I Don't Care: Recent Episodes
Kevin Stevenson
The challenges healthcare executives and administrators face are constantly changing. Host Kevin Stevenson talks with the heroes behind the heroes that are enabling hospitals, urgent care centers and telemedicine operators to spend their time tending to patients, while they handle the logistics.
Traditional medicine isn’t generally taken very seriously in the United States. However, Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, President and CSO at GB Sciences explained that “65% of the world still use traditional medicine either as their sole medicine or in conjunction with Western medicine.” Depending on the source, traditional plant-based medicine dates back as far as 60,000 years whereas Western medicine is a mere 3,000 years old.
Kevin Stevenson, I Don’t Care podcast host, sat down with the distinguished Dr. Small-Howard to discuss her work in the plant-based medicine industry. Dr. Small-Howard will also discuss the digital transformation curve with GB Sciences AI-based drug discovery platform PhAROS. This podcast is of great interest due in part to Dr. Small-Howard’s extensive resume. In fact, it is so extensive that the following introduction from her LinkedIn profile barely highlights her expertise.
“Dr. Andrea Small-Howard has 25 years of scientific research and executive experience in the biopharma industry supervising research & development, manufacturing, and quality control divisions in the US and China. Dr. Small-Howard has taken novel biological products from ideation through commercialization. She has been named an inventor on seventy+ patent applications, taken the lead in obtaining regulatory approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (‘US FDA’), and orchestrated commercial licensing deals.”
Listeners might think that they would not be able to understand or relate to such a well-educated scientific mind, but nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Small-Howard is an engaging speaker filled with enthusiasm for her chosen line of work and her mission to normalize plant-based medicine in the United States.
“My background is in biochemistry, so I sort of see the world through a different lens and I’ve always been obsessed with the power of plant-based medicines. Traditional medicine is often overlooked as being a really powerful force here in the United States,” said Dr. Small-Howard. The doctor joined GB Sciences in 2014 to take plant-based medicine to the next level by utilizing science to maximize the potential of the cannabis plant
The Impact Research Institute (IRI) is Waco, Texas’ resource for extending care options for NAFLD (non-alcohol fatty liver disease.) Nadege Gunn is IRI’s Medical Director and President. She joined Kevin Stevenson on I Don't Care to discuss her and her team’s mission to treat NAFLD and other related diseases and conditions.
Dr. Gunn is a Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist whose main passion is the liver. “The liver is an amazing organ,” Dr. Gunn said. “It’s the only organ in the body that you could cut in half, and it can grow back in full size in about three months. The work we do in transplantation and replacing the liver is quite amazing, so that’s why I chose the field in general.”
Dr. Gunn helped open IRI in July of 2021. Necessity created the decision to develop the center. While practicing clinical trials in Austin, Texas, Dr. Gunn saw many patients traveling from the Waco area to receive treatment options for NAFLD. With no scan or clinical trial options available to people in Waco and the surrounding area, Dr. Gunn recognized an opportunity to open a clinic to serve the growing needs.
Community outreach is critical to the clinic’s role in Waco, TX. When they identify candidates who may have NAFLD, they do a non-invasive scan at the center to determine if the candidate does have the disease. “If they do, then we invite them to maybe participate in a clinical trial because there are no treatments for fatty liver,” Dr. Gunn said.
For people wondering if they might have NAFLD, Dr. Gunn said the disease is often asymptomatic in the early stages. “It is when the disease is progressing, when it is starting to injure and harm the liver, that people might start firstly feeling fatigued,” Dr. Gunn said. “They might feel pain in the right upper quadrant of their abdomen and their belly.” Recognizing these warning signs and seeking a diagnosis is critical before full-on cirrhosis of the liver occurs.
In this new episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson sits down with Mike Telem, the Co-Founder of Kemtai, a groundbreaking computer vision platform, to discuss their unique approach to telemedicine.
Founded in 2019, the Israeli-based company has been utilizing technology in healthcare even before the Covid-19 pandemic began. “We’ve developed a computer vision exercise platform that can basically provide feedback and guide users in real-time as if a personal trainer or personal physio-therapist trainer was right there with them. We basically turn any device that has a camera into an expert,” said Telem.
Using the instructions to help guide the patient, the software is able to track, monitor and direct the patient based on their performance, adjusting to correct imbalances or maladaptive stances.
As easy as watching a YouTube video, the Kemtai solution combines the convenience of an at-home activity with the insight of a personal trainer.
“This product is all based on software and computer vision and AI,” noted Telem, meaning there are no sensors, logistics, or wearables and any smart device with a camera can use it.
Utilizing the knowledge from real physiotherapist or physical therapists, Kemtai is able to provide users with real-time guidance and feedback.
While the covid-19 pandemic certainly refocused and accelerated the use of telemedicine, most issues require a healthcare professional to be on the other side of the call. In lieu of this, Kemtai uses it’s advanced computer software recognition system which helps patients adhere to their recovery programs and speed up their recovery process. This makes the platform extremely scaleable.
Additionally, the platform can consume any style of movement for particular patients and turn that into an “interactive platform and experience that guides the user, the patient, the member at home even without someone being there.” The software captures and tracks 44 different data points on the human body.
As a B2B platform, Kemtai has recently partnered with virtual physical therapy solution RecoveryOne to provide access to more patients across a range of movement spectrums.
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are community-based healthcare providers that receive funding to offer primary-care services in low-income and underserved communities.
On May 18th, 2022, Yuvo Health announced a partnership with four FQHCs. This partnership will enable them to expand these FQHCs reach to even more individuals. Cesar Herrera, CEO & Co-Founder of Yuvo Health, spoke with I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson about this exciting opportunity.
As Herrera explained, Yuvo Health provides administrative and technology wrap-around services to support federally qualified health centers to enable their transition to value-based care. Rural and hyper-urban areas are two concentrations where FQHCs play a vital role in supporting the communities.
Yuvo Health’s mission is personal as well as professional. Herrera was an FQHC patient growing up. His first-hand experience of the importance these centers provide to the community gave him an understanding of what happens to a society that doesn’t have equitable access to primary healthcare.
In NYC, where Yuvo Health is based, most private practice doctors don’t accept any insurance. This exclusivity closes the door to many patients who cannot afford private care and magnifies the problem in underserved communities where options are limited. That’s why Yuvo’s announcement is welcome news.
“We’ve brought on our first set of FQHC partners with our model launched in downstate NY,” Herrera said. “What Yuvo is, is an IPA and an MSO model. It enables us to establish value-based contracts on behalf of our FQHC partners with managed care entities, and in many cases, these are contracts that our FQHC partners would not be able to establish on their own.”
These first four FQHC partners represent a diverse set of the patient population representing the five boroughs of NYC and Long Island, and roughly 40,000 Medicaid lives flowing through their centers every year.
Host Kevin Stevenson of the “I Don't Care” podcast talked with Stuart Archer, the CEO of Oceans Healthcare, a behavioral health service provider, about the growth and challenges of behavioral health in hospitals. Currently, the healthcare system is buzzing in behavioral health but there are still some improvements to be made.
Even with many advancements and changes in attitudes regarding behavioral health, there’s quite a lot of work to be done in the area, and COVID-19 has coincidentally had some footing in that, said Archer.
“Behavioral health is really in many ways still in the shadows of healthcare in general, and the funding decisions we make, and even in some of the decisions we make in our community,” said Archer. “I think if COVID has done one thing, is given us that common thing — anxiety, stress, all those things that become something that we can all relate to during COVID and maybe in our own ways relate better to behavioral health patients in our communities.”
Archer did not originally start out as a professional in behavioral health, and worked his way up by immersing himself within the field. Today, he leads Oceans Healthcare and their mission in partnering with various organizations to bring their inpatient and outpatient services to different communities.
But the journey there was an eye-opening one for Archer, who stated that he remained shocked at the disparities that healthcare facilities have in behavioral health. While his company has worked to close those gaps, he acknowledged the biggest improvement in behavioral health was the elimination of state-run psychiatric hospitals and the deinstitutionalization of patients. Archer also credited medical evolution and open-minded attitudes for the huge change.
However, the fact remains that most American healthcare facilities are not able to take on the needs of patients who have behavioral health concerns. He contends that mental health is an area that continues to see slow improvement because most facilities and hospitals were not built with the intention to serve patients with chronic health issues, such as behavioral health.
In addition, every state has their own funding and budget when it comes to mental health, and for the most part, the country’s prison system continues to house the majority of the patients with behavioral health concerns.
However, that tide is seeing some change as Archer pointed out that decreasing the stigmas, and working with hospitals and facilities to connect more with their communities on a more personal level, fostering some real breakthroughs.
Host Kevin Stevenson of the “I Don't Care” podcast talked with Stuart Archer, the CEO of Oceans Healthcare, a behavioral health service provider, about the growth and challenges of behavioral health in hospitals. Currently, the healthcare system is buzzing in behavioral health but there are still some improvements to be made.
Even with many advancements and changes in attitudes regarding behavioral health, there’s quite a lot of work to be done in the area, and COVID-19 has coincidentally had some footing in that, said Archer.
“Behavioral health is really in many ways still in the shadows of healthcare in general, and the funding decisions we make, and even in some of the decisions we make in our community,” said Archer. “I think if COVID has done one thing, is given us that common thing — anxiety, stress, all those things that become something that we can all relate to during COVID and maybe in our own ways relate better to behavioral health patients in our communities.”
Archer did not originally start out as a professional in behavioral health, and worked his way up by immersing himself within the field. Today, he leads Oceans Healthcare and their mission in partnering with various organizations to bring their inpatient and outpatient services to different communities.
But the journey there was an eye-opening one for Archer, who stated that he remained shocked at the disparities that healthcare facilities have in behavioral health. While his company has worked to close those gaps, he acknowledged the biggest improvement in behavioral health was the elimination of state-run psychiatric hospitals and the deinstitutionalization of patients. Archer also credited medical evolution and open-minded attitudes for the huge change.
However, the fact remains that most American healthcare facilities are not able to take on the needs of patients who have behavioral health concerns. He contends that mental health is an area that continues to see slow improvement because most facilities and hospitals were not built with the intention to serve patients with chronic health issues, such as behavioral health.
In addition, every state has their own funding and budget when it comes to mental health, and for the most part, the country’s prison system continues to house the majority of the patients with behavioral health concerns.
However, that tide is seeing some change as Archer pointed out that decreasing the stigmas, and working with hospitals and facilities to connect more with their communities on a more personal level, fostering some real breakthroughs.
If you’ve ever had to chase down a prior authorization before getting your medical procedure approved for coverage, you’re not alone. According to a recent white paper by the American Hospital Association, prior authorization has been found to be a barrier to care, restricting access to coverage for many patients. Paul Shorrosh, founder and CEO of AccuReg is here to change that. Shorrosh sits down with host Kevin Stevenson to talk about the importance of pushing for change and adapting prior authorization automation.
According to Shorrosh, automating prior authorization helps hospitals and health systems integrate patient engagement, intake, and access to enable increased revenue. However, insurers have generally refused to automate. Instead, insurers have stayed old school, “So what they use is fax machines, phone calls, emails, and web portals,” said Shorrosh.
Prior authorization not only prevents patient care but often results in unpaid bills and coverage denials, “So nothing good comes out of that process especially when a lot of those procedures could be approved by the payer in advance if it were an easier, more automated modern process,” stated Shorrosh.
Given there is an existing industry standard, the 278 standard, for electronic authorization, widespread automation should not be an issue. However, Shorrosh said insurers are not being “held accountable to use it.”
