Fixing Faxes

Show Notes
Our first full episode of "Fixing Faxes".

There is a backlog of surgeries due to COVID-19, how is Canada going to deal with those. How do referrals work in the first place and how will Clinnect help? Do we need faxes?

Fact Checks

In the opening Angela mentions being at home with her children for 73 days, that was incorrect it was actually 74 days according to her calendar.

Here is the CMAJ article that Angela refers to.

The "large" number Angela refers to is around 100,000 surgeries across Canada canceled or postponed due to COVID as of April 25, 2020.

To really hit home on the fact that our reliance on fax machines in Canadian healthcare is antiquated and not secure; here is an opinion piece published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta that we could not stop saying "exactly" throughout. The physician, Dr. Sandy J. Murray (twitter: @Diver_Doc) also talks about the theatrics of Canadian healthcare and how we pride ourselves on innovation yet rely on a foundation of fax machines. We think Dr. Sandy J. Murray needs to take a look at Clinnect ;) and we agree: "Axe the fax. Let’s make this change together."

Resources on the issues of patient referrals:

https://policybase.cma.ca/documents/policypdf/PD15-01.pdf

https://www.aafp.org/news/practice-professional-issues/20180130ehrreferrals.html

http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Publications/Closing-the-Loop-A-Guide-to-Safer-Ambulatory-Referrals.aspx

There is a lot of information for physicians and care providers to sift through when managing referrals, at Clinnect we believe that physicians and care providers should do what they do best and we make it easy for them to follow best practices and policy by ingraining it into the product. Simple. Central. Secure.

Find Us Online

Angela Hapke - @angelahapke - https://www.clinnect.ca

Jonathan Bowers - @thejonotron - https://www.twostoryrobot.com

Credits

Produced and Hosted by Jonathan Bowers and Angela Hapke

Music by Andrew Codeman (CC BY 3.0)

Transcript

Angela:  Can I say the f word on.

[00:00:02]Jonathan: You can, but then we have to beep it out or we get flagged as explicit in Apple.

[00:00:06] Angela: Yes. Can we go for the explicit in Apple flag?

[00:00:10] Jonathan: This is an explicit podcast, not for children. I think. I don't know how it works. I have to, I have to explore that a little bit. I've just, I'm just figuring out the recording and production piece. Uh,

[00:00:21] Angela: I love it.

[00:00:22]Introduction

[00:00:22]Jonathan: Hi, I'm Jonathan Bowers. I am a software entrepreneur from Kamloops, and I haven't slept much this week because Zach is experiencing a sleep regression.

[00:00:40]Angela:  Hi. I'm Agela Hapke. I am the CEO of Clinnect a digital health startup in Kamloops, and I sent my children to daycare for the first time in 73 days.

[00:00:56] Jonathan: Oh my goodness.

[00:00:57]How do you feel about that?

[00:01:02] Angela: Um, Jonathan, I have never felt like deeply felt bitter sweet like this week.

[00:01:12] I have spent 73 days seeing them every single day,

[00:01:19]kissing their smushy little faces,

[00:01:22]watching them grow, and I have to now give them away for eight hours a day again.

[00:01:27]Jonathan: Wow.

[00:01:28]Angela: And on the other hand, mama gets to do, whatever mom wants to do for eight hours a day again.

[00:01:38] Jonathan: That's so exciting. I'm so jealous and so scared for you at the same time.

[00:01:42] Angela: That's, this is what I mean by bittersweet. I've never felt the deep visceralness of bittersweet in my life before.

[00:01:49]The Backlog of Surgeries

[00:01:49]Jonathan:  well, this is a podcast about healthcare and healthcare technology. So let's, let's talk about, uh, what's going on in your world right now.

[00:02:02]Angela:

[00:02:02] so interesting things happening right now in the world of surgery. Um, the CMAJ, which is a Canadian Medical Association Journal, just published, um, a article around how they believe that the backlog of surgeries will be not solved. But part one, part of, of a large solution would be central intake for referrals.

[00:02:28] Jonathan: Oh, interesting.

[00:02:30]Angela:  It's being echoed everywhere. And as myself and one of my colleagues talked about, he says, I don't think anybody understands how hard it is. And I was like, I would, uh, I would agree. Um, And it's, it's not the software around it, but it is the cohesiveness of groups to agree to a central intake. And especially especially in the case where there is the perception of surgeries being divvied up.

[00:03:01] Like let's just each take, uh, our equal pieces of the pie and do it that way. And the other person is maybe arguing in the fact that. Well, I can get done way more gallbladders than you can, so maybe I should just take more to them

[00:03:20] It's an interesting one because when we talk about a divvying up just strictly referrals, what you're divvying up there is, um, consultations and potentially procedures down the road. But when we're talking about divvying up procedures.

[00:03:35] There's a much higher price tag attached to those, right? Um, it's also short term thinking,

[00:03:41] Jonathan: In what way?

