The Beat

If you think about our phones, we all essentially have the same phone yet, it’s a deeply personalized experience for each one of us. What if healthcare was like that? -  Personalized and holistic, thinking about you, where you are.

Vivian S. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., is the President of Verily Health Platforms, overseeing all health care platforms, including Onduo, Healthy at Work, and Verily’s Value Suite, among others. She is also the author of The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone. As a healthcare executive, she formerly served as the medical school dean, SVP, and CEO of the University of Utah Health, a $3.5 billion integrated health system and health plan that ranked first among university hospitals in quality and safety. Over her career as an NIH-funded MRI researcher, she has published over 200 articles in leading journals including JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine and received the Gold Medal of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

If that wasn’t enough, Dr. Lee was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015 and was ranked #11 among Becker’s 100 most influential people in healthcare in 2019. A Rhodes Scholar, she is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University, Harvard Medical School, and NYU Stern School of Business.

On this episode, Vivian joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Patricia Bradley to discuss the intersection of health and tech and how it can be very transformative on health care. She describes strategies to solve America’s healthcare crisis and how these strategies can not only work for everyone, but also advance healthcare faster than ever before. Listen in for insight on the future of health platforms and the potential they have to advance population health.

Topics Covered

• Vivian’s background in medicine and what she does now with Verily
• Insight on Vivian’s book, The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone
• What the average individual can do to contribute to the ongoing change of healthcare
• Where all the costs of healthcare are coming from
• The Surf and Turf Problem
• How the healthcare system is only designed to treat instead of prevent
• What Vivian took away when writing her book
• Who Verily is and their purpose
• Vivian’s insight on how much more personal healthcare could be and the goal around that
• Vivian’s insight on how unique and personalized healthcare could and should be
• The ways Onduo plans on providing more personal results and solutions for people
• The vision of Verily Health Platforms
• How Vivian defines health as the ability to really live our lives in a productive, comfortable and safe way
• Vivian’s belief that healthcare for every single person in America is the answer to health

Connect with Vivian Lee

Verily

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
 

Resources

The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone

Onduo

Healthy at Work

Verily’s Value Suite

Introductory Quote

[19:05–19:34]

“Even though my book is called The Long Fix, I’m hoping that it’s going to be less long now because of the pandemic and the acceleration of these digital health approaches that can be a lot more personalized and holistic, and thinking about you, where you are. So, if you think about our phones, we all essentially have the same phone...but yet it’s a very deeply personalized experience for each of us. Now, think about if healthcare were like that.

People talk about cost savings or about longevity but if you frame it with how many doctor visits you’re going to have per year, you want that to be the lowest number not the highest number. So, how do we prevent people from getting into an ICU? How do we do this when on the other side with capitalism you have people saying, “how do we get more people in here?” There’s this real tension in the health care system.

Vin Gupta, MD, MSt, MPA, is a Critical Care Pulmonologist, Senior Principal Scientist and Chief Medical Officer of COVID-19 Response at Amazon, and Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, part of the University of Washington. Vin previously served as Principal Scientist at Amazon Care and, prior to that, was part of the Apple Clinical team in a part-time capacity working on its pulmonary roadmap for the Series 6 Apple Watch. Additionally, he served as health advisor on the Biden-Harris Transition’s COVID-19 Response team, and currently serves as a senior medical advisor to several organizations, including T-Mobile, Inc, Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners. Though, his background doesn’t stop there.

On this episode of The Beat, Vin joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss the future of public health and the pandemic response within Amazon care and how they are working through tension found in the healthcare system. Vin describes the steps being taken to make the majority of primary care virtual for patients with prevention in mind rather than sickness alone. Listen in for insight on telemedicine and telehealth and how Amazon’s virtual health care compares to other providers.