Shorrosh’s solution is to use a best practice approach involving five steps, in order:
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Identity and demographic validation
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Eligibility and benefit verification
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Prior authorization requirement check
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Submission management platform; submit request to payer
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Retrieving authorization and status
Shorrosh said, “We’re not even asking the payers to reduce their requirements,” but pushing for change in an industry that is slow to adapt.
To encourage this, Shorrosh said, “I hope that CMS and government entities will help with that, make this electronic.”
Automating the prior authorization process not only improves speed of acceptance, but ultimately helps the patient.
To learn more visit AccuRegsoftware.com or head to the prior authorization page.
If you’ve ever had to chase down a prior authorization before getting your medical procedure approved for coverage, you’re not alone. According to a recent white paper by the American Hospital Association, prior authorization has been found to be a barrier to care, restricting access to coverage for many patients. Paul Shorrosh, founder and CEO of AccuReg is here to change that. Shorrosh sits down with host Kevin Stevenson to talk about the importance of pushing for change and adapting prior authorization automation.
According to Shorrosh, automating prior authorization helps hospitals and health systems integrate patient engagement, intake, and access to enable increased revenue. However, insurers have generally refused to automate. Instead, insurers have stayed old school, “So what they use is fax machines, phone calls, emails, and web portals,” said Shorrosh.
Prior authorization not only prevents patient care but often results in unpaid bills and coverage denials, “So nothing good comes out of that process especially when a lot of those procedures could be approved by the payer in advance if it were an easier, more automated modern process,” stated Shorrosh.
Given there is an existing industry standard, the 278 standard, for electronic authorization, widespread automation should not be an issue. However, Shorrosh said insurers are not being “held accountable to use it.”
Shorrosh’s solution is to use a best practice approach involving five steps, in order:
-
Identity and demographic validation
-
Eligibility and benefit verification
-
Prior authorization requirement check
-
Submission management platform; submit request to payer
-
Retrieving authorization and status
Shorrosh said, “We’re not even asking the payers to reduce their requirements,” but pushing for change in an industry that is slow to adapt.
To encourage this, Shorrosh said, “I hope that CMS and government entities will help with that, make this electronic.”
Automating the prior authorization process not only improves speed of acceptance, but ultimately helps the patient.
To learn more visit AccuRegsoftware.com or head to the prior authorization page.
When it comes to improving interpersonal development and character, one doesn’t often think of using art to sharpen their skills. However, attorney and art historian, Amy E. Herman, teaches clients from doctors to FBI agents how to utilize visual intelligence to better problem solve. As an entrepreneur, TED Talks speaker, cancer survivor and author, Herman explained how to strengthen these skills to enhance critical thinking and become more connected with others.
Herman described a few of her processes she teaches and the theory behind why they work. For example, one process is what she calls the Four A’s: Assess the situation, Analyze the situation, Articulate your observation, and Act. She explained, “I simply use art as data to give people a new tool to really perfect those four A’s.”
Since most of her clients utilize their left brain, which is the side utilized for numbers and analysis, her processes prod them to engage the right brain to see things from other viewpoints. “I think the best things and the best ideas happen on the exit ramp of your comfort zone,” Herman explained. “It refreshes your whole sense of critical thinking.”
The basis behind these processes and theories is enhancing human connection. “Human to human, we make connections with people, and it enriches everything – from the service that you get to the conversations that you have – and you never know where that next business is going to come from, and it just makes our engagement that much less superficial,” Herman said.
Ultimately, the theme of the episode is: “It’s not all about you.” By taking in multiple perspectives and appreciating making mistakes, Herman hopes clients and listeners will be able to problem solve more quickly and creatively.
When it comes to improving interpersonal development and character, one doesn’t often think of using art to sharpen their skills. However, attorney and art historian, Amy E. Herman, teaches clients from doctors to FBI agents how to utilize visual intelligence to better problem solve. As an entrepreneur, TED Talks speaker, cancer survivor and author, Herman explained how to strengthen these skills to enhance critical thinking and become more connected with others.
Herman described a few of her processes she teaches and the theory behind why they work. For example, one process is what she calls the Four A’s: Assess the situation, Analyze the situation, Articulate your observation, and Act. She explained, “I simply use art as data to give people a new tool to really perfect those four A’s.”
Since most of her clients utilize their left brain, which is the side utilized for numbers and analysis, her processes prod them to engage the right brain to see things from other viewpoints. “I think the best things and the best ideas happen on the exit ramp of your comfort zone,” Herman explained. “It refreshes your whole sense of critical thinking.”
The basis behind these processes and theories is enhancing human connection. “Human to human, we make connections with people, and it enriches everything – from the service that you get to the conversations that you have – and you never know where that next business is going to come from, and it just makes our engagement that much less superficial,” Herman said.
Ultimately, the theme of the episode is: “It’s not all about you.” By taking in multiple perspectives and appreciating making mistakes, Herman hopes clients and listeners will be able to problem solve more quickly and creatively.
Healthcare plans are easy when one doesn’t need to use them, but navigating a plan to receive needed care can prove challenging. Ryan Coplon, Co-Founder & President of HealthWallet, believes there is a better way to make order out of the healthcare chaos, and that’s through HealthWallet’s smartphone app. He spoke with Kevin Stevenson about HealthWallet’s unique approach to giving people the healthcare access they desire when they need it.
Coplon’s background comes from the employee benefits and health plan architecture, and that experience shaped his ideas on ways in which a better health plan program could benefit those in need of options. “We realized the more progressive we got with our plan design and infrastructure, the more confused our plan members got,” Coplon said. “So, I saw an opportunity to partner with my co-founder now, in collaboration with the health plan that we managed.” After a year of development, they created an easy platform to drive utilization at the plan level. Once their idea solved these issues, Coplon and his partner recognized the potential to mainstream this idea.
The goal for HealthWallet is to help those looking for care from their health plans cost-effectively gain access to that care. And their app’s design makes getting that information to low-cost solutions easy and convenient. Coplon said they predicated HealthWallet’s platform on two concepts: consolidated access and engagement strategies.
“We are an intentionally flexible and modular platform,” Coplon said. “As it sits today, we have upwards of 80 mutually exclusive member-facing end-point solutions that we toggle between and cluster together as a function of relevance. We get to work collaboratively with our health plan clients and our health plan administrators to aggregate a perpetually relevant suite of solutions.”
Some Cancer-fighting compounds for kids gather dust on Big Pharma’s lab shelves. Children’s Tumor Foundation President Annette Bakker, Ph.D., won’t stand for that. She shared her efforts to rescue these assets with I Don’t Care’s Kevin Stevenson.
In her fight to end neurofibromatosis, an incurable condition that causes tumors to grow on the brain and spinal cord, Bakker is pioneering game-changing ideas in disease research.
Through Bakker’s experience in the pharmaceutical and biochemistry industries, she learned how separate the two ecosystems were. “The motivations that drive academic researchers are publications,” Bakker said. “The motivations that drive pharmaceutical companies is to develop those drugs, but in the meantime also to fuel the development of new drugs they need to patent. So, they need to keep the stuff secret. The very different systems these two worlds are living in make it difficult to translate discoveries into better treatments for patients.”
Bridging the gap in science politics to ensure discoveries lead to better treatments is the space where Bakker lives. “It’s about bringing the models to the drugs,” Bakker said. “It’s about bringing the different stakeholders together and creating that ecosystem.”
What led Bakker from her background in biochemistry to the pharmaceutical world was the desire to take great discoveries and make sure they were getting used. And what ultimately led her to The Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) was to be a part of the solution in bridging the gaps, cutting through the red tape, and connecting the right people to make real change. “My philosophy is always, ‘move the foot,’ Bakker said. “Don’t blame anyone; incentivize them to change their behavior and feel good about it.”
Buyers and sellers are avid users of open marketplaces. They can apply to any product or service, including healthcare. I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Scott Carson, Founder and CEO of Powered by MRP, on the topic.
Carson’s backstory includes work as the lead inventor of eBay Healthcare Marketplace. After that venture, he saw an opportunity to create a fair marketplace for clinicians to access aesthetic devices at GPO-level pricing. That concept is now Powered by MRP.
“I helped structure and model the eBay Healthcare Marketplace, but they became nervous about regulations around preowned assets. No one was successful, but I realized it’s a highly emotional marketplace,” Carson said.
In the last few years, Powered by MRP has “cracked the code” on device sales. The company’s objective is to create an ecosystem for all healthcare services eventually. Carson noted, “We’ve learned that aesthetics is a great pollinator for growth.”
Carson explained why marketplaces are the future. “There’s going to be a massive reduction of field-based representatives. COVID accelerated this, but there are also new clinicians that grew up with technology. It’s no longer a barrier.”
Carson further explained that this old model has a lot of waste. “It adds 25% to the sales cost, and it doesn’t need to be there.”
Platforms like Powered by MRP have transparent pricing and provide all the information to the purchaser. Additionally, the company offers service contracts with the manufacturer so these assets can continue to perform.
When asked what’s next for the company, Carson answered, “An aggregation of buying power bringing clinicians together to purchase pharma or anything else that evolves naturally.”
This week on I Don't Care, Host Kevin Stevenson sits down with an author that has made it his mission to teach people how to navigate the healthcare system and to be armed with the proactive education needed to be able to shop around for the best healthcare options and prevent uneccessary or overly costly treatments.
After 28 years working within the American healthcare system, Dr. David Wilcox has seen enough in the medical field to realize that it truly is a “business” as opposed to the kind-hearted healing service that most people might imagine it to be.
His new book reveals some unsettling facts and offers information, facts, and tips for patients and family members who are navigating through this morass. Along with revealing what he has learned over the last 28 years, he also offers helpful hints on how patients can avoid becoming victims of an industry that seems intent on profiting at all costs rather than providing quality care for its clients.
This book is a wake-up call for all of us who are taxpayers, or soon will be. It provides the tools needed to avoid being caught in this system that unfairly targets certain groups and takes away our rights as consumers without providing necessary care.
Clinical trials can save lives and provide new ways to treat disease. The industry estimates that 85% of all clinical trials face delays due to patient enrollment. Understanding that challenge and finding ways to minimize it is the pursuit of Jeeva Informatics. The company’s founder and CEO, Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, joined Kevin Stevenson on I Don’t Care to discuss the issue.
Dr. Rajasimha has a long history of clinical research experience, working as a data scientist and software engineer. After several personal tragedies, he wanted to apply his knowledge to helping clinical research trials overcome logistical burdens to bring new treatments to market faster.
“The biggest barrier in clinical trials is delays in the timeline associated with patient recruitment. Traditionally, those enrollees must be within 50 miles of the lab,” Dr. Rajasimha explained. That narrows down access considerably. “Only 1.2% of cancer patients in the U.S. are in a clinical trial.”
The other challenge is the logistics. Patients must travel to sites for treatment or simply just exchanges with physicians. “It’s a travel burden for patients and their caregivers,” Dr. Rajasimha noted.
To change the clinical trial ecosystem, Dr. Rajasimha said that the paradigm of the four walls of the lab must evolve. “Clinical trials have been slow to adopt digital channels, but the pandemic forced this.”
By digitizing and automating repetitive manual tasks, the burden of participation shrinks for the patient. “The pandemic showed that there is a demand for flexibility in decentralizing clinical trials. With the right tools, this is possible,” Dr. Rajasimha explained.
