The Beat

About James Woods II:

James E. Woods II, is the Head of Enterprise Informatics at Philips North America. With over 20 years of experience in the medtech industry, James leads Philips' healthcare informatics interests, including delivery, device integration, and digital pathology solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Philips focuses on end-to-end client partnership, improved efficiencies and collaboration for clinicians, and delivering actionable insights at the point of care.
• Philips invests heavily in innovation, including AI, to free up clinicians' time and improve patient outcomes. In 2023, the company invested $1.7 billion in innovation.
• The company approaches AI development through a mixed model, including homegrown solutions, collaborations with startups, and partnerships with other industry groups.
• Philips addresses the ethical implications of AI through five key principles: considering the well-being of the patient, augmenting people with human supervision, robustness (do no harm), fairness, and transparency.
• The future of healthcare will be shaped by trends such as personalized medicine, home care, and addressing equity and access to healthcare.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow James E. Woods II on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Philips on their LinkedIn and website.

About Tammy Cress:

Tammy Cress is the Senior Vice President of Clinical Innovation and Solutions at Teladoc Health. As a nurse by background, Tammy leads a cross-functional team to develop and evolve solutions that enable care transformation at scale while addressing the health systems’ most challenging problems.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Listening to the market and designing technology to fit the needs of health systems is crucial for effective care transformation.
• Hybrid care teams, blending in-person and virtual care, are improving efficiency, patient satisfaction, and return on investment.
• Telehealth adoption is on the rise. Twenty-five percent of care is now delivered virtually, and perceptions of its quality are increasing.
• Enterprise telehealth solutions and the incorporation of AI tools can scale efficiencies and improve care outcomes.
• Care teams will have more time to spend with patients and deliver better-quality care through improved collaboration and technology.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Tammy Cress on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Teladoc on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Tammy directly here.

About Travis Dalton:

Travis Dalton is the President and CEO of Clerativ, a healthcare technology, data, and insights company focused on affordability, transparency, and quality. With over 20 years of experience in the health tech space, Travis is passionate about leveraging data and technology to drive positive change in healthcare delivery and cost management.

Things You’ll Learn:

• A company rebrand represents growth and a renewed commitment to solving key issues in the healthcare space.
• Transparency in healthcare can align the interests of payers, providers, and employers, leading to better care and fair pricing for patients.
• AI and cloud-based solutions can automate business processes, reduce costs, and improve the delivery of actionable insights in healthcare.
• Addressing rural healthcare disparities is crucial for ensuring equitable access to care and maintaining the viability of local healthcare services.
• Clerativ's Benefit Insights product helps employers evaluate health plan options and identify opportunities to reduce costs while improving employee benefits.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Travis Dalton on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Claritev on their LinkedIn and website.

About Jason Oberfest:

Jason Oberfest is Vice President of Healthcare at ŌURA, leading strategy and partnerships to drive early health interventions, improved patient outcomes, and cost reduction. He previously spent five years at Apple, shaping the Health app on iPhone and Apple Watch. As Founder and CEO of Mango Health, Jason built a pioneering mobile health app for chronic condition management, partnering with major healthcare leaders before its acquisition in 2019. Passionate about behavior-driven health innovation, he excels in designing digital solutions that empower consumers and enhance healthcare delivery.

Things You’ll Learn:

• ŌURA focuses on sleep, readiness, and activity tracking, providing comprehensive health insights.
• Wearable health trackers can improve primary care by making it more efficient and personalized.
• The healthcare community is increasingly recognizing the critical role of sleep quality in overall well-being, extending beyond mental health to encompass cardiovascular and metabolic health.
• ŌURA measures various biometrics, including sleep stages, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and body temperature.
• Wearable technology provides a means for continuous, passive biometric data collection, offering a comprehensive view of a patient's health status. Integrating this data into care plans can personalize treatment and improve patient outcomes.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason Oberfest on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about ŌURA on their LinkedIn and website.

About Branden Robinson:

Branden Robinson is the Chief Growth Officer at Sevaro Health, where he leads the organization's growth strategies and initiatives. With over 20 years of healthcare experience, including 15 years focused on digital and virtual healthcare, Branden is dedicated to expanding access to neurological expertise through innovative technology solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Virtual neurology is essential to address the growing shortage of neurologists and the increasing prevalence of neurological disorders, ensuring patients receive timely and specialized care.
• AI triage systems can optimize neurologist time by prioritizing patients based on the acuity of their condition, ensuring the most critical cases receive immediate attention while managing the influx of stroke consults.
• Hospitals can improve revenue, outcomes, and patient satisfaction by using teleneurology services.
• A continuum of care model in virtual neurology, connecting acute care to outpatient teleneurology, is crucial for maintaining patient engagement within the health system and improving long-term health outcomes.
• Mechanical thrombectomies and surgical procedures to remove clots are transforming stroke care. This provides an opportunity for health systems to develop hub-and-spoke models using virtual health to extend access to specialized care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Branden Robinson on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Sevaro Health on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Branden directly here.

About Mark Whittington:

Mark Whittington is the Managing Director at HealthXL, a company focused on improving healthcare outcomes for patients with chronic conditions through chronic care management and remote patient monitoring. Mark is passionate about helping people stay healthy longer and improving their quality of life, especially those in vulnerable stages of their health journey.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Chronic care management and RPM can alleviate the burden on primary care physicians, allowing them to focus on patients who need face-to-face care while managing routine cases remotely.
• Devices used for remote patient monitoring (blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, etc.) should be simple and familiar. Accountability and consistent use are the most critical factors for success.
• Transparency and communication with patients through various channels (devices, texting, apps) will improve patient engagement and access to care.
• AI has the potential to glean insights from patient data, predict health issues, and enable earlier interventions, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
• Chronic care management and RPM are key components of value-based care. They enable providers to proactively manage patient health and prevent costly complications.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Whittington on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about HealthXL on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Mark directly here.

