What Happens When Behavioral Science Meets a Mother on a Mission? With Kathleen Ellmore

What if the same data that helps sell cereal could also save a life? Kathleen Ellmore asked that question long before most people thought to—and long before healthcare caught up. With roots in consumer marketing, she was using behavioral science to influence buying habits when the term “micro-segmentation” barely existed. But when she stepped into healthcare in the early 2000s, everything changed.

As the mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy, Kathleen knew what it felt like to navigate a system that didn’t see her, didn’t remember her, and didn’t connect the dots. Kathleen’s daughter needs a wheelchair. She recalls all too well the months of time it took to get the right approvals for the appropriate wheelchair her daughter needed. Until something happened, a changed job, a new insurance plan, and then being told she would need to start the many month process ALL OVER again. It is hard to hear this story without feeling the agony of this mother for her child.

This proverbial straw led to this realization: data wasn’t the problem; disconnection was. That moment became the heartbeat of Kathleen’s work.
She began applying the tools of influence not to sell more products, but to build trust. Her early experiments, like discovering that a male voice on a robocall led to an 86% increase in screenings among Hispanic populations, proved that small shifts, driven by empathy and insight, could drive massive impact. It wasn’t about big data; it was about meaningful data.

Today, as cofounder of Engagys, Kathleen is leading a new era of engagement—layering AI on top of decades of behavioral science to ensure health plans don’t just reach people, but truly connect with them. For her, AI is not a shortcut; it’s a tool to scale human-centered care. And while others chase automation, she remains laser-focused on trust.

You’ll also hear from Kathleen on:

-Why most health plans already have the data they need, but fail to use it meaningfully
-How behavioral science can transform call center scripts into trust-building tools
-What it really took to launch a profitable consultancy—no funding, no incubator, just mission and grit
-How Kathleen balances technical innovation with ethical guardrails in a system under pressure

This conversation isn’t just about data. It’s about care, courage, and what happens when you decide to build something better because the system failed you.

Chapters

01:52 Applying Consumer Marketing to Healthcare
03:04 Building Engagys from the Ground Up
06:32 Trust, Data, and Personal Motivation
11:00 A Mother's Experience with a Broken System
13:10 AI, Behavioral Science, and Human-Centered Care
20:00 Leadership, LinkedIn, and Advice for Founders

GUEST & HOST LINKS

Connect with Laurie McGraw on LinkedIn   / laurieasmcgraw  
Connect with Kathleen Ellmore on LinkedIn   / kellmore  
About Engagys http://www.engagys.com/

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