Maternal mortality rates are steadily on the rise in the U.S. – the only developed nation where that’s true. The maternal mortality rate in 48 states and the District of Columbia increased by 26.6% between 2000 and 2014—from 18.8 to 23.8 per 100,000 live births . Hidden in those statistics is great racial disparity, where African American women are 3-4 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. The CDC recommends exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months and cites benefits such as...
Nov 26, 2019•45 min•Ep. 118
We’ve been talking about Social Determinants of Health for a couple of years now and I think we all got the basic concept: For the best health outcomes, we need to combine healthcare with social care. ”A doctor might prescribe to you the best care in the world, but if you can’t afford it or you can’t get to it because you don’t have a car, you might just not be able to follow those recommendations.” Today we can happily say there are solutions that implement best practices for addressing SDOH in...
Nov 13, 2019•40 min•Ep. 117
It’s said that 10-20% of all medical diagnoses are wrong . That’s a bit scary, but it’s not surprising. Medical diagnostics is inherently complex, the medical literature is always expanding, and doctors, like all humans, grapple with availability bias – they diagnose diseases they know instead of diseases they don’t. Diagnostic accuracy is clearly a problem. Today’s guest is Art Papier, MD. Art is the co-founder and CEO of VisualDx . According to Art, there are common diseases and rare diseases,...
Nov 06, 2019•38 min•Ep. 116
If we’ve established anything on The #HCBiz Show, we’ve established that healthcare is complex. And with a million priorities, each with its own complexity, it can be difficult to know if you’re doing any of it right. So, we do the best that we can with the knowledge, resources, and tools at our disposal, and put out the fires when they occur. This, of course, can be very problematic when the work is more complex than it seems. And that is certainly the case when it comes to Environmental Servic...
Oct 14, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 115
The healthcare system is not designed to serve patients. It may have started out that way, but it’s best we confront or current reality. That’s not to say that the people working inside of this industry are bad. Not at all. Some of the best, most generous, and caring people I’ve ever met work in healthcare. Unfortunately, they, like the patients they serve, are merely inputs to a complex national healthcare system that’s evolved to serve itself and its ever-growing appetite for trillions of Amer...
Oct 08, 2019•52 min•Ep. 114
“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” Seth Godin That’s one of my favorite quotes and it’s exactly what Proximity did when they looked across the 1,500 healthcare facilities they were already serving with wall-mounted workstations and medication storage carts. They saw a ton of high-touch surfaces that were not being cleaned regularly and that were likely contributing to the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). This observation led them to launc...
Sep 24, 2019•23 min•Ep. 113
The costs and human impact of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are well known and have been well documented on this show. And as we’ve seen there are industry best practices and proven science to help us prevent and control HAIs. Yet, running an Environmental Services (EVS) unit at a hospital is no easy task. How do you pick the right people, and train and retain them? What products should you use? How should you use them? How will you stay on top of the constantly changing regulatory land...
Sep 18, 2019•27 min•Ep. 112
Usually, we know what we need to do. But doing it is hard and we struggle. This is true for individuals. It’s true for organizations. And it’s true in healthcare, especially when it comes to behavioral side of infection prevention. Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH addressed these issues in the opening keynote for the HITS 2019 conference in Buffalo, NY. We caught up with him at the event to discuss: What can we learn from the experiences of Ignaz Semmelweis? How to address the adaptive/behavioral component...
Sep 16, 2019•13 min•Ep. 111
The evidence is clear. Addressing the social determinants of health can dramatically improve health outcomes and reduce spending in healthcare, social services, education, criminal justice, and more. The problem is that not all interventions can be isolated and measured, and the value is not always realized by the entity that pays the bill. This creates a tremendous amount of friction that prevents us from moving forward on initiatives that we all agree should happen. That’s where Pay for Succes...
Sep 12, 2019•39 min•Ep. 110
Pharmacy Benefits Managers, better known as PBMs, are your classic middle-men. First, they buy medications from pharma manufacturers. Then they bundle those medications into formularies and sell that service to employers, plan sponsors and health plans. The problem is, there’s no transparency into how much PBMs pay for the drugs, and there’s a complex rebate system layered on top of that. With dug costs on the rise, it’s no wonder that many characterize PBMs as the bad guy, nor that the feds are...
