This Week in Health Tech

Send us a textGuest: Shane Rodabaugh, System VP of IT & Infrastructure, Baptist Health KY & IN Host: Vik PatelIn this episode, Vik welcomes Shane Rodabaugh to discuss infrastructure modernization, cloud strategy, AI readiness, and leadership in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.They begin with a look at Baptist Health's current infrastructure—a hybrid model with Epic EHR hosted on-premise and new efforts like Cogito Cloud moving to Microsoft Fabric. This transition lays the foundation for advanced analytics and future AI capabilities.Vik and Shane explore the challenges of defining a “cloud strategy” in a world that evolves faster than any 3-year plan. Shane emphasizes the importance of flexibility and prioritization, especially when resources are limited but the demand for innovation is high. Vik introduces Tido CortexAI, an AI-ready data cloud, noting that CMIOs are often at the forefront of these initiatives. Shane mentions Baptist's CMIO, Dr. Brett Oliver, and how he's helping drive AI strategy from a clinical lens.As the conversation deepens, Vik asks about collaboration with clinical leadership. Shane explains that the dialogue is open and energetic—but sometimes he has to “hold the horses back.” Even with compelling ROI and excitement from clinicians, resource capacity often becomes the limiting factor. Still, the team focuses on staying agile, learning from fast failures, and pivoting quickly when needed.They shift to discussing AI governance and risk. Shane underscores the importance of understanding the algorithms and data behind models before deploying AI solutions in clinical settings.On the topic of build vs. buy, Shane shares insights from recent leadership discussions. While he's not opposed to building, he notes that Baptist isn't a development shop and scaling internal dev teams is a major investment. They view partners—like Epic—as their development engine for core platforms. Vik adds that a hybrid model often works best: internal teams guiding strategy while partners focus on execution. This balance helps mitigate key personnel risk and increases long-term sustainability.The conversation rounds out with leadership and collaboration. Shane shares how closely he works with the CIO and PMO, including weekly meetings focused on project prioritization and transparent communication—something he says is a strength at Baptist.They close the episode by talking about work-life balance. Shane shares a recent family vacation experience and how it's important to model healthy balance from the top. Lastly, he offers a grounding reminder: no matter how complex the tech or fast the pace—it's all for the patient.Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

Send us a textGuest: Lance Alston, Director of IT, Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home Host: Vik PatelOn this episode, Vik welcomes Lance Alston, Director of IT at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home, for a candid conversation on leading with resilience, trust, and innovation in a resource-constrained healthcare environment.Lance shares how he's successfully navigating the “do more with less” challenge, emphasizing the importance of trust — both within his team and with external partners. While vendor partnerships can be highly beneficial, Lance acknowledges they often require a culture shift. At Nathan Littauer, he's worked to foster the right mindset and build trust with carefully chosen partners to reduce organizational risk, especially around key personnel dependencies.The conversation also touches on leadership and well-being. Lance and Vik explore the importance of work-life balance in healthcare IT, a field often plagued by burnout. Lance emphasizes leading by example and ensuring team members feel supported in taking time off. This culture shift is backed by the full C-suite, including the CEO, who recognize that employee morale and well-being are essential for long-term success.From there, the discussion transitions into more technical territory, including the organization's current and future AI strategy. Lance highlights how having an enthusiastic and forward-thinking CMIO has been instrumental in exploring AI solutions that support clinical decision-making. Together, they're laying the foundation for a future where AI becomes a practical, integrated tool — not just a buzzword.Vik also introduces Tido CortexAI, an AI-ready data lake that transforms EHR, clinical, and operational data into clean, normalized, and interoperable insights. Whether it's for predictive modeling, automation, or real-time trends, CortexAI provides the data foundation healthcare organizations need to make meaningful use of AI.Finally, Lance offers insights into the importance of open communication across departments — even when the answer isn't immediately clear. “It's okay to say, ‘I'm not sure yet, but I'm working on a solution,'” he says. Fostering transparency, accessibility, and continuous communication is key. Because no matter how advanced the technology, without the right strategy and human connection, it won't deliver its full value.Closing thoughts from Lance: At the end of the day, IT is still IT — even in the age of AI. What truly makes a difference is effective communication, strong relationships, and trust. Especially when you're tasked with doing more with less, those human elements are essential.Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

Send us a textVik sits down with the one and only Dr. Michelle Flemmings — ER doc, health tech leader, and all-around powerhouse.

James Wellman, VP and CIO of Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home, and Vik Patel, COO of Tido, as they explore advancing data integration, operational efficiency, and patient care. Learn what happens when a healthcare IT partnership transcends traditional vendor relationships to become a true team extension, and discover how trust-based partnerships drive success in healthcare IT. Don't miss this engaging solution showcase.This transcription is provided by artificial intelligence. We believe in technology but understand that even the smartest robots can sometimes get speech recognition wrong.[: 00:00:00Are you and your team attending VIVE or HIMSS and looking for next level efficiency? Book a meeting today and qualify for six months of our MIDR solution. Check the show notes in the description to access this limited offer with our managed integration solution, not just waiting there for someone to assign it.We actually know what's upcoming based on what we have already seen all the way from assessment and what new systems are being implemented. Welcome to This Week Health. My name is Bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of This Week Health, where we are dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection at a time. Now, onto our interviewVik Patel and James Wellman. [: 00:01:00Vik Patel COO of Teedo Inc. Teedo is a comprehensive healthcare IT solution provider specializing in modernizing healthcare environments. Securing interface infrastructures and enabling real time data connectivity. We're here today to tell some amazing stories about the work you two have done. Welcome to the show.Thanks Sarah. Great to be here. Absolutely. I'm going to start with the obvious. And can you both share how your initial meeting at HIMSS sparked the idea for collaboration and what made you decide to explore the Teedo product suite together? Well, you know, I can kind of start us out there. Vik reached out to me prior to HIMSS.We connected through LinkedIn. And we started talking found we had some common things from our pastbecause he was explaining to [: 00:02:00I was telling him what we needed. But we met in person at HIMSS with his team and kind of started forging a relationship there. So, it's about relationships. So that was a really important component for Yeah, and that was exciting meeting in person and I say that because you know, I have been following James on LinkedIn for a while and We've been talking through the messaging and and I was like, hey, let's meet finally last year.And so that was nice like I said, we both went to University of Kentucky We both lived in Lexington, Kentucky for a long time and which by the way I mean this year in Vegas March Madness should be a lot more fun You know, Kentucky's doing really well for all the basketball fans out there. Well, last time I checked, y'all were ranked 8th nationally, so I guess it's okay to say go Wildcats. We have hope and hope, too. Love it. nership began is rare today. [: 00:03:00I can say for me, it's a core component of who I am.far as a CIO it's a relationship game. If I just wanna buSupport the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

 Vik Patel, COO at Tido Inc. joins Sarah for the news. Vik shares his journey from hospital IT to founding Tido Inc., discussing the nuanced challenges of integrating AI and the role of strong governance frameworks in avoiding unintended biases. Together, we tackle questions of strategic prioritization, from the intricacies of data migration and legacy archiving to the pressing need for reliable, responsive tech solutions in high-stakes clinical environments. Through the lens of real-world applications, the episode raises important considerations about balancing innovation with practicality in healthcare IT.Key Points:04:09 The Importance of AI Governance in Healthcare07:27 Challenges and Solutions in Healthcare IT20:00 Practical AI Applications and Integration30:49 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsNews articles:Dr. Patrick McGill Urges Health Systems to Establish AI Governance Early'AI is like tuition': CommonSpirit CIO's approach to AI hypeChatGPT overprescribed emergency treatment: UCSF studySupport the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week In Health Tech, Vik Patel welcomes Mark Farrow, a CIO veteran with experience of leading IT teams at large academic health systems and also community health system. This episode is very in-depth real world discussions about data challenges, AI governance and interoperability in healthcare.Mark starts out sharing his background and how he got started working in a hospital. Vik and Mark talk about data challenge in health systems, starting with challenge of making sense of the big data. Mark makes a comment that health systems are "data rich and knowledge poor", which really describes the big data current situation in most health systems. Vik and Mark then share that not everyone maybe aware that faxing is still very much active in health system communication. That shows that we still have much to do for interoperability. There are still many point to point interfaces and in this case using Faxing. Vik asks the question to Mark if EHRs have a role to play in how the data is being collected but the usage of data and sharing is still a challenge. Mark and Vik then discuss strategy of AI, and how quality of life should drive the decision making. Mark thinks AI should really help unlock the power of data that is in the EHRs and all the clinical applications. Mark also provides real-world examples of how AI can help unlock data for clinical and operational decision making and help improve patient outcomes. Both then dive into the risks related to adopting AI solutions and how to overcome some of these challenges using governance and appropriate resources like data scientists on the team. Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik Patel, COO, Tido Inc. welcomes James Wellman, VP-CIO at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home. They discuss topic of achieving  operational excellence using the right combination of data, integration, AI, and resources.   