What Video Teams Can Learn from Todd Rogow About Adoption and Trust
Todd Rogow leads Healthix, a large health information exchange serving the New York downstate region, including New York City and Long Island. His Authority Magazine interview stayed close to the work: making health data move in real time, coordinating care, and translating insights into action.
The conversation mattered because it showed how adoption happens. Rogow described problem-first choices, simple builds, workflow fit, and aligned incentives. He also named the limits, including privacy concerns and the politics around data.
Rogow’s arc began with roots in a small Vermont town and a personal story about fragmented records in his own family. He outlined Healthix’s role in bringing clinical, social, and environmental data together, then grounded it with a Staten Island diaper-need example tied to rising pediatric ED visits. From there he shared five operating rules: solve a clear problem, get the financial positioning right, start simple, build into existing workflows, and align incentives.
He also called human behavior the most undervalued factor in healthtech, and pointed to data competition as the primary barrier. Throughout, he returned to trust. Who has access to data and how that data gets used will decide whether systems like his actually help people.
Start with the problem, not the technology
Rogow’s first principle was blunt: identify the problem you are solving and let the build follow. He said technology is a means, not the story. In his words, “Start with the simplest solution rather than trying to be innovative for the sake of innovation.” The diaper example reflected this stance. Healthix did not start with a tool, it started with a question that data could answer.
Video teams should anchor each piece in a single, specific viewer problem. Scripts that open with a clear use case earn attention faster than jargon about platforms or features. In post, cut anything that does not advance the solution. If a graphic, transition, or animation does not help someone make a decision, it is noise.
Build into existing workflows to earn usage
Rogow stressed workflow fit. He said, “You’ll never get usage unless your solution fits into how people already work or is adjacent to it.” In health settings, that can mean fitting tools into the ways clinicians and care coordinators already access and use information. His point was about friction. If people must step away from their routine, they will not adopt.
For video, placement and format should match the viewer’s day. Internal training videos should live inside the LMS where teams already complete modules, not on a standalone microsite. Customer education should fit common touchpoints like onboarding emails, support portals, or in-app help, with length and structure tuned to those moments. Adoption is a distribution problem as much as it is a creative one.
Align incentives for every stakeholder
Rogow tied adoption to incentives. He described projects that failed despite strong builds because no one had a reason to use them. He also gave a concrete example of alignment, referencing Northwell Health’s investment in gun violence awareness. When the work supports an organization’s goals, uptake follows.
Video plans should map incentives across audiences before shooting. Executives may care about risk reduction, managers may care about time saved, and end users may care about fewer steps. Consider audience-specific video versions that speak to each group in their own terms while using the same core footage. Alignment is not a tagline; it is a versioning plan.
Pair data with lived experience
Rogow’s diaper story showed how numbers and on-the-ground listening can work together. He cited a rise in pediatric ED visits for diaper-related infections among Medicaid-insured infants in high-poverty neighborhoods, and contrasted the treatment costs with the lower cost of prevention. The point was not the statistic alone. It was the connection between data and daily life that moved action forward.
Brands should combine a single human scene with a single relevant data point, then stop. In healthcare video production, that could be a parent interview paired with one on-screen figure and a clear next step. Avoid stacking metrics. One well-supported claim is more credible than five unanchored ones. When data touches a real choice, the message lands.
Treat privacy and politicization as part of the message
Rogow flagged a risk beyond engineering. He hears concerns about who controls health data and how it might be used, and he does not dismiss them. He tied Healthix’s success to maintaining trust in data handling. Without that trust, successful adoption becomes much harder.
On sensitive topics, video should make consent and data use visible. Include brief, plain-language lines about how information is protected and what will not be shared. Keep b-roll and overlays free of identifiable documents unless there is written permission. If the subject is contested, name the guardrails early so viewers can decide to keep watching.
Putting it to work in video marketing today
Start preproduction with a problem statement and a behavior goal. Define the one action the viewer should take after watching, then cut the script until only what supports that action remains. If a section does not change behavior, remove it or move it to a supporting asset.
Design for where the video will be watched. Build short, captioned versions for channels that autoplay muted. Produce longer explainers for portals or emails where viewers expect more depth. Plan versions by role so each stakeholder hears the benefit that matches their incentive, not a generic promise. When using data, limit to one or two figures and attribute sources on-screen or in the description.
Team Beverly Boy’s Takeaway
We were struck by how often Rogow returned to adoption mechanics. Problem clarity, simple builds, workflow fit, and incentives sound basic, but they are where projects live or die. The diaper example showed that pairing lived experience with clear data can change a policy conversation without spectacle.
For video teams, that means editing with restraint and distributing with intent. A stronger approach is to build the piece for the moment it appears in someone’s day and give each audience the version that reflects what they value. Trust is part of that build, especially in health and public-sector work.
Conclusion
Rogow’s interview offered a practical lens on change: solve one defined problem, make it easy to use, and align the reasons to use it. For video marketing, those same choices turn content from an announcement into a tool that gets used.
This article is based on an interview originally published by Authority Magazine. Read the full interview here.
