There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology: Recent Episodes
Surescripts
The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world, but it’s also riddled with complex challenges, such as access to affordable medications, inefficiency and administrative burdens, and communications barriers between providers.. In this podcast series, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with some of the most inspiring leaders in healthcare today for in-depth and personal conversations about the industry’s challenges and opportunities. Each episode presents a new conversation with people who are driving industry innovation through their work, and helping to usher in a new era of American healthcare. Through this podcast, you’ll be exposed to new perspectives on stubborn healthcare challenges, how technology can be used to improve care and what the future might hold for an industry in the midst of rapid change.
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Episode description
Most Americans live within five to 10 miles of a pharmacy, which means that pharmacists are some of the most accessible clinicians in healthcare. Yet historically they have been among the least connected to it. Ben Bluml of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation is working to change that. Ben has spent three decades building care models, credentialing and data connections to turn pharmacists into fully-fledged members of the care team. Here’s why getting pharmacists onto the health information superhighway may be the fastest fix for a healthcare system that too often leaves its most accessible clinician out of the loop.
In this episode:
0:00 – Intro: why pharmacists are some of the most accessible—and least connected—clinicians in healthcare
2:00 – Ben’s path: from community pharmacy counter to three decades building pharmacist care models at the APhA Foundation
5:00 – A patient story: 26 pharmacies, 400 patients, and a lipid-lowering program built around a feedback loop
9:00 – “I’m not gonna be here to see my granddaughter get married”: a stroke-risk wake-up call
11:00 – The paradox: 90% of Americans live within 5–10 miles of a pharmacy, yet it’s the least connected part of care
13:00 – From vaccines to bone density screenings: the two faces of advanced pharmacy services
15:00 – What integrated systems like Kaiser get right—and why most community pharmacies don’t have it
17:00 – Project Impact Cardiovascular Health Plus: credentialing and paying pharmacists like their physician colleagues
19:00 – SDOH screening, a stroke risk assessment, and a 30-second EKG: how the AFib program works
21:00 – The results: Afib identified at more than 3x the expected rate across 2,100 patients
23:00 – Getting pharmacists onto the health information superhighway through Surescripts
24:00 – A cautionary tale: a medication reconciliation gap that ends in a broken hip
26:00 – The Sequoia Project Pharmacy Interoperability Work Group: Surescripts, NACDS, NCPA Foundation, and APhA Foundation
28:00 – Bundling prediabetes prevention and CGM access as pharmacists connect through TEFCA
29:00 – One billion CDAs and counting: why this moment feels different
31:00 – Ben’s bold ask: an integrated EHR in every community pharmacy
34:00 – Ben’s better way: pharmacists plugged into the health information superhighway
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Episode Description:
No one understands the patient burden better than Amy Gleason, who lived it as a caregiver navigating her daughter’s rare disease diagnosis before bringing that experience into her work leading national health technology reform. Listen in as she shares how the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem, the effort to “kill the clipboard,” and a renewed push for trust are all working to make healthcare follow the patient—not the other way around.
In this episode:
0:00 – Intro: What if the biggest shift in healthcare is a patient finally getting to own their own story?
2:00 – A new center of gravity: CMS launches the Office of Health Technology and Products
4:00 – Amy’s better way: patients getting access on their own terms, without faxes or paper
5:00 – The TED Talk moment: mysterious symptoms and a week-long wait for biopsy results
7:00 – “She has a life-threatening disease”: a diagnosis day of canceled tests and a midnight scare 10:00 – What should have been different: faster diagnostics and technology built around the patient, not the paperwork
14:00 – The real barrier isn’t technology—it’s data trapped in silos
16:00 – Trust, not tech: how HIPAA myths and misplaced caution keep health data from following patients
17:00 – Kill the Clipboard, Axe the Fax: launching the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem at the White House
19:00 – Verified and live: more than 800 companies and the first CMS-certified Medicare apps
23:00 – TEFCA, QHINs, and CMS-aligned networks: how they work together, not in competition
25:00 – Prior authorization’s next test: a new pledge with October and January deadlines
27:00 – Available isn’t useful: why 51 patient portals still aren’t enough
29:00 – Healthy caution vs. inertia: distinguishing real risk from resistance to change
32:00 – The clearest sign the change is sticking: patients aren’t waiting anymore
Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.
Corporate website:
surescripts.com
Intelligence in Action newsletter (subscribe):
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Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.
As a practicing physician and CMIO, Danny Lee brings insights from the intersection of patient care and health IT.
