On the latest episode of Concept to Care, Sandy Huang, a seasoned consumer tech product executive, shares insights on joining a health tech company like GoodRx and the skills and insights she brings from her customer-focused product management background. She discusses the challenges of setting the right user experience bar in health tech and the elements of an effective product strategy. Sandy also shares her experiences in identifying target markets, understanding customer needs, and conducting market research. Sandy Huang shares insights on product strategy, execution, and healthcare innovation. She emphasizes the importance of customer obsession, continuous research, and the balance between science and art in product management. Additionally, she highlights the significance of understanding user needs and leveraging core competencies in building product strategies.

Here's a sneak peek into the discussion:

• Sandy’s transition from consumer tech to health tech and the unique insights she brings from companies like Amazon and Shutterfly

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Where to find Sandy Huang:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyhuangproduct/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

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Referenced:

• GoodRx: https://www.goodrx.com/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-9-sandy-huang

Today on Concept to Care, we welcome Smita Nair, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Equip, a pioneering health tech company dedicated to treating eating disorders and related conditions such as anxiety, depression, and OCD. Equip offers virtual, family-based treatments accessible to patients of all ages across all 50 states, leveraging a comprehensive approach to ensure broad reach and effectiveness.

In this episode, we'll delve into the crucial role of clinical expertise in developing and scaling digital health solutions. Smita will share strategies for achieving impactful healthcare outcomes, focusing on aligning organizational tasks with broader company goals and the importance of tying every action to key organizational metrics.

We'll explore Smita's approach to product development and strategic roadmapping, including maintaining flexibility in plans while ensuring stakeholder alignment. She'll explain how to balance strategic planning with the need for agility, especially in the dynamic healthcare sector.

Additionally, Smita will discuss building high-performing teams, emphasizing clear role definitions, collective accountability, and fostering psychological safety. She'll offer advice on addressing cultural and operational misalignments with new hires and promoting a culture where feedback is seen as a tool for growth.

Here are all the highlights of our conversation:

• Experience and alignment with Equip’s mission and model

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Where to find Smita Nair

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nairsmita/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

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Referenced:

• Equip’s Company Website: https://equip.health/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-8-smita-nair

Today on Concept to Care, we're joined by Richa Gujarati, the Senior Vice President of Product and GTM Strategy at HeartBeam. HeartBeam is a cardiac technology company that has developed the first and only credit card-sized 3D-vector electrocardiogram platform for home use.

We'll explore the genesis of Richa’s career in product and go-to-market strategy, tracing her journey through renowned organizations such as Johns Hopkins, St. Jude Medical, iRhythm, and Apple Health. You’ll discover the critical role of evidence generation in successfully bringing a healthcare product to market and learn strategies to achieve it.

Richa will delve into the intersection of product development and go-to-market strategy, offering insights on recognizing when these elements are in sync and how to realign your organization if they are not. She will share her expertise on competing with industry giants and maintaining a competitive edge, as well as tips on selling to health systems.

Additionally, Richa will provide her unique perspectives on the evolving role of product management in the health tech industry and advice on becoming a successful product manager in this field.

Here are all the highlights of our conversation:

• Richa’s career path in product and go-to-market strategy

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Where to find Richa Gujarati:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richagujarati/

X: https://x.com/richaguj20

email: [email protected]

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

Angela Suthrave

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

X: https://twitter.com/ASuthrave

email: [email protected]

Omar Mousa

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

X: https://twitter.com/OmarMHealth

email: [email protected]

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Referenced:

HeartBeam Company Website:: https://www.heartbeam.com/

HeartBeam press release appointing Richa for SVP of Product and GTM: https://ir.heartbeam.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/58/heartbeam-appoints-richa-gujarati-and-pooja-chatterjee-to

Apple Health Website:: https://www.apple.com/ios/health/

iRhythm Technologies Company Website: https://www.irhythmtech.com/

Press announcement that St. Jude Medical is getting acquired by Abbot: https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/strategy-and-strength/st-jude-medical-is-now-abbott.html

Johns Hopkins Bioengineering Innovation and Design, Master of Science in Engineering: https://e-catalogue.jhu.edu/engineering/full-time-residential-programs/degree-programs/biomedical-engineering/innovation-design-master-science-engineering/