Aug 29, 2019•42 min•Ep. 109
Missed part 1? Check it out here: The Medicaid Transformation Project with David Smith - Part 1 . The Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP) is a national effort to transform healthcare and address related social needs for the most vulnerable. Throughout this two-year mission, health systems will implement innovative solutions that address challenges like behavioral health and substance use disorder. MTP aims to create long-term systemic impact over the next 10 years with the goal of improving th...
Aug 15, 2019•37 min•Ep. 108
The Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP) is a national effort to transform healthcare and address related social needs for the most vulnerable. Throughout this two-year mission, health systems will implement innovative solutions that address challenges like behavioral health and substance use disorder. MTP aims to create long-term systemic impact over the next 10 years with the goal of improving the health of 75 million Americans. On this episode, we talk with David Smith, who is the Project Ex...
Aug 09, 2019•42 min•Ep. 107
There are two types of innovation. First, there’s innovation in the underlying technology, tools or components that can be used to do something. Let’s call it local innovation . This ussually starts as experimentation with new ways of doing things just to see if it’s possible… to see what happens. It does not start with a specific problem and can be completely fueled by curiosity and a sense of wonder. Local innovation is important because it creates new opportunities that didn’t exist before. H...
Jul 22, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 106
Part 2 of 2 - What happens when you take an experienced digital health buyer and an experienced digital health seller and have an honest conversation about the process of bringing new innovations into a health system? You get lots of not-so-obvious, but tremendously valuable insight into how to cross the moats successful health systems have been forced to build to keep you out. Co-host Shahid Shah recently published a post with Brian Van Winkle on The Healthcare Blog titled: Perspectives on Work...
Jul 12, 2019•59 min•Ep. 105
I've been saying it for years. The regional Health Information Exchange (HIE) should be your first stop for interop . That's especially true when it comes to quality measurement. Patients are going to get care in many settings and their data is going to be stored in many EHRs. According to today's guest, a sick Medicare patient may see 6-7 doctors in a given year! Proper quality measurement will require every hospital and every practice to proactively connect with one another AND solve the under...
Jul 03, 2019•43 min•Ep. 104
What happens when you take an experienced digital health buyer and an experienced digital health seller and have an honest conversation about the process of bringing new innovations into a health system? You get lots of not-so-obvious, but tremendously valuable insight into how to cross the moats successful health systems have been forced to build to keep you out. Co-host Shahid Shah recently published a post with Brian Van Winkle on The Healthcare Blog titled: Perspectives on Working with Healt...
Jun 27, 2019•54 min•Ep. 103
Legionella outbreaks, which can cause the deadly Legionnaires’ disease, are on the rise. In 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 7,500 Legionnaires’ disease cases. Within the general population, 10% of those affected will die. In a healthcare setting, the death rate jumps to 25%. And according to the CDC, 9 out of 10 Legionella outbreaks were preventable. Sound building water health plans in a hospital/healthcare setting are critical. Think about that… we have...
Jun 19, 2019•49 min•Ep. 102
Selecting digital health tools is tricky. There are thousands of innovators vying for your attention and dollars. They all promise to help you “get back to doing what you do best, caring for patients” (side note: I think that one has run its course – let’s move on marketers). But how can you be sure they’re selling something that will work for you? That’s where Medigy comes in. It’s a decision support tool for selecting digital health tools. Our very own Shahid Shah is behind this one, and he’s ...
Jun 12, 2019•40 min•Ep. 101
A great way to align your vision with the realities of the business of healthcare is to test your ideas and assumptions at conferences. Unfortunately, many of these events peddle hype and highly curated sales pitches rather than actionable intelligence that’ll help you get things done (or get to the “No”, which may be even more important to you right now). Sure, you’ll get valuable networking done in most cases, but we want you to get the most bang for your buck (and time) so you can get back to...
Jun 03, 2019•23 min•Ep. 100
There are 100s of healthcare and Health IT conferences every year. Most of them are visionary. That is, they focus on the future. On what might come. Looking forward is important, and frankly, a lot of fun, but it’s not going to change the way you do business today. That’s why John Lynn created Expo.health , and he’s here to tell us what we can expect from the next installment happening in Boston from July 31 – August 2, 2019. Expo.Health is an opportunity for everyone to collaborate together on...
May 30, 2019•32 min•Ep. 99
Fraudulent doctor reviews are a real problem. Ted Chan experienced it first hand while trying to help a loved one find a doctor online. In Ted’s words: “We found reviews that we thought were false or fake… so thought there was a opportunity to really represent the patient”. And that’s exactly what Ted did when he launched CareDash in 2016. His goal was to create a healthcare provider directory and review site that was committed to transparency for both doctors and patients. Ted’s idea has resona...
