industry is ripe for transformation.

[00:01:37] And I want to be part of that.

[00:01:38] I didn't want to just participate in the labor arbitrage of it.

[00:01:41] So, that's when I decided to get into consulting.

[00:01:43] I used the words fear consulting.

[00:01:45] I don't know if I appreciated what that actually meant at the time, but I wanted to go to a company

[00:01:49] that was just advising, did not necessarily have a set of products to offer.

[00:01:53] So, I found myself at an earlier stage consulting firm to help them do two things.

[00:01:59] One was to launch a new industry vertical being health plan, which is my background.

[00:02:04] But the other was to open a new geography in Minnesota.

[00:02:07] So I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[00:02:10] And I found myself doing a couple of things.

[00:02:14] One was my passion emerged, which is being part of an earlier stage of a company.

[00:02:18] I really liked that kind of get scrappy scaling a business part of a journey, a company's

[00:02:24] journey.

[00:02:25] The other thing it got me into is really the strategic side of healthcare.

[00:02:28] So where we sat or what projects we delivered were really at the intersection of business-driven

[00:02:34] transformation enabled by tech.

[00:02:37] So I definitely continued my path and health plan moved into the health system side, the

[00:02:41] care delivery side, and really advised executives on their transformation.

[00:02:48] From there we scaled the firm.

[00:02:49] It was a lot of fun, but I wanted to go early stage.

[00:02:51] Again that passion of just helping companies grow in scale.

[00:02:54] So that's when I got into health tech.

[00:02:57] Most of the innovation and health tech are earlier stage.

[00:03:01] So I wanted to participate that way.

[00:03:02] And I was lucky enough and I feel privileged to have met the team.

[00:03:06] So it was the team that brought me into clinical AI or this product category.

[00:03:12] Not necessarily I thoughtfully thought that was the path I wanted to go on, but I met the

[00:03:15] team.

[00:03:16] The team is just incredible and I wanted to work with the people and then help them in their

[00:03:21] journey of scaling what is now a mature product.

[00:03:24] So that's how I found myself in the space.

[00:03:27] So interesting, Fortune 500 to start up.

[00:03:30] What is that transition like?

[00:03:32] I'm sure a lot of people are wondering, getting into that Fortune 500 you think, oh maybe

[00:03:37] I'll just stay out here.

[00:03:38] This is pretty easy and casual but it's what is that transition like and what keeps you

[00:03:43] excited about being in a startup?

[00:03:45] Yeah, that's a really good question.

[00:03:48] I'm also just going to go back to a lot of my own reflection on how I grew up and how

[00:03:53] I learned to work and a lot of it came from my observation of my parents.

[00:03:57] My dad worked in his career 30 years at the same company provided a good life so I felt

[00:04:02] like not with words but just with experience I was taught that that's what you do.

[00:04:06] Go work for a big company and do it for your whole career.

[00:04:09] And that's where I certainly started.

[00:04:12] I had a fire in my belly.

[00:04:14] I had that itch that I knew I wanted to do different work and I couldn't do it here even

[00:04:19] though I was thriving in that Fortune 500 environment and was getting promoted every few years

[00:04:25] but it was the work that drew me over so that kind of advisory versus product-based work.

[00:04:32] So I thoughtfully went to seek the experience, the work.

[00:04:37] When I was interviewing I had realized the light bulb went on that I had never been part

[00:04:41] of an early stage.

[00:04:42] I had never built or grew anything so again reflecting back on my prior experience when

[00:04:49] I was working with the Fortune 500 company, the formula was given to me.

[00:04:53] Here is the formula, here is the infrastructure, the marketing teams in place right just go

[00:04:57] execute and it was more maintenance execution oriented less strategic thinking.

[00:05:04] So that's when I decided when I went to the consulting firm to get the experience of

[00:05:08] not only consulting but also do that build phase.

[00:05:11] It's the real thinking behind how do you build a business and that is where the passion

[00:05:15] wide or continues to lie.

[00:05:19] So I think the experience you asked about what is the experience like?

