Angie Lillie Podcast Transcript
Angie Lillie joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Angie Lillie. As chief compliance officer, Angie Lillie is dedicated to building and overseeing compliance programs that not only meet but exceed regulatory requirements, ensuring operational integrity, regulatory excellence, and patient safety across all areas of care delivery.
With 20 years of experience in compliance risk management and medical staff credentialing, she is deeply committed to maintaining the highest ethical and clinical standards. Her proactive approach to compliance fosters trust and transparency, cornerstones of Mentavi’s mission to provide accessible, evidence-based care.
Well, good afternoon, Angie. Welcome to the show.
Angie Lillie: Thanks, Brian. I’m glad to be here.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely, my friend. I appreciate it. I am in Kansas City, but I know you’re hailing out of the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, which is always great to talk to somebody from outside of Kansas City. I appreciate that. So, Angie, if you don’t mind, let’s jump into your first question here.
You’ve spent 20 years across compliance, risk management, and medical staff credentialing, and now serve as the chief compliance officer at a digital-first mental health company. What drew you to compliance as a career, and how did that path lead you to Mentavi Health and the world of online ADHD and mental health care?
Angie Lillie: Yeah, thanks, Brian. Really, I love a challenge. And in healthcare, there’s no shortage of them. But what really drew me to compliance specifically is that at its core, it’s about protection and accountability. It’s about making sure that the rules that exist actually keep patients safe and hold everyone accountable on the care team, from physicians to every support role.
It’s really a standard they can be proud of. When compliance is done well, it’s not a bureaucratic function. It’s the foundation that allows a physician to walk into a patient encounter knowing that the environment around them is safe, structured, and ethical. It truly is meaningful work and, and I love it.
What drew me to Mentavi specifically? Well, that was the opportunity to prove that a digital-first mental health company can move fast and still hold the highest bar for patient safety and privacy. Telehealth, ADHD care, overall mental health, these are areas where the need is enormous. And the regulatory complexity, it really matches it.
As someone who loves a challenge, it is hard to imagine a more interesting place to be and in this space, trust, trust is not a nice-to-have, it really is the business.
Brian Thomas: That’s awesome. Thank you. And I appreciate that. I, my background while being in tech was mostly in the healthcare space. Hmm … and I had opportunity to work in both the hospital environment medical system setting, and in, in some behavioral health as well.
But love that. And I love how you highlighted truly the compliance work that you do is considered protection and accountability. Those are the two things that I took away, but-
Angie Lillie: Yeah …
Brian Thomas: you also said when compliance is done well, it’s not bureaucratic, but rather the organization is safer and provides more quality care.
That’s awesome, so thank you.
Angie Lillie: Yeah, thanks.
Brian Thomas: Angie, Mentavi launched Mentavi Concierge, an AI support assistant built to streamline intake while keeping licensed human clinicians at the center of diagnosis and care. You’ve said this aligns with a growing body of state and federal regulations around ethical AI use in healthcare.
Angie Lillie: Mm-hmm.
Brian Thomas: Where, where do you draw the line on what AI should and shouldn’t do in a clinical setting, and how do you keep that line firm as the technology gets more capable?
Angie Lillie: Hmm. Thanks, Brian. That is really something that I think about a lot because the technology genuinely is evolving as the re- as are the regulations surrounding it.
The line of what AI can appropriately do in a clinical setting will evolve with it, truthfully. But what does not move is the human factor behind it. There must always be a licensed clinician who is accountable for the diagnosis and the treatment decision. That is a non-negotiable for us here at Mentavi.
The Mentavi Concierge is a good example of that in practice, truth- it helps with parts around care, guiding someone through the intake, answering process questions. It reduces friction in the experience itself, but it does not give clinical advice. It defers to the human the moment anything clinical comes up.
The technology handles the administrative burden so the clinician can focus on the patient. That is the right use of AI in our setting. We keep the standard firm by treating it as a governance question, not a product question. So we were among one of the early adopters to formal for a formal AI ethics committee.
Here at Mentavi, that’s a multidisciplinary group of our team members and physicians that continuously evaluate how we are using AI and whether human account- accountability is maintained as the technology does grow more capable. Ultimately, the bottom line is that AI should take friction out of care, not the clinician out of care.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. I, I appreciate that, and you did highlight that where the clinician needs to be the center of this. It’s really the humans. Tech is always evolving, changing, et cetera. The capability is amazing, but at the end of the day, we always wanna make sure there’s a human in the loop, and it’s very important in when it comes to your a person’s health.