Real, meaningful progress has to begin at the point of care. No one knows this better than Dr. Lee, who has firsthand insight into the realities of clinical workflows and the critical role technology plays in supporting—or hindering—care delivery. Listen in as he shares how better outcomes depend on clinician-led use of technology that supports decisions in the moments that matter most for patients.
Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.
We talk a lot about technology and healthcare. We talk about automation. We talk about artificial intelligence. We talk about the promise of what's new and shiny and cutting edge. We're human after all—we build things. That's what we do. And the tools we build help us address big challenges, including those we face in healthcare.
So it makes sense that we talk a lot about technology and what we imagine our future could look like. But this isn't really about our tools. Not on this podcast—not this season. It's about people. It's about the patient. It's about all of us and the care that we want for ourselves and those we love.
This season, you'll hear from leaders, clinicians, pharmacists and innovators who are asking not just what technology can do, but how we choose to use it to meaningfully improve patient care.
The better way in healthcare is one that keeps the patient at the center, keeps care moving forward and on track and uses technology in service of what matters most.
Don't miss season five of “There's a Better Way” premiering on all major podcast apps in June.
When Patrick Leddin started his career jumping from Army planes, he quickly discovered the importance of leadership—and the power of bold moves.
Now, the bestselling author and speaker has distilled insights from his work in entrepreneurship, leadership consulting and research into a new book cowritten with James Patterson. In this episode, he shares takeaways from a three-year research project studying positive disruptors in the world framework for thriving in uncertainty. Tune in to hear how disruption can be good for your own health and for healthcare as a whole.
From policy to technology, Seema Verma has a long history of transforming healthcare at scale.
As the former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Verma directed initiatives, such as the historic Patients over Paperwork, that helped advance care for patients and providers. Now, as EVP of Oracle Health, she uses technology to improve patient outcomes and care delivery. Listen in as she shares her optimism on how better technology, data and AI can help bridge gaps in care.
“I think many organizations aren't really designed to innovate,” says Scott Howell, M.D.
When it comes to opportunities to innovate healthcare, Dr. Howell sees low-hanging fruit everywhere. But, he claims, “the rule is you can’t touch it.” As a young provider, Dr. Howell saw firsthand the consequences of healthcare inefficiencies. His frustration with a flawed system inspired him to pursue his MBA and work to improve healthcare on a bigger scale. Follow Dr. Howell’s journey and learn how he believes we can achieve innovation that drives better access to care.
“We’ve got the system that we’ve designed and the one that we’re paying for,” says Matt Eyles frankly.
Eyles has spent a fascinating career trying to align the two. From government to life sciences to the nationwide health plan association AHIP and beyond, he’s wrestled with some of healthcare’s trickiest challenges from just about every angle. How do we balance innovation and affordability? Or access and safety? Follow Eyles’ analytical mind as he breaks down what goes on behind the scenes at health plans, the often-invisible innovation happening there today, and why “value-based care” may need a rebrand.
From paper charts to electronic records to artificial intelligence, Dr. Eric Boose has experienced the transformation of primary care firsthand.
Dr. Boose was a quick adopter of electronic health records when they came onto the scene. His early interest in the technology primed him to become a leader in clinical informatics. Today, in addition to being a family physician at Cleveland Clinic, he’s an Associate Chief Medical Information Officer with a focus on improving the outpatient experience. Tune in to learn more about the advancements being made that reduce administrative burden and let physicians focus on the patient.
Frequent flyers are likely aware of CLEAR, a company that uses biometrics to expedite identity verification at airports. Now, David Bardan is helping bring CLEAR’s transformative identification technology to healthcare.
After a decade of experience in the healthcare and technology sectors, Bardan joined CLEAR in 2022 to head their healthcare initiatives. In this episode, Bardan discusses the opportunities made possible by identity verification. Learn how CLEAR is helping unlock operational efficiencies and seamless experiences for patients and the providers who care for them.
John Schilling, M.D., co-leads TPG Capital’s healthcare investments, where he helps decide on the best opportunities for driving healthcare innovation.
Tune in to our chat about spurring systemic innovation and making life better for patients and the providers who care for them. “We always start with the patient,” Schilling says on the episode, “and we work back from there.”
Listen now to hear about his origins as a doctor of medicine and how it informs his current role in the world of private equity.
Healthcare executive Jen McGonigle has worked at the intersection of healthcare and technology for over 20 years. Her experience has taught her that regardless of what challenges technology can bring, its innovations far outweigh any cons.
