There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology

Troy Tazbaz has long worked at the intersection of business and technology. And while it may not seem like a typical background for working at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it may be just what is needed to push healthcare technology forward. 

On our podcast, Tazbaz recounts his thoughts as he accepted the position of Director of the Digital Health Center of Excellence at the FDA: “Given what was going on with artificial intelligence and all these emerging technologies, I felt that it was a really great time to join and come with a perspective that combines both my technical background and my business acumen.” 

Tazbaz recognizes that healthcare technology will need to be more than innovative to improve outcomes and reduce provider workload. It will take public-private partnership and a shift in perspective to take advantage of the possibilities. 

In the season finale of our podcast, we take a closer look at the potential of healthcare technology and Troy Tazbaz’s personal journey that led him to where he is today. 

Alexandra Drane is a bona fide change agent in healthcare.   

Not content with being an entrepreneur, she became a serial entrepreneur, and founded multiple healthcare ventures that have ranged from health IT to support for unpaid (and often unsung) caregivers.   

Drane’s unique mix of irreverence and optimism has brought her from one challenge to the next, from healthcare analytics to empowering caregivers, plus a stint at Walmart as a clerk—after she had already started three businesses—to get on-the-ground experience on what “customer service” really means.   

In our seventh episode of the season, Drane shares her perspective on caregivers as unsung angels, and how effecting change in healthcare is well within reach when you put your mind to it. 

Care teams are evolving to break down silos and prioritize collaboration in patient care. Is healthcare ready?    

Dr. Eric Weidmann, a former chief medical officer and primary care physician, stops by our podcast to share his perspective on some of the most pressing questions in healthcare today, including:    

• How can an expanded care team help make up for shortages in primary care physicians and gaps in patient access to care?  
• How does interoperability and information sharing empower providers to better treat patients?  
• What role does transparency play in the evolving healthcare landscape?  

With his background in primary care and health technology, Dr. Weidmann believes that we should expand primary care access for every patient—and he helps us draw a roadmap.  

In the early days of her career, Susannah Fox fell in love with the democratization of data and the rebalancing of power. Today, that passion has taken the form of helping empower patients with their care.

Fox wrote her observations of the shift toward patient-led care in her new book, Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care. 

As she notes in the episode, “Patients have to rebel to see change in healthcare. They are the people who have the most at stake, and yet appear on no organizational chart for any healthcare company.” 

Fox also discusses the healthcare technology innovations she helped bring to life as the Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services during the Obama administration. 

Get to know Susannah Fox and her perspective on navigating the American healthcare system on the fifth episode of our season.

When Catharine Young, Ph.D., decided to become a scientist, she had no idea she would ever work for government agencies like the Department of Defense. But by working at such influential organizations, she learned about their power to solve some of healthcare’s biggest problems. 

Young’s career path led her to the White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, where she helps advance the mission of decreasing cancer deaths by 50% over the next 25 years.  

As Young notes in this episode, “[Cancer] is a disease that touches all of us. And when we think about mission-driven work, this to me really fulfills that. Because I know that the work that we do every day at the Biden Cancer Moonshot will have impact around the world in some capacity.” 

In our fourth episode of the season, we talk with Catharine Young about the role of government in healing healthcare.

From her initial dreams of becoming a pharmacologist to her current role as an advisor for national health IT efforts, Tricia Lee Rolle has always been interested in research and getting stuff done.  

As Rolle says, “What is really fulfilling about being in government is that you realize what you're doing is affecting not just one or a few or a handful of patient lives, but we're really doing it in mass and at scale.”   

In the third episode of the season, we talk with Tricia Lee Rolle about the transformation of healthcare through the lens of medication management and the evolving role of the clinical pharmacist. How can we effect change in healthcare? How can we empower care providers with the tools they need to improve patient care? Rolle shares her experiences at the highest levels of industry and government. 

Pooja Babbrah has secured a trifecta in healthcare: She’s the Practice Lead for Pharmacy and PBM Services at Point-of-Care Partners, is a board member of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and was recently a member of the HITAC Pharmacy Interoperability and Emerging Therapeutics Task Force at ONC. 

Babbrah’s work at these organizations has proven complementary, as she notes on the episode: “Moving value-based care forward, pharmacogenomics and pharmacy interoperability—all that's being talked about both at the standards development organization and the work that I do at Point-of-Care Partners.”  

Thanks to her roles, Babbrah has been able to advocate for new industry standards as well as help make implementing them a reality.   

In the second episode of the season focused on the future of pharmacy, we talk with Pooja Babbrah about how to bring pharmacy interoperability to life through technology, collaboration and standards—and how this will impact care for the better.

As the son of a pharmacist and a licensed pharmacist himself, Doug Hoey is intimately familiar with the importance of community pharmacies.

As Hoey notes, “People will come to their community pharmacies with issues that they just can't get served in other venues. I personally think that they are kind of a healthcare safety net, if you will.”

Hoey has been supporting community pharmacies for 13 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Community Pharmacists Association.

On this season premiere episode, we talk with Hoey about what he believes the future holds in pharmacy, how he works to promote and advocate for independent pharmacists, and what the role of pharmacy can and should be in the shifting healthcare landscape.

The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world, but it’s also riddled with complex challenges.

On Season 3 of “There’s a Better Way,” we’re taking a closer look at ways in which healthcare can heal itself—through innovation that prioritizes collaboration and positive impact, through intelligence sharing that improves the experience for patients and those who care for them​, through policies and technologies that allow the care team to evolve and overcome an epidemic of burnout, and through real-talk and fresh insights from today’s most inspiring and innovative leaders in healthcare.

You’ll hear perspective and personal stories from a new slate of healthcare leaders who are stepping up to solve what’s broken in healthcare. You’ll hear from the head of the national trade association representing community pharmacists, a former Chief Technology Officer at HHS, the Chief Medical Officer of an EHR software company and a senior leader at the FDA, among others.

Listen in as host Melanie Marcus from Surescripts asks her guests: How would they heal healthcare? What’s their diagnosis? What prescription might they write?

Aneesh Chopra is President of CareJourney, an open data and analytics platform delivering a trusted, transparent rating system for physicians, networks, facilities and markets on the move to value. Prior to CareJourney, Chopra served as the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer (2009–2012) and as the fourth Virginia Secretary of Technology (2006–2009).

Chopra authored “Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government” (2014), about creating a more open, tech-savvy government, and in 2011, Modern Healthcare named Chopra to its list of 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. In this episode, Chopra charts the path of his life that led to his role as the first U.S. CTO under President Barack Obama.

“As the federal government’s first Chief Technology Officer,” Obama wrote, “Aneesh Chopra did groundbreaking work to bring our government into the 21st century. Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records. His legacy of leadership and innovation will benefit Americans for years to come.”