Healthcare organizations can drive operational efficiency through strategic use of data and AI tools by:Establishing a strong data governance framework with clear ownership, standardized processes, and engaging subject matter experts across the organization.Transitioning to a robust, cloud-based data architecture that ensures data portability, interoperability, and security.Carefully evaluating and adopting AI/RPA solutions, starting with automating repetitive processes and augmenting staffing needs, while remaining cautious about potential biases and limitations of AI models.Aligning technology strategy with overall organizational goals, using data-driven decision making for investments and service offerings.Prioritizing education and communication across the organization to get buy-in and ensure effective adoption of new data and technology initiatives.Full Transcript: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/jL1wFdYu1VO_51iq5wRbgrpeY-qgwPiqHo2sCiPBuTrHrI7xnDK4VaUWocH6zR7SoeBZ3JszIc9pDk_3vL5XS3i27AU?loadFrom=SharedLinkSupport the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech episode, Vik welcomes Kevin Smith, AVP, Digital Health, Baptist Health.We focus on impact of AI in healthcare marketing. We start out talking about future AI phones and Google, Search Generative Experience SGE. Kevin provides some background of Baptist Health digital properties and how sites were amalgamated from every hospital having their own sites to centrally managed digital websites and apps. Vik and Kevin then dig into the HHS's highlighting concern last year for using Google Analytics for analytics since the information collected could be in violation of HIPAA. We discuss the impact of removing Google Analytics and how not having any tracking technologies is a huge gap and provides no insights into how the users are using the websites. Kevin also provides some options that they are looking into to replace Google Analytics. Then Kevin and Vik dig into how AI can be used in digital marketing starting with using AI in generating content, images, videos. Kevin also brings up AI policies and if there is a need to disclose use of AI and how do you do that. Maybe using content generation with AI won't work because it may not match the organization or the locality branding. Many times it is easy to see when content is AI generated because AI uses certain terms more than usual and does not seem natural.Vik and Kevin then discuss AI chatbots and is this something that could be used on a healthcare site? They discuss the pitfalls of AI chatbot and how the responses are not always trustable. Also what about sharing information with AI solutions and integration from EHR or other sources into the AI solutions. Kevin then lastly shares a tip for listeners that he has incorporated with his team. They have instituted some brainstorming time once a month that allows the team to use the time away from meetings to think of best use cases for AI, collaborate on these ideas. Hopefully a reset time for the team to come up with enhancements for existing and potentially new solutions. Guest Kevin Smith Contact Info:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbradleysmith/Listen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedInSupport the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech podcast, we welcome Barry Wallace, digital communications specialist at East Tennessee Children's Hospital. We start out by discussing a marketing / digital communications team structure and then content generation. Vik and Barry discuss if ChatGPT AI tools help with content generation. AI could give a starting point but at this point that is what it is, get ideas but not necessarily use AI for generating and publishing content without review. There is also legitimate concern because generative AI creates is not always accurate and it is called hallucination. Also AI may not represent the voice of that specific health system or marketing department. Barry and Vik then chat about social media and focus on Facebook, X formerly Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. They chat about the best strategy for content on each of these platforms. Facebook still seems to be the #1 platform for their community reach. Vik then brings up Digital Transformation in healthcare  and how ETCH health system is handling this.  Guest Barry Wallace Contact Info: Linkedin: @barrywadewallaceEmail: barrywallace@yahoo.comTwitter: @barry_w_wallace Threads/Instagram: @barrywallaceTido Inc. The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesVik Patel - LinkedInTido Inc. - WebsiteTido Inc. - LinkedIn

In this episodes of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and John discuss digital health strategy for healthcare organizations. They dive into different categories for digital health: virtual care, accessing health information, interoperability, innovation. For virtual care, organizations need to now consider remote patient monitoring on top of telehealth visits. This requires appropriate infrastructure updates to support  these remote monitoring apps. Vik and John discuss challenges associated with virtual care today. John and Vik then discuss interoperability updates required to support digital health and allowing different applications to easily access appropriate health information. We are way beyond the typical patient portal and there are many specialty apps which support patients with different conditions. They discuss FHIR APIs and the moving away from traditional way of integration where data was constantly pushed instead of being pulled seamlessly on demand. Vik and John then discuss innovative apps and AI-ML applications and how to manage-integrate all these new apps. They also discuss privacy-security updates required for digital health preparedness. Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesTidoInc.LinkedIn

In this episode of This week in Health Tech, Vik and John discuss HIMSS23 conference and insights gained at the conference. The main highlight at the conference was Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Vik and John discuss few AI implementations in Healthcare including Epic, Microsoft, Google, Nuance, and more. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Twitter: @TIDOINCLinkedin: Vik PatelSupport the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesTidoInc.LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and John discuss healthcare financial challenges as they grapple with inflation, staffing shortages, and low margins. 85% of health system leaders expect staffing challenges to significantly impact 2023 strategies. Vik and John discuss how do you mitigate these challenges.  One way is to maximize operational efficiency with automation and digital tools that reduce workforce pressures, streamline handling of application and integration issues. These monitoring tools leverage real-time technology to drive improvements and minimize lost revenue!*** SPECIAL OFFER *** Free 6 Months End-To-End Applications and Integration Automated Monitoring Solution TrialTido Inc. The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes. Support the showListen to all This Week in Health Tech episodesTidoInc.LinkedIn

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, we welcome Johnathan Klaus to cohost the episode. John is an experienced nurse and has worked in large academic medical center for many years in the cardiac department. He brings wealth of clinical knowledge to the team and we welcome him to cohost the podcast. Jimmy Kim is obviously still around and will be returning soon. In this episode we focus on freeing up clinical staff from diagnosing and reporting system issues  to focus on patients. This is a common scenario in health systems where clinical staff are required to not only pay attention to their patients, but also deal w/ system - application issues daily. It is such a common thing that many departments have come up with their own daily manual checks and manual checklist to diagnose issues and call the right vendor or helpdesk. This is a loss of productivity and also affects patient care. How do we avoid this? Listen to this episode to find how technical solutions can help w/ monitoring, detection, investigation, and remediation in a timely manner. Music by AudioCoffee from Pixabay.Tido Inc. The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes. Support the show

