Today in health, it interviews from the chime
Bill Russell:conference in San Diego.
Bill Russell:My name is bill Russell.
Bill Russell:I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week in health.
Bill Russell:It a channel dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged.
Bill Russell:Just a quick reminder.
Bill Russell:I wouldn't be dropping interviews over the next couple of days and into
Bill Russell:next week from the chime conference.
Bill Russell:And then I'm going to have some more interviews from the next conference I
Bill Russell:want to be going to, and then eventually I'll get back to Florida and to the studio
Bill Russell:where we'll start looking at the news.
Bill Russell:Once again.
Bill Russell:Hope you enjoy this interview.
Bill Russell:Another interview from the chime fall forum and we have Patty . Am
Bill Russell:I getting your name right?
Bill Russell:Absolutely.
Paddy Padmanabhan:You're as close as it can.
Paddy Padmanabhan:As close as you want to
Bill Russell:be.
Bill Russell:Uh, I use Domo consulting, but really you are a digital health leader.
Bill Russell:You're you do a lot of conversations around digital health.
Bill Russell:A lot of publications write a lot of articles around digital health.
Bill Russell:So that's the topic I'd like to.
Bill Russell:Sure if you're offering that.
Bill Russell:So what's, so what's top of mind at this conference, you've had some conversations
Bill Russell:you've been here for a day or so, so,
Paddy Padmanabhan:well, the F the first thing on everybody's mind is
Paddy Padmanabhan:relief and having the opportunity to come out and meet people.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I can say I can speak for myself that, uh, it's been a long time since we got
Paddy Padmanabhan:out and got to meet our colleagues.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And in many way, chime is like an extended family to many of us, the chime community.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So it's wonderful to be here.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So I would say top of mind, Uh, sense of getting back together for people and
Paddy Padmanabhan:meeting your colleagues in person after such a long time after what we've all
Paddy Padmanabhan:been through for the last 18 months or so?
Paddy Padmanabhan:Well, business wise, I think, uh, you know, it seems to me from the
Paddy Padmanabhan:conversations that I'm having that over the last 18 months, things have
Paddy Padmanabhan:moved forward significantly from a digital transformation standpoint.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Obviously the, the, the, the earliest.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Was the pandemic itself, but then there, the early response to the pandemic,
Paddy Padmanabhan:which was more of a crisis response has given way to a more thoughtful
Paddy Padmanabhan:transformation approach that builds on whatever foundations were laid
Paddy Padmanabhan:prior to the pandemic and whatever investments were made subsequent to
Paddy Padmanabhan:the kind of, so we are moving now into a new phase is what I feel.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And the general sense I get is there's a lot to be done and it's just.
Paddy Padmanabhan:It's just the opportunity is huge.
Bill Russell:So early on it was reactive, but we saw a lot of really cool things.
Bill Russell:We saw.
Bill Russell:We saw chatbots deployed for, uh, for diagnosis of COVID.
Bill Russell:We saw, um, uh, new, new kinds of, uh, tele-health, uh, modalities sort of,
Bill Russell:sort of pop up from a safety standpoint.
Bill Russell:We went to create that, that safe distance and whatnot.
Bill Russell:Um, but a lot of this stuff was done.
Bill Russell:Okay, we need this tomorrow.
Bill Russell:Now we'd been working on it for some years, but still we were
Bill Russell:able to stand some things up.
Bill Russell:I mean, how much are we having to go back and rethink some of the things
Bill Russell:we did in the pandemic and really laid down a, a digital, let's say a
Bill Russell:foundation for digital, or what's the foundation for digital already there
Paddy Padmanabhan:from a technology standpoint?
Paddy Padmanabhan:I think, uh, there's a lot that has been accomplished in terms of
Paddy Padmanabhan:putting in the new technologies.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And I'd say this.
Paddy Padmanabhan:If I was to talk about the unfinished business or the work in progress,
Paddy Padmanabhan:they would talk about two things.
Paddy Padmanabhan:One is making all these technology pieces work together
Paddy Padmanabhan:well, making it all seamless.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And the other part of it is helping people adopt and use the technologies.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I think one of the big concerns on the minds of my clients and
Paddy Padmanabhan:others that I talked to is how do you get people to use it?
Paddy Padmanabhan:And actually the more recent data seems to suggest that.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Bit of a pullback and the use of the tele-health and the virtual care
Paddy Padmanabhan:modalities or whatever reason, but, uh,
Bill Russell:yeah.
Bill Russell:So are we worried about, so you and I go back and forth on social
Bill Russell:media and a lot of times it's, it's apple, Amazon, you know, the big
Bill Russell:players, what are they going to do?
Bill Russell:Are our health system still keeping an eye out for the Walmarts?
Bill Russell:The CVS is in the others,
Paddy Padmanabhan:the competitive landscape for health city.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Is the Walmarts of the Syria assists, the big corporations that are
Paddy Padmanabhan:traditionally not traditionally, not healthcare organizations.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And then you've got the big tech firms.
Paddy Padmanabhan:You mentioned Amazon and Google apple, and then you've got the digital
Paddy Padmanabhan:first, you know, healthcare providers.
Paddy Padmanabhan:They go the one medicals on the Oak street, health of the world.
Paddy Padmanabhan:What our health system.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Why do I think they're more worried about the CVS and the Walmarts than
Paddy Padmanabhan:they are, frankly, about Microsoft or.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Amazon, maybe because Amazon's crossed the Rubicon from being a
Paddy Padmanabhan:technology provider into more of a healthcare service provider.
Paddy Padmanabhan:But as you know, I've written about this, you know, the outcome is far from
Paddy Padmanabhan:foretold in terms of their success.
Paddy Padmanabhan:At this point, they
Bill Russell:do have a long view though.
Bill Russell:I mean, and the thing is Amazon doesn't have to be successful in all the things.
Bill Russell:I mean, they're going to be, it'll be interesting to see in the
Bill Russell:let's just call it the PBM space.
Bill Russell:Let's call it the, uh, the, the medication.
Bill Russell:I mean, th their acquisition seems like, seems like a pretty solid
Bill Russell:foundation from which to build on.
Bill Russell:It builds on their, their current capabilities and they can do those things.
Bill Russell:But is that really a tech player or is that more of a logistics play
Paddy Padmanabhan:for that?
Paddy Padmanabhan:You know, the Amazon bets are kind of all over the place.
Paddy Padmanabhan:They are all over the place.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I don't see a
Bill Russell:where you at the health conference.
Bill Russell:I was not, but if you go through their booth, Hey, would you
Bill Russell:like to talk to Amazon care?
Bill Russell:Would you like to talk to AWS?
Bill Russell:Would you like what data would they were?
Bill Russell:Well,
Paddy Padmanabhan:here's the thing that I'd asked you, this question, is there one
Paddy Padmanabhan:individual in Amazon that you can think of who is kind of like the healthcare
Bill Russell:person?
Bill Russell:Yeah.
Bill Russell:Yeah.
Bill Russell:There, there used to be, but he went to work for Phillips.
Bill Russell:So I don't know.
Bill Russell:Okay.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I don't know that there is such an annuity, but I do
Paddy Padmanabhan:know that there are several individuals who are all among themselves driving.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Initiatives.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Yeah.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Amazon carries with somebody, the PillPack tenders with somebody else.
Paddy Padmanabhan:God knows what else, you know, in Amazon.
Bill Russell:Well, and that's what we're seeing.
Bill Russell:Yeah.
Bill Russell:Apple is Apple's the most recent one with the article and whatnot.
Bill Russell:And, uh, there doesn't seem to be, first of all, the CEO
Bill Russell:is the CEO of apple, correct?
Bill Russell:They're not the CPE CEO of apple health.
Bill Russell:Correct.
Bill Russell:So how much of his time is actually spent thinking about the, I've
Paddy Padmanabhan:asked this exact same question in my writings, you know what.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Healthcare is at best a part-time job for the CEO of any of these large
Paddy Padmanabhan:corporations and mind you, the new look at the world from their standpoint, their
Paddy Padmanabhan:opportunity in healthcare may be huge, but at the present moment, they may have
Paddy Padmanabhan:much bigger things going on that are, you know, dominating their attention.
Paddy Padmanabhan:But don't
Bill Russell:the, the promise of those companies.
Bill Russell:Is with AWS.
Bill Russell:You have, you have a great, great access to that technology, the
Bill Russell:data technology, the AI with Google, you have access to that.
Bill Russell:I mean, clearly they've, they're phenomenal at the data side and whatnot.
Bill Russell:Microsoft is phenomenal at the data side, Microsoft, probably a different story
Bill Russell:because they're, they're just an enabler.
Bill Russell:Yeah.
Bill Russell:I don't think they have any healthcare aspirations per
Paddy Padmanabhan:se.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Well, their healthcare story is the cloud story.
Paddy Padmanabhan:You know, the workplace collaboration story and
Bill Russell:everybody who's here has a relationship.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Everybody has a relationship with them.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And then as they make acquisitions, like no-one's, I just came out of
Paddy Padmanabhan:this session with nuance, you know?
Paddy Padmanabhan:So who knows what that is?
Paddy Padmanabhan:So they're in that session, that session was titled digital front doors nuance is,
Paddy Padmanabhan:you know, in the digital front door space.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So is Microsoft also in the digital front.
Paddy Padmanabhan:That's right.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So, uh, you could not, but then, you know, with all of these large
Paddy Padmanabhan:companies, there's always multiple bets.
Paddy Padmanabhan:You know, you talk about Amazon, Amazon has a half a dozen things.
Paddy Padmanabhan:We've got Alex, or they've got Amazon care, they've got the cloud
Paddy Padmanabhan:business, which is doing very well.
