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

From her initial dreams of becoming a pharmacologist to her current role as an advisor for national health IT efforts, Tricia Lee Rolle has always been interested in research and getting stuff done.  As Rolle says, “What is really fulfilling about being in government is that you realize what you're doing is affecting not just one or a few or a handful of patient lives, but we're really doing it in mass and at scale.”   In the third episode of the season, we talk with Tricia Lee Rolle about the transformation of healthcare through the lens of medication management and the evolving role of the clinical pharmacist. How can we effect change in healthcare? How can we empower care providers with the tools they need to improve patient care? Rolle shares her experiences at the highest levels of industry and government. 

Pooja Babbrah has secured a trifecta in healthcare: She’s the Practice Lead for Pharmacy and PBM Services at Point-of-Care Partners, is a board member of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and was recently a member of the HITAC Pharmacy Interoperability and Emerging Therapeutics Task Force at ONC. Babbrah’s work at these organizations has proven complementary, as she notes on the episode: “Moving value-based care forward, pharmacogenomics and pharmacy interoperability—all that's being talked about both at the standards development organization and the work that I do at Point-of-Care Partners.”  Thanks to her roles, Babbrah has been able to advocate for new industry standards as well as help make implementing them a reality.   In the second episode of the season focused on the future of pharmacy, we talk with Pooja Babbrah about how to bring pharmacy interoperability to life through technology, collaboration and standards—and how this will impact care for the better.

As the son of a pharmacist and a licensed pharmacist himself, Doug Hoey is intimately familiar with the importance of community pharmacies. As Hoey notes, “People will come to their community pharmacies with issues that they just can't get served in other venues. I personally think that they are kind of a healthcare safety net, if you will.” Hoey has been supporting community pharmacies for 13 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Community Pharmacists Association. On this season premiere episode, we talk with Hoey about what he believes the future holds in pharmacy, how he works to promote and advocate for independent pharmacists, and what the role of pharmacy can and should be in the shifting healthcare landscape.

The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world, but it’s also riddled with complex challenges. On Season 3 of “There’s a Better Way,” we’re taking a closer look at ways in which healthcare can heal itself—through innovation that prioritizes collaboration and positive impact, through intelligence sharing that improves the experience for patients and those who care for them​, through policies and technologies that allow the care team to evolve and overcome an epidemic of burnout, and through real-talk and fresh insights from today’s most inspiring and innovative leaders in healthcare. You’ll hear perspective and personal stories from a new slate of healthcare leaders who are stepping up to solve what’s broken in healthcare. You’ll hear from the head of the national trade association representing community pharmacists, a former Chief Technology Officer at HHS, the Chief Medical Officer of an EHR software company and a senior leader at the FDA, among others. Listen in as host Melanie Marcus from Surescripts asks her guests: How would they heal healthcare? What’s their diagnosis? What prescription might they write?

Aneesh Chopra is President of CareJourney, an open data and analytics platform delivering a trusted, transparent rating system for physicians, networks, facilities and markets on the move to value. Prior to CareJourney, Chopra served as the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer (2009–2012) and as the fourth Virginia Secretary of Technology (2006–2009). Chopra authored “Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government” (2014), about creating a more open, tech-savvy government, and in 2011, Modern Healthcare named Chopra to its list of 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. In this episode, Chopra charts the path of his life that led to his role as the first U.S. CTO under President Barack Obama. “As the federal government’s first Chief Technology Officer,” Obama wrote, “Aneesh Chopra did groundbreaking work to bring our government into the 21st century. Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records. His legacy of leadership and innovation will benefit Americans for years to come.”

In an age of misinformation and doubt, Geeta Nayyar, M.D., is a builder of trust. “Dr. G,” as she is known, recognizes that trust is the key to having a successful relationship between patients, providers and payers. “If I don’t trust you, I certainly won’t listen to you or take your advice,” says Dr. G. In this episode, Dr. G describes how she witnessed firsthand the transition from the old school to the new school, from physical paperwork to the electronic health record (EHR) platforms—while still in medical school in Miami and then as a newly-minted rheumatologist.   “I saw the potential and promise of this better option for connecting data, connecting communications,” Dr. G says in the episode. And as we connect data and communications, we will build trust, which is fundamental in healthcare. “The day-to-day relationship, building the doctor-patient relationship, should be part of the digital transformation.”   Dr. G’s book Dead Wrong, which grew out of her work to battle misinformation (and build trust) during the COVID-19 pandemic, is set for publication in October 2023.

This episode features Lili Brillstein, founder and CEO of Bcollaborative, who works to lead the transition from fee-for-service care models to value-based care models in American healthcare.  Brillstein says that when she was studying business in college, value-based care models weren’t even a blip on the radar. We were paying for units of care—and we’re still doing that today in many cases. But we can build a system focused on patient outcomes, she says, and set up reimbursement to support it.  “The idea,” Brillstein says, “is to address variability in care and costs of care to get consistent outcomes.”

This episode features Cris Ross, Chief Information Officer, Mayo Clinic. At Mayo, Cris’s job is to provide reliable technology for one of the best hospitals in the nation. He works to figure out how to use technology in new ways, and to inspire physicians and scientists to explore new technological ideas.    “If you could just pick one thing you’re particularly delighted about right now,” Melanie asks, “what would that be?”“A lot of it, frankly,” Cris replies, “is when a physician says, ‘You know, you guys introduced this new widget, and it made my life better.’ That’s just awesome.”

This episode features George Van Antwerp, who leads Deloitte’s future of pharmacy strategy. In the episode, Van Antwerp unpacks his vision for the future of pharmacy, such as how disruption will create transformative opportunities and challenges. He also shares his thoughts on interoperability and health equity. “Pharmacy is the most used benefit,” Van Antwerp says. “It’s the way that many people experience the healthcare system.” Looking out 10 or 20 years, what data would pharmacists need to talk to the patient differently? How far can pharmacists push the spectrum of diagnosis, provider collaboration, of being able to do more and more?

This episode features Didi Davis, Vice President of Informatics, Conformance & Interoperability at The Sequoia Project. Davis has over three decades of experience in the healthcare industry and is nationally known as a subject matter expert in healthcare standards and interoperability design and strategy.  Davis describes the arc of her career as a “journey in serendipity,” when the idea of interoperability was just that: an idea. "Back then," she says, "less than 20% of hospital systems even had an electronic health record."

This episode features Dr. Brett Giroir, CEO of Altesa BioSciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm working to develop new medications for viral respiratory infections with a focus on vulnerable populations. And Dr. Giroir knows plenty about infections, having served as the COVID-19 “testing tsar” on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. In this episode, Dr. Giroir describes how his interest in immunology and infectious disease in medical school led to vaccine research and related clinical practice, which led in turn to serving the nation in various roles (and at one point this included a top-secret clearance).“I do believe you’re put here for a purpose,” Dr. Giroir says. “And looking back on all the chance events that came into my life, I think that’s what it all meant.”

Innovative, Compassionate, Future-Focused. Those three words characterize Rina Shah and what she wants for her patients, for the care Walgreens delivers, and for the industry at large. In this episode, we talk with Shah, who is Walgreens Group Vice President of Pharmacy of the Future and Segment Strategy, about just how she envisions the FUTURE of PHARMACY. The topic couldn’t be more of the moment: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by 2034, the U.S. will face a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians. Pharmacists in particular are well-positioned to fill gaps in care—if they can get the tools, information and support they need. We’ll talk with Shah about how to do so and how Walgreens—under her leadership—is also fighting to address health equity issues in the communities they serve.

Healthcare interoperability has been a buzzword for years. After decades of incremental progress, the industry is making traction. Information is being exchanged—and in massive quantities; clinicians and healthcare leaders are now pushing for it to be consumable. Meanwhile, we’re still not far along in interoperable systems to allow for national information exchange. American healthcare is messy, innovative, brilliant, fragmented and often proprietary and parochial, which gums up the momentum.So how do we get to Interoperability 2.0?In this episode, Melanie talks with Micky Tripathi, a leading expert in health information technology and data interoperability. Dr. Tripathi is the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he leads the formulation of the federal health IT strategy—and is responsible for advancing interoperability and the exchange of health information nationwide. In other words, Dr. Tripathi “owns” the federal effort to make nationwide interoperability a reality.

Welcome to the second season of There's a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology, an award-winning podcast series from Surescripts. In each episode, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with some of the most inspiring leaders in healthcare today for in-depth and personal conversations about the industry’s challenges and opportunities. By the end of each episode, you’ll walk away with real-world stories—stories that show a better way to tackle healthcare’s most stubborn issues as well as what the future might hold for an industry undergoing rapid change. If you’re up for smart, energizing and story-driven conversations with some of the nation’s top leaders in healthcare and technology, tune into There’s a Better Way, premiering on all major podcast apps this April. Learn more—check out the whole first season.

As President of Kroger Health, Colleen Lindholz leads a team of 23,000 healthcare professionals in nearly 2500 pharmacies in 37 states who care for more than 14 million patients annually. In this episode, Colleen shares passion for wellness and nutrition, and health and how Kroger is working to deliver whole patient care. Melissa and Colleen also discuss how the pandemic laid bare existing inequities and how technology can help pharmacists get the right therapy to the right patient at the right time, increasing adherence and improving patient outcomes. Finally, Colleen explains what keeps her motivated in her career, and what’s currently inspiring her.