By leveraging technology, clinical trial producers can maximize diversity, equity, and inclusion. With more communication and interaction, patients in trials are also more likely to adhere to medication instructions and be more trusting of the process
When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. In the case of Branislav Vajdic, Ph.D., CEO, and Founder of HeartBeam, this legend truly is fact. Vajdic arrived in the US in the late 1970s and got his Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He then worked for Intel, designing the first flash memory and eventually the design manager for Intel’s Pentium chips. I Don’t Care’s Kevin Stevenson spoke with Vajdic about his latest undertaking, HeartBeam, whose mission is to detect heart attacks before they become fatal. So, how does a legendary chip designer become a cardiovascular insider?
“Back in Europe, my father was a well-known physician/surgeon, and one afternoon he did not feel well,” Vajdic explained. “He had this chest pain, discomfort, etc. Despite his medical background, he did what most people do; he disregarded the symptoms. He said, well, it’s going to be okay; it’s nothing serious. Unfortunately, that was a heart attack in process, and we lost him. That stuck with me all these years, and when I left Intel, I decided I’m going to turn my career to solving the problem of heart attack detection."
In 2015 Vajdic began an in-depth search for a solution that could help a patient distinguish between something as minor as indigestion or a pulled muscle versus the patient having an actual heart attack.
“There was nothing out there that could be with a patient 24/7,” Vajdic said. The solution needed to be effortless for the patient and small enough that they could always carry around with them. “It turned out to be a very difficult technical problem, and I paired with two nuclear physicists. And we started looking at this problem that was deemed to be unsolvable. How do you with a credit card-sized device capture enough information from the heart activity to detect a heart attack?”
But unsolvable problems never stopped Vajdic before, and they were not about to stop him now. HeartBeam’s portable medical-grade heart attack detection device is that solution.
The world-renowned Thoracic Oncologist, Dr. Gerold Bepler, joined I Don’t Care’s Kevin Stevenson for a conversation that was no less than inspirational. Dr. Bepler, President and CEO of the Karmanos Cancer Institute, has a mission; to eradicate cancer. It’s more than a dream for Dr. Bepler; he believes it will be a reality one day.
Dr. Bepler arrived from Germany to the United States in 1983. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, the starting point for his journey into lung cancer research. This career path took Dr. Bepler through many stops along the way, and in 2010 he joined the Karmanos Cancer Institute.
The mission to eradicate cancer got a boost in 1971 with the National Cancer Act, and Dr. Bepler said there’s tremendous progress towards this goal since that point. “People now diagnosed with cancer have hope,” Dr. Bepler said. “And many of them get cured of the disease and have a good quality of life. That all wouldn’t have been possible without the National Cancer Act.”
Much of the progress made to eradicating cancer at the Karmanos Cancer Institute owes a debt of gratitude to that 50-year-old law for providing necessary funding that makes such research possible.
“The Karmanos Cancer Institute became one of the NCI designated cancer centers,” Dr. Bepler said. “Very quickly, the National Cancer Institute realized just having one cancer institute in Bethesda, Maryland alone wouldn’t be able to achieve that high goal of eradicating cancer. This network established cancer centers throughout the United States.” What started as a couple of centers in the 1970s is now more than 50 comprehensive cancer centers.
The world now possesses many drugs and treatments to treat cancer through the dedication and research of institutes like the Karmanos Center. And some research led to treatments for other diseases. Dr. Bepler mentioned the Karmanos Center developed three of the first FDA-approved AIDS drugs.
U.S. insurance is privatized, which presents a host of challenges. Michelle Zettergren, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Brighton Health Plan Solutions and Nick Stefanizzi, CEO of Northwell Direct, spoke with Host Kevin Stevenson about opportunities to eliminate the standard middleman of health insurance.
Direct contracting is when employers partner with organizations that provide care for employees without an intermediary between the two. This saves money and ensures access to quality, tailored programs for a better workforce experience. “Judgements are made based on what the clinical needs of that patient are, what’s going to get them the best outcome, and not around how are we going to get the highest return on dollar to our shareholders,” Stefanizzi explained.
With direct contracting, businesses meet employers at a place consistent with the culture. This may involve providing onsite services such as flu shot or telemedicine campaigns. “The employers that are going to win the war for talent are those being seen as making investments in the health, safety, and resiliency of their workforce,” said Stefanizzi.
Brighton supports direct contracting by connecting with employers partnering with integrated delivery systems. They provide claim processing, benefit grids, and customer service to create transparency for the employer and members, which removes the health insurance middleman that often causes fragmented care.
Direct contracting programs are successful because they support and improve the patient-provider relationship, whereas in traditional settings, carriers don’t make data available to allow programs to be successful. Northwell has access to this data and makes it actionable. “The patient is hearing directly from their provider, and the level of adherence is going to be so much higher, the satisfaction so much higher, and it improves the outcome overall,” Zettergren stated.
On this episode of I Don’t Care, Host Kevin Stevenson talked with Dr. Dean Mitchell, a board-certified allergist specializing in food allergies. Mitchell has been in practice for 30 years and became well regarded around the country as one of the first board-certified allergists to embrace sublingual allergy immunotherapy, also called allergy drops.
Mitchell did his medical residency in Internal Medicine at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West) during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He also did a fellowship at the same institution in Allergy, Infectious Disease, and Immunology department. When he went into private practice, he really enjoyed working on allergies, as it meant he could work more with families.
“I probably would have been an old-time family practitioner because I love taking care of families,” Mitchell said. “And allergy was one of the few specialties - I like specialties, too and the science behind it - where I got to take care of children, adults, and that turned out to be a lot of the time families.”
Over the years, Dean Mitchell became known for his work with allergies and asthma. He even authored a book on the subject, “Allergy and Asthma Solution: The Ultimate Program for Reversing Your Symptoms One Drop At A Time.” The book details his personal discovery of sublingual allergy drops to treat environmental allergies.
But, he was on a larger quest. The holy grail of allergies is treating the food allergy epidemic, according to Mitchell, and this is what he wanted to do. He kept hearing stories of dangerous interactions with food, so he dug into the research and decided it was time to use sublingual allergy drops for food.
Dr. Dean Mitchell also hosts the podcast The Smartest Doctor in the Room.
Challenges in healthcare impact every player—payers, providers, and patients. What’s the modern-day answer to rising costs and better care? It’s a complex answer, and Steve Neeleman, Founder & Vice Chairman of HealthEquity, spoke with I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson on the topic.
After working for Southwest Airlines, Neeleman graduated from medical school and served as a trauma surgeon. At the same time, he started HealthEquity. “The question was why don’t we treat our customers, patients, the same way we did at Southwest. The notion became consumer-directed healthcare, opening up opportunities for them to make better choices.”
Personal health issues also sparked the ideas around managing health savings accounts (HSAs). He and his daughter faced these, with high out-of-pocket costs. Something that many insured people experience every day.
“HIPAA had a pilot program for HSAs and then extended it. It’s your money, and you don’t pay taxes on it. It functions like a 401K,” Neeleman explained.
Neeleman described the future of HSAs and healthcare spending, citing its need to connect with centers of excellence. He recalled that after passing his surgical boards, he wasn’t an expert at every surgery because medicine is complicated. “Centers of excellence have completed a procedure many times. If you marry that with consumer-directed healthcare, payers will direct patients there because it saves money, and the quality of care is better.”
Educating patients about HSAs and concepts of navigating their healthcare is part of the equation. Neeleman also speaks to doctors about them. “Doctors are trying to embrace consumerism. They didn’t use to have to be attractive to get patients.”
On this episode of I Don’t Care, Host Kevin Stevenson talked with Dr. Moira Scheike, Founder of Cubismi and a board-certified radiologist specializing in cancer imaging. She invented 5D medical imaging technology. Cubismi is an interactive digital diagnostics pioneer who personalizes actionable visualizations and precision insights to transform and empower each professional interaction and patient journey. The duo talked about the cause and effect of the decline in the radiology job market, and how it can be reversed, and 5D imaging technology.
When it comes to imaging, the practice of radiology relies on outdated technology. When it comes to the digital transformation in radiology, 90 percent of the data is imaging. The industry also hasn’t benefitted from a digital transformation, which has left it open to high error rates and failures in disease detection. Schieke believes the field is poised for innovation and investment, both of which she argues is vital for rejuvenating the sector.
“We can think about it from two angles: what can we do about in the here and now, and immediately to address what are our major pains for the radiologist and healthcare systems dealing with huge problems around diagnostics,” Scheike said. “...in the long term, the big long term view, is we all know we have this vision for the future, a precision medicine future.”
The technological future Scheike refers to involves cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The challenges lie in stepping through and dealing with the current problems and then getting into the future. Another major problem is that the radiology job market is declining, with little investment being directed into the field over the past decade.
Cancer treatment has evolved dramatically in the last decade. With new and innovative ways to fight this disease, patients have options, but only a select few are NCI-designated. Discussing what NCI means and how it influences her organization’s care, Lauren Lawrence, Vice President at Karmanos Cancer Institute joined I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson.
Karmanos, based in Detroit, is one of only 51 programs that have the comprehensive designation in the U.S. Lawrence explained, “It actually came from the National Cancer Act of 1971 and is awarded based on rigorous research standards that have depth and breadth, including basic, translational, clinical, and population science.”
Lawrence, who has been with Karmanos since 2013, has a long history of healthcare leadership. In her current role, she has responsibility for strategic initiatives, budgets, program development, physician recruitment, improving market share and patient access.
"Having expert knowledge together in one place can extend survival rates and quality of life for patients.” -Lauren Lawrence
Because Karmanos has a multi-disciplinary approach to cancer, they have experts that come together as a team and use their collective knowledge to design a customized treatment plan. “This reduces time from diagnosis to treatment, which builds patient confidence and improves satisfaction, which helps them have a better outlook,” Lawrence said.
One of the key pillars of being an NCI program is clinical trials. “We have Phase 1 trials, which 10 years later become the standard of care. We have 400 clinical trials occurring with a given day and serve over 800 patients a year,” Lawrence shared.
Another aspect of their innovative approach is work with genetic testing. “We have a partnership with molecular experts, and most every patient has genomic makeup testing to better target their treatment,” Lawrence added.
The genetic testing industry is booming. Consumers want to trace their lineage, but there are more exciting applications since genes can point to health issues as well. Discussing the evolution of the field, I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Alex Mulyar, CEO of CRI Genetics.
“We started in the genealogy route, building up databases, and then began to get into health-oriented reports for weight loss and allergies. Now, we’re looking at more clinical applications like cardiology,” Mulyar explained.
The question became how to apply genetic information to a person’s health. Mulyar spoke about his own results around caffeine consumption. “I received the report, and my metabolism was low but my anxiety gene high, and the recommendation was to drink no more than two cups and never after 2:00 pm.”
The next step for the company was to look at using genetic testing in clinical settings. “We did a lot of internal R&D to figure out how to create a tool doctors could use. It became a blueprint of how people metabolize medications or react to certain things.”
The company is now taking learnings to apply them to cardiology. For example, those with naturally high cholesterol can often be fit and healthy. However, they wouldn’t know this is their genetic predisposition until after their first heart attack. “Doctors can do a simple DNA test and understand this, so they can prescribe statins to prevent heart attacks,” Mulyar said.
Further, cardiologists can also use it to understand medication. “If a patient metabolizes medication slowly, they may have dosages building up, or for those metabolize too fast, it could be the opposite,” Mulyar added.
On this episode of I Don’t Care, Host Kevin Stevenson talked with Dr. Dan Burnett, President, and CEO of Theranova, an experienced medical device developer with a track record of creating innovating and practical solutions to large markets with unmet needs. The duo dug into Theranova and spinning out companies after funding.