Topics Covered

• Vin’s background that’s led him to where he is now with Amazon
• Vin’s insight on the healthcare system working with doctors that want to prevent transactions from a system that wants transactions
• Vin’s insight on how the increase of savvy patients is affecting the health care system
• The innovations that have developed because of the pandemic and why they should become permanent
• What Telemedicine is and why it needs to be talked about more
• Why it’s so important to have a user friendly telemedicine platform and how Amazon does that well
• Navigating how to best scale telehealth services
• Vin’s insight on Amazon’s virtual healthcare system compared to all the other virtual plays available
• How Vin defines health as living a long life filled with wellness
• How Vin defines healthcare to him as focusing on prevention, not sickness

Connect with Vin Gupta

Vin Gupta on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Resources

Amazon Care

Introductory Quote

[3:19–3:30]

“The goal here is how do we actually virtualize most of primary care and do so in a way that’s clinically meaningful - that makes people feel reassured that they’re getting high quality care, they’re not making any sacrifices?”

The biggest opportunity in healthcare is to extend health equity and provide total wellness solutions through virtual and technology platforms.

But what challenges does that present? And how can you simplify the human experience across the spectrum?

Rajeev Ronanki is the President of Digital Platforms at Anthem®, where he is harnessing the power of AI to offer personalized healthcare for patients, providers, and caregivers. He is also the author of You and AI: A Citizens Guide to AI, Blockchain, and Puzzling Together the Future of Healthcare.

On this episode, Rajeev joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss the current gap and biggest obstacles to extending the reach of virtual healthcare to provide options for wellness, prevention, and breakthroughs in health equity.

Listen as Rajeev shares the details of how Anthem® is navigating the challenges of delivering virtual healthcare to more populations through partnerships with cellphone companies and their Concierge Care programs.

Topics Covered

• What Rajeev thinks is the biggest issue today for physicians, patients, and caregivers and the opportunity for improved outcomes
• How to create a win-win in virtual vs. in-person care
• How to use data as a predictor of a person’s health journey to decrease preventable disease and lower healthcare costs
• How Anthem® is working to attract consumers through rewards-based incentives
• What Rajeev believes is the future of the national standard of care
• Rajeev’s take on the biggest change needed to improve health equity and access to care for all

Connect with Rajeev Ronanki

• Rajeev Ronanki on LinkedIn
• Rajeev Ronanki on Twitter

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain, & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shlain on Twitter
• Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

• You and AI
• Anthem®
• ViVE

Virtual care solutions have come to be just as important, if not, more important than physical care options. How can we work to meet that need with many challenges including, affordability, accessibility, etc? How can we pioneer a new approach to health care that meets every aspect of one’s total health?

CVS Health and Chief Medical Officer, CVS Caremark, Sree Chaguturu and his team are working diligently to enhance the quality, affordability, and accessibility of health services provided to millions of patients virtually and physically.

Prior to CVS Health, Sree was a Chief Population Health Officer at Mass General Brigham and previously was a healthcare consultant at McKinsey and Company.

On this episode, Sree joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain and Patricia Bradley to explain exactly how CVS Health is providing a new approach to total health for people in all communities. Sree describes how the team is providing new and improved resources, improving health equity, and taking every step possible to improve the total health of members and patients. Listen in for Sree’s insight on the future of retail and consumer health and how CVS Health is leading people to better health as the leading health solutions company.

Topics Covered

• What CVS Health is doing to reduce costs of pharmaceuticals
• How CVS Health prioritizes trust over cost with their customers
• How CVS Health is leveraging their ecosystem for the future with Health Advisor
• What Health Advisor is, the areas that it targets and the data behind it
• How CVS Health works to provide accessible and affordable healthcare in marginalized communities
• The surprising data shown in low income communities compared to high income communities
• How Sree defines health as staying true to living out your own definition of “living” and how that is the goal for CVS customers and patients
• How Sree defines health care as the delivery of services in achievement of health

Connect with Sree Chaguturu

Sree Chaguturu of CVS Health

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn
 

Resources

Virtual Care Solutions for CVS Health

Introductory Quote

[29:25–30:15]

“We are the largest in home infusion provider. We have a home kidney care business. We have those capabilities across the country to be in patients’ homes and then as we continue to grow, our clinical delivery services as an organization. We believe that it is going to be a combination of home, hub and hand. What I mean by that is, care at home, care in our health hubs, and in our retail stores and clinics, and care in hand, which is that virtual on the go. I’m really excited for our ability to bring virtual, physical care and that physical care can either be in our stores or at home. That is what’s going to be exciting to talk about in upcoming conversations.”

