The Beat

About Crystal Brown:Crystal Brown is Vice President of Product and Strategy at Benefitfocus, a cloud-based benefits administration technology company serving Health Plans and Employers nationwide.  Crystal is the lead for all aspects of product strategy, roadmap development, and product execution for the full product portfolio of Benefitfocus. In this role, she ensures the viability, feasibility, and desirability of the product offerings, by tapping the expertise of business leaders and keenly knowing the competitive landscape. Crystal brings with her 20+ years of leadership experience spanning deep business acumen, user insights, and technical savvy delivering product designs resulting in a compelling competitive advantage.Prior to this role, Crystal was the Vice President of Strategic Programs at Florida Blue. There she was responsible for leading enterprise strategy, roadmap development, and program execution for transformational initiatives in Sales, Engineering, Clinical Operations, and Provider Networks. A sampling of strategic initiatives she most recently led includes Provider Interoperability, Cost and Quality Transparency, Population Health Management, and Enterprise Data Governance.An active member of her community, Crystal has annually served through United Way leading and participating in community service activities focused on supporting local agency programs.  Agencies of support include Clara White Mission, Daniel Kids, Hands on Jacksonville, and Children’s Home Society of Florida.  While in and out of the office, Crystal remains an active mentor providing interview coaching, development plan building, career pathing, and on-the-job competency mentoring. She is most passionate about mentoring individuals in technology as they prepare for progression into management, focusing on coaching, organizational structure, and general management practices.  Crystal holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Florida with a concentration in Marketing and eCommerce. She is a native of Jacksonville and enjoys cheering alongside her husband of 20 years at the various activities of their three children. Things You’ll Learn:Advanced Engagement Services is Benefitfocus’ enhanced automated communication solution to help health plans and employers connect with their customers and employees.Disengaged members are often three times more likely to have unmet medical needs and two times more likely to delay medical care.Health plans that proactively engage their members can see an increase in overall satisfaction when they try to keep out-of-pocket costs low. It's hard to create personalized and meaningful communications for customers without their complete and accurate information.Usher Technology, Benefitfocus’ latest partner, uses a no-code AI-driven platform that delivers a highly personalized digital experience in customer journey automation with a secure, HIPAA-compliant, password-free customer interface. Resources:Connect with and follow Crystal Brown on LinkedIn.Follow Benefitfocus on LinkedIn.Visit the Benefitfocus Website.Reach out to Crystal at sales@Benefitfocus.com

About Peter Micca:Peter Micca is an Audit & Assurance Partner and National Health Tech leader at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He has 30 years of experience serving a broad array of clients in all sectors of the healthcare, technology, and life sciences industries. He has significant experience with health technology organizations, software as a service (SaaS) organizations, pharmacy benefit management, clinical and diagnostic operations, emerging growth, as well as private equity–financed organizations in life sciences and health technology and services. Micca applies a deep knowledge of industry sector business issues regarding the emerging trends surrounding consumerism, convergence, cost considerations, regulatory and compliance issues, and consolidation. About Navid Farzad:Navid is a partner with Frist Cressey Ventures. Prior to joining FCV in 2019, he worked with Morgan Noble, an investment firm that focuses exclusively on companies determined to change the future of healthcare. Before Morgan Noble, he was with Enhanced Equity Funds, a healthcare-focused private equity firm based in New York, and has also previously held positions with Lehman Brothers’ healthcare investment banking division, Ernst & Young’s Transaction Advisory group, and Arthur Andersen’s healthcare practice.Navid has also served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Continuum Health, a physician enablement company providing practice management and population health services to medical groups. He has been an investor and/or served on the board of directors of Mindoula Health, Continuum Health, Captify Health, Privia Health, and Trusted Health Plans.He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University. About Marcus Osborne:Marcus Osborne is the Chief Executive Officer at RightMove Health. He is a leader in healthcare, having served in many positions that include almost 15 years at Walmart, where his last role was senior vice president of Walmart Health. He also served on the board of many companies, including Health Here, ZealCare, WebPT, and many others. Marcus got his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Government from Transylvania University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard.  Things You’ll Learn:Digital health can only be successful with brick-and-mortar knowledge and the legacy of delivery systems.Collaboration can’t be inconsistent and variable, as it needs to have a defined process that can be reproduced. Companies that attempt to control another’s innovation get less of its benefit.Technology, people, and physician-empowering solutions are the future of health.When collaborating, the two parties should be able to bring their best selves to the table.Companies should act more and take risks with innovations, as even the things that don't work bring lessons to move forward. Resources:Connect with and follow Peter Micca on LinkedIn.Connect with and follow Navid Farzad on LinkedIn.Connect with and follow Marcus Osborne on LinkedIn.Follow Deloitte on LinkedIn.Discover the Deloitte Website.Read this paper from Deloitte about Reimagining Innovation Systems in Healthcare. Follow Frist Cressey Ventures on LinkedIn.Explore the Frist Cressey Ventures Website.Follow RightMove Health on LinkedIn.Visit the RightMove Health Website.