Acting as a medical device incubator or venture studio, Theranova builds medical devices, nurtures them, raises money for them, and once they get to the right stage, they bring on a management team and forge them into their own entity.
“Theranova is, essentially, an idea generator and a company generator,” Burnett said, “that averages a little over one a year in terms of companies we form and spin out. We’ve had 17 in the last 15 years.”
They focus on various healthcare areas, and it just depends on where they see a need. However, they have been honing in on mechatronics and advanced sensing technologies and using those to gather proprietary data streams, which they believe will revolutionize medicine.
Where they once let go of companies quickly, Theranova is holding onto companies longer and longer. Previously, a company would spin out with Series A financing, become its own company and leave Theranova.
“Increasingly, Theranova is investing in these companies, and we’re getting grants and angel capital that allow it to stay inside of Theranova longer,” Burnett said. “By the time it spins out, it is of greater value than the initial spinout stage.”
Listen to hear more about where Theranova sees itself in five to ten years.
Treatment of diseases like cancer and HIV is hitting a new frontier with cell-based therapy. This new therapy invigorates the medical world, but it’s not widely accessible yet. Discussing the breakthroughs in these treatments, I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson spoke with immunologist Dr. Chris Xu, CEO of ThermoGenesis, a medical device company that’s a pioneer in the field.
“Cell-based therapy came about 13 years ago, and we’ve been fostering the field around cord blood, with 90% of FDA approved cord blood stored in a nitrogen system we developed,” Dr. Xu explained.
That was the company’s beginning, but it has aspirations to do much more. That requires a shift in treatment perspective. “We’ve long used drugs to treat illnesses, but cancer is much more complex. The newly approved therapy takes a patient’s T-cells, which are part of the immune system. It reprograms them to recognize cancer and fight it. It’s the future of medicine,” Dr. Xu said.
"Using someone’s T-cells turns their body into the best defense mechanism against disease.” - Dr. Chris Xu
Thus far, Dr. Xu reported that patients with leukemia and lymphomas have a 93% response rate. He also noted that cancer treatment is just the beginning. Over 1200 trials targeting every type of cancer are ongoing.
HIV is another disease where cell gene therapy has promise. “We discovered that a small percentage of the population doesn’t carry the receptor for HIV, which is necessary for the virus to enter a cell. We can modify cells not to have it, making the patient HIV resistant.”
While the promise of new treatments is here, Dr. Xu noted there are two big impediments. One is cost, with treatments costing as much as $500,000. The other is that patients may no longer have T-cells due to radiation, chemo, or other issues. That’s why he recommends storing cord blood for future use.
At one point in his career, I Don’t Care Host Kevin Stevenson spent some time on the pharma side of things, in between working at hospitals.
Today he dives back into that world with Donovan Quill, President, and CEO at Optime Care, a nationally recognized pharmacy, distribution, and patient management organization that creates the trusted path to a fulfilled life for patients with rare and orphan disorders.
“What we try to do is create a holistic program for those patients where we combine all the services you would see in a pharmacy in a patient care model,” Quill said. “We try to create a one-stop-shop for patients to really get the care they need from a support standpoint, from affordability, and also to distribute their products to them in their home or site of care.”
“Our patient populations we treat here at Optime care range from 16 patients nationwide all the way up to a couple of thousand.” - Donovan Quill
Orphan disorders and drugs are a bit different from regular pharmaceuticals. Typically, an orphan drug is a treatment for a condition with less than 200,000 patients in the U.S., according to the FDA definition. But, what they do at Optime Care is treat disorders that are even more rare, or “Ultra orphan,” according to Quill.
“Our patient populations we treat here at Optime care range from 16 patients nationwide all the way up to a couple of thousand,” Quill said. “We really try to focus on the patients who need a little extra care.”
Most of the time, the patients they treat have a disorder they’ve never heard of and are treated with a product they can’t pronounce, Quill said jokingly.
Healthcare is a complex industry, and its processes often lag behind other sectors for a myriad of reasons, but its embrace of technology is rising. EHRs have been around for decades, but workflow management remained an untapped challenge. Not only did a solution need to create structure, adherence to HIPAA guidelines is also critical. I Don’t Care Host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Dr. Michael Docktor, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Co-Founder and CEO of Dock Health on this topic.
Docktor described himself as “techy” and was inspired by the world of apps and how an idea could become something deployable to the masses. He built his first app with engineers on potty training. “I learned about the process of design and user interfaces.”
With this experience in his background, Docktor soon began to ask big questions about tech in healthcare workflows or lack thereof. “I was thinking why aren’t we using these tools and became a mobile evangelist, bringing in new clinician facing tools, later becoming the clinical director of innovation.”
The focus on streamlining workflows securely became his vision. “EHRs are very clinically oriented, but the administrative and operational aspects of healthcare are ignored. If I order a therapy, there may be multiple downstream tasks to do this with different stakeholders with no structure or accountability,” Docktor said.
Dock Health is taking on this gap, tracking all the tasks from pacing an order until completion. It also helps organizations understand bottlenecks through data collection, which enables them to refine the process. “Workflow management didn’t exist in healthcare. Educating this world about how technology can transform drives efficiency and offers visibility,” Docktor added.
How is artificial intelligence changing the healthcare industry? Does using AI improve health outcomes and reduce costs? To discuss the use of this technology in healthcare, Carol McCall, Chief Health Analytics Officer for ClosedLoop.ai joined host Kevin Stevenson.
“Healthcare is finally becoming a big-data industry,” McCall said, pointing out that there is now so much data in healthcare it’s almost too big to know and becomes a burden. That’s where machine learning comes in. ClosedLoop.ai provides an intuitive end-to-end machine learning platform for healthcare organizations to predict health outcomes and target resources.
For example, McCall explains that health providers who are trying to prevent unplanned hospital admissions can use an AI platform to look at factors in their patient population to predict health outcomes. This allows providers to reach out to patients and help reduce the likelihood of hospitalization.
AI can be an essential part of the push toward value-based care. “If people want to succeed in value-based care they really have to have the ability to produce better outcomes with a much higher degree of precision. They have to be able to anticipate when something bad might happen because you can’t prevent what you can’t predict.” McCall said.
Stevenson and Carrol delve into various use case scenarios for AI platforms from the coordinated care of ACOs to assessing specific risks of patient populations and integrating data for more predictive power. “Data and analytics are really becoming the center of healthcare,” Mcaall said.
Technology and healthcare are a marriage made in heaven. As technological advancements evolve, so does the ability to treat patients in a new and innovative way. These tech and healthcare innovations are conquering the toughest of tasks when it comes to patient care.
On this episode of I Don’t Care, Host Kevin Stevenson talked with David Preiner, CEO of Medivolve, which seeks out disruptive technologies, ground-breaking innovations, and exclusive partnerships to help combat COVID-19 and generate remarkable risk-adjusted returns for investors. The duo talked about tech and healthcare, Preiner’s career in startups and entrepreneurship, which has spanned over a decade.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could take that same concept that’s been used to treat some of the most complex problems in healthcare … and bring that approach to every American and make it very accessible" - David Preiner
Preiner has bootstrapped three companies and has spent a significant amount of time in entrepreneurship. Wanting to find a little bit of life balance, he started to get curious about biology. This led him on a path to the Harvard Extension School, where he dove headfirst into the subject. He eventually landed at Medivolve when the CEO position opened up.
“Medivolve has a couple of really key assets that made me curious about a problem,” Preiner said. These two things were an issue with COVID-19 collection sites, as well as pharmacy acquisitions.
One of the things he learned in his studies is how to treat patients. As a tech at Harvard Extension School, he noticed how important it was for healthcare providers to have a baseline of care for patients. When taking diagnostic tests, then adjusting medication, and then reperforming diagnostics so that doctors could see if a patient improved.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could take that same concept that’s been used to treat some of the most complex problems in healthcare … and bring that approach to every American and make it very accessible,” Preiner said.
Listen to learn more about how Preiner wants to improve healthcare through tech and data.
On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson talked with Steve Loveless, President, and CEO, Regional Market Executive of St. Vincent Healthcare, about his career in healthcare, which began as a fellow working with Stevenson in Oklahoma. They also talked about leadership and taking risks.
“Those early activities, as they pulled me out of the fellowship and into the role of value enhancement, and the efforts to understand what brought value to healthcare" - Steve Loveless
In his first role as a fellow at Good Samaritan Hospital in Oklahoma, Loveless learned the importance of vision. He noted that the leadership at the time had a vision, and they were willing to take risks. This is a value that’s important to healthcare, according to Loveless.
These leadership examples early on in his career would have an impact on how he would lead.
“Those early activities, as they pulled me out of the fellowship and into the role of value enhancement, and the efforts to understand what brought value to healthcare,” Loveless said. “Then to break it down and to pursue action plans in each of those areas and drive value further was the groundwork for the activities that I’ve been driving in my organization.”
As he heads into the next phase of his career, one in which he’ll focus on the development of others, specifically leaders and future leaders, as an executive coach.
Technologent is a Global Provider of Edge-to-EdgeTM Information Technology Solutions and Services for Fortune 1000 companies. They help companies outpace the new digital economy by creating IT environments that are fast, flexible, efficient, transparent, and secure.
The duo talked about how the pandemic brought upon the need to cut costs and move to a digital environment more dire. The healthcare industry loses about $150 billion annually due to missed appointments because 88 percent of appointments are still made manually. With an RPA, errors could be reduced and will increase savings.
“It isn’t about replacing workers. It’s about making work more efficient,” Buckley said.
Listen to learn more about how RPA and AI Can improve healthcare systems.
On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson talks with Ted Quinn, the CEO and Co-founder of Activate Care, a digital health company helping everybody engaged in the healthcare system - clinicians, patients, families, and communities - act together to make health happen, wherever they are.
The duo dug into CIEs or a Community Information Exchange platform. During the pandemic around the country, many healthcare organizations struggled to communicate between parties. Many of these issues could be solved if important information about patients and care could be shared between stakeholders.
“A community information exchange is a platform that enables all those stakeholders in a community, like a town or a county, to come together and share its space,” Quinn said.
If these stakeholders can share this information, they can come together to drive the outcomes they want to see.
The pandemic highlighted some of the issues that these community organizations lacked. Some of these things include having different terminologies, priorities, incentive programs, and how they communicate. The goal moving forward is to have these organizations communicate with each other so care is improved for patients.
Rural hospitals took a major hit during the pandemic, with many closing or on the verge of it. These organizations are a lifeline for the community, and some are persevering and thriving. Sharing her hospital's story, Fairfield Memorial Hospital CEO Dr. Kathy Bunting joined I Don’t Care with Kevin Stevenson.
Dr. Bunting started by telling Stevenson about Fairfield. “We have a staff of around 300 with 90 credentialed physicians and providers. We have a strong team, and our employees are the heart of who we are.”
In January 2020, the hospital broke ground on a new $24 million expansion just months before the pandemic. The expansion, Dr. Bunting, explained, aligned with community needs. “We listened to what they felt was the most important, including orthopedic services, which will include a suite for operating and radiology.”
Dr. Bunting noted that the “silver lining of COVID” was their ability to adjust to new demands. “We were able to rearrange the design to add negative pressure rooms, more laundry services, and PPE storage.”
The hospital’s response to the pandemic was one of a united front. The hospital didn’t eliminate any jobs. Instead, they cross-trained certain individuals to take over areas that needed more attention. One example was to use coders to help with housekeeping services.
Dr. Bunting put together a COVID team that organized mobile testing and managed the surge of hospitalizations they experienced in the fall. Now, they are one of nine hospitals in Illinois that has no restrictions on vaccine supply and have vaccinated thousands of Illinois residents.