Growth of the Evidence Base for Digital Health is Crucial for the Adoption: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growth-evidence-base-digital-health-crucial-adoption-joseph-kvedar/

Understanding the Role of Clinical Champions and Their Impact on Clinician Behavior Change: The Need for Causal Pathway Mechanisms: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10012807/

Richa’s favorite everyday tooling:

monday.com for task management and some roadmapping functionality: https://monday.com/

Miro for flow diagramming and user journey mapping: https://miro.com/

dragonboat.io: for organizing product portfolios: https://dragonboat.io/

Richa’s favorite books:

Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne: https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/what-is-blue-ocean-strategy/

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: https://theleanstartup.com/

If you’re a hardware PM looking to network — direct message Richa on LinkedIn or Twitter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richagujarati/

Twitter: https://x.com/richaguj20

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Today on Concept to Care, we're joined by Rik Renard.

Rik is the Director of Clinical Strategy at Awell, a low-code platform to design, orchestrate and improve care flows in days, rather than months. He's also the founding force behind CareOps, an initiative from Awell in partnership with the Health Tech Nerds community.

In this insightful conversation, we'll explore Rik's unique journey - from dedicated clinician nurse to health tech operator. We'll dive into how Awell intelligently designs care flows to reduce variability and improve outcomes across the care continuum.

Rik will share candid insights on implementing change in environments resistant to new methods, and how to leverage data to validate whether care flows are achieving the desired results.

Perhaps most exciting, we'll learn firsthand from Rik about the origins of CareOps - the vision behind it and where this movement is headed next.

Here are all the highlights of our conversation:

• Rik's transformation from a clinician to a health tech startup operator and essential lessons for navigating a similar journey

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Where to find Rik Renard:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rik-renard/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

—

Referenced:

• CareOps: https://www.careops.org/

• Thomas Casteele, CEO of Awell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasvdc/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-6-rik-renard

Concept to Care speaks to Brendan Keeler. He is the Head of Product at Flexpa. Flexpa is a developer friendly infrastructure that connects applications to identified claims data. Flexpa enables effortless sharing of claims data with your application in seconds. They’ve created the fastest, simplest, HIPAA compliant method for accessing identified claims data from anyone.

You’re going to hear about Brendan’s experience at Epic and the role it played in laying the foundation for his healthcare career. Brendan will give us all a master class in interoperability, the types of problems and an in-depth view on the solutions in the market today. He will walk through his EMR selection playbook and share an intimate love letter to a particular EMR vendor. We will dissect Brandan’s brain for how he thinks about tech start up culture and how that manifests within Flexpa. Lastly, we understand the origin story of the Health API Guy and share lots of laughs throughout the episode.

Here are all the highlights of our conversation:

Brendan's odyssey through the realm of healthcare, and how he culminated his mastery of healthcare interoperability

Explaining the interoperability challenge, navigating the technical solutions available, and strategies for evaluating vendors in this landscape

Epic v Particle, an overview of what happened along with a perspective on potential paths forward

To EHR or not to EHR, how should think about build vs. buy, the len’s of your tech enabled organization, and a love letter to a headless EMR partner

Mastering your career journey: Cultivating your personal product “skill tree”, navigating expectations with finesse, and infusing humor into organizational culture.

Deep dive into who is the Health API guy and what’s next for him?

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Where to find Brendan Keeler:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-keeler/

X: https://twitter.com/healthapiguy

Substack: https://substack.com/@healthapiguy

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

Angela Suthrave

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

X: https://twitter.com/ASuthrave

email: [email protected]

Omar Mousa

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

X: https://twitter.com/OmarMHealth

email: [email protected]

—

Referenced:

Flexpa: https://www.flexpa.com/

Flexpa’s Substack: https://flexpa.substack.com/

Brendan Keeler’s Newsletter - Health API Guys Substack: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/

How to identify use cases for interoperability: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/how-to-win-friends-and-integrate

Choices for connecting with other systems: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/the-only-three-ways-to-integrate

Brendan Keeler’s EMR Playbook: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/to-ehr-or-not-to-ehr

Health API Guy’s API Bible: The New Testament - Walkthrough for on-ramp APIs, open-aggregators, and closed-aggregators: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/the-api-bibles-new-testament-aggregators

Health API Guy’s API Bible: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/the-previously-undiscovered-bible