In our first episode of the season, we sit down with Jen McGonigle of Optum Rx for a chat about cultivating innovation. We discuss innovation at two levels. One is the level of technology—including Optum Rx’s products and capabilities that help tackle prohibitive drug pricing and treatment delays. The other is a higher-level view across healthcare—such as the prior authorization innovations made possible via cross-industry collaboration. Join us as we look at what spurs innovation in American healthcare and how it can catalyze good for patients and those who care for them.
The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world. But it’s no secret that we also face serious challenges.
Too many patients cut pills in half to make them last, too many can’t access care in the first place, and too many providers are so burned out with paperwork and administrative tasks that they’re leaving practice altogether.
Yes, we know that we’ve got our work cut out for us. We know that for so many of these challenges, there truly is a better way.
Welcome to the fourth season of the award-winning podcast “There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology.” I’m your host, Melanie Marcus, from Surescripts.
This season we’re diving into the work of systemic innovation in healthcare. Each guest we have on our show is a changemaker, in one way or another, and together they paint the picture of how innovation can happen—and is happening—right now across healthcare.
If you’re up for smart, energizing, story-driven conversations about healthcare and technology, tune in to “There’s a Better Way.” Season 4 premieres on all major podcast apps in May.
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.”
In an age of misinformation and doubt, Geeta Nayyar, M.D., is a builder of trust. “Dr. G,” as she is known, recognizes that trust is the key to having a successful relationship between patients, providers and payers. “If I don’t trust you, I certainly won’t listen to you or take your advice,” says Dr. G.
In this episode, Dr. G describes how she witnessed firsthand the transition from the old school to the new school, from physical paperwork to the electronic health record (EHR) platforms—while still in medical school in Miami and then as a newly-minted rheumatologist.
“I saw the potential and promise of this better option for connecting data, connecting communications,” Dr. G says in the episode. And as we connect data and communications, we will build trust, which is fundamental in healthcare. “The day-to-day relationship, building the doctor-patient relationship, should be part of the digital transformation.”
Dr. G’s book Dead Wrong, which grew out of her work to battle misinformation (and build trust) during the COVID-19 pandemic, is set for publication in October 2023.
This episode features Lili Brillstein, founder and CEO of Bcollaborative, who works to lead the transition from fee-for-service care models to value-based care models in American healthcare.
Brillstein says that when she was studying business in college, value-based care models weren’t even a blip on the radar. We were paying for units of care—and we’re still doing that today in many cases. But we can build a system focused on patient outcomes, she says, and set up reimbursement to support it.
“The idea,” Brillstein says, “is to address variability in care and costs of care to get consistent outcomes.”
This episode features Cris Ross, Chief Information Officer, Mayo Clinic.
At Mayo, Cris’s job is to provide reliable technology for one of the best hospitals in the nation. He works to figure out how to use technology in new ways, and to inspire physicians and scientists to explore new technological ideas.
“If you could just pick one thing you’re particularly delighted about right now,” Melanie asks, “what would that be?”
“A lot of it, frankly,” Cris replies, “is when a physician says, ‘You know, you guys introduced this new widget, and it made my life better.’ That’s just awesome.”
This episode features George Van Antwerp, who leads Deloitte’s future of pharmacy strategy. In the episode, Van Antwerp unpacks his vision for the future of pharmacy, such as how disruption will create transformative opportunities and challenges. He also shares his thoughts on interoperability and health equity.
“Pharmacy is the most used benefit,” Van Antwerp says. “It’s the way that many people experience the healthcare system.”
Looking out 10 or 20 years, what data would pharmacists need to talk to the patient differently? How far can pharmacists push the spectrum of diagnosis, provider collaboration, of being able to do more and more?
This episode features Didi Davis, Vice President of Informatics, Conformance & Interoperability at The Sequoia Project. Davis has over three decades of experience in the healthcare industry and is nationally known as a subject matter expert in healthcare standards and interoperability design and strategy.
Davis describes the arc of her career as a “journey in serendipity,” when the idea of interoperability was just that: an idea. "Back then," she says, "less than 20% of hospital systems even had an electronic health record."
This episode features Dr. Brett Giroir, CEO of Altesa BioSciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm working to develop new medications for viral respiratory infections with a focus on vulnerable populations. And Dr. Giroir knows plenty about infections, having served as the COVID-19 “testing tsar” on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
In this episode, Dr. Giroir describes how his interest in immunology and infectious disease in medical school led to vaccine research and related clinical practice, which led in turn to serving the nation in various roles (and at one point this included a top-secret clearance).
“I do believe you’re put here for a purpose,” Dr. Giroir says. “And looking back on all the chance events that came into my life, I think that’s what it all meant.”
Innovative, Compassionate, Future-Focused. Those three words characterize Rina Shah and what she wants for her patients, for the care Walgreens delivers, and for the industry at large.