Vik and Jimmy focus on digital health and end-to-end monitoring of applications in this episode of This Week in Health Tech. Vik talks about strategy for digital transformation: managing digital apps, integrating digital apps, and supporting digital apps on an ongoing basis.Vik also mentions that healthcare organizations have requested not only automated monitoring but also 24/7 support to go along with the monitoring subscription.  Jimmy inquires about the 24/7 support and if it is actually supported by human support staff. Vik confirms that support is actual trained application and integration support team. But the support team is kept updated proactively about any issues using automated end-to-end monitoring. The automated monitoring is not true AI, but it is still using algorithms that are tweaked constantly by the monitoring team to enhance the solution and trigger notifications for issues without relying on users. Jimmy asks what would stop an organization from getting this end to end monitoring solution? Is it budget, processes, etc? Vik answers that all CIOs he has discussed this solution agree that it would really help the organization and keep IT helpdesk informed of issues proactively. But the main obstacle from purchasing this is budget and justifying such a new solution versus the more traditional projects that are on the books. Even though it is quite evident that the solution has huge ROI benefits by not relying on clinical professionals having to deal w/ issues. However most organization do not keep track of how much time clinicians spend on dealing w/ issues, so the actual calculation of ROI is based on estimates. This is where it becomes a bit of a struggle for CIOs to justify purchasing this solution to the healthcare CFO.Again, healthcare will adopt automated applications monitoring just like security and infrastructure monitoring, but it may take some time as it always done in healthcare. Linkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimWebsite: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comTido Inc.The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes.Support the showSupport the show

This episode of This Week in Health Tech focuses on one of the biggest tech conferences of North America, Collision Conference 2022. Collision attracts people from more than 125 countries and more than 35000 people. Vik shares the stories meeting the brightest minds in tech and innovative companies. Very different than the other healthcare tech conferences.  Crowd at the conference was definitely very mixed and pleasantly unexpected. Women in tech definitely represented in good numbers at the conference. The setup at the conference was laid out very well to help easier mingling of people. Tido Inc. was represented by four team members at the conference. It was great to talk to companies from other industries like fintech, gaming, and analytics. Pretty much every industry was well represented at the conference. Also tons of investors at the conference so great opportunity for startups to find investor partners and vice versa. We also cut into couple of interviews w/ other startup founders and share their thoughts about the conference.  Jimmy and Vik then discuss AI at the conference. Vik shares the experience from one of the presentations w/ basketball player Carmelo Anthony and digital Melo. Linkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimWebsite: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comTido Inc.The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes.Support the showTido Inc. The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes. Support the show

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy focus on keeping healthcare uninterrupted: 24/7 end to end monitoring of applications and integration between applications.  Vik and Jimmy start out with discussing working from home and hybrid working. Because of digital transformation and increasing number of mobile and web applications, it is becoming a bigger challenge for healthcare organizations to stay on top of desktop, web, and mobile application issues. Relying on manual reporting of issues is going to become an even bigger problem. Vik provides example of how issues in production environment impact patient care by discussing registration information flow from EHR to downstream applications. There are multiple points where there could be point of failure, end users may not get the right information at the right time. Helpdesk has limited knowledge of applications and they deal with a lot of access issues. and it is not practical for helpdesk team to understand every application and its functionality. Jimmy and Vik then discuss an example in ER, where technical application or integration issues may have a huge impact on patient outcomes. Manual monitoring is impossible in a healthcare environment to keep track of all the integrations and application functionality. Tido's end to end monitoring technology is constantly monitoring all applications and integrations to avoid reliance on manual intervention. Vik talks about the advantages of automated 24/7 end-to-end applications and integration monitoring and shares the experiences of using this technology at healthcare organizations. Jimmy asks about digital transformation impact on this applications monitoring. Vik indicates that digital transformation will have huge impact on how applications and interfaces are being monitored because organizations are adding mobile and web applications at an expedited rate. Healthcare organizations are also figuring out their digital transformation and app management strategy, which maybe a discussion point for another episode. Continuing to rely on manual reporting of issues is a risk that is going to become bigger as more and more applications are added to the mix. Vik thinks one of the main reason healthcare organizations are not using automated end-to-end applications and integration monitoring and keep relying on manual intervention because that is the status quo and that is how we have been doing it. Just because it has been done this way does not mean it is the right way of diagnosing and reporting issues. Vik talks about automated notifications and how the monitoring solution plugs into heldesk software and integration w/ Microsoft Teams to keep helpdesk team informed about application and integration issues. More Info on End to End Monitoring - https://tidoinc.com/tido-end-to-end-applications-monitoring/ Ep.  41 How to Improve Patient Safety With End to End (E2e) Systems Monitoring Linkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimWebsite: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comSupport the show

