Creating a New Healthcare

This is the second of two inspiring interviews featuring the integration of digital health into one of the largest integrated delivery networks in the country.  In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Aaron Martin, who came to Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH) directly from spending nearly a decade at Amazon, where he was an executive – the North American director of Kindle & print-on-demand services.  In that role, Aaron led a disruption of the print publishing industry that catalyzed tremendous value for readers as well as writers.  What is remarkable about this interview is that, despite being a technical leader in the digital realm, Aaron spends the first few minutes of the interview describing the leadership principles & cultural norms that were critical factors in Amazon’s success.  In those first few minutes, what becomes abundantly apparent is that Aaron brings to his work an intense dedication to patients and providers; as well as a unique combination of value-based thinking, authentic leadership, and industry-leading technical capability in healthcare redesign and innovation.  In what is an inspiring and refreshing dialogue, Aaron describes the two most important stakeholders in healthcare – the ‘creator’ of value (the provider of care), and the ‘customer’ (the patient or consumer of care) in the healthcare value chain. In this interview, he shares how he views his role as supporting the professional commitment of providers & enabling the ‘sacred moments of care’ between provider & patient. Aaron views digital health & the consumerist approach as integral enablers of medical care, and not as disintermediaries.  He also lays out a very clear picture of why and how design thinking, digital health, and a consumerist approach are critical success factors for any organization that expects to thrive in the future healthcare delivery market.  With straightforward examples, Aaron demonstrates that, unlike some previous deployments of technology, digital health leads to a markedly better consumer experience for both patients and providers; leverages and enhances the value proposition of providers; improves health outcomes, and solves for major organizational challenges such as access to care, growth and affordability.  Aaron and his colleagues hold themselves accountable for producing demonstrable and measurable results – outcomes that matter to patients, providers, and payers.  

This is the first of two amazing interviews featuring the topic of Digital Health and its integration into healthcare delivery at Providence St. Joseph Health.  In this first interview, Sara Vaezy describes, in no uncertain terms, the ‘Existential Imperative’ that makes digital health an absolute requirement and a critical success factor for any organization contemplating a robust future in healthcare delivery.  Sara shares two customer-centric examples of how digital health is transforming healthcare at Providence St. Joseph Health – in their on-demand care services (Express Care); and in their Women’s Health offering (Circle).  She points out that, far from being a nice-to-do, the consumer-oriented digital health integration is moving “big needles” in terms of access, consumer satisfaction, growth and revenue. Sara talks about the work she and her colleagues are collaborating on – to create a 10X experience that enhances engagement and improves health outcomes. By 10X, she means a patient/consumer experience that is ten times better than what patients currently experience!  When asked to describe the personal leadership characteristics that make this sort of transformation possible, Sara has two answers. First – “resilience… in the face of a non-steady state environment”; and second – an “unwavering commitment to what’s best for our patients”.  You’ll not want to miss this authentic and insightful interview with someone who is clearly one of the up and coming leaders in the digital health movement.

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Stuart Levine – one of the most experienced & accomplished physician executives in the realm of value-based care.  Dr. Levine has been deeply engaged in providing comprehensive care under global capitation for decades.  He brings a clarity and practical wisdom to the complex topic of clinical care & cost stewardship; as well as a deep sense of professional responsibility to high quality, safe & effective patient-centered care.  He describes a managed care environment that is both practical and personalized.  He also describes a healthcare construct that is rewarding and sustainable for physicians & other providers of medical care.  In this in-depth interview, Stuart outlines ‘the six pillars of care’ – a time-tested and proven model for population-based, value-based care.  Stuart places a tremendously high premium on spending more upfront & supporting a relationship-based approach to patient care – which he has proven saves both lives & money.  He advocates for a human-centered care that is fiscally responsible.  The picture that Stuart paints provides us with hope for a better future in healthcare.  

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews John Moore, the CEO of Twine Health – a patient engagement & health activation platform.  Dr. Moore brings an unusual background to his work.  In addition to his medical training and clinical background, he is also an engineer, who spent years, after leaving his medical residency, at the MIT Media Lab; where he became expert in the technology of social media & communications, as well as in the science & art of behavior change.  This rare combination of clinical, technologic & behavioral expertise led him to reframe the clinical value proposition & to create the Twine platform – which allows clinical teams, patients and their families to work in a highly collaborative and convenient way.  Dr. Moore reframes patient engagement in terms of ‘health activation’, in which health becomes a collaborative team activity.  The traditional office visits are augmented with ‘micro-interactions’ in which the patient can access a health coach or someone else on their health team when and where they need it – that is, in the rhythm of their own lives.  On the Twine platform, medical advice & recommendations are delivered in small aliquots that are highly effective and efficient.  It’s a win/win/win situation – patients get what they need, when they need it, & how they want it – in an easy-to-use and convenient format; health care providers’ time & expertise is leveraged & distilled to be of highest value; and clinical outcomes of care and cost effectiveness are greatly improved.  There are numerous lessons to be gleaned in this interview, which can inform anyone who is interested in improving patient care & the customer experience in healthcare delivery.

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Sean Duffy, who is one of the most lauded pioneers in the space of digital health & digital behavioral medicine. Sean and his colleagues at Omada Health are clearly trailblazers in numerous ways. The company has used the foundation of a widely-respected, evidence-based intervention — the National Diabetes Prevention Program — and transformed it into a convenient, digital platform that is consumer-oriented, customer-friendly, and that delivers a personalized experience for users. Sean and his team focus their intervention on a specific, clinical population that represents one of our nation’s most significant and growing healthcare problems — those at elevated risk for type diabetes and other obesity-related chronic conditions. While capturing some of the most cutting-edge approaches to behavior change, Omada has incorporated their solution into the mainstream of healthcare delivery, adhering to all regulatory requirements while working to have the intervention coded and paid for like any other billable event. Omada’s plan is not to go around the legacy healthcare system, but to become a working part of it.  Sean’s Omada story is one of courage, conviction & commitment – toward taking patient-centered care, the patient user experience & patient engagement to the 10X realm.  It’s a story you will definitely want to hear.

