Raise the Line

Peter Frishauf, founder of Medscape, discusses the history and impact of Medscape in revolutionizing medical education and providing global access to valuable content for better patient care. He also explores the partnerships and analytics involved, as well as the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the US healthcare system. Discussions on equity, consumer education, and collaboration for improved health are highlighted.

Risk management is a critically important part of providing healthcare and, you might be surprised to learn, goes far beyond dealing with medical errors.  In fact, modern risk management encompasses most aspects of healthcare operations, including HR and finances.  When Marlene Icenhower, who has degrees in nursing and law, first got into risk management decades ago, it was largely reactive in nature. “It had to do with the process that occurred after a medical mishap, and it was pretty much confined to just the clinical arena and the legal mop-up that took place after that event.” Over the past several decades, however, it's evolved into a function that's more proactive. “The idea now is to look for trends, issues, or lapses and then implement measures to fix them before they result in injury to a patient.” Icenhower is a senior risk specialist at Coverys, one of the largest medical malpractice insurance companies in the country, and spends a good deal of her time answering questions and brainstorming with providers around the country about everything from telehealth regulations to what should be done when a patient leaves against medical advice.  In this conversation with host Shiv Gaglani, Icenhower talks about finding the “why” behind education, how COVID is changing healthcare, and what she wishes medical and nursing schools would spend more time teaching.  If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

After a negative experience at a chaotic pharmacy while battling a sinus infection, Eric Kinariwala identified the need for an easier way to get prescription medications. That was the spark for creating Capsule, a New York based digital pharmacy startup that has expanded to Chicago, Boston, and Minneapolis. “We built the entire experience around the idea that if your mom was a pharmacist and you were the only customer in the world, what would that experience look like?” Capsule is considered a leading disruptor in the pharmacy industry by offering fast delivery and having pharmacists on call 24/7 to help customers among other benefits, but Kinariwala thinks the reasons for the company’s success goes beyond that.  “What we've learned is that it's really not about the speed of the delivery.  It's about all of the other things around the experience that the technology platform enables that makes it really, really frictionless and easy to do something that has historically been really complicated.”  Check out this episode of Raise the Line to learn how the patient-pharmacy relationship is changing, how Capsule is meeting the needs of physicians, health systems, payers and other stakeholders, and how COVID has fueled the company’s growth.   If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

A strong, sustained sense of purpose is the bedrock of a successful company, with everything else flowing from that. So says Omar Ishrak, one of the most influential figures in medical technology and healthcare in the U.S. and globally. He earned that role in part by being Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, the world's leading medical technology company, from 2011 to 2020, but he was also president and CEO of GE Healthcare Systems earlier in his career. When it comes to having a durable purpose, Medtronic is hard to beat. Founded in the late 1940’s, the company has kept the same mission for more than 60 years – to apply biomedical engineering to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Ishrak considers a major part of his legacy at Medtronic to be successfully stewarding that mission and making it possible for his successors to carry it forward for decades to come. Of course, there were other accomplishments in his tenure including the acquisition of Covidien, a $10 billion global manufacturer of surgical products and supplies, marking the largest medical technology acquisition in the history of the industry. In this thoughtful discussion with host Shiv Gaglani, Ishrak talks about drawing encouragement from how quickly different parts of the healthcare industry came together in response to COVID, and what he hopes the lasting improvements will be from this crisis. He also makes the case for shifting the focus of healthcare at both the industry and individual worker level to successful patient outcomes. “No matter what you do in healthcare, having a line of sight to improving outcomes is important. Tie your work to how people's lives get better.” If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“While the switch to distance learning was traumatic at first, I think we're going to end up in a much better place when it's all said and done,” says Scott Shaw, president and CEO of Lincoln Tech which has always taken a hands-on learning approach. That’s because the blended in-person and online learning model emerging from COVID gives the school’s adult students more flexibility to manage their jobs and childcare now that they don’t always have to be on campus to take classes.  Lincoln Tech started 75 years ago to educate WWII veterans in auto mechanics and HVAC.  Now, it has 22 campuses and nearly two dozen programs, including nine in the health professions. In fact, they produce 50% of the LPNs in New Jersey and are hoping to start offering an RN program in the Garden State as well, which has one of the biggest shortages of nurses in the country. In this episode with host Shiv Gaglani, Shaw also discusses the increased interest in health professions due to the pandemic, student debt, and the key traits today’s employers are looking for in their staff. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you are thinking about applying to medical school, or are already in the process, this episode of Raise the Line is a must-listen. Host Shiv Gaglani is joined by Dr. Sahil Mehta, widely regarded as one of the top experts in the country on medical school admissions. As the founder of MedSchoolCoach, he’s guided thousands of successful medical school applicants. It’s a business that started with the simple realization that most people are not good at selling themselves.  Helping some friends improve their applications led to a “basement” business that has grown over the years to become a major player in the field. Listen in as Mehta shares his insights on what you can do to increase your appeal to medical schools and the importance of being certain it is the profession you want to pursue.  If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“In less than a month we went from zero COVID patients to 285, and we’re only a 300-bed hospital,” says Dr. Brian Radbill, recalling the early weeks in March and April when coronavirus stormed New York City. As chief medical officer, Radbill oversaw the Manhattan hospital’s transformation into a COVID care facility, which required a lot of on-the-fly innovation. “It was a real team effort. I have to say, every single person stepped up in the hospital and we met every challenge.” For example, they had to get creative to maintain line of sight to critically-ill patients in spaces that were not built for it -- which initially included the use of baby monitors and iPads – and also had to figure out ways to create more negative pressure space, all while reacting to daily changes in their understanding of the disease. Listen as Radbill brings host Shiv Gaglani inside the early days of the COVID struggle and reflects on what lasting impact he thinks this experience will have on his hospital and the healthcare system at large. He also discusses ongoing work to improve the quality of care and patient flow and shares his perspective on the role of hospitals in the changing healthcare landscape. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“Often, the real answer is at the bedside,” says Dr. Thomas Rebbecchi, who has worked as an ER doctor at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey for 23 years. “If you ask the right questions to people, they're going to tell you directly or indirectly what's going on with them.” Dr. Rebbecchi's educational mission is to teach students to focus less exclusively on technology and take the extra time for compassionate interaction with patients. In addition to his role on the National Board of Medical Examiners, Dr. Rebbecchi is also a scientific advisory board member at the Glut1 Deficiency Foundation. In this episode of Raise the Line, he speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about his family's journey to discover their son’s diagnosis through genetic testing, improved COVID outcomes, and the need for better mental healthcare, especially as a result of the mounting psychological effects of pandemic life. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on dentistry, says Eve Cuny, who has worked in the area of dental infection prevention and patient safety for the past 30 years. Many dental procedures create fine mists and sprays, including respiratory secretions, that can travel long distances, so dental professionals have had to go to great lengths to adapt. Throughout the pandemic, Cuny has been a guiding voice in dentistry, counseling a number of professional organizations, including the American Dental Association. In this episode of Raise the Line, she speaks with Jannah Amiel about the airborne precautions dentists have had to adopt, and the permanent changes to dentistry that she envisions with regard to ventilation, PPE, and sick worker protocol. Tune in to hear Cuny's take on the pandemic-driven renewal of interest in the crossover between medicine and dentistry, as dentists are increasingly performing oral diagnostics and even administering vaccines. Plus, learn what drew Cuny to dentistry and hear her advice to those new to the field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast