Now, the bestselling author and speaker has distilled insights from his work in entrepreneurship, leadership consulting and research into a new book cowritten with James Patterson. In this episode, he shares takeaways from a three-year research project studying positive disruptors in the world framework for thriving in uncertainty. Tune in to hear how disruption can be good for your own health and for healthcare as a whole. 

As the former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Verma directed initiatives, such as the historic Patients over Paperwork, that helped advance care for patients and providers. Now, as EVP of Oracle Health, she uses technology to improve patient outcomes and care delivery. Listen in as she shares her optimism on how better technology, data and AI can help bridge gaps in care. 

When it comes to opportunities to innovate healthcare, Dr. Howell sees low-hanging fruit everywhere. But, he claims, “the rule is you can’t touch it.” As a young provider, Dr. Howell saw firsthand the consequences of healthcare inefficiencies. His frustration with a flawed system inspired him to pursue his MBA and work to improve healthcare on a bigger scale. Follow Dr. Howell’s journey and learn how he believes we can achieve innovation that drives better access to care. 

Eyles has spent a fascinating career trying to align the two. From government to life sciences to the nationwide health plan association AHIP and beyond, he’s wrestled with some of healthcare’s trickiest challenges from just about every angle. How do we balance innovation and affordability? Or access and safety? Follow Eyles’ analytical mind as he breaks down what goes on behind the scenes at health plans, the often-invisible innovation happening there today, and why “value-based care” may need a rebrand.    

Dr. Boose was a quick adopter of electronic health records when they came onto the scene. His early interest in the technology primed him to become a leader in clinical informatics. Today, in addition to being a family physician at Cleveland Clinic, he’s an Associate Chief Medical Information Officer with a focus on improving the outpatient experience. Tune in to learn more about the advancements being made that reduce administrative burden and let physicians focus on the patient. 

After a decade of experience in the healthcare and technology sectors, Bardan joined CLEAR in 2022 to head their healthcare initiatives. In this episode, Bardan discusses the opportunities made possible by identity verification. Learn how CLEAR is helping unlock operational efficiencies and seamless experiences for patients and the providers who care for them. 

Tune in to our chat about spurring systemic innovation and making life better for patients and the providers who care for them. “We always start with the patient,” Schilling says on the episode, “and we work back from there.” 

Listen now to hear about his origins as a doctor of medicine and how it informs his current role in the world of private equity.

In our first episode of the season, we sit down with Jen McGonigle of Optum Rx for a chat about cultivating innovation. We discuss innovation at two levels. One is the level of technology—including Optum Rx’s products and capabilities that help tackle prohibitive drug pricing and treatment delays. The other is a higher-level view across healthcare—such as the prior authorization innovations made possible via cross-industry collaboration. Join us as we look at what spurs innovation in American healthcare and how it can catalyze good for patients and those who care for them.   

Too many patients cut pills in half to make them last, too many can’t access care in the first place, and too many providers are so burned out with paperwork and administrative tasks that they’re leaving practice altogether.   

Yes, we know that we’ve got our work cut out for us. We know that for so many of these challenges, there truly is a better way.   

Welcome to the fourth season of the award-winning podcast “There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology.” I’m your host, Melanie Marcus, from Surescripts.  

This season we’re diving into the work of systemic innovation in healthcare. Each guest we have on our show is a changemaker, in one way or another, and together they paint the picture of how innovation can happen—and is happening—right now across healthcare.   

If you’re up for smart, energizing, story-driven conversations about healthcare and technology, tune in to “There’s a Better Way.” Season 4 premieres on all major podcast apps in May. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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 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.

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?

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 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.

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.”

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.”

“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?

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."

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.”

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.

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.