[00:05:23] I felt I needed the experience of coming from mature to even know what good looked like

[00:05:29] to go deploy what I learned at an earlier stage.

[00:05:36] So I feel like my prior trajectory made sense.

[00:05:40] Again, a lot of reflection back in now makes sense.

[00:05:42] I learned from mature, I learned what good looked like and then I deployed how to build

[00:05:46] a good along the way.

[00:05:49] Interesting.

[00:05:50] It's interesting and it makes so much sense because you're such a strategic mind so

[00:05:52] it's a really great fit.

[00:05:53] So reflecting on your experience now you're in this clinical AI space.

[00:05:59] What notable challenges are you encountering in this market concerning adoption?

[00:06:05] Effective utilization of technologies within the healthcare sector?

[00:06:10] Yeah, I mean, I guess my first inclination was I was sensing solution fatigue.

[00:06:16] So the people I was talking to are currently still I'm talking to had a lot of fatigue.

[00:06:22] They have a lot of fatigue with trying out these AI solutions that I needed to understand

[00:06:28] why other industries weren't experiencing this and what I have come to understand or

[00:06:33] learn is AI, machine learning, even NLP.

[00:06:36] These are not new technologies.

[00:06:37] They've been around for years and other industries have successfully adopted these technologies

[00:06:43] and are using them actively.

[00:06:44] We all use them in our day-to-day life.

[00:06:46] And what I have come to understand is when it came to healthcare, the solutions were not

[00:06:51] fine tuned to the complexity of healthcare.

[00:06:55] And so even though the industry might have been eager to use these technologies that were

[00:06:58] successful, other places, they weren't working.

[00:07:00] And I like to say, air quotes, what I hear from people wanting to use the technologies

[00:07:06] is they it doesn't work.

[00:07:07] And what they mean by that is they are not accurate enough to be usable today in their

[00:07:13] healthcare environments.

[00:07:14] And so I would say that's probably the biggest challenge I face is this consistent exploration

[00:07:20] of solutions that have been around for years but they just don't work in the healthcare

[00:07:25] environment.

[00:07:26] Now I would argue and I'm here to say that the technology has come a long way.

[00:07:31] And so I do believe that the technology is ready to be used but we still have that fatigue

[00:07:36] that's coming with the market.

[00:07:40] So interesting this concept of fatigue, trying out so many different solutions and things

[00:07:44] going away and things not really working the way they're supposed to.

[00:07:47] And with all the buzz happening around AI in the market, we just heard it non-stop at

[00:07:52] a conference we went to and now conference we're going to coming up him's lots of AI talk,

[00:07:58] right?

[00:07:59] And there's all on top of all the fatigue this seems a little crazy.

[00:08:03] So what key points do you think that need to be brought into sharper focus for these

[00:08:08] people to help them understand like this?

[00:08:11] Yeah, really good question.

[00:08:12] I mean my feeling is AI still feels like this shiny object that people are chasing.

[00:08:17] And therefore what I'm observing is a lot of science projects, right?

[00:08:22] Point solution science projects testing it out.

[00:08:26] And I think what we need to keep in focus and what we're going to see as a trend emerge

[00:08:30] is artificial intelligence is really going to be a core tenant of an enterprise strategy

[00:08:37] in order for healthcare to evolve and transform we're going to need to deploy artificial intelligence.

[00:08:46] And so I do think it's going to be a programmatic, right?

[00:08:50] These are enterprise strategies that need to have a program that include true strategy,

[00:08:55] true vision, governance, ROI calculations, prioritization rights.

[00:09:02] That structure and rigor around enterprise strategy deployment is going to have to wrap

[00:09:08] itself around AI.

[00:09:09] I don't think we can maintain this shiny object point solution kind of fever that's in

[00:09:15] the market today.

[00:09:17] That's really interesting thought.

[00:09:20] How do you perceive these developments, this kind of enterprise structure concept enhancing

[00:09:26] usability across healthcare from providers, payers and life sciences?

[00:09:31] How is it going to impact providers?

