The Beat

Would you rather wait in line at the ER? Or have urgent care come to you?

There is a growing interest in the hospital-at-home model of care. But how do its outcomes compare to care delivered in a traditional setting?

Erin Denholm is Chief Nursing Officer of DispatchHealth, a company that brings the power of the hospital to the comfort of your home.

In her role, Erin works to develop and refine the organization's robust care coordination models, focusing on health equity, social determinants of health and virtual care strategies.

On this episode of The Beat, Erin joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of hospital-at-home care delivery models.

Erin describes the ecosystem of care DispatchHealth provides and explains why the hospital-at-home model boasts better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction than the traditional healthcare system.

Listen in for Erin’s insight on the cost of hospital-at-home care and learn how the DispatchHealth team identifies and closes gaps in social determinants of health for its patients.

Topics Covered

• What’s behind the growing interest in delivering care outside the traditional healthcare system
• The ecosystem of care DispatchHealth provides (including urgent care, diagnostics and risk population support)
• How patients are referred to DispatchHealth and what the patient journey looks like
• How DispatchHealth partners with hospitals and why it’s not a threat to a hospital’s business model
• Why the cost of hospital-at-home care is at least 20% lower than care delivered in hospitals
• Erin’s take on why hospital-at-home care boasts better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction
• How the DispatchHealth team closes gaps in terms of social determinants of health
• The role AI might play in keeping people out of the hospital system
• Highlights from the recent DispatchHealth study on the benefits of hospital-at-home care
• Satisfaction ratings among caregivers and family members whose loved ones receive hospital-at-home care

Connect with Erin Denholm

• DispatchHealth
• Erin on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• CMS Waiver Program
• Research by Dr. Bruce Leff
• DispatchHealth’s Advanced Care White Paper

About Andreas Mang:

Andreas Mang serves as the CEO of Equity Healthcare, where he oversees the management of medical benefits spending across Blackstone's portfolio. With two decades of experience in healthcare, Mr. Mang has worked in various capacities in healthcare finance, operations, and strategy.

Before joining Blackstone, he was the Vice-President responsible for national provider network operations at CareCentrix, a prominent home health benefit-management company backed by private equity. Earlier, at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, he played a leadership role in identifying and implementing cost-saving measures across the organization and played a key role in designing a new corporate business model. Mr. Mang also worked at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care as the Manager of Strategic Financial Planning and served as a Senior Consultant with Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations group in Boston.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare is notably unhealthy in the US.
• It will take a considerable amount of time for value-based care to be distributed at scale.
• No problem is too big to solve.
• Tangible outcomes include lower readmission rates and improved care management for employees going through treatments like chemotherapy.
• The ease of getting carrier partners on board is attributed to Blackstone's size, scale, and growth trajectory, creating a win-win situation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Andreas Mang on LinkedIn.
• Follow Blackstone on LinkedIn and visit their website.

About David Rhew:

Since August 2019, David has served as Chief Medical Officer & VP of Healthcare for Microsoft's Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB). David and his team's main goal is to demonstrate how a large-scale data-driven approach can lead to smarter decision-making, more proactive care, and improved health outcomes, as well as lower costs for patients and populations.

Additionally, David is an adjunct professor at the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University.

About Marcella Dalrymple:

Marcella is the Associate Director of Strategic Development and Business Partnerships at Duke AI Health. Her goal is to operationalize novel ideas by using big data to achieve the most meaningful results, leading to improved clinical practices.

Prior to that role, she was the Commercial Leadership Associate in the marketing sector for AstraZeneca and a project manager for Duke Clinical Research Institute.

About Michael Pencina:

Michael Pencina, PhD, is Duke Health's Chief Data Scientist and serves as Vice Dean for Data Science, Director of Duke AI Health, and Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the Duke University School of Medicine. He develops and implements quantitative science strategies for the School of Medicine, co-chairs Duke Health’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee, and co-directs Duke’s Collaborative to Advance Clinical Health Equity (CACHE).

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI's potential to revolutionize healthcare requires a focus on responsible and trustworthy implementation.
• The collaboration between Microsoft and Duke Health aims to create a Center of Excellence for trustworthy AI.
• The four principles for trustworthy AI are: prioritize the human person, define use cases, anticipate consequences, and establish governance.
• Public mistrust of AI in healthcare highlights the need for community engagement and bidirectional communication.
• Automation in governance processes can streamline AI integration and reduce friction in workflows.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow David Rhew on LinkedIn.
• Follow Microsoft on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Marcella Dalrymple on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Michael Pencina on LinkedIn.
• Follow Duke Health AI on LinkedIn and visit their website.

About Seema Kumar:

Seema Kumar is the Chief Executive Officer of Cure, a 300,000-square-foot facility aiming to advance healthcare through the development of cutting-edge solutions across medical devices, digital technologies, healthcare services, and bio-therapeutics. As the Global Head of Office of Innovation, Global Health, and Scientific Engagement, Seema leads global efforts to enhance public engagement with science and public health policy. 