May 22, 2019•25 min•Ep. 98
Amazon has been a hot topic in healthcare for at least a year. And for good reason. With the acquisition of PillPak , the Haven initiative with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway, Alexa HIPPA compliance , and the announcement that they’ll accept Health Spending Accounts (HSA) , it’s clear that Amazon has big plans for healthcare. When I was at the Healthcare IT and Marketing Conference (HITMC) in Boston last month, I got to talking about this with Jack Murtha and Tom Castles of Inside Digital Heal...
May 10, 2019•34 min•Ep. 97
The CMS NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) is much more interesting than many of the past interop-related rules. That’s because it gets specific. It gets specific about technology by calling out FHIR APIs. It gets specific about use cases, such as patient access to data, payer to payer interoperability for administrative data, etc. And surprisingly, it gets specific about collaboration by suggesting that all health plans look at the Da Vinci project and consider implementing its use cases. On...
May 03, 2019•41 min•Ep. 96
On this episode, we discuss the power of online communities like #HCLDR , a new push for healthcare interoperability in Canada called Access 2022 , and much more. Our guest is Colin Hung, CMO and editor at HealthcareScene.com , and founder of #HCLDR. Online Communities: #HCLDR is a weekly tweet chat (Tuesday’s at 8:30 PM EST) that has been going strong for 7 years. It attracts an international audience of 150-200 people who generate 1,500-3,000 tweets and up to 12 million impressions. This commu...
Apr 16, 2019•22 min•Ep. 95
There's a lot happening on the healthcare interoperability front: HIMSS has released a new definition for interoperability The CMS proposed rule is stacked with interesting use cases and is highly focused on making data available to patients. The ONC proposed rule attempts to address data blocking. Both proposed rules promote FHIR APIs. Emergency Triage, Treat and Transport (ET3) Model provides a business context for interoperability with a focus on outcomes. Don and Shahid discuss each of these...
Apr 10, 2019•53 min•Ep. 94
On this episode, we talk with Brian Loew, founder and CEO at Inspire . They've built a social network for patients and caregivers that provides a safe place for them to share their stories and learn from people like them. And it empowers patients to raise their hands and volunteer to participate in research that could advance treatments for their disease. It definitely fits the #HCBiz template for a solid healthcare business: Good for patients. Good for society. Good for the business of healthca...
Apr 03, 2019•46 min•Ep. 93
The transition to value-based healthcare is official. It’s happening. The only question now is how painful the road will be, and how effective we’ll be in improving outcomes and controlling costs. The fate of your healthcare organization will largely be determined by how you decide to proceed. Will you embrace value-based healthcare and enter into it on your own terms? Or will you sit back and wait, and ultimately be forced into it? On this episode, we hear from Jason Helgerson , founder of Helg...
Mar 27, 2019•42 min•Ep. 92
The way we practice medicine today is broken. We prioritize the business and treat the patient as nothing more than a cog in our great machine. According to today’s guest, ” we have an emotional breakdown, with disenchanted patients largely disconnected from burned-out, depressed doctors.” Dr. Eric Topol calls this epidemic “shallow medicine”. It’s driven by runaway healthcare costs and an insatiable drive for increased efficiency and profits, and unfortunately, is largely the way we deliver hea...
Mar 12, 2019•55 min•Ep. 91
We've effectively digitized medical record via EHRs, but the healthcare industry still relies heavily on paper for many of its workflows and supporting documents. On this episode, we talk with Bill DeStefanis, Director of Product Strategy at Nuance about how and why paper is still widely used in healthcare, how we can keep it secure, and how we can effectively integrate it into our digital workflows. About Bill DeStefanis: As Nuance’s Director of Product Strategy, Bill brings more than 20 years ...
Feb 10, 2019•51 min•Ep. 90
On this episode, we talk with Jason Helgerson, founder of Helgerson Solutions Group and Former Medicaid Director for New York and Wisconsin. Jason shares his perspective on Value-based payment progress and direction tells us who needs to get involved and how, and we discuss how to measure success. That is, how will we know if value-based payment has been adequately deployed, and more importantly, how will we know if it's working? This episode is sponsored by VBP Forward: VBP Forward will host it...
Jan 31, 2019•45 min