For the month of May, Vik and Jimmy are focusing on Healthcare Web, Mobile, EHR Testing and Test Automation.  In this part 1 episode, they focus on healthcare web properties testing and test automation strategies and implementation.Vik starts with the basics and defining testing and test automation and testing reality in healthcare. Testing is underrated and not something organizations think about but it should be a top priority, especially in these times when more and more online applications are used by patients and providers.Typically regression testing is missing because there are never enough test / qa resources in an organization. So there is limited testing in reality. Performance testing is usually not done and could be a potential user satisfaction issue if the website cannot handle web traffic, for example, a COVID scheduling or registration web application.Jimmy asks who is involved in website management at a healthcare organization. Vik explains that it is a combination of marketing and IT departments. Sometimes the roles are clear but usually, IT provides development resources, either in-house or outsourced. The marketing team in many cases is expected to do testing and user acceptance testing.Vik then explains the different categories of testing: Continuous, Automated, and Live Testing. Continuous testing is where testing is utilized at every stage of development. When test script development is complete,  then those scripts can be used for automated testing against hundreds of combinations of devices and browsers. Live testing is used by QA staff to test websites on real devices which are running in the cloud.Vik and Jimmy then use a real-life example of a COVID registration web application to discuss the different types of web application testing. Vik explains how the selenium test framework is utilized for test automation. Test scripts are written in any of the major programming languages: Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Kotlin, etc. He also explains how this automation works with a real device cloud to test the scripts against hundreds of combinations of devices and browsers. Jimmy and Vik then talk about types of testing: Functional, Compatibility, and Performance testing.They go into briefly about upcoming mobile and EHR testing in the next episodes of This Week in Health Tech. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the showSupport the show

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy chat about the latest health tech news including telehealth and in-person hybrid healthcare. Telehealth is not just a pandemic trend, and it is here to stay. Healthcare is increasingly hybrid with in-person and telehealth visits. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2019-2020, healthcare organizations were struggling with telehealth, however over the past 2 years, technology and workflows have matured. Telehealth experience has also improved over the 2 years as evident with Jimmy's own telehealth visits in 2020 versus the better experience in 2022. Vik and Jimmy then dive into the different payment models i.e. subscribtion or pay now or insurance for telehealth visits, and how insurance companies and Medicare-Medicaid pay for telehealth and how this may change in future. Jimmy and Vik then discuss the argument of if providers should get paid the same for in-person versus telehealth visits. The article discussed by Vik and Jimmy from HealthTechITNewshttps://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-hybrid-future-mixed-person-care-and-mobile-devicesMetaverse Real Estate Article Mentioned in Today's Episodehttps://fortune.com/2022/02/02/how-to-buy-metaverse-real-estate-snoop-dogg-celebrity-neighbor/Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, first episode of 2022, Vik and Jimmy welcome Jared Johnson, from Healthcare Podcast Rap. Vik and Jimmy discuss hybrid healthcare or consumer first healthcare in this episode. Jared starts with explaining discussing what hybrid healthcare is with an example of 23 and me. He also mentions examples of Best Buy buying healthcare companies or even Walmart. How do you adapt as a CEO / CIO / CMIO of a traditional healthcare organization? Jared mentions that the margins are already lower in healthcare and how do you part w/ the little margin and partner w/ consumer brands. The group then discusses digital transformation and impact on consumer driven healthcare. Jared indicates that this is still the very beginning of consumer brands in healthcare. But as a healthcare executive, empathy will help understand the change of consumer driven healthcare. Vik then says that consumers are getting used to on-demand with example of uber and banking apps, so why not in healthcare. This is where asynchronous telehealth could also benefit consumers. The group then discusses machine learning and AI, and how it is becoming more accessible, and this allows more entrants or developers in healthcare. Plus w/ FHIR APIs, it allows app developers access to their own data. Jared mentions that partnerships w/ consumer brands in healthcare is still slow but it is happening. Vik mentions the example of the meditation app Calm and how it could be part of person's healthcare.Also Apple Health is connected with thousands of healthcare organizations and collects daily health information through apple watch.  Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimGuest Information:Linkedin: Jared Johnson Health Care Rap Podcast on Apple Podcast Mentions: Calm AppApple HealthSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this emergency episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy discuss the big news of Oracle buying Cerner. The biggest purchase Oracle,  Big Tech, has ever done for $28.3 billion dollars.Vik and Jimmy first talk a little background of Oracle and Cerner.  Vik talks about Oracle products: cloud infrastructure, integration, oracle dbms, developer network, and more. Jimmy said this sends a huge signal that there is massive potential in healthcare.  Stock price has dropped initially because people are still trying to make sense of it. Plus there have been massive failures in the past like Microsoft HealthVault and Google HealthCloud. Vik thinks there will be growing pains in the beginning but over time once they figure out the best way to integrate Oracle and Cerner products. Vik thinks that one of the big opportunity is analytics and AI. Oracle will obviously use their cloud but the hidden opportunity is making sense of Big Data and use AI to make processes for health systems efficient and realize significant ROI. This could present a good opportunity to Cerner clients. Also sends a signal to Epic EHR, the EHR with biggest market in healthcare. The other thing is Oracle knows how to make products available to a developer network. Jimmy brings up the point that Cerner CEO is quite new and has been CEO only since Aug 2021. Maybe he was the right person to complete the deal. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy invite Dr. Laura Purdy, CEO and CoFounder of MD Integrations, All in One Telehealth solutions company. Dr. Purdy is a 15 year army veteran and started her career in military medical school and as a hospitalist in military. She realized early on that telehealth will be the future of healthcare for simple things such as poison ivy or pink eye. In the old days of telehealth, there were a lot of challenges from technical challenge to scheduling patients. Jimmy asks about asynchronous use of telehealth. Asynchronous is offline dialog and not real-time communication. Direct to consumer telehealth companies are at different stages of development. All of these companies have to deal with the same technical challenges including the portal and integration. This is where MD Integrations has an API which is designed for asynchronous telehealth.  One of the biggest pain points of telehealth is EMR. Today's EMRs are not designed for telehealth service, they are still designed for core brick and mortar services. Jimmy asks the question if asynchronous telehealth will increase over synchronous visits because patients do not prefer face to face visit if possible similar to other industries. Dr. Purdy explains the differences between the two and does think that asynchronous visits will continue to increase over face to face telehealth visits. The numbers are showing decrease in synchronous or real-time telehealth visits. On-demand healthcare is the future and asynchronous is able to assist w/ the same. Dr. Purdy provides examples of asynchronous use and why face to face call does not always make sense. Vik then asks why there are so many niche telehealth companies springing up when there are telehealth giants such as Teledoc and Livingo.  Dr. Purdy explains in detail the reason behind need for niche telehealth companies and why this market does not need to depend only on the telehealth giants. The group then jumps in the integration challenges related to Telehealth and how to overcome challenge of access to data from health system, clinic, telehealth portals. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimGuest Information:LinkedIn: Dr. Laura PurdyWebsite: https://mdintegrations.com/Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this Halloween special of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy discuss digital transformation and AI with guest Shelby Sanderford, CEO of Docpace. Shelby shares her story of how she got started in healthcare IT working in a hospital. They are on a mission to eliminate wait times for patients and eliminate need for waiting rooms. The group dives into the conversation w/ impact of the pandemic on digital transformation in healthcare. Shelby notes that last few years healthcare organizations have been switching to electronic health records and applications, but in the last couple of years, it has been the acceptance of those applications. All these applications have almost become a necessity instead of a luxury. Vik agrees and adds that there is also an increased expectation from patients to use digital apps for personal healthcare. This is why Tido Inc.'s digital team is increasingly working w/ healthcare organizations on app strategy and management. Jimmy asks the question what kept Shelby going with all the challenges of pandemic. Shelby answers that the main reason is the justification that the problem exists so even with all the challenges, it helped to know that Docpace could solve some of those issues with wait times. Vik adds that some of these expectations are related to "On Demand" expectation of consumers. Shelby adds that healthcare is shifting to more proactive care instead of reactive care. Pre COVID, most consumers and healthcare organizations were okay with status quo but Post COVID, healthcare organizations are realizing that they need to meet the new expectations from consumers. Vik notes that executives are now realizing that they need to be prepared for this coming onslaught of apps because the basic patient portal is not enough and does not provide a customized experience for consumers. Shelby adds that the seamless integration will definitely be the key for healthcare organizations to take advantage of the innovation and new applications. Vik agrees that with FHIR interoperability, it will enable on demand healthcare with easy and secure pull of the patient information. The fragmentation in healthcare is gradually going away and FHIR APIs will play a crucial role in reducing fragmentation in healthcare. The group then moves to discussing AI in healthcare. Shelby explains the difference in automation and AI. Vik notes that lot of times the details about underlying algorithm, comparison data used etc. is unknown. As Dr. Oliver, CMIO, Baptist, said in the past episodes, lot of times the AI functionality is a black box and could affect the trust factor of an application. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLinkedIn: Shelby SanderfordSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy discuss healthcare systems monitoring and integration. In today's healthcare, we are still dependant on users to identify and report system issues. This is a big patient safety issue. Vik explains the issue in detail using an example. Patient arrives in emergency department, and based on the patient state, physician orders few different tests. In this case, physician orders lab, cardiology, and radiology tests. Lab and Cardio tests are processed successfully, and are visible to the users in those respective departments. PACS system however is experiencing some issue, and even though the order messages were received successfully through the interface, the orders still did not show up in the PACS system. So after close to an hour, the emergency department calls up radiology to find out the status of the tests and when the procedure will be done. This is when PACS admin or user realizes that there might be an issue and they will contact IT department or open a task using online task reporting system. This is when the IT help desk contact integration analyst to look into the issue, but this example show the reliance on manual intervention to find system issues is very risky and could lead to adverse patient events.This is where end to end systems monitoring comes into place. If the health system did have end to end systems monitoring in place, the active monitoring would have detected the exact location of the fault and cut down time to find and diagnose system issues. Plus it prevents reliance on users to report issue. With digital transformation number of systems and applications will continue to increase, and CIOs-CMIOS should really consider active monitoring to improve patient safety and prevent unscheduled downtimes. It is about being active instead of being reactive when dealing w/ system issues.Also, with Tido's Systems end to end monitoring, it does not stop at flagging and diagnosing the issue, but there is also well defined notifications mechanism to alert the appropriate