B-Time with Beth Bierbower

Lesley Solomon is Senior Vice President of Innovation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA which has been in existence for over 70 years and is widely known for its significant accomplishments in detecting and treating even the most complex cancers.  Lesley will share with us what it means to support innovation at a world-famous institution and how Dana-Farber takes a collaborative approach in fighting cancer.

Our guest today is Naveen Kathuria, CEO of efamilycare which is addressing the issue of lack of support and tools for family caregivers.  efamilycare offers a digital platform designed to connect caregivers to tools and experts that can advise the caregiver on urgent and nonemergent issues.  The platform also connects family members so they can efficiently communicate and it uses telehealth to provide access to care.  efamilycare is focused on helping to keep loved ones out of the hospital and in their homes.

Show Notes:  Podcasts: A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek; The GaryVee Audio Experience with Gary Vee; How I Built This with Guy Raz.  Books: Open and autobiography by Andre Agassi; Good Company by Arthur Blank; Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The desire for elderly people or individuals with life-threatening conditions to remain in their homes for as long as possible without being a burden to their families is strong.  Home is the future of healthcare and looking at recent acquisitions over the last 12 – 24 months, the race to deliver care in the home is on. 

Today’s guest had a vision for providing care in the home long before many others.  Paul Kusserow, Chairman and CEO of Amedisys, a company that helps individuals remain in their homes through home health, personal care and hospice services.  Paul has served in senior executive roles at companies such as Humana, The Advisory Board, Zeigler, McKinsey and Tenet to name a few.  Paul is one of the best strategic thinkers in the industry, who can also execute on a strategy.

Show Notes: Paul is rereading Plato as he believes the saying, “If you want to understand how the world works then read Plato.”; The Loyalty Effect by Frederick Reichheld, The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy; The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

The book Creativity, Inc. is written by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace.  Catmull was the President of Pixar and then Walt Disney Animation.  He also worked for LucasFilm so he has a good perspective on what it means to be creative.

Catmull provides his view of how to create and sustain a culture of creativity.  Catmull often references failing fast and speaking out.  He acknowledges that all companies have problems regardless of culture and this rang true after the book was published as it became apparent there were issues at Pixar with leadership behaviors.

The book does contain good perspectives and approaches to encouraging employees to take appropriate risks and help employees feel ownership in a company.  Because I enjoy the backstory, I thought that Catmull’s stories about Pixar’s filmmaking and his interactions with Steve Jobs were nice added touches that keep the reader’s interest.

Lack of creativity and the inability to make bold moves are what hurts companies.  Any advice we can get from a leader at a company known for both is worth the read. 

Our guest is Terry Stone, Managing Partner  of the Americas a Oliver Wyman which covers all the Oliver Wyman practices in North, South and Central America.  

Today we are going to talk with Terry about a variety of topics from global trends that are currently or soon will be making their way to the US to some highly visible leadership issues that most companies are dealing with. 

Show notes:  favorite Books:  White Fragility by Robin Diangelo and Michael Eric Dyson; The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier;  Podcast – to hear a different perspective from her own: Jordan B. Peterson.

Beth mentioned the book: 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide And Reshape The Future Of Everything by Mauro Guillen

Our guest is Shiv Gaglani, co-founder and CEO of Osmosis.org.  Osmosis.org’s vision is to empower the world’s clinicians and caregivers with the best learning experience possible.  Osmosis says it empowers over 1 million learners around the world with a better understanding of medicine and health topics.  They do this using video tutorials that show and teach at the same time along with other tools. 

Show notes:  favorite books: Atomic Habits by James Clear; The School of Life YouTube Channel and Book; Podcast: Tim Ferris

Through the course of this podcast, we have heard from many players in the healthcare ecosystem – payors, providers, technology companies and even the voice of the consumer.  Today we will hear another important perspective and that is the view of the investor.  Venture Capital and other firms fund healthcare startups with long term potential.  In 2020 $17B was raised in healthcare venture capital alone.

Today we are going to hear from a gentleman that knows this space well.  Devin Carty is the CEO of Martin Ventures, a Nashville Based Family-owned venture capital firm that currently invests in several healthcare companies including Contessa, Ovia, Wellvana, Cedar, and Trilliant Health to name a few.  He has not only served as an investor, he is also a co-founder of several companies which gives him a unique perspective as to what it takes to be successful. 

Show notes:  Books that Devin has read: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight; How the Mighty Fall & Built to Last by Jim Collins; Outliers & David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell; The Art of War by Sun Tzu; The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shosana Zuboff; Good Economics For Hard Times by Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo; Trillion Dollar Coach by Bill Campbell; The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Ride Of A Lifetime is a book on leadership by Robert Iger, the former CEO of Disney.  Serving as CEO of Disney for 15 years, Iger walks us through several pivotal and critical moments in his time at Disney and even goes back farther into his time at ABC/Capital Cities.

I enjoyed two aspects of this book, the first which is an inside peak at Disney leadership.  It’s always a bit comforting to know that all organizations have their politics and quirks.  But Iger doesn’t tear down former colleagues, rather he shares his approach to dealing with new cultures and organizational dynamics.  While Iger worked at ABC, it was acquired twice and he brilliantly leveraged those experiences when he became the acquirer.

The second aspect I enjoyed was that Iger shares his thinking at the time he made the decision.  He helps the reader understand the context at the time, what thoughts were running through his head and how he sorted out what to do and perhaps most importantly what not to do.  

Throughout the book, Iger shares leadership lessons that are practical and useful.  He lists these 45 lessons at the end of the book which is a nice touch and serves as good reinforcement.  If I had to choose one word to describe Iger’s leadership style it would be “decent”.  Iger treated people with thoughtfulness and respect.  He didn’t lead people on in negotiations.  He was straightforward but kind when terminating someone.  He seems like the kind of guy that you’d like to have a beer with. 

BCG’s Managing Director & Senior Partner Jon Kaplan joins us to talk about healthcare.

Jon is a core member of BCG’s Strategy and Healthcare practices and has both national and global expertise with payers, providers and digital technologies  He has helped organizations with everything from corporate strategies to digital transformations and more.

Jon is a person that understands market forces and what’s driving demand in the industry.  Today, we tap into his deep expertise today and get his thoughts on industry trends, market consolidation, shifts in place of care and more. 

Show Notes: Podcasts:  A Healthy Dose; The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman, MD.   Reading:  Ramaonhealthcare.com; Homehealthcarenews.com

In this episode we discuss episodes of care.  An episode of care is looking across a condition or treatment and pulling all the related transactions together to get a holistic view of what has taken place.  Health Plans like to look at episodes to identify total costs of care.  Providers like to look at episodes of care to better anticipate the patient’s needs.  This sounds like a good way to look at health care.

Unfortunately, the actual member experience doesn’t happen this way.  Each provider seems to operate in a different silo and even the health plan doesn’t pull it all together for the consumer.  With us is Duncan Reece, COO and Co-founder of Cohere Health a company whose mission is to enable the Care Journey that is right for the patient and do whatever it takes to arrive at that outcome quickly.  You’ll learn how Cohere Health is breaking down barriers and also learn about the other areas within HealthCare where the company is applying its expertise.  Duncan’s background is steeped in healthcare.  He has worked at outstanding organizations such as Health Dialog, Iora Health, and Behavioral Health company Mindstrong.

Show Notes: Duncan is reading The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan and several Roald Dahl books with his two children.  He listens to “How I Built This with Guy Raz.