Tim Talks: Behavioral Health
Tim Talks: Behavioral Health is a fast-paced podcast featuring candid, 10-minute conversations with leaders across the behavioral health field.
Hosted by Timothy Zercher, CEO of A-Train Marketing, each episode dives into what’s actually working in marketing, practice growth, and leadership — with a sharp focus on ethics, sustainability, and smart strategy.
Designed for behavioral health providers, practice owners, and executive leaders, Tim Talks delivers real insight from real operators shaping the future of care.
Short talks. Big insights. Smarter growth.
New episodes weekly.
Tim Talks: Behavioral Health
Deepak Kumar & Naveen Chugh - Building Tech That Behavioral Health Actually Uses
In this episode of Tim Talks: Behavioral Health, host Timothy A. Zercher sits down with co-founders Naveen Chugh and Deepak Kumar, a tech duo who’ve spent 13+ years solving operational challenges in the behavioral health space - from compliance to automation to client engagement.
They dive into what it really takes to get clinicians to embrace new systems, why change is so hard in this industry, and how to decide which problems are worth solving with tech.
This is a candid conversation about smart customization, user-first design, and how to move fast in a space that resists change.
Timothy A. Zercher (00:00)
Welcome, Naveen and Deepak. We’re excited to have you here.
How does your team go about gaining new partners in such a competitive industry?
Deepak Kumar (00:29)
No matter the industry, it’s always competitive. We started over a decade ago when Naveen called me with a problem to solve...
Naveen Chugh (01:05)
We focus on helping people who need help and let our work speak for itself—referrals and retention drive most of our growth.
Timothy A. Zercher (02:21)
What have you found to be the hardest part about growing and scaling your business?
Deepak Kumar (02:32)
Change. Even great products are resisted if they disrupt familiar workflows...
Naveen Chugh (04:17)
Especially in behavioral health, where many clinicians have done things the same way for decades—it’s about educating, not just selling.
Deepak Kumar (05:48)
We take time to train and support users. Adoption isn’t automatic—it’s earned through hands-on help.
Timothy A. Zercher (07:14)
How do you determine what problems are worth automating or solving first?
Deepak Kumar (07:52)
We ask our clients: what’s the biggest pain point financially or operationally? Start with the low-hanging fruit that moves the needle.
Naveen Chugh (08:31)
And we bring cross-industry perspective—clients often don’t realize what’s possible until we show them how others are solving it.
Timothy A. Zercher (10:42)
It’s like A-Train’s approach: what’s the highest and best use of your investment?
Naveen Chugh (10:55)
Exactly. We map problems by effort and impact—then focus on low-effort, high-impact solutions first.
Timothy A. Zercher (11:38)
How do you balance HIPAA compliance with automation and AI?
Naveen Chugh (11:58)
Compliance is non-negotiable. We leverage HIPAA-compliant platforms like AWS and Salesforce instead of reinventing the wheel.
Deepak Kumar (13:42)
And we train our staff rigorously, enforce access controls, and even run batch processes to wipe machines daily.
Timothy A. Zercher (14:39)
A lot of providers assume their tech vendors are HIPAA-compliant—until they’re not.
Deepak Kumar (15:05)
We go beyond assumptions. Every access point is monitored. Every risk is audited. Security is core to what we do.
Timothy A. Zercher (15:46)
That’s powerful. Thanks again for joining me. I know this will be valuable for organizations navigating change.
Naveen Chugh (16:14)
Thanks, Timothy. We’re here to help people move forward.
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