[00:09:34] How is it going to impact payers?

[00:09:35] How is it going to impact life sciences?

[00:09:36] Can you give a use case for each sector so we can kind of understand where you're thinking

[00:09:40] it'll fit into the structures there?

[00:09:44] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:09:45] I don't even know if I can give you just one.

[00:09:47] I mean, and I also don't want to sound overly dramatic with the statement but the use cases

[00:09:51] are almost endless.

[00:09:53] Certainly as you think about the use of clinical data or clinical AI across the industry so

[00:10:00] I certainly will share my perspective on where the early use cases or the most values

[00:10:04] going to be driven from.

[00:10:05] So from a health plan or a payer perspective, I believe it usually starts with healthcare

[00:10:11] economics and risk adjustment because the ROI and the value is so high but you quickly

[00:10:16] look to other kind of core functions around stars and heaters improvement or prior authorization

[00:10:24] or care management or payment integrity.

[00:10:27] All of these core business processes of a payer can be enhanced and should be enhanced

[00:10:31] by the use of clinical AI.

[00:10:34] As you move to health systems, I think what we're seeing is now that there's critical

[00:10:38] mass of clinical data with the EMRs, they're asking themselves questions across the whole

[00:10:44] enterprise, the whole organization and they can't quite get to the answers because these

[00:10:48] tools haven't been available.

[00:10:50] So I would say general analytics to help with cohort identification, closing gaps in care,

[00:10:59] population management.

[00:11:01] And as I think about sort of the physician or clinician side of it, just the improvement

[00:11:06] and productivity, we know that they're burdened in their day to day job.

[00:11:09] And so these tools can help them do their job more efficiently.

[00:11:14] So helping with the note taking or just patient summaries that they said we know that spend

[00:11:19] a lot of time pouring through data to do.

[00:11:23] So moving on to life sciences and pharmaceutical use cases again across the whole value chain

[00:11:29] but certainly starting with drug discovery acceleration, clinical trial where you are looking

[00:11:34] for the right cohort or site selection and real world evidence, even post commercialization

[00:11:39] of the therapy providing that real world evidence that it's working.

[00:11:45] And I'll also add one that is maybe non-traditional healthcare which is life insurance re-insurance.

[00:11:49] We're noticing that they are also using clinical data to help accelerate the underwriting process.

[00:11:55] So the again use cases are potentially endless but there are some really interesting

[00:12:00] ones out there that are sort of bubbling up to the top.

[00:12:04] What is the main difference between AI and clinical grade AI?

[00:12:08] You know, it seems like people think oh let's just insert AI here and it'll just fix

[00:12:12] it.

[00:12:13] Like why does it have to be, why do large language models and healthcare, like why does

[00:12:17] it have to be clinical grade?

[00:12:19] Yeah, medicine is complex but most certainly the language of medicine is complex.

[00:12:26] It's not English.

[00:12:27] So if you think about fine tuning the understanding of medical language, it's necessary to be

[00:12:35] able to deploy the right data into these AI solutions and AI algorithms.

[00:12:41] And so that's why we believe clinical grade AI is necessary.

[00:12:44] You need to have the true understanding and the cleanish data to be able to feed to the

[00:12:50] algorithms.

[00:12:51] That makes sense like garbage in, garbage out.

[00:12:54] Absolutely.

[00:12:55] Correct.

[00:12:56] You know, we are hearing a lot about potential risks associated with AI and I'm sure you're

[00:13:01] hearing whispers of strategies and frameworks that might be essential to ensure safe ethical

[00:13:06] deployment of it in these medical contexts.

[00:13:09] Obviously where the life is on the line or major researches on the line, billions of

[00:13:13] dollars on the line.

[00:13:15] What are some strategies or frameworks you think really could make sense here?

[00:13:19] That to keep these different technologies in line?

[00:13:22] Yeah, I actually want to take a step up above deploying frameworks of strategy is around

[00:13:27] just philosophy.

[00:13:28] Yeah.

[00:13:29] I think there's two core tenets of a philosophy where we believe AI is not replacing

[00:13:37] it's enhancing or supporting.