Epic v. Particle Health - Part 1: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/epic-v-particle

Epic v. Particle Health - Part 2: https://healthapiguy.substack.com/p/epic-v-particle-2-the-problem-of

Elion’s Interoperability Guide: https://elion.health/resources/guide-interoperability

Elion’s Headless EHRs: A Primer: https://elion.health/resources/headless-ehrs

Brendan’s Favorite Headless EMR, Medplum: https://www.medplum.com/

Health Tech Nerds is a great resource for crowd sourcing solutions for problems you may have as a PM or Operator: https://www.healthtechnerds.com/

Elion: https://elion.health/

Epic: https://www.epic.com

Particle Health: https://www.particlehealth.com/

Carequality: https://carequality.org/

Redox: https://www.redoxengine.com/

Zus Health: https://zushealth.com/

Canvas: https://www.canvasmedical.com/

Oak Street Health: https://www.oakstreethealth.com/

Press Release for Oracle purchasing goBalto: https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/oracle-buys-gobalto-101718.html

Brendan’s pick for user authentication and authorization management (replace Okta and Auth0), Work OS: https://workos.com/

Brendan’s pick for observability tooling, DataDog: https://www.datadoghq.com/

Skill Tree based RPG: Super fun and addicting game from our teenage years - Diablo II Lord of Destruction (2001): https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/diablo-ii-lord-of-destruction

Applying Skill Trees to your own life: https://medium.com/skilluped/the-skill-tree-principle-an-innovative-way-to-grow-your-skills-efficiently-7e6287e0748e

Kim Possible Quote, “Call me, beep me, if you want to reach me”: https://kimpossible.fandom.com/wiki/Call_Me,_Beep_Me

Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

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Concept to Care speaks to Ada Glover. Ada is a Co-Founder and the Chief Product Officer at Zus Health, a patient health data platform designed to help provider organizations drive impact with a comprehensive understanding of their patients and populations. At Zus Health, Ada leads product development and clinical strategy teams. Before the founding of Zus Health, Ada was an Executive Product Director at Athena Health. At athenahealth she was responsible for the revenue cycle, clinical, and value based care products.

In our conversation, we discuss:

Discover Ada's journey transitioning from the field of education tech to health tech, along with her guidance for those contemplating a similar career shift

Delve into the founding story of Zus Health and their overarching product strategy

The customer problem Zus Health set out to solve and the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) for their customers

Deep dive into Zus Health’s Aggregated Profiles and Zaps

Introduction to healthcare data, their standards, and how Zus Health enables interoperability

Ada’s personal outlook on today’s electronic health record landscape

The sneak peak into the future of Zus Health’s product

Current state of the health tech industry with respect to data limitations, data standards, regulatory/compliance, and technical feasibility

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Where to find Ada Glover:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ada-glover/

email: [email protected]

—

Where to find Angela and Omar:

Angela Suthrave

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

X: https://twitter.com/ASuthrave

email: [email protected]

Omar Mousa

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

X: https://twitter.com/OmarMHealth

email: [email protected]

—

Referenced:

Zus Health: https://zushealth.com/

Zus Aggregated Profiles: https://zushealth.com/zus-aggregated-profile/

Zus Health & Elation Partnership: https://zushealth.com/elation-health/

Zus Health & Canvas Partnership: https://zushealth.com/canvas/

Zus Health & Healthie Partnership: https://zushealth.com/healthie/

athenahealth: https://www.athenahealth.com/

Jonthan Bush, CEO of Zus Health: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbushjr/

Commonwell: https://www.commonwellalliance.org/

Carequality: https://carequality.org/

ADT Network - Bamboo Health: https://bamboohealth.com/

ADT Network - Point Click Care: https://pointclickcare.com/

TEFCA: https://www.healthit.gov/topic/interoperability/policy/trusted-exchange-framework-and-common-agreement-tefca

—

Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-4-ada-glover-co-founder-and-cpo

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Concept to Care speaks to Dhruv Vasishtha. Dhruv is a seasoned product expert, actively operates, advises, and angel invests in various health tech startups. Dhruv most recently served as the former Senior Vice President of Product at firsthand, and he now serves as an advisor. Before joining firsthand, he served as the Director of Product at Patient Ping, which was subsequently acquired by Bamboo Health. Dhruv is also the creator and instructor of the Healthcare Product 201 course offered by Out of Pocket.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• Dhruv's perspective on the essence of value-based care and the experience of building within this pivotal healthcare domain