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Eyal Gura, co-founder & Chairman of ZebraMed – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) company dedicated to transforming medical imaging.  ZebraMed was listed in Fast Company, in February 2017, as one of the top 10 AI companies in the world; and in Fortune Magazine, also in 2017, as one of the top 50 companies leading the AI revolution.  In this interview, Eyal describes his company’s mission to provide the world with automated, accurate, timely & affordable medical imaging diagnosis.  The computer machine-learning algorithms at ZebraMed are already reading CT scans and mammograms; and they are continuing to expand their portfolio of medical images.  It’s an exciting vision that Eyal paints – one that you will definitely want to hear.  His company is mission driven as well – planning to & already delivering high tech radiologic support to underserved communities & countries.  One of the most exciting parts of the interview is Eyal’s announcement of their AI1 (All in One) program; in which ZebraMed is going to offer a flat-rate fee of $1 per scan – no matter what.  That’s right – $1 per scan!  This revolutionary pricing strategy is, almost certainly, going to transform medical imaging & healthcare delivery, by providing access to high quality, affordable medical care for millions of people around the globe.  Eyal and his colleagues at ZebraMed are on a bold, courageous & visionary journey to Create a New Healthcare!

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Don Berwick – widely recognized as one of the most influential & impactful healthcare leaders of our time. His foundational contributions to the quality, safety & reliability movement in healthcare – beginning in the late 1980’s – have led to profound reductions in medical errors in the United States and abroad.  Among his numerous contributions, Don co-founded and led the Institute for Healthcare Improvement for 18 years – an organization that has shifted the landscape of healthcare delivery; catalyzed the healthcare quality movement; and whose overall positive impact on domestic & global healthcare is almost immeasurable.  He has served numerous key leadership roles such as in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) & the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and has authored and co-authored numerous landmark publications such as the IOM’s ‘To Err is Human’ and ‘Crossing the Quality Chasm’.  In this interview, Dr. Berwick provides us with detailed principles for the creation of a “third era of medicine” – an era in which we can more fully realize the goals of the triple aim – better medical care for patients, better health & health outcomes, and lower costs of care; and in which we can support our physicians & other providers of care in performing clinical work that is meaningful and sustainable.  Dr. Berwick is an unparalleled physician-scientist-scholar, and a humanitarian leader whose integrity, vision & insights hold practical wisdom and guidance for any leader contemplating the future of healthcare delivery; and whose compelling stories provide us with directed purpose, inspiration & hope.

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Rushika Fernandopulle MD, co-founder and CEO of Iora Health.  Rushika and his colleagues have spent the past 15 years building a model of healthcare that is primarily dedicated to optimizing people’s lives through better living – using Primary Care as the foundation.  His courageous approach has really set the vision for what Primary Care can and should look like; and numerous other innovative Primary Care redesigns have been built off of the groundbreaking Iora Health model. In this interview, Rushika will unabashedly discuss the critical success factors upon which he will not compromise.  He also shares stories which illustrate the simple elegance and amazing potential value of Primary Care.  Dr. Fernandopulle ends the conversation with one take-home ‘nugget’: do a team huddle each morning, and talk about your patients, even if it’s only for 5 minutes.  Are you up for his challenge?

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Neuwirth interviews Devin Gross, who very recently left EMMI, after many years of success at the helm, as CEO.   What becomes abundantly apparent in this dialogue is that Devin is not only a talented executive, but that he has also garnered tremendous insights into patient engagement during his 14 years at EMMI.  Topics covered include: (1) the value proposition and ROI of patient engagement; (2) the essential understanding of the differences between patient education, patient experience & patient engagement;  and (3) the two, very different, persona’s of the patient and consumer, and why each must be addressed in order for providers to be successful in a value based market.  This is a not-to-be missed episode for anyone who is interested in this most critical topic of patient engagement – potentially the ‘holy grail’ of valued based care.

In this episode of Creating a New Healthcare, Dr. Zeev Neuwirth interviews Dr. Par Bolina, Chief Innovation Officer at IKS.  Par is a physician & expert in Healthcare Informatics, Electronic Medical Records & Exam Room Ambulatory Workflow.  This episode focuses on one of the most critical and under-examined parts of healthcare delivery – the so-called “last mile” – the patient/provider encounter – where the rubber meets the road, and where healthcare value is directly created.  To be quite honest – this podcast episode is lengthy; but you won’t want to miss what’s revealed.   Dr. Bolina points out that our lack of investigation into and superficial understanding of the provider/patient encounter is what is leading to avoidable care gaps, suboptimal outcomes, inefficiencies, high costs, provider burnout, and less than optimal patient experience. Similar to a Jacque Cousteau, Bolina takes us on a deep dive into this largely unexplored domain, and opens our eyes to the ‘ecosystem of the encounter’ – what might be considered ‘the final frontier’ of healthcare delivery.  What Bolina reveals to us is that the provider/patient encounter is filled with real-time data that we could measure and use, to dramatically improve upon healthcare outcomes.  Dr. Bolina discusses ‘Scribbles’ – a ‘scribe on steroids’ redesign that he’s developed at IKS.  Scribbles is an asynchronous, virtual, off-site physician-scribe/coach who listens to the audio recorded encounters during off-hours, and provides the provider with daily, real-time feedback and recommendations to improve clinical care, documentation & coding.