[00:03:42]Angela: So if you think about the way that connect is built is we're built, um, with the longterm in mind. We are building it so that groups can get to on the same platform, divvy up those referrals in a way that is equitable or purpose, purposefully inequitable. With the idea that you're going to get good data from this, you're going to get accurate go times with your wait times, right? You're going to, um, get a baseline of where you're at when you do equally, based on constraints if you want to equally, level load those referrals, and then maybe six months time, start to taking a look at wait times and going, Oh, well, you know, if we tweaked this here, tweaked this here, then we could do, uh, then we could maybe shorten wait times for everyone for category A or B.

[00:04:38] It's that longer term view that gets you sophisticated data, accurate wait times, um, reports and data to go to governing bodies or sit at tables with and go, Hey, this is, this...

A teaser of our first podcast, Fixing Faxes. We'll be launching in a week or two, so subscribe to this feed to get the first episode when it is published.

Show Notes:

We have come up with a name since recording this teaser. Our show is called Fixing Faxes, which will make more sense after the first episode, we promise.

Fact check: In this episode Angela mentions adverse statistics regarding female tech founders and age, stating 'there is a lot of statistics showing that tech founders are typically under the age of 35'. We wanted to make sure this wasn't a flippant remark, and the statistics support what she said:

Paul Graham from Y Combinator once quipped “The cutoff in investors’ heads is 32,” Graham says. “After 32, they start to be a little skeptical.” A UK study found that the average age of founders to be 34 years old, who received >30M in funding. While venture capital does not typically favour older founders, there is some evidence contrary to what Angela said; the Harvard Business Review found that founders average age is 42 with 45 being the age of the most successful founders.

On the note of being a female founder; according to the Silicon Valley Bank only 1 in 4 start-ups have at least 1 female founder, when there is a female founder then there is a 50% likelihood there is a female CEO but for the other 75% of startups it is only a likelihood of 5% there will be a female CEO. Forbes noted "In 2018, just 20.3% of all deals and 17.9% of funding went to companies with at least one female founder. So far this year, 88.8% of all venture capital deals have gone to companies with a male CEO."

Follow
Angela Hapke - twitter: @angelahapke - https://www.clinnect.ca

Jonathan Bowers - twitter: @thejonotron - https://www.twostoryrobot.com

Credits

Produced and Hosted by Jonathan Bowers and Angela Hapke

Music by Andrew Codeman (CC BY 3.0)

Transcript

Jonathan: [00:00:00] We still don't have a name. That's fine. We should, we should come up with a name though. We can record that in later, but

Angela: [00:00:07] Don't you think people like authors who write books, they don't start with a name.

Jonathan: [00:00:11] No, you don't say, "oh, here's 'Pride and Prejudice' that's a great name,

now what should I write about?"

Angela: [00:00:20] We don't know what this is called yet.

Jonathan: [00:00:22] We'll think about that.

Hi, my name is Jonathan Bowers. I am a software developer and entrepreneur based in Kamloops, and I'm helping Angela launch a healthcare startup.

Angela: [00:00:32] I'm Angela Hapke. I am the CEO of Central Referral Solutions, the company that is launching a digital health startup product by the name of Clinnect

Jonathan: [00:00:44] So what is this podcast about?

Angela: [00:00:46] This podcast is going to be a lot about the journey that we're on launching Clinnect. But I also think that for me, it's a really interesting journey because we are launching a startup against a lot of odds.

uh, the CEO, myself as a female,

we are launching it in Kamloops, British Columbia, it's a social enterprise our age.

Jonathan: [00:01:14] Okay.

Angela: [00:01:15] when you take a look at the stats, it's pretty astounding how many founders are not over the age of something like 35.

Jonathan: [00:01:23] What is considered the geriatric stage of startup founderdom

Angela: [00:01:27] which would be the first time that I've been called geriatric. Because I had children late also, so I got to be geriatric pregnancy. And now with geriatric tech founder,

Um also a nontechnical.

Jonathan: [00:01:43] Well, that's why I'm here.

Angela: [00:01:44] No, I know. Yes. Thank goodness. My hope is to kind of come out and say, Hey, we're trying and look at all the reasons that we shouldn't do this because there's so many, but instead we're going to try and we're going to talk about that process and we're going to be vulnerable along the journey and, have meaningful conversations.

So. I guess if you're listening to this, um, and you want to build a billion dollar company and become a rocket ship, you should probably go find another

podcast.

Jonathan: [00:02:16] There's a bunch of other podcasts out there

Yeah. If you're, if you're a geriatric woman in Kamloops BC wanting to start a healthcare technology startup, this is your podcast.

Angela: [00:02:26] This is for you?

Jonathan: [00:02:29] uh, are we going to have any interviews?

Angela: [00:02:32] Oh, I think so. I hope so.

I have some really cool people hear it and they're like, Hey. I want to come on. Wouldn't that be cool. Instead of us being like, please.