There’s no denying the importance of technology in healthcare; in fact, it became even more critical in the last year. With so many opportunities to improve care delivery, it’s about getting the right products to market. That’s the focus on Aaron Call, Founder of Jaunt. He joined I Don’t Care and host Kevin Stevenson to talk about this dynamic. Call is a long-time med-tech startup pioneer. Jaunt connects businesses with investors through data-backed insights and models.
“We work on early-stage companies and focusing on what can be improved for healthcare and then how to commercialize,” Call explained.
While telehealth is certainly the buzziest tech in the space, it’s not the only field Jaunt specializes in, but Call and his team worked with telemed platforms differentiate.
“Years ago, we saw that most companies were just SaaS products, not much different than Zoom. We helped a client realize there was a need for much more robust tools for such a system,” Call noted.
Call also noted the U.S. had little adoption pre-pandemic. “It amazed me. There were so many economic benefits. It was the payers holding it up in many ways, and the pandemic adjusted this.”
Jaunt realized that what they were doing for companies with market analysis and commercialization strategies was what investors were seeking in due diligence. “We’re serving up information from a third party that startups can use to go to investors, and the investors know us as a trusted source.”
Call said that the pandemic didn’t dry up investment, as they first expected. What it did do is change approaches to commercialization, sales models, and predictive market analytics.
He also shared what’s exciting him in the space right now. “Personalized health with data and tech behind it is exciting. Digital health that can help change behaviors and improve life is also big right now.”
Telehealth grew tremendously in the last year, but not all patients have access, especially those in underserved populations. How is the country dealing with the gap? I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson welcomed Richard and Nathan Walsh, Co-Founders of Continuud, a patient access program using telehealth platforms. These serial entrepreneurs began building businesses in the tech space. They also had a passion for community service, leading to the creation of Continuud.
Richard explained what makes their platform different. “We work with nonprofits and federally qualified organizations to break down barriers to access. The focus now is on chronic illness management, specifically HIV.”
Continuud is more than software. They provide tablets, as well, because access to video-ready phones or other devices isn’t a reality. Nathan added, “It’s surprising how many Americans don’t have this; it’s one in five.”
They designed their platform to support health experts. “Our hardware can be the vehicle and catalyst for organizations to administer telehealth how they want,” Nathan commented.
Richard and Nathan shared research and studies that support telehealth's adoption and its ability to engage and be more in control of their own health.
How healthcare groups use the devices goes beyond the virtual visit. The devices can include apps to get emergency services, resources, or even pill reminders to improve medication nonadherence.
“We can push out new applications to the patient level. The goal is to merge patient experience with the clinical experience. The device can include life skills classes, educational opportunities, and job search,” Richard said.
The company’s vision is to empower clinicians to deliver holistic treatment. The more engaging the technology, the better the outcomes. Nathan explained, “With the resources and gamification, the technology can make the patient a better and more sustainable person.”
Technology has become the true innovator in healthcare, and with great technical and medical minds, the next generation of medical devices is here. Talking about their company’s innovations, Rob Kaul, CEO, and Dr. Sonny Kohli, Chief Medical Officer, of Cloud DX, joined I Don’t Care.
Kaul started the company over a decade ago with a focus on technology that was a new way to measure blood measure. Kaul and Dr. Kohli became acquainted over their shared vision. They ended up pursuing the XPRIZE for remote diagnostics and monitoring.
Dr. Kohli said, “The challenge was to create smartphone-based technology that could diagnose conditions and monitor vital signs in the cloud, which you could then apply analytics.”
They ended up winning with VITALITI, a wearable piece that can measure almost every vital sign. It’s currently in trials for FDA approval.
VITALTI, beyond the wearable, has a base station that can measure samples of fluid and diagnose and software that uses AI. “It can ask about symptoms, and we were looking at ways to diagnose pneumonia,” Kaul said.
That led them to a company in Boston that created technology to diagnose respiratory conditions based on coughing, which they licensed.
With the XPRIZE funding, the company began testing the cough technology to diagnose Tuberculosis, specifically in Mozambique, where it’s an epidemic. “It’s a major issue in the country, and detecting is very expensive, so this is a noninvasive way that can be a great screening tool,” Dr. Kohli explained.
The guests then went back to the blood pressure device, which is the Pulsewave. “It measures blood pressure differently,” Kaul noted. It has greater accuracy and delivers more data to identify arrhythmia or even if patients aren’t taking their medication.
“It’s part of the Connected Health Platform and is FDA cleared and commercially available, helping those with COPD and congestive heart failure,” Kaul said.
It’s the next horizon of remote patient monitoring and moving toward data-driven healthcare, which could improve patient outcomes.
Technology has become the true innovator in healthcare, and with great technical and medical minds, the next generation of medical devices is here. Talking about their company’s innovations, Rob Kaul, CEO, and Dr. Sonny Kohli, Chief Medical Officer, of Cloud DX, joined I Don’t Care.
Challenges and barriers in healthcare have been persistent for some time. Many would argue that what got left behind was compassion. However, new perspectives, technology, and collaboration are changing things. To discuss these topics, host Kevin Stevenson welcomed Dr. Summer Knight, author of Humanizing Healthcare and Managing Partner of Deloitte’s Life Sciences and Health Care practice.
Dr. Knight has an impressive and diverse background. She began her career as a paramedic then became a physician. “I was practicing medicine, solving issues, and spending more time interacting with the state government,” she said.
Those interactions led her to become the Chief Medical Officer for the State of Florida. She then launched digital healthcare companies, realizing the importance of technology in the future of care. She also worked with Signa and Aetna.
Her goal now is to transform healthcare in a more humanized approach. “Patients are at the top of the pyramid, although we’re not really calling them this anymore. We call them clients because it elevates the respect,” Knight added.
Humanization is the way to solve big problems in a meaningful way. Her life and perspective changed when her son was diagnosed with cancer.
Through the experience, she built a strong support system and created a digital platform to share information from clinicians to family and friends. “The system did help break one barrier with physicians from different health systems talking to one another.”
That led her to write Humanizing Healthcare. In the book, she describes the trends changing healthcare: consumerism, technology, and regulatory. It focuses on cultural changes, removing barriers, and the delivery of care.
Knight and Stevenson also discussed the disruption of healthcare. While devastating, Knight does say there will be positive outcomes in the long run. “It’s forced adoption to virtual, and it’s been an accelerant for technology. It’s also forced interesting partnerships across silos and competitors.”
Low-performing hospitals often falter, but some pull through and grow stronger with the right vision. I Don’t Care brings you the story of The University of Kansan Health System and its transformation with executives Bob Page and Tammy Peterman. They chronicled their journey in the book Proud But Never Satisfied. Host Kevin Stevenson spoke with them about how it started and how it’s going.
Page began the conversation with where the system was in the mid-1990s. “We had the worst patient satisfaction. Turnover was one-third, and we had no money.”
At the time, it was a state-run organization, and every dollar went back to the university. Consultants came in to assess and left them with the advice to sell or close. There was a third option: to become a public authority, which they did, starting with seed money and a vision.
They also began looking at the data, which was challenging because they were data-poor. “We found that the biggest correlation to patient satisfaction was nursing, so we said nursing owns this,” Page said.
Peterman also shared that nurses were key to many other areas, especially physician engagement. In changing the culture, Page noted, “We didn’t star with the doctors. We started with the nurses, and what we were doing attracted physicians to get engaged.”
To solve turnover, they empowered employees in big and little ways. The first was making sure they had the resources when they didn’t have a materials department.
“We started a solutions line staffed by leaders. We told employees to make one call to get what you need, and if you don’t, call the solution line. We learned a lot about the problems and process,” Peterman explained.
The well-established culture and focus on patient satisfaction, and employee engagement have created an impressive health system that’s now at the top of the field. It also helped when COVID hit.
“We work as a team. Great things can happen because of a team. We had telehealth ready in two weeks and other improvements. It was the expertise of all the people at the table,” Peterman added.
For an organization to find long-term success, it requires a commitment from all parties. Employers have to commit to employees and vice-versa. But how can organizations get it right in a world of overworked and stressed-out staff members?
Joining I Don’t Care to talk about this is employee wellness and engagement guru Lorna Borenstein, CEO and founder of Grokker. She had the vision to start the employee wellbeing company after working for big tech companies like eBay and Yahoo and realizing the employee-employer dynamic needed to shift.
Borenstein explained the transformation. “The agreement used to be that a company would pay you well, and you wouldn’t bring your problems to work. Now, younger generations aren’t making money like their parents, and they were raised by people who gave them a voice. They have no blind loyalty and expect more.”
Grokker recently released its 2021 Working Americans’ State of Stress Report finding that 80% of workers are stressed out. Younger generations have the highest levels. This stress impacts their lives at work and home.
Borenstein said that for employees to be engaged requires a sense of purpose, belonging, and balance. Most companies do well on the first two, but the balance is harder. The pandemic, in some ways, had made balance more possible. “The good news is that companies woke up and realized their people are their business,” she said.
That awakening led to the Human Connection Movement, a philosophy that Borenstein writes about in her book, It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring. “Employees are saying you need to care about me.”
Borenstein also discussed examples of the changing paradigm with clients like CVS Health. She noted, “Now 85% of employers consider employee wellbeing to be part of their business strategy; so, it’s culture as strategy.”
Host Kevin Stevenson welcomed Clive Smith, founder and CEO of Thinklabs to talk about his company’s digital stethoscope.
Smith has an electrical engineering background and was researching medical devices. He learned the stethoscope still worked and sounded the way it did when invented in 1816. He spent years researching how to digitize the instrument and bring exceptional sound quality. The first product hit the market in the early 2000s and would find its place in the world of infectious disease outbreaks.
“We worked with units treating Ebola patients in 2014, allowing them to listen to patients while staying protected in their PPE,” Smith said.
So how exactly does the digital stethoscope work? Smith explained, “It’s a round puck that sits on the patient’s twist and can be connected to any type of headphone.”
The “puck” is small, fitting in a hand, but powerful. It would become a highly sought-after medical device during COVID-19, with new challenges. “There were new situations with COVID-19. There was drive-thru testing and a shortage of PPE. We were solving problems in real-time,” Smith said.
The company also learned through a study that the device could be bagged and not dilute the sound. “It can be bagged in many layers without diminishing the sound, so healthcare workers can use pass it around, removing bags to keep it clean.”
Smith noted they are continuing to improve their main product but could innovate on other devices in the future. He also shared his perspective on the future of digital health. “Telemedicine is here to stay, and remote monitoring will evolve to support this. COVID-19 was an accelerant to things already there, but now we see widespread adoption.”
For a completely unique take, host Kevin Stevenson welcomed Jessie Naor, COO of GrandView Aviation. GrandView Aviation is a Part 135 certified aircraft operator. They transport organs for transplant and offer private charters.
Naor described the company’s origins. “We’ve been in the organ transplant transportation business for 12 years, starting with one helicopter. We now have 10 airplanes and serve multiple locations across the U.S.”
Hospitals mostly use the flights for organs with the shortest cold-time, including hearts, livers, and lungs. A typical procurement involves two pilots and two healthcare workers. They start at the home hospital, fly to the donor, retrieve the organ post-surgery, and return to their base.
Naor then discussed the importance of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Part 135. Part 135 is different from Part 125, used by commercial airlines. It corresponds with private commercial, non-scheduled aircraft operations, requiring specific safety and operational protocols. Until the last few years, many organ transplant operations didn’t fly under Part 135.