Millennials are acquiring chronic diseases at a younger age than any prior generation. But the way they access healthcare is fundamentally different from other demographics. Millennials prefer virtual visits with providers and prescription delivery to visiting a clinic or pharmacy—and that’s why the consumer retail health company hims & hers is on an upward trajectory.

Dr. Patrick Carroll is the Chief Medical Officer at hims & hers, a telehealth platform that offers a modern approach to health and wellness, providing customers with easy-to-access virtual primary care. In his role as CMO, Dr. Carroll oversees clinical programs, quality assurance and healthcare collaborations. Prior to joining hims & hers in 2019, Dr. Carroll served as CMO at Walgreens, and he is Board Certified in both family practice and adolescent medicine.

On this episode, Dr.  Carroll joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss his transition from primary care physician to consumer-facing health and explain what inspired him to join the team at hims & hers. Dr. Carroll describes how millennials access care in a fundamentally different way from their parents, offering insight into how hims & hers’ customers benefit from the company’s subscription model and commitment to virtual primary care. Listen in to understand the regulatory and medical licensing challenges they face at hims & hers and get Dr. Carroll’s take on the future of consumer retail and virtual health.

Topics Covered

• How Dr. Carroll’s work on a Navajo reservation informed the rest of his career
• Dr. Carroll’s transition from traditional primary care to retail and consumer-facing health
• What inspired Dr. Carroll to take on the role of CMO at hims & hers
• How customers benefit from the hims & hers’ subscription business model
• The trend toward virtual primary care and why hims & hers has no plans for brick-and-mortar locations
• Why Dr. Carroll sees millennials as an underserved demographic
• What constraints hims & hers faces in terms of regulatory and medical licensing challenges
• How the hims & hers team works with states to advocate for asynchronous communication
• How Dr. Carroll defines healthcare as any entity, technology or individual that helps a customer optimize their wellbeing
• How millennials access healthcare in a fundamentally different way from their parents (and how that contributes to the success of hims & hers)

Connect with Dr. Patrick Carroll

hims

hers

Dr. Carroll on LinkedIn
 

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

Indian Health Service

VillageMD

Forward Health

American Telemedicine Association

Ro

Introductory Quote

[6:05] “Really what fascinated me about what hims & hers was doing—they reach a millennial and younger demographic that none of the health systems, the medical groups or even Walgreens ever reached, so I saw the opportunity as working in a space that was actually the front door to healthcare for millennials and younger.”

How do you optimize patient touchpoints to make the delivery of complex care easier and more meaningful?

Manav Sevak is the Co-Founder & CEO of Memora Health, a company using artificial intelligence to digitize and automate complex workflows to modernize the care delivery experience for both patients and care teams.

On this episode, Manav joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss the first-hand experience that led him to start Memora Health and explain why it’s so important for him to be on the front line of helping patients navigate their care more effectively.

Listen in as Manav shares how Memora Health is using low-touch channels to eliminate the administrative backlog that dilutes the doctor-patient connection to create more meaningful interactions for both the patient and the care team.

