The HMCG podcast
TouchPoints: Moments that Matter in Healthcare
A patient experience podcast hosted by Melissa Gilkes-Smith, DHA(c). Conversations with healthcare leaders, clinicians and operators about the moments that shape how patients feel about their care.
About the podcast
The TouchPoints: Moments that Matter podcast was created to explore the real drivers of patient experience across the healthcare journey. Hosted by Melissa Gilkes-Smith, a healthcare operations leader and founder of Healthcare Management Consulting Group (HMCG), the podcast brings a practical, real-world lens to how healthcare organizations create meaningful, lasting patient relationships.
In each episode, Melissa breaks down the moments that shape perception, from first exposure to long-term loyalty, through conversations with healthcare leaders, clinicians, and operators who are actively transforming care delivery. Grounded in the Nine Pillars of Patient Experience, the podcast connects strategy, operations, and human connection to what matters most.
TouchPoints is committed to helping healthcare leaders build a Culture of Care, rooted in accountability, compassion, collaboration, and empathy, so they can elevate patient experience, strengthen teams, and drive sustainable growth.
Season 2 episodes
Season 2 · Episode 3 · October 12, 2026 · 44 min
After the Visit Is When the Real Work Begins: Post-Visit Communication, Chronic Care, and the Technology Closing the Gap
The visit went well. The provider was thorough. The care plan was documented. The patient left with instructions.
Show notes & transcript →Season 2 · Episode 2 · September 28, 2026 · 65 min
When You Are Both the Expert and the Patient: Care, Chronic Illness, and the AI Relationship
You can study it. You can analyze the data, review the surveys, build the frameworks, and design better systems from the outside. That knowledge matters.
Show notes & transcript →Season 2 · Episode 1 · September 21, 2026 · 69 min
I Trust You, But I Don't Trust the System: The Healthcare Trust Paradox and What It Means for Patient Experience
Three out of four Americans say their personal doctor is the most trusted voice in their healthcare decisions. That number holds across every political ideology. No agency, no institution, no government messenger comes close.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 episodes
Season 1 · Episode 10 · August 10, 2026 · 41 min
Stop Holding It Together: Leadership, Coaching, and the Architecture of a High-Performing Healthcare Practice
Healthcare leaders are often praised for holding everything together. But what happens when the organization only works because one exhausted leader keeps pushing, solving, absorbing, and carrying what the system itself should be designed to hold?
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 9 · August 5, 2026 · 30 min
Stop Sending Reminders. Start Preparing Patients.
Most healthcare practices send appointment reminders. What they are not sending is preparation. In this solo how-to episode, Melissa Gilkes-Smith walks through all twelve steps of building a pre-visit communication system that actually reduces patient anxiety, improves check-in flow, and demonstrates a Culture of Care before the patient ever walks through the door. This is an interactive working session; download the Pre-Visit Communication Workbook from the show notes and work through each step in real time.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 8 · July 28, 2026 · 39 min
Lost Before They Walk In: How Wayfinding and Arrival Design Shape the Patient Experience
The patient experience does not begin at the front desk. It begins the moment a patient enters the parking lot.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 7 · July 20, 2026 · 31 min
Hello, Is Anyone There? Reimagining Healthcare Scheduling with AI
The phone call is still one of the most important touchpoints in the patient journey. It is also one of the most broken.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 6 · July 13, 2026 · 34 min
The 8-Second Decision: How Patients Find You Online Before They Ever Call
The patient experience does not begin at check-in. It begins the moment someone hears your name.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 5 · July 6, 2026 · 36 min
The Referral Relationship: How Physician Liaison Work Shapes the Patient Journey Before It Begins
A physician referral is more than a name passed from one office to another. It is an act of trust.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 4 · June 22, 2026 · 38 min
Leadership by Walking Around:How Being Seen and Available Changes Everything
Culture is not what you post on the wall. It is what leadership does when no one is watching, and everything changes when they start walking the floor.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 3 · June 15, 2026 · 45 min
The Irreplaceable Provider:How Clinician Communication Defines the Patient Experience
The patient is in the room. The provider walks in. And what happens next will define more of the patient’s felt experience than almost anything else in the entire care journey.
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 2 · June 9, 2026 · 45 min
Culture Doesn’t Eat Strategy. It Digests It.
Everyone in healthcare has heard it: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It gets nodded at in boardrooms, printed on culture decks, and repeated until it stops meaning anything. But what if that framing is not just incomplete, it’s actually misleading?
Show notes & transcript →Season 1 · Episode 1 · June 1, 2026 · 16 min
Why I Started Paying Attention to the Touchpoints
What if "great clinical care" and "a great patient experience" aren't the same thing, and almost nobody is running the second one on purpose?
Show notes & transcript →Trailer · May 14, 2026 · 1 min
Welcome to TouchPoints: Where Every Moment in Healthcare Matters
Welcome to TouchPoints: Moments That Matter in Healthcare, the podcast for leaders, clinicians, and early careerists who believe that how we deliver care matters as much as the care itself.
Show notes & transcript →Know someone who should be on TouchPoints?
Melissa is always looking for healthcare leaders, clinicians and operators with a story about the moments that matter to patients.