Robotics and automation are accelerating across healthcare, but scaling innovation still depends on having the right people in place.
In this episode, Joe Solari, Managing Director at ZRG Partners, and Lori Prehar, Managing Director of Embedded Recruiting at ZRG, discuss how robotics, automation, and AI are transforming medtech, healthcare operations, and talent strategy. Joe explains how robotics can improve efficiency, reduce clinician burnout, and help healthcare organizations scale as automation expands. Lori shares why embedded recruiting has become an effective solution for companies navigating uncertain hiring needs and growth plans. They also explore the opportunities and risks of AI, including its impact on recruiting, compliance, security, and robotics.
Tune in to hear how robotics, automation, AI, and flexible recruiting models are shaping the future of healthcare growth!
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[00:00:03] So Joe Solari, I work for ZRG Partners, we're the seventh largest and fastest growing global search and advisory firm. I work with private equity firms, family offices, venture capital companies to find the right jockeys for their horses, the folks who can lead those portfolio companies to success. I also help them get their deals done. Sometimes it's the right operator or the right talent to come on board that will help attract that capital and set up that company for success day one.
[00:00:28] And I'm Lori Prehar, I work with Joe and our Embedded Recruiting Division, which is basically the team building division. Joe kind of jokingly calls it rent a recruiter, but that's in actuality what it is. It's recruiting on demand just when you're growing. We give you the right subject matter expert to help you get from point A to point B in scale. So biggest shift in medtech, well, hey, it's been going on for a little while now and it's going to start accelerating big time. And that's the use of why we're here really in large part, robotics and automation.
[00:00:58] And now that's helping affect positive outcomes for patients. And one of our companies with the Chang Robotics Fund is called Cure Robotics, where we have these robots moving around the Mayo Clinic delivering things for the nurses, using the elevators going all throughout, which saves the nurses time and burnout more efficient and empowering the folks in the hospital to do what they do best or what they should do best, which is treat patients and make them better.
[00:01:24] Right now, I think the reason embedded recruiting, my desk is on fire, is because embedded recruiting is solving a variable problem with a variable need. And right now, many organizations just don't have line of sight. They know they want to spend money. They want to grow, but they can't make a commitment to a full time employee. So an embedded recruiting model is ideal for that setting.
[00:01:45] It's while you know you need us now, you might not need us forever, but while you need us now, we come in, we roll up our seats and we get those hires in, those critical hires that you cannot operate without. Very optimistic first half of the year. And I think people are bringing that momentum into the second half of the year, extending our contract engagements again and again. The biggest challenge or roadblock on my radar. So I think right now, with AI, there are so many unknowns.
[00:02:13] And as we learned in both of the two keynote speakers just now, what we're realizing is some of the nuances are going to slow us down in some categories in order to go fast. It also opens some vulnerabilities because with AI, you've also got compliance issues. For example, there's three states right now that you cannot use in the recruiting world. You cannot use bias for the AI within recruiting.
[00:02:38] So if you're recruiting, and I think it's Colorado, California, and New York, and you're using any AI help to get from point A to point B, you could be putting yourself at a huge risk where your HR team is going to have a stern talking to. And the fines are no joke. They're $500 a day. So I say that to you. So I think that's a roadblock that we have to figure out together.
[00:02:59] But the AI piece of it is the security pieces are so key that you have to have a system that is secure. And right now, especially in robotics, where they're trying to utilize it more and more, it's solving some problems while opening a whole host of others. But these brilliant minds that are attending this conference, I'm sure they're already fast at work and solving for it today. But it'll evolve again and again.
[00:03:25] Well, another great thing about this robotics conference is you're seeing the manufacturers in the greatest country in the world, America, come together and build. And seeing what's the momentum in our country, the U.S. of A, with robotics, with the reindustrialization of America, on-shoring jobs, leveraging and leveraging robotics and automation to make our companies bigger, stronger and faster is just terrific. And Lori and I are certainly happy to be able to support that growth going into 2027 and beyond.
[00:03:53] You can easily find us both on LinkedIn. And mother of five, you can find me also on a football field usually if you're in the great state of Texas. But I say that to you, the company website is www.zrgpartners.com. We have four divisions. These are two divisions. We also have a consulting division and an interim solutions division. So if you had an unexpected departure, we can drop ship you as CFO in 72 hours or less.
[00:04:20] Yeah, we work together as a team at ZRG, making sure we bring the right folks on board to help companies grow, scale, solve problems and take advantage of opportunities. Thanks for speaking with us today.