It’s, it’s so important. And I know you provide those guardrails, especially coming from a compliance and governance standpoint around the technology to make sure there is always a human in the loop. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And Angie, digital health companies operate across all 50 states, each with its own rules around telehealth, controlled substances, and increasingly AI.
How do you build a compliance program that keeps pace with that patchwork, especially when the regulations around AI and healthcare are still being written in real time?
Angie Lillie: That is a great question. For us we, we build the patchwork by assuming that it’s going to change because it will. We don’t build the program around today’s rules in the 50 states or federally and call it done.
We pay attention to what is happening in all states and federally to try to stay ahead of the emerging changes, and we build our program so that it can abso- absorb new rules quickly whether that’s a telehealth change, controlled substance requirement, or brand-new I- AI guidance. In practice, that means compliance sits at the table when we are designing a product, not after it ships.
There’s a cultural shift obviously with this but here at Mentavi, we have worked really hard to establish it. For AI specifically where the rules are still being written, we do not wait for the regulation to tell us where the floor is. We set our own floor higher and raise it as the guidance matures.
That’s discipline is not just good compliance. It actually is a competitive advantage that we ensure we’re not scrambling to catch up to the new regulations because we are there already.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. Appreciate that. And I really like that, where you’re raising the bar before any policy changes.
Making that kind of the, the foundation of really the DNA of, of your organization around compliance is so, so important. But I like how you are constantly evolving, you’re paying attention to all the changes at the state and federal level. Guidelines and policy changes are, are happening every day, and, and I just really love how you’ve kind of set that bar there, so thank you.
Angie Lillie: Thank you.
Brian Thomas: And Angie, the last question of the day, as AI, asynchronous diagnostics, and telehealth continue to reshape how mental health care is delivered, where do you see the compliance and regulatory landscape heading over the next five years? And what will separate the digital health companies that earn lasting trust from those that run into trouble?
Angie Lillie: Mm. Yeah. Well, as you know, I’m not a tech person, so my prediction related to that specifically is based on the, my wonderful teammates here at Mentavi and kind of the things that they’ve shared there. But I do believe that over the next five years, AI, asynchronous diagnostics, and telehealth will become normal.
Regulations will be more specific, especially around AI. I think that’s a good thing. Clear rules benefit everyone, especially our patients. The companies that run into trouble will be the ones that treat compliance as a clinical validation, i- or and clinical validation as things to bolt on later.
The ones that earn the lasting trust will be the ones who did this unglamorous and difficult work early publishly- publishing real validation data, keeping licensed humans accountable for the clinical decisions, and being honest about what the technology does and does not do. For example, our diagnostic evaluation was validated specifically for adult ADHD and published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry last year.
We are deliberate about describing exactly what it covers and the honesty is a credibility signal not a limitation. Really, in mental health care, patients are sharing some of the most sensitive parts of their lives. That trust has to be earned, and it’s earned through doing the unglamo- unglamorous and hard work every single day.
Ultimately, my message here is gonna be compliance does not slow innovation. It removes the obstacles that would eventually stop it. So sustainability is the key word. You can innovate fast without it, but you cannot innovate long without it. Compliance is not the enemy of innovation. It makes innovation worth something.
Brian Thomas: Awesome. Thank you. You packed quite a bit there, but just to highlight- No, it’s great. Just to highlight a few things. Yeah … and, and you said ba- your prediction’s based on advice from your colleagues. Of course, I know you, you’re not- Mm-hmm … in the tech space, but you’re very, your ear’s close to the ground in that area, so I appreciate that.
But regulations will be more specific, and there will be clearer rules and guidelines as AI evolves, and compliance has to be the center of that. And- Exactly … be realistic about what AI can do and cannot do, ensuring humans are always in the loop. And I like the last thing you said here about compliance.
It doesn’t prevent innovation, but it’s really key to ensuring that you have a compliant organization that protects patients’ safety and healthcare. So, I appreciate that. Angie, it was such a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Angie Lillie: All right. Thank you so much, Brian. I appreciate it.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Angie Lillie Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s Podcast Page.