Topics Covered

• A behind-the-scenes look at the experience that led Manav to start Memora Health
• The 2 big care delivery problems Memora Health is modernizing
• How Memora Health is eliminating administrative backlog through text messages
• How Manav’s team is helping ensure patients adhere to their care plan through patient community involvement
• How Memora Health is investing in resources to collect data on patient experiences
• How Memora Health is helping physicians spend their time practicing at the top of their license

Connect with Manav Sevak

• Manav Savak on LinkedIn
• Manav Savak on Twitter

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati, & Dr. Jordan Shlain

• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shlain on Twitter
• Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

• Memora Health
• ViVE

There are 19,000 independent drug stores nationwide, the majority of which serve rural, underserved or socially vulnerable areas of the country. How can these small community pharmacies compete with large corporate entities entering the healthcare space? And what is the advantage of using a small, independent drug store versus Walmart or Amazon?

Nimesh Jhaveri is the President of Community Pharmacy at McKesson, an impact-driven organization on a mission to advance health outcomes for all. Nimesh’s team supports 7,000 small, independent drug stores and small and medium pharmacy chains, providing core distribution as well as value-add services and advocating for them at the local, state and federal level. Prior to joining McKesson in 2018, Nimesh spent nearly 30 years at Walgreens, working his way up from Pharmacy Technician to Vice President of Healthcare Services.

On this episode, Nimesh joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Patricia Bradley to explain how McKennon is helping its partner pharmacies become healthcare destinations. Nimesh shares his frustration with the fact that pharmacists are not recognized as providers and describes how his team is adjusting to changes in healthcare reimbursement. Listen in for Nimesh’s insight on using technology to enable practitioners, not replace them, and learn about the impact a pharmacist can have when they develop a personal relationship with the customers under their care.

Topics Covered

• Nimesh’s background as a pharmacist and senior executive in the healthcare space
• How Nimesh’s team at McKesson supports small independent drug stores and small- and medium-sized pharmacy chains
• How small, independent pharmacies serve rural and socially vulnerable communities
• The advantage independent pharmacies have over large corporations like Amazon and Walmart
• How McKennon is adjusting to changes in healthcare reimbursement
• How McKennon is helping its partner pharmacies become healthcare destinations
• How Nimesh thinks about using technology to enable practitioners (not replace them)
• Nimesh’s frustration with the fact that pharmacists are not recognized as providers by the Social Security Act
• What it looks like when a pharmacist develops a personal relationship with a patient

Connect with Nimesh Jhaveri

McKesson

Nimesh on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
 

Resources

McKesson’s Health Mart Atlas PSAO

Health Mart Post on How to Advocate for Pharmacists to Receive Provider Status

‘The Heroism of Incremental Care’ in The New Yorker

Introductory Quote

[13:10] “90% of the US population live within 5 miles of a pharmacy. That’s access. How do we take advantage of that access?”

About Theresa Demeter:

Theresa Demeter is an entrepreneurial executive administrator with 30 years of healthcare performance and operational experience. As a Managing Director at Tegria, she brings her passion for conceptualizing and implementing innovative solutions that drive quality and performance improvement to optimize patient outcomes. Theresa developed Tegria’s offering that helps healthcare organizations prioritize and operationalize their health equity strategy and mitigate the harmful effects of implicit bias through macro-simulation. 

Prior to joining Tegria, Theresa drove the formation and expansion of InSytu, a national leader in clinical process improvement consulting powered by macro-simulation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Big Data collection and collaboration from different healthcare organizations can accelerate patient care.
• Tegria offers services to help organizations optimize their EHR workflows and proficiency.
• Regarding home health, Tegria helps healthcare organizations develop the right-sized customized technologies, tools, and strategies to create their programs.
• Virtual technologies and tools can upskill providers in remote locations to keep their community better, longer, and safer with more efficient care at a lower cost.
• AI and ML tools in healthcare seek to improve automation and intelligent decision-making, standardizing patient care and predicting patients that might be coming in.

Resources:

• Connect and follow Theresa Demeter on LinkedIn
• Follow Tegria on LinkedIn 
• Discover the Tegria Website.