[00:13:39] Right?

[00:13:40] So if you keep that core philosophy front of mind of how can we integrate AI into workflows

[00:13:46] to help the clinicians do their job better not replace them.

[00:13:51] So I do think that it is an important philosophy that will kind of prevent some of the dangers

[00:13:57] that we're all thinking about.

[00:13:59] I think the other thing is explainability and transparency in order to get the adoption,

[00:14:04] the users are going to have to trust it.

[00:14:05] In order to have the trust you're going to have to have the transparency and explainability

[00:14:09] understanding how the AI came up with the answer it's serving up.

[00:14:13] So I think those two philosophies if oriented around those philosophies will really start

[00:14:19] helping with kind of ease the fear of some of the challenges of using the solutions.

[00:14:27] Interesting, makes sense.

[00:14:28] If you're using it as a tool versus having it be the only tool that's being used there

[00:14:34] is a very different thought process and has a lot of different guidelines needed when

[00:14:40] you think about it that way.

[00:14:41] Yeah.

[00:14:43] When you're looking to the future and you're thinking about 5, 10, 15 years in the future

[00:14:49] what trends do you see happening?

[00:14:52] Obviously we say the trend is AI but what specific trends do you really think are going

[00:14:57] to be happening in this evolving landscape of AI applications and healthcare and more.

[00:15:03] What should we be looking for in terms of trends or even use cases for AI and more?

[00:15:07] Yeah.

[00:15:08] I think I'm just going to go back to some of my previous answers which I think this trend

[00:15:11] or the trend that I think we're going to see in 5 years is this fever and chaos will

[00:15:20] be a bit more structured.

[00:15:23] And I'll go back to I think what we're going to see is true.

[00:15:27] We will acknowledge as an industry that this technology is important to truly evolve

[00:15:33] and transform.

[00:15:35] We, this healthcare is not sustainable as it is today.

[00:15:39] From a patient population that continues to increase chronic diseases continue to increase

[00:15:45] we don't have enough clinicians to serve the population.

[00:15:47] I mean the problems that we're facing are also somewhat endless where they feel like

[00:15:53] they're endless on a day-to-day basis.

[00:15:56] We need technologies like this to help us meet the demand and meet the needs.

[00:16:02] And so I think we can't abandon.

[00:16:05] So, we are seeing fever pitch of science projects and trying it out.

[00:16:10] There's a lot of activity.

[00:16:11] I think the activity will somewhat come down and ease into kind of long-term strategies

[00:16:21] of how to think about AI.

[00:16:26] Test and evaluate different solutions in the different use cases and bring them into

[00:16:30] the organization in a thoughtful pattern.

[00:16:33] So I'm just going to kind of double down on that's the trend.

[00:16:37] It's taking the chaos and making it organized so this is a sustainable kind of movement

[00:16:43] and solution to bring to this industry to solve some of the big problems that we have

[00:16:47] ahead of us.

[00:16:48] Interesting thoughts.

[00:16:50] Now, I'd love to dive into your personal career.

[00:16:53] Thank you for giving us so much great insight on AI and healthcare and where you feel it's

[00:16:58] going and the differences between AI and clinical grade AI.

[00:17:03] But I really would love to learn a little bit about what you do for you.

[00:17:06] You know, you're a strong leader in the industry, well-loved and how do you work your best

[00:17:12] and make a difference every day?

[00:17:14] Are there different strategies that you have been placed in your personal life that

[00:17:18] just keep you going and moving and focused?

[00:17:20] That's a really good question.

[00:17:24] So first of all, I think it's probably best to understand the type of person I am,

[00:17:29] which is I get, I am passionate and I get energy from being around others.

[00:17:35] I am not the introvert.

[00:17:37] I'm your traditional extrovert.

[00:17:39] So I personally need to spend time with people.

[00:17:43] I am very curious.

[00:17:45] I want to understand their stories what they're working on because we all have different lenses

[00:17:51] and points of view that we're bringing to even similar problems.