In this episode, we talk with Shah, who is Walgreens Group Vice President of Pharmacy of the Future and Segment Strategy, about just how she envisions the FUTURE of PHARMACY. The topic couldn’t be more of the moment: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by 2034, the U.S. will face a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians. Pharmacists in particular are well-positioned to fill gaps in care—if they can get the tools, information and support they need. We’ll talk with Shah about how to do so and how Walgreens—under her leadership—is also fighting to address health equity issues in the communities they serve.
Healthcare interoperability has been a buzzword for years. After decades of incremental progress, the industry is making traction. Information is being exchanged—and in massive quantities; clinicians and healthcare leaders are now pushing for it to be consumable. Meanwhile, we’re still not far along in interoperable systems to allow for national information exchange. American healthcare is messy, innovative, brilliant, fragmented and often proprietary and parochial, which gums up the momentum.
So how do we get to Interoperability 2.0?
In this episode, Melanie talks with Micky Tripathi, a leading expert in health information technology and data interoperability. Dr. Tripathi is the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he leads the formulation of the federal health IT strategy—and is responsible for advancing interoperability and the exchange of health information nationwide. In other words, Dr. Tripathi “owns” the federal effort to make nationwide interoperability a reality.
Welcome to the second season of There's a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology, an award-winning podcast series from Surescripts. In each episode, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with some of the most inspiring leaders in healthcare today for in-depth and personal conversations about the industry’s challenges and opportunities. By the end of each episode, you’ll walk away with real-world stories—stories that show a better way to tackle healthcare’s most stubborn issues as well as what the future might hold for an industry undergoing rapid change. If you’re up for smart, energizing and story-driven conversations with some of the nation’s top leaders in healthcare and technology, tune into There’s a Better Way, premiering on all major podcast apps this April. Learn more—check out the whole first season.
As President of Kroger Health, Colleen Lindholz leads a team of 23,000 healthcare professionals in nearly 2500 pharmacies in 37 states who care for more than 14 million patients annually. In this episode, Colleen shares passion for wellness and nutrition, and health and how Kroger is working to deliver whole patient care. Melissa and Colleen also discuss how the pandemic laid bare existing inequities and how technology can help pharmacists get the right therapy to the right patient at the right time, increasing adherence and improving patient outcomes. Finally, Colleen explains what keeps her motivated in her career, and what’s currently inspiring her.
In this episode, Melanie sits down with Lee Barrett, Executive Director and CEO of EHNAC, a national healthcare accreditation organization. Previously, he was the President and CEO and sat on the board of directors at HealthEC, a consulting and solutions provider of products for ACOs, Population Health, HIEs, web portals, EMR and transactional platforming. As a health IT and security guru, Lee has plenty of thoughtful perspectives to share on data privacy, cyber security and tech innovation in the healthcare space. He explains how we've come a long way as an industry in providing a level of support and assurance for stakeholders, and why stakeholder trust is the name of the game in the industry today. Lee also shares his perspective on what’s on the horizon for the future of the industry, including in areas like telehealth, medical devices and cryptocurrencies.
In this episode, Melanie sits down with community pharmacist Michele Belcher. Michele is president of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the owner of Grants Pass Pharmacy, which dates to 1904 and is the last independent pharmacy in Grants Pass, Oregon. Elected president of NCPA in 2022, Michele has long been active in state and federal legislation impacting community pharmacies as well as Oregon’s state pharmacy coalition. When Grants Pass was hit hard by the Delta variant, Michele led the charge for her community pharmacy to rise to the occasion and rallied colleagues to administer COVID-19 vaccines to a particularly vulnerable population: the developmentally disabled. And as the country continues to face a shortage of primary care physicians, Michele is advocating for pharmacists to expand the clinical services they provide. A community pharmacist that easily moves between small town America to the nation's capital, Michele is a leader to watch as the healthcare industry continues to undergo rapid change.
In this episode, Melanie sits down with Dr. Nele Jessel, the Chief Medical Officer of athenahealth. With two medical licenses—one to practice in Germany and one to practice in the U.S.—Dr. Jessel is a board-certified clinical informaticist and pediatrician with a passion for improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes through technology. A self-described EHR cheerleader, she first became interested in clinical informatics as a means to bring the revolutionary potential of HIT to pediatrics, a specialty where its adoption has lagged. During the episode, Melanie sits down with Dr. Jessel for an in-depth conversation about her childhood in Germany, her decision to go into medicine, and why she believes the solution to clinician burnout could potentially lie in more technology, not less. Dr. Jessel also explains why it’s always been her goal to use technology to allow her and the clinicians she supports to practice old-fashioned medicine in a high-tech setting.
