Organic Growth Podcast: AI Hype vs. Reality: How to Choose the Right Vendor in Healthcare
Recorded live at the McGuireWoods Healthcare Private Equity & Finance Conference, this episode of the Organic Growth Podcast tackles one of the most pressing questions in healthcare today:
How do you choose the right AI vendor?
Stewart Gandolf sits down with Justin Dart of Assort Health to unpack the challenges of navigating a crowded, fast-moving AI landscape—especially in high-stakes areas like patient communication and call handling.
From compliance risks to vendor credibility, this conversation highlights how healthcare organizations can avoid costly mistakes and make smarter, more strategic technology decisions.
Why Listen?
- Understand how to evaluate AI vendors in a rapidly evolving market
- Learn what separates credible solutions from hype
- Avoid common risks around compliance, security, and execution
- Discover how to balance innovation with practical decision-making
Key Insights and Takeaways
- The AI Market Is Moving Faster Than Most Organizations Can Evaluate It.
New AI vendors are emerging constantly, making it difficult for healthcare leaders to keep up. The pace of innovation is exciting—but it also increases the risk of choosing immature or unproven solutions. - Proof Points Matter More Than Promises.
In a crowded market, the most important question is simple: who have you worked with, and what results have you delivered? Case studies—especially within the same specialty—are critical for validating a vendor’s credibility. - Compliance and Risk Can’t Be an Afterthought.
Healthcare organizations face significant regulatory and reputational risks when adopting new technology. Vendors must demonstrate a clear understanding of requirements like HIPAA and be able to prove they can operate safely within those constraints.
4. AI Should Be a Multiplier—Not a Replacement for Judgment
AI can dramatically improve efficiency and access to information, but it still requires human oversight. Organizations that rely on AI without critical thinking risk making poor decisions or amplifying errors.
5. The Best AI Solutions Combine Technology with Domain Expertise
Strong vendors don’t just have technical capability—they deeply understand the healthcare problems they’re solving. Founder-market fit and industry experience are key indicators of whether a solution will succeed in real-world environments.
Justin Dart
VP Partnerships, Assort HealthSubscribe for More
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Note: The following AI-generated transcript is provided as an additional resource for those who prefer not to listen to the podcast recording. It has been lightly edited and reviewed for readability and accuracy.
Read the Full Transcript
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Welcome to the Healthcare Success Podcast, live at the McGuireWoods Private Equity Conference. Thanks again to our content partners, Levin Associates.
My next interviewee is Justin Dart with Assort Health. First of all, welcome, Justin.
Justin Dart (Assort Health): Stewart, good to see you. So good to talk to you again.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Likewise. I met Justin a while back—we’ve had him talk to our team. Today we’re going to talk about how to choose AI vendors, which I can definitely relate to.
To set this up with my own experience: our company has been very interested in AI for call handling and routing. Answering the phone has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve seen over decades—thousands of calls coming in, nobody picks up, nobody tracks what happens. Historically, calls were routed to individual doctors or call centers, but AI promises a better solution.
That said, there are dozens of vendors. A few years ago, someone reached out to me about AI call agents. I asked how they handled HIPAA, and they didn’t even know what it was. That was the end of that conversation. So the space is moving fast—but how do you know which vendors are actually qualified?
Justin Dart (Assort Health): I love that setup—it’s exactly the problem we spend a lot of time thinking about.
I’m talking to a lot of private equity groups right now, and their biggest question is how to separate the wheat from the chaff. How do they guide their portfolio companies toward quality solutions?
The space is evolving incredibly fast—especially in voice AI and broader applications. And one thing I consistently hear is, “We don’t want to be a guinea pig.” So they’re looking for proof points: case studies, real-world results, and ideally examples within their specific specialty.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That makes sense. Broadly speaking, beyond your own field, how do you evaluate AI tools? There are so many out there—how do you choose?
Justin Dart (Assort Health): Internally, we’ve created a culture around experimentation. We have a Slack channel called “Build with AI,” where everyone—engineers, recruiters, sales—shares tools and ways they’ve automated parts of their jobs.
It’s a way to surface useful tools quickly. Not everything works, of course, but it allows us to iterate rapidly and learn from each other.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s interesting. You’re an AI company, so your team is probably very AI-forward. But I’ve heard people say, “I don’t use AI—I use my brain.” And my reaction is, you’re choosing not to be competitive.
At the same time, AI isn’t perfect. I had an experience just yesterday where it gave me completely wrong advice on how to use a piece of equipment. So how do people avoid AI mistakes—or recover from them?
Justin Dart (Assort Health): We’re definitely in an AI hype cycle right now, and that’s not slowing down anytime soon.
The key is balance—using AI as a multiplier while still applying critical thinking. It’s a tool to make you faster and more efficient, but it’s not a substitute for judgment. The technology is improving rapidly, but you still need to validate what it produces.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s exactly how I see it. It’s like moving from pen and paper to a computer—AI is just another level of tool, but you still need to think.
Justin Dart (Assort Health): Exactly. One thing I’ve noticed is generational differences. Younger employees—especially those early in their careers—may trust AI more readily because they haven’t yet built that critical thinking muscle. Meanwhile, older generations tend to have more skepticism.
The challenge is finding the right balance between leveraging AI and maintaining thoughtful evaluation.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s a little concerning, honestly. So bringing it back to vendor selection—what are the key things people should look for?
Justin Dart (Assort Health): It starts with a few core questions. First: who have you worked with, and can you show results?
There are new AI vendors launching constantly. You need to see proof—real deployments, real outcomes, ideally within your specific specialty. If you’re in cardiology, for example, you want to see experience in cardiology.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): I’d add that it’s helpful if a vendor has backing—whether venture or private equity. It’s not a guarantee of success, but it means they have resources and something to lose.
In healthcare, especially with HIPAA concerns, that matters. You need to trust that the vendor understands compliance and has accountability.
Justin Dart (Assort Health): I agree. Funding isn’t everything, but it’s an important signal. Well-backed companies tend to have more resources and credibility, which reduces risk.
Another key factor is what venture capitalists call “founder-market fit.” Does the founder truly understand the problem they’re solving? Ideally, they have direct experience in healthcare—maybe they’ve worked in a provider organization or clinical setting.
That combination of domain expertise and technical capability is critical.
Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That makes a lot of sense. Justin, really appreciate the conversation.
Justin Dart (Assort Health): Thank you. Great to be here.