[00:17:55] So for me, the way I like to spend my time is lots of coffee meetings, networking, phone

[00:18:01] calls, and it's really an exploration of their stories, their experiences so I can continue

[00:18:09] to learn and deploy some of their experiences in my work.

[00:18:13] And frankly, I also think to help solve some big problems, we did need to collaborate.

[00:18:17] This is not an individual sport.

[00:18:19] So how do I put the right people together?

[00:18:21] So as I collect stories and understand people are working on putting it all together in

[00:18:25] a collaborative effort.

[00:18:28] And that's really where I do get energy.

[00:18:29] It sometimes sounds exhausting and it could be physically exhausting, but that's where

[00:18:33] I build my energy from.

[00:18:36] And I also am passionate about women in leadership in general.

[00:18:39] So I do spend a lot of my time in that space advising, learning, bringing others along

[00:18:46] for the ride.

[00:18:48] How important do you feel mentorship is in your journey and in other women's journeys

[00:18:54] as they're considering their futures and really leveling up?

[00:18:57] Yeah, I think it's extremely important.

[00:18:59] And I think there's two versions of mentorship.

[00:19:02] One is formal, one is informal.

[00:19:04] And maybe it could be looked at a different way mentorship versus sponsorship.

[00:19:09] I think sponsorship is different than mentorship.

[00:19:12] But regardless, both are critical in unfolding your career journey.

[00:19:19] And so I often encourage women to seek out a variety of different career advisors, create

[00:19:27] your own board, if you will, your own board of advisors for your career, learn from their

[00:19:32] stories so you can avoid some of the common pitfalls that we all see but also look for

[00:19:37] that sponsorship because you do need sponsorship to pull you into the right opportunities at

[00:19:42] the right time.

[00:19:43] Interesting, I've never actually heard about this difference between mentorship and sponsorship.

[00:19:49] What is that concept, that kind of leadership concept?

[00:19:53] Yeah, so I think again, mentorship is sharing war stories to learn and avoid pitfalls or

[00:20:06] giving ideas of how you might approach a problem.

[00:20:10] So just sort of sharing experiences.

[00:20:13] Sponsorship is very clearly I am here to help you.

[00:20:18] I am going to put your name in the hat when I see it.

[00:20:23] So it is a more thoughtful, connected relationship that is very much going to enhance your

[00:20:36] journey.

[00:20:37] And so right, there's people that will give you advice and they're wonderful people but

[00:20:41] they are not actively working for you as your champion.

[00:20:45] And so yeah, that makes a ton of sense to make sure that you not only have mentors in

[00:20:50] your life that are giving you advice encouraging you, lifting you up, but also sponsors

[00:20:54] that are saying, I'm going to push you forward.

[00:20:56] I'm going to get you that next job or find you your next opportunity.

[00:21:01] I mean, there really is a big difference between those two and both are very critical

[00:21:05] for successful women.

[00:21:06] Absolutely.

[00:21:07] You know, there's a lot of challenges obviously that we face in our personal lives that impact

[00:21:14] us on personal level and a professional level.

[00:21:17] How what are strategies you use to overcome those challenges?

[00:21:21] What are things that you do when you're hit to come back up to return to joy, to have

[00:21:27] that resilience that I know you have?

[00:21:30] I think this frankly for me at least has come from just maturity and age reflecting back

[00:21:38] on my earlier self, whether it even be before my career but certainly early in my career.

[00:21:44] I was a perfectionist.

[00:21:45] I didn't want the challenges.

[00:21:47] I didn't want the barriers.

[00:21:49] I felt what's the right word.

[00:21:56] I felt irritated and frustrated that they were even there.

[00:22:00] I wanted my ride to be perfect.

[00:22:03] What I now know is those challenges and barriers that you are forced to work through, make

[00:22:08] you better, make you stronger, make you well positioned for the next one.

[00:22:13] I would say what I have now come to appreciate and do myself is when a challenge is presented

[00:22:18] to because it happens not only in life but also in your professional career.