Prior to that role, Seema was responsible for Johnson & Johnson's overall innovation reputation, positioning the R&D pipeline, and leading COVID vaccine communications and external affairs efforts. Overall, she is a passionate advocate for science and women's empowerment, and serves on several boards and advisory committees.

Things You’ll Learn:

• No individual or specific organization can drive substantive change alone; it takes collaboration across the entire healthcare ecosystem.
• AI holds promise for healthcare, and leveraging its power requires large, representative, and complete datasets.
• Entrepreneurs are restless with the status quo; they want to take risks and represent the leading edge of future healthcare.
• The future of healthcare lies in sustained collaboration, AI-driven insights, and innovative solutions that address real-world challenges.
• Storytelling, science, and technology combined can engage individuals in their own health and the health of the ecosystem.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Seema Kumar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Cure on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about Cure’s challenge here!*

*The submissions closed on October of 2023.

About Warner Thomas:

Warner Thomas serves as the president and CEO of Sutter Health, a non-profit health system based in Northern California. Leading a team of over 50,000 employees, 12,000 physicians, and 2,000 advanced practice clinicians, Thomas oversees an integrated delivery system covering hospitals, outpatient care centers, home health, hospice care, labs, pharmacies, and research facilities. Before joining Sutter Health, he spent a decade as the president and CEO of Ochsner Health in Louisiana, where he focused on population health and initiated innovationOchsner, a lab for healthcare advancements

Thomas is a member of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and has contributed to healthcare policy by advising Congress. Recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare in 2022 and 2023, he also earned distinctions such as being named to Becker's Healthcare's list of Top Hospital and Health System CEOs to Know in 2023. Beyond his professional achievements, Thomas has received honors like the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America and the A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Things You’ll Learn:

• You have to be willing to take calculated risks.
• If you sit back and wait for things to be perfect, it's never going to happen, and you'll miss opportunities.
• You must be willing to take on a new challenge and move outside your comfort zone.
• You can't shrink your way to greatness.
• When you do a great job taking care of patients daily, why wouldn't you want to expand and serve even more people?

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Warner Thomas on LinkedIn.
• Follow Sutter Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Check out the Sutter Health app here.

Even those of us who are motivated to improve our health have a hard time getting answers from the traditional healthcare system.

Clinicians are trained to diagnose and treat disease but have little experience in preventative medicine.

So, where do we go to assess our current level of health and start making choices that will improve both quality and length of life?

Dugal Bain is Cofounder and CEO of Lifeforce, a proactive health and longevity platform that empowers people to think clearer, feel stronger and live longer.

Dugal has built a career around using technology to open access to better quality health care, holding leadership positions in finance, management consulting and health tech across three continents.

On this episode of The Beat, Dugal joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss the future of longevity and disease prevention.

Dugal describes the connection between lifestyle and health span and explains how the Lifeforce team identifies appropriate behavior changes and keeps members motivated for the long term.

Listen in for insight on training clinicians in longevity medicine and learn Dugal’s top three not-so-obvious strategies for improving your health.

Topics Covered

• How becoming a parent inspired Dugal to build Lifeforce
• How identifying a deeper purpose behind your health goals drives behavior change
• Understanding the connection between lifestyle and health span
• How Dugal thinks about educating clinicians on the benefits of functional medicine
• What to expect when you become a member of Lifeforce
• How the Lifeforce team keeps members motivated for the long term
• How Dugal’s team differentiates among longevity therapies that are hype, hope or reality
• Dugal’s top 3 not-so-obvious strategies for improving your health
• How we might get unmotivated people to engage with services like Lifeforce
• Lifeforce’s efforts to train practitioners on proactive care and longevity medicine
• Dugal’s insight around stem cells and contrast therapy

Connect with Dugal Bain

• Lifeforce

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

About Murray Brozinsky:

Murray Brozinsky is Chief Strategy Officer of Amwell, a leader in hybrid care enablement. He was formerly the CEO of Conversa Health, which Amwell acquired in 2021. Murray is a creative entrepreneur who has started, run, and served as a senior executive at numerous companies. He has broad experience in leadership and strategy, bringing new products to market, generating revenue, building strategic relationships, and M&A. Murray is also a Board member and advisor to other promising technology start-ups in various industries. His main goal in healthcare is to put patients at the center of their care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• By leveraging technology, healthcare can enhance patient experiences, reduce provider burnout, and bend the cost curve.
• Transforming healthcare begins by putting the patient at the center, focusing on prevention and wellness.
• Proactive care relies on early patient data collection, using technology to predict and intervene before health issues escalate.
• Implementing AI requires caution to avoid eroding trust
• Optimizing care delivery involves leveraging technology to identify patients needing immediate attention, and prevent unnecessary visits and calls.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Murray Brozinsky on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amwell on LinkedIn and visit their website.

About Amir Azarbad:

Amir Azarbad is the Managing Director of 10Pearls Healthcare Practice, focusing on strategic and technology solutions. He has over 20 years of healthcare experience and has helped organizations transform their legacy solutions to reduce administrative costs while increasing automation and enabling business configurable solutions.

