The Next Right Action (ft. John Erwin)

**John Erwin** (0:00)
Think about us as being that group that is walking alongside the patient and really making sure that they're taking the next right action. The healthcare consumer has a voice like they've never had. In my pocket, there's some real power that wasn't there. Everything we are seeing with AI, and specifically the ability for the LLMs, is opening up a world of expertise in the pocket of the consumer that just did not exist.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:34)
Welcome to DGTL Voices, where healthcare and life science leaders explore the real work behind transformation. This podcast is about people, leadership, and the conversations that move healthcare forward. Now your host, Ed Marx.

**Ed Marx** (0:50)
Welcome to another edition of DGTL Voices. Our guest today is John Erwin, CEO and co-founder of Carenet Health. John, welcome to DGTL Voices.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:59)
Thanks, Ed.

**John Erwin** (1:00)
Glad to be here.

**Ed Marx** (1:01)
No, I'm so excited to speak with you.
You're a long-time leader in the healthcare. A couple of different companies will get into that. And we really only met kind of through the social media aspect and through LinkedIn, but I definitely have followed you and all the things that you've accomplished and done. And so super happy to chat with you. But the first thing, John, maybe the most important question some people would say for DGTL Voices are what songs are on your playlist? Like, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

**John Erwin** (1:26)
I was excited when I saw that question because I don't think I've ever been asked that. So thank you for letting me.
And once again, my kids will roll their eyes when they hear this. But it's the, and you'll see a theme here, the Harry Chapin, John Denver, George Strait, Billy Joel, Elton John. Kind of, I guess I'm stuck in that era.

**Ed Marx** (1:47)
Yeah.

**John Erwin** (1:49)
It's great. And right now, you know, I don't know if you guys are doing this at all, but I'm starting to see these cool shows that are coming out, that are showcasing these kind of groups from that time, and it's kind of reigniting me. Like I saw one from Billy Joel the other day, and I'm like, you know what? That's anyway, so that's my stuff right there.

**Ed Marx** (2:06)
No, I like it. I definitely can relate to a lot of that music. Yeah. And it's funny, it does come back around. You'll see people and, you know, successive generations come back to the good music. So if it's a good music, it's a good music, like a Billy Joel, right? It's just fantastic, the lyrical content, as well as the musicianship. And so you see those withstand the test of time. What about life message and mantra? Are there words that kind of guide how you operate, how you live?

**John Erwin** (2:34)
On the life stuff, I've been blessed with my wife to have seven kids. So that's been a real joy. They're all doing things that are just absolutely fascinating to me. So that's a big, big thing. And then I feel like I've led one of those charmed lives where everything has seemed to be...
Whenever the coin could have flipped one way or the other, it flipped the way that I would have maybe preferred it. So that's been kind of how it's gone. That's kind of the... And then I think we'll talk more about business as we go through the day. And I have things there that are interesting to me, but I really try to say we're all given some things that we're probably pretty okay at, and how do we figure out a way to grow that.

**Ed Marx** (3:25)
So when you were getting married, what was the discussion like when you talked about kids? Was there always this hope for many?

**John Erwin** (3:31)
You're not gonna believe this.
I never talked about it. So I grew up with, there were four boys. My wife was the oldest of six, and I cannot ever remember a discussion that her and I had about kids.
I was kind of a typical guy. I was not thinking about it, really. Now my kids are, because we talk about it with them, we're like, well, what are you thinking? And so my family, well, I don't know if it's just because we had four boys, we just didn't talk about it. So we honestly, it was never on the radar. Funny story, we had six of them, and then I kind of woke up, and there was a set of twins in the middle, a boy and a girl, which is my only daughter. We had six, and I woke up, and I don't know what happened. The oldest was like 10 And I said to myself, this is how guys think sometimes, I said, I said, if you have more than this, are you taking away from the ones that you have? That was a question. It just popped into my brain. And so I actually went to the kids, and I started saying, I asked them, I said, you know, would you guys like another brother?