[00:22:23] To take the emotion out of it, as best as you can, the frustration, the sadness, whatever

[00:22:30] it is that you're feeling, try to put that aside and think about the challenge as a problem

[00:22:35] that just needs to be broken down and solved for.

[00:22:41] I think it's probably as simple as that as you know they're coming.

[00:22:46] Life is not perfect.

[00:22:47] When you're presented, the problem treated as a business case, treated as a case study.

[00:22:55] What's the problem?

[00:22:56] How do I take the emotion out of it, break it down and start making progress towards

[00:22:59] it?

[00:23:00] I also think you need to realize in the thick of it there isn't the other side.

[00:23:06] You're going to come out.

[00:23:07] There is light at the end of the tunnel so sometimes it's just forcing your way through putting

[00:23:13] on your big boy or girl pants and getting up in the morning and one step ahead of

[00:23:18] the other.

[00:23:19] But you feel better when you come out the other side so you know you've learned from

[00:23:23] it and you're going to be better next time.

[00:23:26] I love that.

[00:23:27] So inspiring.

[00:23:28] Let's put on our big girl panties and get stopped on and deal with the emotions afterwards

[00:23:32] right?

[00:23:33] Exactly.

[00:23:34] That's what the best leaders do.

[00:23:35] You've been at big Fortune 500 companies, startups.

[00:23:39] You've seen a lot of different leaders in your time and now you're a leader.

[00:23:43] What qualities make the best kind of leader?

[00:23:46] What leaders were you happy to follow and what were their qualities that you now take

[00:23:51] into your leadership style?

[00:23:54] Yeah, so many.

[00:23:57] I'm going to start with saying I think clear vision.

[00:24:01] So those leaders that are able to set clear vision given North Star surround themselves

[00:24:09] with good talent and also acknowledge that they are talented and get out of their way.

[00:24:16] So set vision, hire the right people and then get out of their way.

[00:24:21] That is what I try to do as a leader myself.

[00:24:24] That is those are the types of leaders that I like to follow and work for.

[00:24:30] But maybe in some of the other kind of softer traits authenticity is important to me.

[00:24:36] I don't want to hear, I don't like my life was perfect.

[00:24:42] My rise was perfect.

[00:24:44] Problems didn't exist because they want that shiny exterior that everyone looks at.

[00:24:48] That's not real.

[00:24:50] I want the authentic leader that tells me how messy it is and it's not going to be perfect.

[00:24:57] I often get women who ask me their earlier in their careers, ask me how I do it all in

[00:25:03] terms of working full time having a demanding career, having a family, three young kids.

[00:25:08] How do I do it all?

[00:25:09] I say first of all, it's not well.

[00:25:12] It's very, very messy.

[00:25:14] And I think it's important to share that.

[00:25:17] It's important to not put people on islands that it is perfect.

[00:25:22] There are challenges.

[00:25:23] There are always will be challenges.

[00:25:26] And I want those authentic leaders that really are vulnerable and willing to share those.

[00:25:33] Powerful stuff, Kim.

[00:25:36] As we're thinking about women looking to get into the health IT space and potentially

[00:25:40] come into a role similar to the one that you're in now, what advice would you give them?

[00:25:46] What things should they be doing or what things should they be learning and know as they're

[00:25:50] kind of diving into this kind of role?

[00:25:54] That's a good question that I get often, probably not phrase that way.

[00:25:58] But I am certainly noticing a trend over the last maybe two to three years, mostly in women

[00:26:05] but maybe that's just because my network is highly curated of powerful women.

[00:26:09] But what I will say is I'm noticing a trend of traditional healthcare careerists looking

[00:26:16] to pivot and make a change into health IT or health tech or kind of these earlier stage

[00:26:22] innovation companies and they're lost on how to make that transition or how to pivot.