“They were just flying private with few regulations. Now, it’s changed because of medivac accidents. There’s always risk, and you can never mitigate it 100 percent, but you should always ask operators how they’re doing it,” Naor shared.
Naor and GrandView have a mission to educate the healthcare industry and beyond about best practices and safety. Naor is currently on an FAA committee making suggestions to handle crew safety and organ transplant.
When asked what’s next for organ transplant, Naor said, “We don’t yet have drones, but people in the industry are trying to figure it out. I could see as being helpful within large cities.”
Host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Mike Joyce, Client Strategist and Engagement Partner, at Theorem. Theorem is an innovation and engineering firm that solves complex challenges for the world’s most admired organizations. The organization built a mHealth Platform for AT&T to share clinical data in a compliant and secure manner.
Verifying vaccinations is both a complex and simple problem. “Transmitting verifiable information through secure tunnels and layers of trust isn’t new. Implementing is the real problem,” Joyce said.
The challenge stems from multiple stakeholders and a fragmented healthcare system.
“With a digital certificate, the issue is we don’t know where it’s going to be used. Investment in a system designed to accommodate flexibility will be key,” Joyce added.
In breaking down the parties involved, there are the holders (consumers), the central authority (issuer), and the verifying party. The move to require vaccines for certain activities is likely coming. The verifiable platform will also need to be global.
The technology is already there. Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle are developing a digital solution to access COVID-19 vaccination records, but that’s just the first part. “Technology is great in developing the scaffold. Regulators need to take the next step for consistency in the process,” Joyce shared.
Privacy and security are another issue, but Joyce noted that the cryptographic protocols already exist for protecting sensitive data. The looming constraint is infrastructure. “someone has to write the software to integrate with healthcare records and appointment platforms. It will require more investment than a paper-based method. There’s a systemic issue in healthcare with sharing data,” he said.
Access to specialty medical care is difficult in such parts of the country. Urologists are even harder to find. He explained, “By 2025, we’ll have a shortage of 7000-9000 urologists. We’re only training about 300 a year and don’t have the supply to meet the demand because of fewer slots in residency programs. Telemedicine is a way to bridge that gap.”
Many might think urology wouldn’t work in a virtual care environment. Pazona disagrees. “There are very few times I need to touch the patient physically. A urologist’s greatest asset is their wisdom in an area of medicine where many lack proper education.”
Realizing that consumers are battling a broken system with confusion in referrals, insurance, and other barriers, Pazona started VirtuCare. No referral or insurance is required to have a telemedicine visit with a physician.
“The platform is consumer-based and has cost transparency. I take patients as far as telemed will go. If they need hands-on, I refer them to a urologist in their area,” Pazona said.
As for the future, Pazona believes that telemedicine should continue to be a solution beyond the pandemic. “There is a silver lining because it sparked innovation and forces people to take control of their healthcare decisions,” he added.
Pazona now practices in Nashville, but before that, he was in rural areas in Washington and Alabama, seeing many challenges. “These were lovely places, but it was difficult to practice cutting-edge medicine in a community that struggles to attract growth and new industries because that has a downstream effect on hospitals,” he said.
Access to specialty medical care is difficult in such parts of the country. Urologists are even harder to find. He explained, “By 2025, we’ll have a shortage of 7000-9000 urologists. We’re only training about 300 a year and don’t have the supply to meet the demand because of fewer slots in residency programs. Telemedicine is a way to bridge that gap.”
Many might think urology wouldn’t work in a virtual care environment. Pazona disagrees. “There are very few times I need to touch the patient physically. A urologist’s greatest asset is their wisdom in an area of medicine where many lack proper education.”
Realizing that consumers are battling a broken system with confusion in referrals, insurance, and other barriers, Pazona started VirtuCare. No referral or insurance is required to have a telemedicine visit with a physician.
“The platform is consumer-based and has cost transparency. I take patients as far as telemed will go. If they need hands-on, I refer them to a urologist in their area,” Pazona said.
As for the future, Pazona believes that telemedicine should continue to be a solution beyond the pandemic. “There is a silver lining because it sparked innovation and forces people to take control of their healthcare decisions,” he added.
Nurses are an integral part of the healthcare ecosystem. They have been critical to the frontline response to the pandemic, but how is the profession faring? Host Kevin Stevenson invited Kathleen O’Grady Winston, Ph.D., RN, College of Nursing Dean at the University of Phoenix, to the show to discuss what’s happening in nursing, including a new survey her college published.
The first topic Stevenson addressed was the concern of an exodus from the profession because of the stress of COVID-19. Winston shared, “There is good news on this, as 99% of respondents to our study said they are still very satisfied with the profession.”
Winston does, however, have concerns with the pipeline of qualified, eligible candidates. “We have a capacity and pipeline issues exaggerated by the pandemic but existed before,” she said.
While interest in the profession is high, Winston noted that the desire to be a nurse and what’s needed academically and personally are different things.
The curriculum for nursing is also always evolving, and COVID-19 has made its impact. “It’s a dynamic discipline, and we’ve been updating activities and experiences that prepare for the management of infectious diseases,” Winston noted.
Stevenson and Winston then went in-depth on the survey results, picking on two data points that are important to address—nurses not being heard or appreciated. How do these sentiments impact the industry?
“What they are asking for is to be at the table when decisions are made. They have a unique voice, and it's one of advocacy for the patient. For nurses to be appreciated, transparency, sharing information, and closing the loop by communicating back to the nurses on the insight they provided,” Winston said.
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The digital consumer experience applies to much more than retail. It’s also integral for healthcare patients. As healthcare accelerated its digital channels in the pandemic, what does this mean for the consumer experience? To answer those questions, Astound Commerce, a global digital commerce platform, created the report, Transforming the Global Healthcare Consumer Journey: Now and Beyond Covid-19. Talking about what they learned from this is Tina Wilson, VP of Global Health and Life Sciences.
The survey included 1,000 healthcare consumers all over the world. It asked them about their patient experiences. It looked at access to healthcare and the reception of telehealth. The insights were powerful. Tina said, “What surprised me the most was the significant challenge for women’s health. Only 21% of women felt very confident that they could afford an emergency healthcare situation.”
Along with the inequality of women, the study showed many disparities, supporting the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH) impact on access. “Only 40% of all respondents said they had adequate access to care,” Wilson added.
Different regions of the world also had different perspectives. “Those in South America were very responsive and had positive responses to healthcare. The EU less because of uncertainty around Brexit,” Wilson explained.
So how can providers better engage with patients to ensure better experiences and outcomes? Tina commented, “Patients are consumers. It’s relatively the same experience journey with other brands. And patients are adopting digital channels.”
The study revealed that 41% of respondents had used telehealth, and appointment scheduling online was up 39%. These data points further substantiate the consumerism of healthcare.
Wilson also spoke about the trends emerging in 2021, and it comes down to one word—data. “We’ll see trends toward accurate data, and companies need to process and act on it fast,” she noted.
While there have been many downsides to the unexpected changes we all needed to make in 2020, there were also improvements made to how we work and live. The upsurge in telemedicine is an example of such progress made in the face of adversity. On the latest episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Dr. Adam Saltman, Chief Medical Officer, Eko about the integration of telemedicine with digital technology and AI.
Telemedicine can allow for more convenient access to care and can help keep patients and health care providers safe. That being said, there are some crucial missing components that can limit the quality of patient care. For example, physicians cannot listen to their patients’ bodies on their own via video conference. Really listening to the patient's heart, lungs, and bowel sounds through a stethoscope can typically only happen face to face. Eko closes this divide between physicians and patients with their digital stethoscopes, which transmit high fidelity sounds to remote physicians in real time as if they were at the bedside. In addition, Eko AI analysis algorithms help physicians screen for AFib and heart murmurs.
According to Dr. Saltman, if they have the right technology available to them, physicians can overcome the distance based challenges of telemedicine. “When I listened to physicians say things like, ‘Well, I don't think a Zoom call is a really good physical exam,’ they're right. It's not a good physical exam,” Dr. Saltman said. However, he feels that if he can give them an EKG and therefore can give them heart sounds, lung sounds, bowel sounds, and whatever else they want to listen to, they can make telemedicine work. “Combined with that video, now they feel a lot more comfortable. They're getting a real medical evaluation. And the patients too, they feel that, wow my doctor actually listened to me even though I'm far away,” Dr. Saltman explained.
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While there have been many downsides to the unexpected changes we all needed to make in 2020, there were also improvements made to how we work and live. The upsurge in telemedicine is an example of such progress made in the face of adversity. On the latest episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson spoke with Dr. Adam Saltman, Chief Medical Officer, Eko about the integration of telemedicine with digital technology and AI.
Telemedicine can allow for more convenient access to care and can help keep patients and health care providers safe. That being said, there are some crucial missing components that can limit the quality of patient care. For example, physicians cannot listen to their patients’ bodies on their own via video conference. Really listening to the patient's heart, lungs, and bowel sounds through a stethoscope can typically only happen face to face. Eko closes this divide between physicians and patients with their digital stethoscopes, which transmit high fidelity sounds to remote physicians in real time as if they were at the bedside. In addition, Eko AI analysis algorithms help physicians screen for AFib and heart murmurs.
According to Dr. Saltman, if they have the right technology available to them, physicians can overcome the distance based challenges of telemedicine. “When I listened to physicians say things like, ‘Well, I don't think a Zoom call is a really good physical exam,’ they're right. It's not a good physical exam,” Dr. Saltman said. However, he feels that if he can give them an EKG and therefore can give them heart sounds, lung sounds, bowel sounds, and whatever else they want to listen to, they can make telemedicine work. “Combined with that video, now they feel a lot more comfortable. They're getting a real medical evaluation. And the patients too, they feel that, wow my doctor actually listened to me even though I'm far away,” Dr. Saltman explained.
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While 2020 was a year of change and challenges for many, nurses, in particular, have risen to the occasion and shown up to provide support in a time when they are needed most. Their bravery, hard work and compassion during the coronavirus pandemic is something none of us should ever take for granted.
Kevin Stevenson, host, I Don't Care had the chance to speak to Dr. Karen Wade, Author, Career Clarity for Nurses about some of the issues hospital administrators and nurses are dealing with during the pandemic.
It’s understandable that many nurses are feeling burnout after months of working on the front lines. Dr. Ward wrote a book designed to help nurses stay on the job in the face of COVID-19 challenges and other pressing issues related to healthcare system flaws.
She explained that, even before the pandemic, there was a high rate of nurses considering leaving their jobs, and that number has increased from around 40% to 60% since the pandemic hit.
“I think that there's going to be kind of a reckoning at the end of this. I think a lot of nurses, just out of a sense of duty and devotion, are hanging in there as long as they can. But, at the end, I think they're going to take a breath, and they're dealing with a certain amount of trauma that they are exposed to every day, and they're going to need to take care of themselves,” Dr. Ward said.
She explained that nurses simply don’t have time to take care of themselves in the way they need to right now, and there may come a time when the dust settles that they begin to re-evaluate their future.
“Do I still want to do this? How do I take care of myself? It's going to be like a post-trauma, post-crisis experience, and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But we're trying to put programs in place now to help to help people have options to be able to deal with those issues,” Dr. Ward noted.
To continue this important conversation on the challenges nurses and healthcare workers are facing during the pandemic, check out the latest episode of I Don’t Care.
While 2020 has been a year of change and challenges for many, nurses in particular have risen to the occasion and have shown up to provide support in a time when they are needed most. Their bravery, hard work, and compassion during the coronavirus pandemic is something none of us should ever take for granted. Kevin Stevenson, Host, I Don't Care had the chance to speak to Dr. Karen Wade, Author, Career Clarity for Nurses, about some of the issues hospital administrators and nurses are dealing with during the pandemic.