Topics CoveredRebuilding trust with physicians and patients amid the misinformation crisis in AmericaThe AMA's recovery plan to address decreased buy-in to medicine among physiciansHow to introduce technologies into healthcare to make them work for physicians to help reduce burnoutThe critical issues facing the AMAThe importance of health equity (and how to achieve it)The benefits and risks of technology in healthcare—AI and data privacy concernsHow to protect patient informationDiscussing burnout and disenfranchisement among healthcare providers during the pandemicAddressing issues such as bias and transparency with the Physician Innovation NetworkThe key to avoiding reinforcing bias in marginalized communitiesThe American Medical Association's core principles for creating effective productsConnect with Dr. Jesse EhrenfeldDr. Jesse EhrenfeldJesse Ehrenfeld on LinkedInConnect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd Dr. Gulati on TwitterDr. Gulati on LinkedInDr. Shepherd on LinkedInDr. Shepherd on TwitterResourcesAmerican Medical AssociationAMA Physician Innovation NetworkViVE

About Dale Cook:Dale is an expert in digital mental health. As co-founder and CEO of Learn to Live, he's part of a member-focused mental healthcare company that provides online programs and 24/7 clinician coaching to empower people to improve their mental health. Learn to Live serves over 33 million people through health plans, employers, and universities across the country.Dale has been recognized for his innovative approaches to healthcare as a recipient of the (Real) Power 50 award and the Business Leader in Healthcare: Startup award. Dale has been featured in various local and national publications, including Forbes, The Observer, National Public Radio, O, The Oprah Magazine, and others. Dale provides a welcoming and inspiring voice around mental health and the importance of driving engagement with digital healthcare solutions for at-risk populations.He is an active member of multiple healthcare entrepreneur groups focused on improving healthcare at the state and federal levels and is a member of the Governor’s Taskforce on Broadband in Minnesota, which seeks to ensure quality broadband access for all Minnesotans. Dale is also a Fellow of the fifth class of the Health Innovators Fellowship at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Things You’ll Learn:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy programs have been studied for over two decades, and research shows that, when done correctly, digital CBT can be as effective as face-to-face CBT.Some necessary psychometric assessments are the PHQ-9 for depression, the GAD-7 for general anxiety, and the SPIN for social anxiety.Almost half of the people in the United States will suffer from a mental health problem at any point in their lives, but only one in four will seek care.Currently, teen mental health is one of the most important and talked about issues in this space.More than half of the counties in the US don't have a mental healthcare practitioner.Resources:Connect with and follow Dale Cook on LinkedIn.Follow Learn to Live on LinkedIn.Visit the Learn to Live Website!

About Julie Lambert:Julie Lambert serves as the President and General Manager of Inovalon’s Provider business unit. In this role, Ms. Lambert leads the organization that delivers cloud-based SaaS solutions to tens of thousands of provider organizations across the country empowering them to achieve better outcomes and economics for their organizations and the millions of patients that they serve. Ms. Lambert leads and is responsible for the management, product portfolio, sales, customer success, operations, and the overall performance of the provider business. Prior to her role as President and General Manager, Ms. Lambert was the Senior Vice President of the provider division’s customer success and operations team, where her customer-centric approach drove significant improvement to a wide array of operational metrics, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.SourceThings You’ll Learn:About $570 billion annually accounts for wasteful healthcare administrative spending.According to 2022’s Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) index, providers spent more time and money on administrative tasks than on actual patient care.The Inovalon ONE® Platform combines national-scale connectivity, real-time primary source data, and advanced analytics to deliver actionable insights that inform and accelerate patient care.Clinicians can get burdened with administrative tasks, affecting how they provide treatment.Patients expect their provider's full attention during any type of care encounter.Resources:Connect with and follow Julie Lambert on LinkedIn.Follow Inovalon on LinkedIn.Explore the Inovalon Website!