[00:26:28] So the first thing I always say is go get gather stories, go talk to as many people as possible

[00:26:34] who have either done it before or who are at the companies and learn about the work and

[00:26:41] what the operating model and what the business really is and ask questions about how your

[00:26:46] experience your background in traditional healthcare whether it be care delivery as a clinician,

[00:26:51] whether it be running operations for a health plan, I mean the more traditional roles

[00:26:57] as we view them are very important and very valuable to these earlier stage health tech

[00:27:04] companies because these companies need those that have been living the world for 20 and

[00:27:10] 30 years right to develop the right product to help credential you as a company.

[00:27:18] So I guess the advice would be collect stories and talk to people inside of these companies

[00:27:28] to help you translate your experience into what is needed because it's certainly there,

[00:27:34] but it isn't under traditional titles that you're used to looking for.

[00:27:37] If you are a nurse you don't know what the title is to look for right true true whether

[00:27:43] it's client success whether it's product management right there's all these new titles in

[00:27:47] these other companies that the traditional healthcare roles are unfamiliar with and

[00:27:51] so they can't draw the line from here to there.

[00:27:54] And I think the best way to help them draw the line and tell their own personal story

[00:27:59] of how you fit into these companies is to go meet with as many as possible and learn about

[00:28:05] where skills need to fit in and what those titles might look like and what the roles might

[00:28:09] look like.

[00:28:10] I love that Kim, that's fantastic.

[00:28:13] So to finish off this conversation right it's been awesome to have you here.

[00:28:17] Can our listeners find you online and connect with you?

[00:28:20] Oh, well I'm on LinkedIn, Kim Perry and intelligent EMT ELL IGNT.

[00:28:26] I'm teledent.com is also a great place to find some of my thought leadership in our blogs

[00:28:31] out there.

[00:28:32] So yeah thank you for asking.

[00:28:34] Awesome and terrific before I forget did you happen to bring tea with you today?

[00:28:39] I did.

[00:28:40] Tell me about your mug it says the trust.

[00:28:43] It's the trust.

[00:28:45] So the women's health leadership trust is a local organization to Minneapolis for about

[00:28:49] 500 members.

[00:28:50] I've been on the board for probably four or five years just the outgoing president.

[00:28:54] Our mission is to inspire and support women throughout their healthcare career journeys.

[00:29:01] And so I thought this mug was appropriate for the conversation and it was interesting.

[00:29:05] So we do a lot of in-person networking events that's why people know us, we curate

[00:29:09] in-person networking events but during COVID, we all had to go online and so we created

[00:29:14] these mugs for our coffee houses.

[00:29:16] So we would grab coffee with each other in this case tea to be able to help support each

[00:29:21] other throughout their careers.

[00:29:22] So going back to that mentorship and sponsorship it's certainly core to what I believe in.

[00:29:28] I love that.

[00:29:30] I love that.

[00:29:31] So do you do online coffee hours and then in-person events as well and connect people

[00:29:35] with mentors and sponsors?

[00:29:37] Anything else that you guys do as a community?

[00:29:39] Yeah so we are now hybrid officially.

[00:29:43] We still know that our members love to get together in-person so we really have three pillars.

[00:29:47] So we have the networking events which are both in-person as well as online.

[00:29:51] We do offer a formal professional development program where we match 40 mentors with 40

[00:29:57] mentees and we facilitate a year-long program for them.

[00:30:00] And then finally education is our last pillar.

[00:30:02] We like to educate our membership on various healthcare topics whether it be policy or

[00:30:07] health, tech innovation in the industry whatever the topic might be we provide education opportunities.

[00:30:13] Well you are the perfect person to do that so I love it.

[00:30:16] I love it.

[00:30:17] Well Kim thank you for joining us today we loved learning from you and getting to know you more.

[00:30:22] Thanks Grace nice to see you.

[00:30:24] And thanks to you folks for joining us too check out the high T with Grace podcast website

[00:30:29] for more great guests like Kim today.

[00:30:32] Cheers!

[00:30:33] Like a girl media is more than a media network it's a community.

[00:30:37] We want to meet you and amplify your voice and the voices about standing women

[00:30:41] innovating in healthcare.

[00:30:43] Interested in starting your own podcast for hosting an event near you?

[00:30:47] Connect with us online or in person right here to support and empower you.