Paddy Padmanabhan:They've got the PillPack business who knows what else is going to come up.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And again, we've also seen a little bit of a pullback by these big tech firms.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Recently, Google closed its healthcare business.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Officially there is no health business, especially after David
Paddy Padmanabhan:Feinberg left and went on to.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And then now you've got apple, apple shut down their primary care
Paddy Padmanabhan:business, which was anywhere meant to be a kind of pilot of some kind.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Right.
Paddy Padmanabhan:But Amazon's the one that's sticking it through.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And then there are others who are, you know, who knows what Salesforce
Bill Russell:is going to do for it.
Bill Russell:So we have to be clear just carrying the salvo, got up there last week and said,
Bill Russell:we're still, we're still in healthcare.
Bill Russell:We're doing this, we're doing this or that.
Bill Russell:So she rattled off the half dozen things that they are continuing to do.
Bill Russell:And her thing is, look, we're we're in information.
Bill Russell:And more people seek care from Google still today than anywhere else.
Bill Russell:And so they're trying to utilize their position to really direct
Bill Russell:people in the right, get the right information to them serve public health.
Bill Russell:It used to be when we started the pandemic, we had to go to certain sites
Bill Russell:to search this, some of these statistics.
Bill Russell:And I find now I can just go and say, yep, this guy, San Diego county tell
Bill Russell:me the COVID statistics said, Google.
Bill Russell:Hold it all together.
Bill Russell:That's what they do.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Yeah.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And again, like you said earlier on, well, it's a long game
Paddy Padmanabhan:for, for these big tech firms.
Paddy Padmanabhan:They have deep pockets.
Paddy Padmanabhan:It doesn't mean though that they're going to stick with a
Paddy Padmanabhan:losing proposition for too long.
Paddy Padmanabhan:If something doesn't work, they'll probably kill it, take the learnings
Paddy Padmanabhan:from it and put it into something else and then start the next iteration.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And they have the, they have the, well, they have the money.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And if they want to do something, they can stick around long enough to do it.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I mean, just think of the amount of cash that apple is sitting by.
Paddy Padmanabhan:It's just unbelievable.
Bill Russell:All of them are sitting on top of the Fairmount.
Bill Russell:So if people are engaged, Dame-o consulting, what,
Bill Russell:what do you guys do for we?
Paddy Padmanabhan:Uh, we help, we work mostly with CEOs, chief digital
Paddy Padmanabhan:officers and C-suite executives who are responsible for the digital
Paddy Padmanabhan:transformation of their organization.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Very deeply focused on the health system space.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So that's where most of our work is.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So we'll help with digital strategy, helping develop digital transformation,
Paddy Padmanabhan:roadmaps, prioritizing initiatives, building business cases for them
Paddy Padmanabhan:helping with technology, partner selection, and also the ongoing
Paddy Padmanabhan:governance of digital programs.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So that's kind of what we do.
Paddy Padmanabhan:We come at it from a technology standpoint, but in the context of
Paddy Padmanabhan:digital transformation, which is very, very much tech enabled as we speak
Bill Russell:the big and the lock is still.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Uh, big unlock.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Thank you for mentioning that the podcast, just a hindrance hit a hundred episodes.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So kind of fantastic kicked about, I know how hard
Bill Russell:that is by the way.
Bill Russell:That's not
Paddy Padmanabhan:as easy as what people think.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Yeah, I, yeah.
Paddy Padmanabhan:And I've been really, really fortunate to have some great guests on the show.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So yeah, I mean, these are a really thoughtful conversations.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I learned a lot from those conversations and I hope that
Paddy Padmanabhan:the listeners learn something.
Paddy Padmanabhan:You know, I was, I was sitting with, uh, some people at breakfast today.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I didn't know them at all, but they knew who I was because
Paddy Padmanabhan:I listened to my podcast.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So I'm probably the
Bill Russell:same thing.
Bill Russell:Yeah.
Bill Russell:Thank you both.
Paddy Padmanabhan:First of all, I thank you for all the work that you do.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I'm an avid follower of all of your work on social media and continue
Paddy Padmanabhan:to keep those snarky comments.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Comment.
Paddy Padmanabhan:It's been
Bill Russell:exciting.
Bill Russell:I think it does help the industry.
Bill Russell:When we go back and forth, people see, Hey, there's
Bill Russell:potentially different challenges.
Bill Russell:The
Paddy Padmanabhan:group thing, challenge the group thing.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I'm reading this book called the contrarian, watch the buck, Peter Thiel.
Paddy Padmanabhan:So you can be the country.
Paddy Padmanabhan:I didn't know.
Bill Russell:Well, if only I had as much money as Peter's deal, I think
Bill Russell:I could be contrary and on anything.
Paddy Padmanabhan:We'll see.
Paddy Padmanabhan:All right, thanks.
Paddy Padmanabhan:Thank you.
Bill Russell:Don't forget to check back as we have more of these interviews
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