Prior to his current role, he was the founder of Inspirant Group, which was acquired by 10Pearls in March of 2023.  Amir was also executive director of Strategy and Technology Innovation for Health Care Services Corporation (Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL, TX, NM, OK, and MT) and was responsible for transforming care and utilization management for more than 15 million members through innovative data-centered process management platforms that resulted in significant operational savings. 

About Frank Webster:

Frank Webster is the ChiefMedicalOfficerof Health Care Service Corporation(BlueCross Blue Shield of IL, TX, NM, OK, and MT), focusing on clinical data management, improving access to behavioral health services, and the overall measurement, improvement, and integration of behavioral with medical services. He has over 25 years of invaluable clinical and leadership experience, dedicated to improving and implementing large-scale system-wide reorganizations.

Prior to joining HCSC, Dr. Webster was responsible for Dallas area Psychiatric Emergency Services. He has extensive background in Managed Behavioral Healthcare, including commercial and government contracts and ASOs. Dr. Webster holds an MD from The University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, andisanAdjunctProfessor for Health InformaticsattheUniversity of Texas at Tyler

Things You’ll Learn:

• The importance of understanding the limitations of your data and its implications. 
• There is a critical need for critical thinking and not blindly accepting AI recommendations without understanding what the data can and cannot reveal.
• The a need to start with the end in mind and work backward when navigating healthcare transformation. 
• It is important to challenge questions upfront to ensure that the focus is on thoughtful, practical solutions rather than simply being swayed by flashy but impractical ideas.
• The need to reach out and engage in discussions about practical solutions for healthcare, encouraging listeners to take proactive steps toward change.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Amir Azarbad on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow  Frank Webster on LinkedIn.
• Follow 10Pearls on LinkedIn.
• Visit the 10Pearls website here.
• Follow HCSC on LinkedIn. 
• Visit the HCSC website here.

There’s a lot of fear around applying artificial intelligence to the life sciences.

And while Diogo Rau concedes that there are risks associated with using AI, the biggest risk is that we won’t use it.
 

Diogo Rau is EVP and Chief Information and Digital Officer of Eli Lilly & Company, where he leads their information technology, cybersecurity, digital health, advanced analytics and data science functions.
 

Prior to joining Lilly, Diogo served as Head of Engineering for Apple Retail and Partner at McKinsey & Company.

On this episode of The Beat, Diogo joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the use of AI to facilitate clinical trials and drug discovery in a patient-first world.

Diogo explains how he is bringing Apple’s focus on the end user to life sciences, sharing his vision of what an Apple-like healthcare experience looks like and how to create a culture of innovation at Lilly.

Listen in for Diogo’s insight on using tech to inspire behavior change in patients and learn how we might leverage AI to generate new medicines, improve clinical trials and facilitate personalized medicine.
 

Topics Covered

• How Diogo is bringing Apple’s focus on the end user to life sciences
• Diogo’s take on what differentiates customers from patients
• What inspired Diogo’s transition from Apple to his current role at Lilly
• Leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate personalized medicine
• Why Lilly is prioritizing AI-designed and generated medicines
• How to discern when we can innovate fast in the life sciences space
• Building a culture of innovation in a large company like Lilly
• How Diogo thinks about Lilly’s role in the healthcare ecosystem
• Diogo’s vision of what an Apple-like healthcare experience looks like
• Using technology to facilitate prevention through behavior change
• Why Lilly is working on both insulin drugs and diabetes prevention
• Diogo’s mission to impact the way medicine gets to patients

Connect with Diogo Rau

Eli Lilly & Company

Diogo on LinkedIn
 

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

Clay Christensen’s Model of Disruptive Innovation

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Wait But Why Blog

About Rekha Kumar:

Dr. Rekha Kumar is a globally recognized leader in the field of Obesity Medicine, currently holding the position of Chief Medical Officer at Found, a weight care platform. With a past role as the medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, Dr. Kumar has shared her insights on the international stage regarding the medical evaluation and treatment of obesity. 

Contributing significantly to her field, she has authored various papers and textbook chapters and serves as an Associate Editor for the Obesity Journal. Her expertise extends to diverse topics, including the clinical assessment of patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome, the impact of obesity on reproductive health and fertility, and thyroid disease. 

Beyond her clinical work, Dr. Kumar has actively participated in global health initiatives, exploring the landscape of metabolic diseases in countries like India, China, and Tanzania. She is a valued member of the board of advisors for the Duke Global Health Institute and holds Board Certifications in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism, and Obesity Medicine.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Obesity is a heterogeneous disease. What works for one person may not work for another.
• Found's outcomes boast a 90% success rate, with patients achieving a 10% body weight loss in one year.
• Research says 40% of adults and 20% of children have obesity. The US obesity treatment market is about $15 billion. The US weight loss market is about 160 billion.
• There’s a biological component to obesity; it’s not just willpower, diet, and exercise.
• The root cause of each person’s weight gain can be vastly different.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rekha Kumar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Found on LinkedIn and visit their website.