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Where to find Dhruv Vasishtha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhruvvasishtha/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

—

Referenced:

Dhruv Vasishtha’s & Out of Pocket’s Healthcare Product 201 Course: https://www.outofpocket.health/courses/healthcare-product-201

Native digital health talent - alpha signup form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKvzZSG833S0dNis4fviBgK70vEDICy7MLBDiBUfP5q2Taww/viewform

firsthand: https://www.firsthandcares.com/

Patient Ping (acquired by Bamboo Health): https://bamboohealth.com/solutions/pings/

Elion: https://elion.health/ - Elion powers better vendor research, from discovery to deep diligence

Health System GenAI Adoption Report – Focus Areas & Open Questions from 20 Health Executives: https://elion.health/resources/health-executive-ai-roundtable

Ianacare: https://ianacare.com/ - Bridging the gap in home-based care —

support, guidance, and resources for patients and caregivers to improve outcomes

Webinar | Today’s Most Overlooked Opportunities as Acute Care Transitions Into the Home: https://ianacare.com/resource-center/webinar-overlooked-opportunities-as-acute-care-into-the-home/

Out-of-Pocket: https://www.outofpocket.health/

Laura Stratte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-stratte-rn-bsn-72b58843/

Laura Stratte’s piece on Time Toxicity in Healthcare: https://www.outofpocket.health/p/time-toxicitiy-a-real-world-example

Elektra Health: https://www.elektrahealth.com/ - Menopause expertise for the 21st-century woman. A first-of-its-kind platform with telemedicine care, evidence-based education, 1:1 support, and a private community.

Yeva: Keep an eye out for this organization’s care giving conference: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yeva/about/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-3-dhruv-vasishtha-advisor

Concept to Care speaks to Michael Yang. Michael is the Senior Managing Partner for OMERS Ventures, a $1.5B assets under management venture capital fund that invests in early stage B2B software and early growth tech-enabled services businesses.  He is a long time investor in health tech and some of his prior investments include Healthline (acquired by Summit Partners), Talix (acquired by Edifecs), BodyMedia (acquired by Jawbone), PeerWell (acquired by Bardavon) and Accolade (ACCD).  He currently sits on the board of Caraway Health, a healthcare provider for GenZ.  Prior to OMERS Ventures, Michael was a Managing Director at Comcast Ventures and previously a VP/GM of Yahoo! Health.

This episode was recorded in November of 2023.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• A VC’s perspective on the evolution of product and how Michael seen the role of product change over time

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Where to find Michael Yang:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myang/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

—

Referenced:

• Michael Yang OMERS Ventures Bio: https://www.omersventures.com/team/michael-yang/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-2-michael-yang-senior-managing

Ben Foster, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Prodify and Co-author of Build What Matters: Delivering Key Outcomes with Vision-Led Product Management. Prodify is a product advisory firm that help early-stage companies find product-market(-pricing) fit, or growth-stage companies scale their product team and processes efficiently, or established companies maintain a comfortable lead through vision-led product management principles.

Ben is also the Former Chief Product Officer of WHOOP. A health tech wearable company that has raised over $400M to date and has a post money valuation of $3.6B. WHOOP is a fitness and health technology company known for its wearable fitness tracker and accompanying mobile app subscription. The WHOOP Strap is a wrist-worn device designed to monitor various aspects of an individual's health and fitness. These wearables are used by millions (including celebrity athletes, including swimmer Michael Phelps, basketball player LeBron James, and golfer Tiger Woods.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• How to leverage data generated from wearables in a way to drive consumer engagement

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Where to find Ben Foster:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfoster/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/

—

Referenced:

• Prodify’s website: https://www.prodify.group/

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Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

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Welcome to Concept to Care, the podcast where Angela Suthrave and Omar Mousa have conversations with a range of expert guests, including founders, product leaders, health tech operators, and investors to share candid stories of success and failure, dissect strategies, and delve into the nitty-gritty details that offer invaluable advice on navigating the ever-evolving landscape of health tech.

Join us on March 6th, 2024 for our first episode where we talk to Ben Foster, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Prodify and former Chief Product Officer of Whoop.