About Kimberly O'Loughlin:Kimberly joined HRS in March 2022, bringing with her more than 30 years of experience in leveraging talent and technology to drive growth, innovation, and improved business performance and customer experiences across health tech and other industries.  At HRS, her portfolio includes award-winning Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and telehealth solutions and services that address increasingly important healthcare needs – lowering the cost of care, and improving health outcomes, while delivering better experiences for both consumers and clinicians. Prior to HRS, Kimberly was CEO of Therapy Brands where she was responsible for serving the mental, behavioral, and physical therapy market providers with a broad portfolio of software and services including specialty-specific EHR/PMS platforms, patient engagement, telehealth, e-prescription solutions, and revenue cycle management services.  Before this, she was President at Greenway Health; prior to that, she ran two global healthcare businesses at Philips in Connected Care and Health Informatics.  She had solutions for monitoring and supporting the safety, health, and connectedness needs of seniors in the home as well as in long-term and post-acute care settings.  She also expanded access to healthcare in emerging global markets with low-cost continuous monitoring, vital signs monitoring, cardiology, oncology, and women’s health solutions.Prior to working at Philips, Kimberly held senior leadership roles within AIG, AT&T Wireless, and AT&T. She has demonstrated excellent results in growing revenue and profitability, launching innovative products, transforming operations to six sigma and best-in-class performance, and building stellar teams.Over the years, Kimberly and her teams have earned a variety of awards including Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, Frost and Sullivan Award for Product Line Innovation, Best in KLAS for RCM, Best in KLAS Most Improved Ambulatory EHR, and Stevie’s People’s Choice Award for Best Customer Service. In 2012 she was inducted into the Executive Women of New Jersey, and in 2013 she was featured in Executive Profile magazine on the Top 25 executive profiles list. In 2019, she was named the number 3 woman in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare, and in 2021 she earned top CEO ratings by Comparably.Kimberly has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University and a Master of Science degree in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Human Factors Engineering from Steven’s Institute of Technology. She served as class president at Princeton where she currently serves on the Alumni Schools Committee. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Jerry, and their dog Harley.  They have three children and enjoy the beach, skiing, sports, and time with family and friends. Things You’ll Learn:Health Recovery Solutions is the leading provider of remote care delivery.Patients are becoming more active in their healthcare.Individually tailored care plans with inpatient and virtual care will become more common in the coming years.HRS has clinical advisory services. HRS sets up the remote care technologies providers need.Promising healthcare industry trends include value-based care, lower-cost care settings, health equity focus, interoperability, the use of AI and ML, and hospital-at-home functionalities.HRS provides patients with hardware and software to connect to their caregivers and clinicians with a portal that monitors and supports the patient.AI technologies can help harness data to design different treatment pathways and predict which patients will need intervention. Resources:Connect with and follow Kimberly O'Loughlin on LinkedIn and Twitter.Follow Health Recovery Solutions on LinkedIn.Discover the Health Recovery Solutions Website!Reach out to Kimberly at KOLoughlin@HealthRecoverySolutions.com!

Topics CoveredThe potential of newer technologies like generative AI to eliminate friction in clinical environmentsOvercoming physician apprehension towards technology adoption and introducing ambient experience in healthcareThe importance of physician adoption coaching and building psychological safety with providersThe use of simulations and VR in training for medical studentsThe need for a pause in healthcare technology implementation to focus on the art of practicing medicineThe importance of sharing knowledge and ideas among medical institutionsWhy patient-centered care and patient-reported outcomes still need to stand at the centerThe evolving definition of a "good doctor"Connect with Andrea DaughertyAndrea Daugherty on LinkedInConnect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam GulatiDr. Shepherd on LinkedInDr. Shepherd on TwitterDr. Gulati on TwitterDr. Gulati on LinkedInResourcesDell Medical SchoolViVE

About Ali Parsa:Dr. Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on Earth. By combining cutting-edge AI technology and the best available medical expertise, Babylon gives people 24/7 access to affordable, holistic health services. The company is home to a large, passionate team of scientists, clinicians, mathematicians, and engineers—all recruited from over 60 different countries. With over 3 million users,  Babylon is transforming the way healthcare works across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  Before  Babylon, Dr. Parsa created Circle, which became Europe's largest partnership of clinicians, with some £200m of revenue, 3,000 employees, and a successful IPO. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr. Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award for establishing Circle. He was given the Royal Award for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for founding his first business, V&G. More recently, Dr. Parsa was listed in The Times' 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognized him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognizes game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. Dr. Parsa also won the CEO Award from Finance Monthly and ACQ5's UK Game Changer of the Year. He is a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics. Things You’ll Learn:Babylon's mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth by combining AI technology and medical expertise to provide accessible and affordable holistic health services.Healthcare should be about continuously collecting data, analyzing it in real-time, and intervening early when possible.AI and data analytics can help improve the healthcare system by predicting patterns and automating menial tasks.There is almost nothing that your body doesn't send a signal on.One of healthcare entrepreneurs' most significant challenges is the need for more capital and investment.Knowledge doubles every 2-3 years, so leaders should look to the future more.Resources:Connect with and follow Ali Parsa on LinkedIn.Follow Babylon on LinkedIn.Explore the Babylon Website.