About Harpaul Sambhi:

Harpaul Sambhi is the CEO and Co-Founder of Magical and a Limited Partner at Various VC funds. He previously worked as an Advisor at On Deck, an Entrepreneur In Residence at Bain Capital Ventures, and a former Product Manager at Microsoft. Harpaul attended the University of Waterloo.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI is evolving from simple automation to Agentic AI, which can learn, adapt, and make decisions.
• Healthcare workers spend too much time on administrative tasks, but AI can automate these and improve patient care.
• RPA is becoming obsolete, while Agentic AI offers a more flexible and intelligent solution.
• AI in RCM can reduce denials, lower costs, and speed up reimbursements, improving financial performance.
• Successful AI implementation requires clear goals, collaboration, and adaptability.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Harpaul Sambhi on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Magical on their LinkedIn and website.

About Myron Wallace:

Myron Wallace, the fractional Chief Product Officer at White Label Communications, is a visionary technology executive with 20+ years of entrepreneurial expertise. He excels at driving innovation and launching enterprise customer solutions within SaaS, telehealth, and UCaaS. Myron's focus lies in translating ambitious product goals into reality, accelerating time to market, and maximizing customer adoption. He transforms startups and hyper-growth companies by building seamless customer experiences and driving impactful product development. He excels at crafting innovative products to meet the unique needs of the business customer base.

Things You’ll Learn:

• White Label Communications simplifies telephony by breaking down features into APIs, enabling easier integration with SaaS solutions. 
• RCS (Rich Communication Services) can significantly improve telehealth by delivering rich, interactive experiences directly within text messages. This eliminates friction for patients and provides a more seamless engagement.
• The traditional text experience is one-dimensional, while the RCS will provide a multidimensional experience. This will make it easier for patients to get pre-op, post-op, or other needed information.
• By using RCS for patient education and forms, patients no longer have to go through portals and systems.
• Many companies exaggerate their AI capabilities. Myron urges caution and emphasizes the importance of focusing on real solutions and tangible benefits.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Myron Wallace on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about White Label Communications on their LinkedIn and website.
• Discover more about Myron on his website.

In today’s episode, Sandy chats with Yan Chow, an expert in AI, automation, and healthcare tech, and the global healthcare leader for Automation Anywhere. Healthcare is a target-rich environment that offers opportunities everywhere to make healthcare more sustainable and more valuable for the future. They chat about how AI is being applied to healthcare and how it can benefit both healthcare workers and patients alike. He also talks about how AI doesn’t have to be so scary, but it is important to take AI adoption one step at a time. If you want to hear more about Automation Anywhere, check out their recordings at the ViVe Event website.

• An overview of Automation Anywhere and what they are doing
• The main application of AI today
• There is a labor shortage in healthcare even though the demand is increasing
• What is agentic automation and how will it help people with healthcare?
• Automations are doing the job more effectively than we would be able to do
• Cross borders and the difference in regulations and rules
• Is AI making patient biases better or worse?
• Limiting data to avoid hallucinations and mistakes
• It takes time to learn when and where to utilize AI 

Yan Chow, MD, MBA, is a leader in the AI, automation, and healthcare technology sectors. He joined Automation Anywhere in 2019 to launch its healthcare vertical, leveraging AI to automate routine tasks and enabling healthcare professionals to focus on patient care. Previously, Dr. Chow was Medical Director for Digital Medicine at Amgen, where he integrated digital technologies like wearable sensors and advanced analytics into clinical trials.

Before Amgen, Dr. Chow served as Chief Innovation Officer at Longview Technology Solutions, providing healthcare consulting services to major U.S. government clients. He also led the Innovation & Advanced Technology Group at Kaiser Permanente, overseeing emerging clinical information technologies and managing a significant innovation grant program.

In addition to his corporate roles, Dr. Chow has founded and advised several startups, including a venture-funded NLP analytics company with a successful exit. He holds three U.S. patents and was recognized as one of the top three healthcare innovators in the nation by Healthcare IT News in 2014. Dr. Chow earned his A.B. from Harvard, M.D. from UC San Diego and MBA from UC Berkeley.

About Jason Reminick:

Jason Reminick, MD, MBA, MS, is the CEO and Founder of Thalamus, a premier cloud-based interview management platform revolutionizing graduate medical education. A Stanford-trained physician with a distinguished academic record, Jason excels in both medicine and entrepreneurship. His innovative approach, highlighted by notable research and awards, bridges clinical practice with transformative technology. Rooted in humanistic values and fueled by relentless curiosity, he inspires future leaders in medicine and beyond, embodying a balanced blend of expertise and compassionate innovation today.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There are 8000 residency and fellowship programs in over 800 institutions that are utilizing Thalamus technology.
• Physician recruitment is expensive, with hospitals spending an average of $250,000 in direct costs per physician hired. It can take six months to fill a role. Because of those 6 months to fill a role, they can lose $2 million in clinical revenue.
• Hospitals are recruiting for their major league teams without knowing who they even have in their minor league systems.
• Medicare spends $16 billion a year to incentivize hospitals to train residents. Thus, retaining those doctors is more cost-effective than recruiting from the open market.
• Thalamus uses AI to standardize and normalize medical school grades, providing a more consistent basis for evaluation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason Reminick on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Thalamus on their LinkedIn and website.