The pandemic called attention to disparities in the American healthcare system. So, what can we do to build a better, more equitable system? How do we design healthcare policy that works in the real world?

Natalie Davis is the Cofounder and CEO of United States of Care, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that every American has access to quality, affordable healthcare. Natalie’s career in healthcare began in 2005, and she worked in the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Obama Administration before building USOC in 2018. 

On this episode, Natalie joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain and Patricia Bradley to discuss the four goals for the healthcare system USOC identified by talking to people across the country. She describes the concerns Americans have around continuity of health coverage and the cost of care, offering insight on how to build policy solutions that work in the real world. Listen in to understand what Natalie has learned about using language that resonates with people and find out how you can help USOC build a healthcare system that is understandable and easy to navigate.

Topics Covered

• How Natalie’s unique background in art and sociology informs her work in healthcare
• United States of Care’s mission to ensure that everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare
• The 4 goals for the healthcare system identified through USOC’s interviews with people across the country
• The concerns Americans have around continuity of health coverage through life changes
• How USOC is working to make legislative changes and start a new conversation around what it means to have a healthcare system that works for people
• USOC’s research methodology of asking open-ended questions to identify themes before looking to qualitative and quantitative research
• Why people see it as a unique failure of their own when they can’t navigate the healthcare system
• What USOC has learned about people’s concerns re: prescription drug costs
• How Natalie thinks about using language that resonates with people (e.g.: caregiver)
• Natalie’s insight on building policy and private sector solutions that work in the real world
   

Connect with Natalie Davis

United States of Care
 

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Resources

Affordable Care Act

HealthCare.gov

Andy Slavitt

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

‘Pain and the Paintbrush: The Life and Art of Frida Kahlo’ in the AMA Journal of Ethics

United States of Care Voices of Real Life Council

Alex Drane

USOC Entrepreneurs Council

USOC Health System Leadership Council

Liz Fowler at CMMI

The Birth of the Clinic: An Archeology of Medical Perception by Michel Foucault

Liz Gilbert on Your Elusive Creative Genius

Introductory Quote

[7:12] “We are a young organization—nonpartisan, nonprofit—with a mission to ensure everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare. We believe that policy change is one of the ways that we need to ensure that everybody does have that access to quality care, and so, a lot of our work is at the state and federal level to change policy and legislation to ensure that people can have the access to care that they need.”

Anything that affects the practice workflow affects patient care. But how can you deliver personal, informed patient care that’s centered around both doctors and patients?

Kyna Fong, Ph.D., is CEO and Cofounder of Elation Health, a platform created for independent primary care that strengthens the relationship between patients and physicians. Dr. Fong graduated from Harvard University at age 19 with a bachelor’s degree in applied math and a master’s in computer science.

She then received her Economics Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she focused on healthcare. She spent four years as a tenure-track professor in Stanford’s economics department before starting Elation to support primary care medical practices like her father's in Northern California.

On this episode, Dr. Fong joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Guatam Gulati, and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss her career trajectory, what led her to start Elation Health and the key insight that helped propel them to where they are today.

Listen in to hear about Elation Health’s quest to build technology that helps practices evolve to meet the needs of their patients now and what they are aiming toward for the future.

Topics Covered

• How Dr. Fong’s work in her father’s practice led to the creation of Elation Health
• Why Dr. Fong is excited about the future of primary care
• Elation’s move to more outcome-based healthcare
• How Elation Health is pursuing innovation by allowing APIs for practice model customization
• What Dr. Fong and her team are doing to offer more value to patients in between healthcare visits
• How Elation Health is ensuring its technology evolves to meet the pace of innovation
• Dr. Fong’s sneak peek at the Elation Health product roadmap and priorities for the future

Connect with Dr. Kyna Fong

• Dr. Fong on LinkedIn
• Dr. Fong on Twitter

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati, & Dr. Jordan Shlain

• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shlain on Twitter
• Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

• Elation Health
• ViVE