About Doug Layman:Doug Layman is the President of Commercial Business for Prescryptive Health. He is a passionate leader that has been focused on uniquely positioning organizations for substantial growth and profitability for decades. As a proven industry thought leader, Doug has been sharing his expertise on employee engagement, creating a culture of health, and population health management at conferences throughout the country for many years. Prior to joining Prescryptive Health, Doug was the Chief Revenue Officer at Wondr Health and also spent 15 years as the CSMO and President of Health & Life at Gilsbar, LLC.Things You’ll Learn:Healthcare is the only industry where the buyer doesn't know the cost of a product or service.The pharmacy experience should start at the point of care to engage the patient immediately and create a space for education and discussion.Prescryptive Health has a patent on digital prescriptions using blockchain.Most people have yet to learn medications can have different costs at different pharmacies.As soon as a PMS makes money on the sale or selection of a drug, they're no longer conflict-free.Prescryptive Health only charges a Per Member Per Month fee.Prescryptive helps clients save from 15% to about 40% in prescriptions.Resources:Connect with and follow Doug Layman on LinkedIn.Follow Prescryptive Health on LinkedIn.Discover the Prescryptive Health Website!

About Suzanne Kunis:Suzanne Kunis is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of NovaWell, an affiliate of Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. She also serves as Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. She brings over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry with a significant focus on behavioral health. Suzanne is a registered nurse and moved from care delivery to healthcare management early in her career.   Suzanne is a nationally recognized industry expert and leads NovaWell, an organization born out of her success at Horizon. She was recruited to Horizon in March 2017 to develop and lead Horizon’s first-ever internal Behavioral Health strategy and team. Suzanne is responsible for all behavioral health strategic development and execution including the organization’s commitment to the integration of physical and behavioral health. Suzanne led the successful insourcing of behavioral health and a cultural and philosophical shift and commitment to integration within Horizon. NovaWell will be helping other health plans to achieve similar results.  Suzanne is the ultimate behavioral health champion – the opioid crisis and continued battle to eliminate mental health stigma are priority items on her agenda and she works tirelessly to drive the message that “mental health is health” nationwide.    Before joining Horizon BCBSNJ, Suzanne served for 22 years as Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health Services for Magellan Health Services. She was the business owner for Magellan’s health plan (Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid) and employer-client relationships. She was responsible for oversight and management of nationwide service delivery including member services, clinical operations, network development and management, quality, sales, EAP, and finance. During her tenure with Magellan, Suzanne developed a deep understanding of the behavioral health care issues facing our country and the long overdue recognition of the impact of behavioral health issues on comorbid medical conditions.   Suzanne also served as Senior Vice President of Account Management and Implementations for ComplexCare Solutions (CCS). CCS provided in-home risk adjustment assessments and care management services for its health plan clients. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson University, College of Allied Health Sciences in Philadelphia, Suzanne began her nursing career at the East Orange Veterans Administration Hospital. She then began a 12-year career journey with which was then Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey where she served many roles including Vice President of the Individual Market segment. Things You’ll Learn:NovaWell and Horizon’s alliance seeks solutions to help people access behavioral healthcare when, where, and how they need it.Behavioral health can impact more than 20% of the total medical cost, which is why treatments should also include a behavioral health perspective.Horizon developed a platform with tools available like educational research, podcasts, a provider directory, and assessments, among others.Horizon established a program centered around identifying patients that need different care options. This program works with a community mental health provider that can refer them to get them the care they need.Between 40 and 50% of adults have a diagnosable mood disorder.67% of people needing mental health care don’t seek it out because of stigma.Stigma has historically prevented patients from accessing care. It doesn’t matter the condition a patient comes in with, we need to view it through a behavioral health lens.  Resources:Connect with and follow Suzanne Kunis on LinkedIn.Follow NovaWell on LinkedIn.Follow Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey on LinkedIn.Discover the NovaWell Website!Visit the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Website!