The art of medicine happens when physicians combine data and knowledge to deliver better patient outcomes. A physician that relies both on guidelines and their learned experience is creating a culture of data and insights and improving the lives of patients. Whether you’re a doctor or a data leader, knowing how to balance data and intuition will always drive better results.

Dr. Bapu Jena is an economist, physician, and Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. He bridges his professions to explore the economics of healthcare productivity and medical innovation. Satyen and Bapu discuss leveraging data in healthcare, applying AI in medicine, and measuring the innovation of doctors.

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“We have put a premium on the innovativeness of the technology. There could be a new molecule that attacks a pathway that has never been attacked before. If that molecule doesn't improve life expectancy or improve quality of life, then there's not a lot of value to me in that innovation, even though it's certainly innovative. I care more about whether or not it impacts patients' lives. The correlator to that is that you could have a medication which does not appear to be that quote, unquote, ‘innovative,’ at all because it's just a reboot, in some respect, of other medications. But, it's taken in a way that people are more likely to be adherent to. Those types of technologies are sometimes pooh-poohed on, but they could be very valuable because what ultimately matters is the outcome of whether or not a person gets better when they're on that medication, not how innovative it is. This is also a problem when it comes to data-driven interventions, as well. Because, there's a lot of interest in AI and non-medical technologies, or non-life science technologies. The key there is you've got to demonstrate that there's some outcome benefit.” – Bapu Jena

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Time Stamps:

*(03:23): Predictable randomness 

*(12:13): Data points tracking intensity of care 

*(25:48): AI in medicine 

*(31:29): The politics of standards of care 

*(38:41): The challenges of influencing change 

*(51:18): Satyen’s Takeaways

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Sponsor

This podcast is presented by Alation.

Learn more:

* Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alation.com/podcast/

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* Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/

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Links

Read Bapu’s book Random Acts of Medicine

Random Acts of Medicine Substack

Listen to Freakonomics MD podcast