It’s understandable that many nurses are feeling burnout after months of working on the frontlines. Dr. Ward wrote a book designed to help nurses stay on the job when many want to quit due to COVID-19 and other pressing issues related to healthcare system flaws. She explained that even before the pandemic, there was a high rate of nurses considering leaving their jobs and that number has increased from around 40% to 60% since the pandemic hit. “I think that there's going to be kind of a reckoning at the end of this. I think a lot of nurses just out of a sense of duty and devotion are hanging in there as long as they can. But at the end, I think they're going to take a breath and they're dealing with a certain amount of trauma that they are exposed to every day and they're going to need to take care of themselves,” Dr. Ward said.
She explained that nurses simply don’t have time to take care of themselves in the way they need to right now and there may come a time when the dust settles that they begin to reevaluate their future. “Do I still want to do this? How do I take care of myself? It's going to be like a post trauma, post crisis experience and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But we're trying to put programs in place now to help to help people have options to be able to deal with those issues,” Dr. Ward noted.
To continue this important conversation on the challenges nurses and healthcare workers are facing during the pandemic, check out the latest episode of I Don’t Care.
Prior to March of 2020, Oliver Esman, Managing Partner, Strawn Arnold & Associates did the vast majority of his recruiting work face to face. Today, Esman reports that 95% of their recruiting work is done virtually. “I spend my life on Teams and Zoom and FaceTime and people are adapting to it. You know, I think before people were worried that they were missing something on a virtual interview, missing the personality, not getting all the information, really getting a true sense of the candidate. And that’s just people have gotten more comfortable with doing things virtually,” Esman said.
This week on I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson sat down with Rajesh Midha, Chief Strategy & Operating Officer of Bottle Rocket, to discuss how the company has personalized digital care through smart navigation that removes the pain points patients experience.
Midha detailed how the company started in 2008 on the day after Steve Careers announced the Apple app store. Since then, Bottle Rocket has worked with leading healthcare providers to improve their patient journey, efforts that culminated with the creation of the highest-paid patient app in the country with a 4.8 rating in the app store.
It’s the first video episode of “I Don’t Care” and we’re starting strong! Join Kevin as he talks with Jaret Reddick, the founder, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Bowling for Soup.
Jaret takes Kevin through his long battle with depression, including the struggle of just talking about it out in the open, and the effect it was having on him while he was on the road touring. “You never know what somebody is dealing with internally.” Jaret notes that, while he was initially afraid of what people would say when he revealed his internal struggles, the reaction he gets more than anything is gratitude for his willingness to speak on it.
Mental health is a topic that was trending well before the pandemic took its toll, but it is even more important that we have open conversations about mental health now. Pathways to Empower, which provides resources to help teach people the brain science of building resilience and fostering mental health is doing just that.
Kevin Stevenson, Host, I Don’t Care had the opportunity to speak with Donna Volpita, Founder & Education Director, Pathways to Empower to learn more about how we can all work towards mental wellness. One way to keep the conversation going on such a challenging topic is to embrace mental health literacy. “Literacy is just an understanding of a subject. So mental health literacy is just the ability to understand and talk about mental health. So just like, you know, literacy in terms of books is can you talk about reading? Can you have a discussion about the novel? And math is having discussions about math things, but mental health literacy, right now, there's such a stigma,” Volpita said.
She went on to explain that teaching people how to take care of their mental health is just as important as teaching them about physical health. That being said, Volpita acknowledges that these conversations are not easy to have. “But we don't talk about mental health and very few people feel comfortable talking about mental health. Now, we are seeing that this next generation is much more comfortable,” Volpita noted.
Her goal is to make mental health much more of a common discussion. “We would like to change the paradigm in mental health to be more about being proactive. How do we prevent mental health issues rather than being reactive and only be about treating mental health issues?” Volpita said.
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The world's largest trade association, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) represents over 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations spanning the United States and more than 30 other nations. A proactive voice of science and for science that will drive a “bio revolution”, BIO is committed to speaking up for the millions of families around the globe who depend upon their success, driving a revolution that aims to cure patients, protect our climate, and nourishes humanity by:
Uniting and empowering biotech innovators and their ecosystem to improve lives
Removing barriers to innovation
Championing broad access to biotech breakthroughs and scientific equality
Catalyzing resilient and sustainable bio-based economies
Dr. Jeremy Levin, Chairman & CEO of Ovid Therapeutics Inc., and BIO’s Executive Committee Board Chair, joins Kevin Stevenson, host of MarketScale’s I Don’t Care podcast, to discuss his company, which concentrates on discovering cures for rare diseases of the brain, why the primary focus of his career has been on finding medicines, and BIO’s role in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I joined BIO with the idea that new medicines are important to people—they’re important to you, important to me. I wanted us to put the track of the industry only on finding new medicines to cure diseases. When COVID hit, the biotech industry stepped forward,” stated Levin. “This is not one company—this is multiples companies. This is not one approach to vaccines—there are at least six different approaches. This is not simply companies making products—you’ve got to have a safe drug and an effective drug. And we have one arbiter for that, and I am proud to work with them every day of the week—that’s the FDA.”
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A best-selling author, a by-lined CIO Magazine columnist, and host of the highly-subscribed The Big Unlock podcast featuring healthcare and technology C-level executives, Paddy Padmanabhan is the CEO and Founder of Damo Consulting—a growth strategy and digital transformation advisory firm that works with healthcare enterprises and global technology companies. In response to the pandemic and changing consumer preferences, Padmanabhan, along with co-author Ed Marx, recently released his second book Healthcare Digital Transformation: How Consumerism, Technology, and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future, an essential handbook and guide for digital health and digital transformation leaders in healthcare.
And on this episode of MarketScale’s I Don’t Care podcast, host Kevin Stevenson sits down with Padmanabhan to discuss the sudden upscaling of virtual care capacity, the mainstreaming of telehealth, the mounting momentum of healthcare digital transformation, and the cybersecurity risks that are sure to accelerate concurrently.
This week on I Don’t Care with Kevin Stevenson, he sits down with Michelle Stoddard and Dr. Abe DeAnda to discuss how the American Heart Association goes past just cardiac care and how the organization aims to work closely within their local communities.
It’s no secret that children would prefer to skip necessary trips to the doctors for checkups, vaccinations, and emergency appointments when they aren’t feeling their best. Which is why Dr. Corey Fish, Chief Medical Officer of pediatric clinic Brave Care advocates for the significance of clinic design and utilizing technology to create an experience that works for kids and removes the anxiety and fear of going to a doctor’s appointment. He believes that with the right technology and design in medical facilities, you can put patients at ease and provide them with the best possible level of care.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans. Despite increased awareness, many Americans don’t know this staggering fact. At The American Heart Association (AHA), the goal is to change the public understanding of heart disease and stroke, and fortify Americans with the knowledge to prevent and treat it. At the heart (pun intended) of this episode of “I Don’t Care,” host Kevin Stevenson explores the mission, history, and accomplishments of AHA with guest Michelle Stoddard, regional vice president for the American Heart Association in Texas.
At AHA, the organization is driven by a powerful mission: “Be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.” As the oldest and largest voluntary association dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, the AHA has been instrumental in funding discoveries in heart disease research. Stoddard explains, anyone who has benefited from a heart valve, cholesterol-lowering drugs, CPR, or open-heart surgery, has been directly affected by AHA’s research.
Without question, AHA’s research has saved lives, which makes its fundraising efforts all the more important. Stoddard expounds upon AHA programs that have helped educate and raise money to perpetuate their mission such as “Get with the Guidelines,” “Go Red for Women,” “Healthy for Life,” and the upcoming “Heart Walk.” This annual community event will take place in Waco, TX on October 3. The walk may look different this year, Stoddard explains, but she encourages everyone to “sign up, lace up,” and get out and walk for their health, be it virtually or safely within the community.
Visit heart.org for more resources on how to fight heart disease and stroke.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans. Despite increased awareness, many Americans don’t know this staggering fact. At The American Heart Association (AHA), the goal is to change the public understanding of heart disease and stroke, and fortify Americans with the knowledge to prevent and treat it. At the heart (pun intended) of this episode of “I Don’t Care,” host Kevin Stevenson explores the mission, history, and accomplishments of AHA with guest Michelle Stoddard, regional vice president for the American Heart Association in Texas.
At AHA, the organization is driven by a powerful mission: “Be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.” As the oldest and largest voluntary association dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, the AHA has been instrumental in funding discoveries in heart disease research. Stoddard explains, anyone who has benefited from a heart valve, cholesterol-lowering drugs, CPR, or open-heart surgery, has been directly affected by AHA’s research.
Without question, AHA’s research has saved lives, which makes its fundraising efforts all the more important. Stoddard expounds upon AHA programs that have helped educate and raise money to perpetuate their mission such as “Get with the Guidelines,” “Go Red for Women,” “Healthy for Life,” and the upcoming “Heart Walk.” This annual community event will take place in Waco, TX on October 3. The walk may look different this year, Stoddard explains, but she encourages everyone to “sign up, lace up,” and get out and walk for their health, be it virtually or safely within the community.
Visit heart.org for more resources on how to fight heart disease and stroke.
On this episode of I Don’t Care with Kevin Stevenson, Stevenson goes big picture, sourcing insights from his vast network of healthcare professionals to determine the industry’s biggest concerns related to COVID-19 and the world’s slow move toward a new normal in the wake of the pandemic.
Stevenson condensed those thoughts into five central concerns of healthcare workers:
Their Careers
Many hospitals and other healthcare operations have furloughed or laid off staff, particularly due to lost revenue tied to elective procedures and more, and a continuation of the pandemic could lead to more cuts.
The Overall Economy
Healthcare and industry workers are by no means immune to the overall economic downturn caused by the pandemic, which has led to a decrease in insured patients, etc.
Safety in the Workplace
Like many, healthcare workers are generally concerned about contracting COVID-19 in the workplace, though hospitals and other facilities are perhaps the safest place to be due to precautions in place.
A Lack of Personal Protective Equipment
PPE, such as masks, gowns, gloves, face shields and more, are still hard to acquire for many healthcare operations, particularly smaller and more rural ones.
The Potential for a Vaccine Not Being Created
For many, a vaccine is the only true “end” in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic. While some are concerned that a vaccine may not be possible, Stevenson said he believes one will be created by the massive amount of effort being put forth to expedite one’s creation.
To hear all of Stevenson’s thoughts on these current concerns and the overall trends in healthcare at the moment, listen to the entire episode.
On this episode of I Don't Care, host Kevin Stevenson discusses how high school sports have been and will be affected by COVID with Coach Lonnie Judd, Head Football Coach and Assistant Athletic Director at Moody High School in Moody, TX. Coach Judd, who is entering his first year as head coach at Moody, talks about how getting to know a new team and implementing a new offense and defense has been drastically different due to COVID. He also shares the expected changes in practice and games for the athletes, coaches and fans. You'll be highly motivated as well by Coach Judd's high energy! Only on 'I Don't Care'!
Diane Goebel, Owner and Managing Partner of Hiring Spectrum, a full service human resources and recruitment firm based in Plano, TX, joins Kevin to offer tips for job seekers in today's COVID environment. Diane talks interviewing, online presence and how to look good on a Zoom call. She provides insight on developing relationships with recruiters as well.
Join Kevin and his guest Dan Armstrong, DC, chiropractor and instructor at Parker University, one of America's largest chiropractic colleges located in Dallas.