As other guests have shared, there’s often a strong link between a parent’s professional world and the career their child chooses. In other words: “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” In this episode, Melanie sits down with someone who understands this connection firsthand: Sam Lambson, the Vice President of Interoperability at Oracle Cerner. While Sam was growing up, his father worked in tech and manufacturing, which led him to move the entire family to Hong Kong just as Sam was entering high school. During his time in Hong Kong, Sam learned about the power of connection and the role of technology in the world—lessons which stuck with him as he moved into adulthood. Today, he calls himself a “technologist at heart” as well as an evangelist for “all things interoperability.” Since joining Oracle Cerner in 2015, his mantra has been to “make care more affordable, accessible and better coordinated.” During the episode, Sam shares his beliefs on innovative solutions for healthcare affordability in America, and how technology can drive results at scale to improve care for millions. He also shares more about his remarkable career path, what inspires him, and how he navigates such a critical and exciting role.
As the U.S. population ages, it’s also getting sicker: According to the CDC, more than a quarter of U.S. adults face multiple chronic conditions. An ever-increasing number of Americans are on a specialty therapy or medication—more than 66 million in 2022. The good news? Conditions that were untreatable decades ago now have effective therapies. The bad news? The journey from diagnosis to treatment remains costly and onerous: CVS reported that specialty medications accounted for more than 52% of drug spend in 2020. In addition, underserved and minority populations often don’t get the specialty medication access and education they need to improve their outcomes. Melanie will chat with Joel Helle on what's needed and what's next with specialty prescribing & dispensing—and how technology and innovation play important roles. We’ll ask Joel to share his professional and personal experience with improving the specialty journey—and why he’s passionate about making this process better for the pharmacist, for the patient, for the doctor. We’ll also talk about what inspires Joel—and what he thinks the future holds for a market ripe for innovation.
In this episode, Melanie sits down with Tina Grande, the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Healthcare Leadership Council. In her role, Tina helps to advocate for consumer-centered healthcare reform, emphasizing the value of private-sector innovation as well as public-private partnership. Tina has healthcare and policy in her blood: her father represented the Mayo Clinic on Capitol Hill, and she began her career as junior staffer in healthcare policy for Senator David Durenberger. In the early 2000s, she became an entrepreneur, creating a software that organized 44,000 pages of Medicare policy into a consumable format for policymakers and providers alike. During their discussion, Melanie and Tina dig deeper into Tina’s remarkable career at the intersection of healthcare, technology and national policy. Tina also shares her perspective on the mission and successes of the Council, what inspires her, and the key priorities she believes policymakers and healthcare leaders should keep front and center in the months and years ahead.
In this episode, Melanie sits down with Mariann Yeager, the Chief Executive Officer of The Sequoia Project, an independent advocate for nationwide health information exchange. Beginning her career in health IT in Nashville, Mariann eventually made her way to Washington, D.C., where she’s remained on the forefront of the digital healthcare transformation ever since. Melanie and Mariann discuss how in the not-too-distant past, healthcare was still largely being conducted on paper. However, we’ve made some incredible strides since then, and this episode dives into some of the most noteworthy discoveries, changes and evolutions in the healthcare industry in recent years. Mariann also shares her perspective on the complementary nature of private-public partnership on the journey to advance data sharing practices, how to use passion to keep yourself and others motivated, and much more.
TIME recently named Walgreens one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2022, noting that as of March 2022, the company had administered 60 million COVID-19 vaccines and 26 million tests. In this episode, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with a guest who has had a truly noteworthy career, beginning as a cashier at the Walgreens across the street from her high school before rising through the ranks to become Vice President for Pharmacy Quality, Compliance and Patient Safety at the company. Today, Tasha Polster has overseen the national rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in thousands of stores across the country. As a healthcare leader who is helping to reimagine how care can and should be delivered in this “new normal,” Tasha shares her inspiring story, and her perspective on the value of innovation, collaboration and partnership during challenging times.
Welcome to "There's a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare & Technology", a new podcast series by Surescripts. In each episode, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with some of the most inspiring leaders in healthcare today for in-depth and personal conversations about the industry’s challenges and opportunities. Through this podcast, you’ll be exposed to new perspectives on stubborn healthcare challenges, how technology can be used to improve care and what the future might hold for an industry in the midst of rapid change. If you’re up for smart, energizing and story-driven conversations with some of the nation’s top leaders in healthcare and technology, tune into There’s a Better Way, premiering on all major podcast apps this summer. Learn more.