Dr. Armstrong talks about chiropractic care in the COVID world. We also discuss how Parker used the devastating tornado that hit Dallas last October to refine its crisis plans, giving them a leg up on ensuring the continuation of education for their students.
"I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson" discusses COVID-19 and the court system with the Honorable Judge Jackie G. Miller, Jr., Justice of the Peace for Precinct Two in Ellis County, TX. Judge Miller, who has been on the bench for over 23 years, offers his insights on how COVID-19 has affected his day-to-day work as judge, magistrate and county coroner. He shares with Kevin how he approaches inquests regarding the deceased very differently as well as the tremendous backlog of cases that will take months to clear. They also discuss statistical differences between the more rural counties in Texas versus major metropolitan counties like Dallas and Tarrant. There's even a discussion about personal freedoms here on "I Don't Care".
Today on 'I Don't Care', Kevin gives an update on how COVID-19 has affected Central Texas. He talks about how his hospital has dealt with the pandemic, what the County has done and how the community has embraced and supported healthcare workers. Kevin offers a heartfelt message of hope and talks about how our lives have been positively changed in surprising ways.
Join Kevin as he discusses the impact of COVID-19 on higher education with Dr. David Toledo, Director of Worship Studies and Associate Professor of Music at California Baptist University. Dr. Toledo discusses how Cal Baptist has implemented online learning through an existing platform and the challenges of teaching vocalists, instrumentalists and conducting students online.
Dr. Toledo also talked a great deal about how student engagement and involvement has changed, with professors taking on broader roles as counselor and advocate. He also discusses how the Christian foundation of Cal Baptist has undergirded all of their decisions and actions, making their COVID-19 response a true mission.
Join Kevin and his guest, Allye Crosby, as they discuss how COVID-19 has affected the labor and delivery process. We'll talk about moms and babies and how their special time has drastically changed during the pandemic. Allye also fills us in on how her hospital is dealing with COVID-19 and about life in New Orleans during this unique time.
Kevin is joined by Reverend Stephen T. Carrell, Pastor of Worship and Music at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, who shares how his church and other churches have been impacted and have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephen speaks to new avenues of worship, working with their mission partners to serve the underserved in Dallas and his hope of revival across the world.
Join Kevin as he talks with his wife Michelle, a flight attendant for a major airline. They discuss enhanced cleaning protocols, crew safety and changes in air travel in light of COVID-19.
This week on I Don’t Care, Kevin Stevenson takes a look at the impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on long term care facilities. Many patients in these facilities are the most susceptible to the most severe effects of the virus as they are older or have weakened immune systems.
The healthcare professionals running these facilities have had to quickly adapt to this threat to keep their community safe which means restricting family access, restricting social activities, and additional monitoring of at risk patients. Today’s guest, Cody Savell, gives his personal perspective of how this has affected his immediate family and the changes he has seen.
The virus has not only affected the hospital and care facilities but has brought most businesses to a grinding halt. As a small business owner, Cody shares how he is navigating the new COVID-19 world and trying to protect his business as well as his employees.
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The global COVID-19 pandemic has initiated ripple effects across every global industry, and education is no exception.
Universities and public school districts around the U.S. are being proactive in addressing the impact of this viral outbreak, working to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on students, faculty and surrounding communities.
On this episode of I Don’t Care with Kevin Stevenson, Stevenson was joined by Keller ISD attorney Amanda Bigbee, who detailed how her district is handling everything from online learning, meal provision for students who rely on it and more.
To begin, Keller ISD shuttered for two weeks at the recommendation of Tarrant County health officials, leveraging the benefit of already being effectively closed for spring break to attempt to mitigate the potential spread of the virus.
In particular, Bigbee said communication is critical for public school systems like Keller ISD.
“We did not panic. … We started the emergency management plan, which we have in place,” Bigbee said. “We began the communication process to our families so they knew they wouldn’t be returning on Monday and started trying to move the wheels to figure out how we educate 36,000 kids with varying levels of needs online. It's been nonstop since the morning of Friday, March 13.”
On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Kevin Stevenson was joined by Christian Torres for a discussion about the ins and outs of revenue cycle management, or medical billing, in the healthcare industry.
Torres has more than two decades of experience helping healthcare professionals manage this complex aspect of the business.
“We help doctor’s offices and other healthcare providers, whether they’re therapy, counselors, you name it, with their billing,” Torres said. “We help them get paid by the insurance, and, really, we help them navigate the ever-changing of insurance claim filing.”
Today, coding has also become critically important – essentially, with the advent and adoption of electronic healthcare management systems, there has arisen a necessity to correctly provide diagnosis codes in these systems to ensure the process of making claims and getting paid runs as smoothly as possible.
Barriers have risen in the face of this process as a result of much more detailed and specific diagnosis codes – as Torres put it, instead of a few codes for types of broken legs, there could now be a code for breaking a specific leg, in a specific place, because of a fall off of a skateboard.
Stevenson and Torres also dove into more issues surrounding complications and challenges associated with electronic health record systems, the pressures put on medical staff assigned with managing these processes, and more.
Host Kevin Stevenson cares; he just doesn’t do care. On this episode of I Don't Care, Stevenson spoke with someone who does do care: Colea Owens, Professional Development Nursing Educator. Owens’ passion is quality healthcare, and she knows the best way for nurses to provide the best care for patients is first to take care of their own well-being. Owens advocates for nursing self-care and diversity in the healthcare industry.
“Empathy is why nurses are so trusted,” Owens said. “But being in such an empathetic profession, sometimes nurses care so much for their patients, they forget to care for themselves.”
Owens pointed out the need for teaching nurses coping skills to deal with some of the more high-stress situations that come with patient care.
Owens saw opportunities to set nurses on a path for success from the first year in nursing school. Residency programs are one way to help nurses understand the real-life challenges they’ll face on the job and determine what area of nursing they’ll pursue.
“I think the hospitals, the schools, and the industry as a whole, need to do a better job at the outset of setting the expectation of the reality of what nurses will face in the real world,” said Owens. "Nurses learn everything they need to know from a textbook standpoint in school, but once they get out in the field, how do they deal with patient experience and hospitality? I don’t believe institutions provide enough emphasis on these issues in nursing school.”
Owens said nurses should be better advocates for themselves at their healthcare facilities; show up to meetings where their opinions could make a difference. If there is a weekly clinician meeting taking place and a nurse advocate is not there to share what is working and what is not, the problem will inevitably continue.
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On this episode of I Don't Care, host Kevin Stevenson is joined by Eastland Memorial Hospital’s Ron Hunt, who brings to the table a lengthy career of experience in rehab and post-acute care, to discuss the ins and outs of rural healthcare.
Rural facilities can differ from those in larger metropolitan areas in a variety of ways, including the very nature of their staffs of medical professionals – rural facilities sometimes have to rely on episodic doctors willing to travel and work on location.
“We’re pretty fortunate here (at Eastland),” Hunt said. “We’ve got, I believe, five physicians that are still in town. … We’ve got a general surgeon, which you don’t see happen very much, anymore.”
Still, Hunt and Eastland also contract with an outside company through a hospitalist program, which allows for outside physicians to come into the hospital and stay with patients from the time they are admitted until discharge. Eastland’s ER operates in a similar manner.
Hunt and Stevenson also discussed the challenges that Eastland and rural facilities face, including aging populations, challenges in treating patients who are unemployed, and more
“There are a number of things that are going on in rural America that make it difficult for us to maintain the hospital,” Hunt said. “We have an older population. … The other thing that we see out here is we see a lot of people who are either unemployed or underemployed.”
On this episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson, we have a conversation with Mark Olney, Managing Director of Health and Public Service at Accenture.
Mark discusses consumer expectations for healthcare and how they differ by generation. How are Millennials and Gen Z approaching healthcare differently than their parents? Can healthcare companies adjust their messaging to reach younger generations?
We ask these questions and more on this episode of I Don't Care!
For more I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson, make sure you subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Stay up to date with all of the latest news and trends in the healthcare industry!
In the second part of his interview with Randy Grimes on I Don't Care, Kevin Stevenson and the former NFL offensive lineman discuss the road to recovery, his efforts to help other athletes, and the widespread nature of the problem of opioids in sports.
For more I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson, make sure you subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Stay up to date with all of the latest news and trends in the healthcare industry!
Randy Grimes joins this episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson for the first of a two-part interview discussing his career in the NFL, addiction to opioids, and eventual recovery.
As the opioid epidemic continues to rage in the United States, Randy shares his personal story of how he found himself in the throws of addiction and what it took to get clean.
For more information Randy's efforts to help other athletes as they fight the same battle he did, visit www.proathletesinrecovery.info.
Listen to I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
The latest episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson tackled the topic of building and creating healing environments in healthcare. Special guest Dr. Susan Mazer, President, CEO & Co-Founder of Healing Healthcare Systems, joined the show to share her expertise on the topic.
"If the environment is not positive, supportive, comforting, stress reducing, welcoming...then what is it doing?" she asked. "If you don't design the environment, the environment will design you."
She advocated for carefully considering every aspect of the environment to create a place that puts patients and guests at ease. Listen to the full episode to hear all of Dr. Mazer's insights on creating healing environments.
Listen to I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
The holiday season is a joyous and happy time for many people, but for some it can be an emotionally trying time. Interacting with family, missing family members who have passed away, and the general hustle and bustle of the season can be difficult to deal with.
On this episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson he welcomes Lexie Miller to the show. Lexie is a Licensed Professional Counselor at Lifeologie Counseling Dallas. They discuss the challenges of the season and how people can find healthy ways to deal with the stress.
Listen to I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
On today’s episode of I Don’t Care, MarketScale contributor Kevin Stevenson, MBA FACHE, discusses the end of life process and how families can best prepare for the passing of their loved ones.
Joining the show this week is Nathalie Bonafe, PhD, a Certified End-of-Life Doula and Care Consultant, NEDA-Proficient for A Gentler Parting, LLC in New Haven, Connecticut.
“There is a lot of medical and emotional support in 21st century America,” Bonafe explained.
The end of life is a difficult time for anyone and the people closest to them, so making sure medical, legal and financial affairs in order is very important.
Listen to I Don’t Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
Have you ever wondered what the differences are between Medicare and Medicare Advantage? Wonder no more!
This episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson dives into those differences and gets some expert analysis from Johnny Y'Barbo with the Copeland Group. Johnny and Kevin get into the nitty gritty of Medicare to explain these differences and explore the history of how it has changed over the years.
Listen to I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
On this episode of I Don't Care with Kevin Stevenson, he discussed the growing issue of wasteful spending in the healthcare industry.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that U.S. healthcare spending hit $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 3.9% increase from 2016. While it would be easy to assume that the more more that is spent on healthcare means that Americans are getting healthier, but the data tells a different story.
A study by Dr. Natasha Perekh from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and representatives of Humana Health Care estimates that the annual costs of waste in the health care system ranges from $760 billion to $935 billion.
Kevin broke down the causes of this wasteful spending and discussed ways to fix it.
Listen to I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.
On this episode of I Don't Care, MarketScale healthcare industry contributor Kevin Stevenson discussed the importance of educating healthcare consumers.
"People are becoming a lot more involved in their care and they're able to access a wide variety of healthcare information," Stevenson said.
The problem can be finding the right information and knowing who you can trust with your health. Stevenson gave his thoughts on the mass amount of information available to patients nowadays and how healthcare providers need to adapt.
Hear I Don't Care LIVE every Friday morning at 9:30AM CST to stay up to date with everything going on in the healthcare industry.