staff members of a system issue. Jimmy asks the question, why health systems have not considered this until now? Vik explains that EHR and more electronic systems have been implemented everywhere only in the last 10-15 years. Plus applications have matured and reliance on electronic systems in health systems has increased and it will continue to increase. So it is the right timing now to implement active end to end systems monitoring. Vik then explains the end to end systems monitoring architecture and software: how it works with interface engine and EHR and downstream systems. There is also significant ROI from using automated end to end systems monitoring. All the time saved by staff members not spending their time dealing with system issues and instead of focusing on patient care is huge savings for a health system. Plus it improves patient outcomes. Tido has a deal for 6 months free end to end systems monitoring for health systems. Claim this deal by visiting tidoinc.com: https://tidoinc.com/contact-tido-inc/ and include E2E in your message. Tido's solution uses Microsoft Azure cloud for end to end systems monitoring.  Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this packed episode of This Week in Health Tech, we welcome Dr. Brett Oliver, Chief Medical Information Officer, Baptist Health KY and IN to talk about telehealth, eVisits, digital transformation, interoperability, cultural change, and more. To kick it off, we jump into the latest COVID situation in Kentucky and the strain its' putting on healthcare. Dr. Oliver indicated that the Delta variant is very highly transmittable and rural facilities are suffering because vaccination rates are relatively lower. Smaller community hospitals are not able to transfer patients to bigger facilities because every hospital is overwhelmed with COVID patients. Jimmy asks Brett about remote monitoring and remote visits with patients. Brett indicates that Baptist is really trying to improve remote visits both asynchronously and synchronously. Plus the technology is improving and multi specialty remote visit is also now possible. Brett then jumps into e-visits, they have centralized it for urgent and evisits. These visits happen organically from the website and it is a cash paying service. The service level agreement to provide the eVisit within 30 min has been received really well by the patient population. Baptist is also expanding clinical content and recommendations that are provided to patient.  Vik and Brett then discuss few personalized experiences the can be provided online including scheduling and referrals.  Patients are ready for this cultural shift to eVisits and online healthcare experiences, but healthcare organizations also need to adapt fast and the culture change discussions have to happen. Jimmy asks both Vik and Brett about any future challenges with digital transformation. Vik indicates that we could go from a very basic experience to a very overwhelming experience where patients have to choose from hundreds of apps which could again defeat the purpose of digital transformation. Brett agrees with that and also points out the challenge of data silos. This is where interoperability is still one of the biggest challenges in healthcare. Patients own their healthcare data however it is still not easy for patients to access and share their data with new providers or health systems. CMS / ONC are pushing for better interoperability with Patient FHIR APIs, Provider FHIR APIs and this will definitely help move away from today's data silos in healthcare.Brett points out that there are still big holes with post acute care, and integration with nursing homes or long term care is still a big challenge. Maybe this is where smart phones can be the bridge and patients can hold their patient record on their phones and they should be able to easily share that with nursing homes or long term care. Vik and Brett then discuss how the conversations happen with executive or physician teams for digital transformation and cultural change needed. The group then talks about AI and how artificial intelligence could be very well oversold today. The future is bright for AI but many times when companies or products mention AI is it truly AI or just analytics at this point. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.com Linkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLinkedin: Dr. Brett OliverSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT, Vik and Jimmy comment on HIMSS 2021 Conference that just ended Aug 12. This year the conference was in person in Las Vegas and was also available digitally online. Number of participants was low this year because of the pandemic, and it seemed like instead of the usual 50 to 60 thousand registrants, 2021 conference only had about 18000 registrants. Many of them attended digitally. Vik explains the importance of this conference and what it means for the healthcare information technology conference. Vik mentions that he attended the conference digitally this year and experience of attending digitally did not compare well to in person. Jimmy asks about the digital experience, and Vik explains that even though the app tried to facilitate the communication through the app, the experience could have been much better. Number of digital sessions were limited and there were fewer opportunities to connect in digital sessions. There was a way to view the directory of participants and reach out to people, however, that is probably not the best way to connect with people. Vik then answers Jimmy question about which topics were really the hot topics in this year's conference. Vik comments that the biggest topic was interoperability because of digital transformation in healthcare. The president of HIMSS indicated that with value based care and personalized care, it made sense for organizations to invest in the right strategies and technologies to enable integration between EHR, hospitals, and  innovative applications to provide the best experience for patients. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimTido's Integration PackagesSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of Digital Transformation acceleration with APIs, Vik and Jimmy discuss the basics of API and its impact on digital transformation in health systems.The biggest factor for talking about APIs in healthcare is digital transformation. COVID has accelerated digital transformation in healthcare, it started with telehealth, but it is way beyond just telehealth: increased use AI and machine learning, patient or provider facing mobile apps, analytics, and remote monitoring. As a CIO or CEO of a health system,  you need to be ready for digital transformation.Healthcare has been working on digital transformation however COVID has expedited and pushed health systems to make changes, plus the government is also pushing digital transformation with CURES Act.Vik and Jimmy use examples from other industries to show user experiences are way better compared to healthcare.From a CIO standpoint, it starts with strategy, to enable digital transformation, you need to make it easier for data sharing for AI, Machine Learning, mobile apps, remote monitoring. And API is the way to go compared to the traditional way of integration. Vik and Jimmy then dive into specifics about strategy and use a practical example to explain how APIs need to be implemented.APIs also help realize significant ROI (return of investment) over traditional integration because of reduced resource time for implementation.Vik and Jimmy then dive into on-premise vs cloud for API implementations. Vik explains using FHIR specification for healthcare APIs.Vik explains the competitive advantage of having APIs to enable better user experiences.Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT, we discuss how to actively monitor hospital systems data integrity. It is a big challenge to monitor hundreds of systems in a health system to ensure workflows and data are working as expected. This prevents having to rely on users to report issues and prevent extensive downtime. Vik describes a typical scenario in how most issues are dealt with today in a health system. He uses an example of an ED system. A user in emergency department places a lab order and if there is an issue with getting the result back, after waiting for 20-30min, the user then will report the issue to information technology help desk. Help desk will then message the integration team so they can check if the issue is with the result interfaces. Integration engineer will check the interfaces and then determine if there is an issue or not. By this time it is already 45-60min. Once integration team determines it is not an issue with interfaces, then they will open a task with the ED system vendor because at this point it is clear that there is some other issue with displaying the result in the ED system. This example shows that in health systems today, there is no automated process to prevent system issues and prevent long unscheduled downtimes which affect patient care. With an automated hospital systems data monitoring, within a min, an issue can be identified, and process of notifying the right parties can start immediately. This way a fix can be in place as soon as possible to minimize system downtime and avoid adverse patient events because of system issues. This problem of avoiding system issues has been in place for a long time, and it is challenging to actively monitor workflows and data integrity within 100s of hospital systems, however, our team at Tido Inc. has developed an active monitoring application to help identify issues instantly. Relying on users to report issues in all electronic systems is a very frustrating issue for care providers and instead of focusing on patient care, they are having to deal with system issues.  Vik provides another example where because of a workflow change in the EMR system, how it can affect downstream systems. EMR and hospital systems test automation can help avoid these issues (check last episode for more details), however, even test automation cannot guarantee avoidance of issues in live environment. This is where active systems integrity monitoring can catch issues before they turn into longer downtimes or affect patient care because of missing critical data. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimTido Inc. The Trusted Tech Partner for Healthcare. We use technology to deliver better outcomes. Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT, Vik and Jimmy continue the series about testing and test automation in healthcare, specifically EMR and health systems test automation. We start out with the difference between web test automation that we discussed in the last episode versus EMR and health systems test automation. Vik explains that the biggest difference would be that web applications may or may not have patient health information however EMR and all hospital systems all have patient health information (PHI). So the impact of system errors with EMR and hospitals systems (PACS, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Cardiology, ambulatory, etc). is way higher as it could lead to critical adverse events. Vik explains that with EMR and other hospital systems, changes are being made in those systems based on the feedback from clinical staff for workflows and then there are also application updates that are also happening continuously. Vik then explains the traditional approach for testing of changes in healthcare organization. In most cases it is a manual testing. He explains the traditional manual approach in detail using an example. But it is definitely a challenge because all the staff members involved in this testing already have competing deadlines and testing of the EMR and other hospital changes becomes secondary.Jimmy shares a testing story from video game industry and  Vik mentions Apple's Mythic Quest show and how there are only 2 testers for a very complex video game. Just shows that testing is not always a priority. But the impact of software issues in a video game versus EMR or other hospital systems is very different. It is actually a life or death difference in hospital systems.  Jimmy and Vik then discuss what can be done better for testing in healthcare. Vik indicates that to cover all the testing required for continuous changes happening in hospital systems, on average, it will probably take about 50,000 hours to cover all the testing required. And if we average out the hourly rate of staff members to $50/hour, that means it will take $2.5 million dollars per year to do all testing using manual testing. The way around this is to use the right technologies to automate the testing. Vik indicates that depending on whether the system is web or desktop, selenium or appium framework can be used for test automation scripts. The other thing to consider is that there are lots of different devices used in a hospital environment i.e. desktop, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. This is where using a real device cloud in automated testing to ensure the system works as intended on all devices is very important. Vik explains the process used by test team at Tido Inc. for test automation. Initially once assessment is done to capture all the different workflows and downstream systems used, the team then develops test scripts. They also use integration framework since all the information to downstream systems going through the interfaces can be used to cross check information between EMR and downstream systems. Once the test scripts are developed they can be run continuously or on-demand for regression testing on any change. Jimmy makes a comment that all the savings with test automation can then be put towards services or products for patient care. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Linkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimMythic Quest: @mythic_questMusic Provided by Soundstripe.comSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

For month of May, Vik and Jimmy are focusing on Healthcare Web, Mobile, EHR Testing and Test Automation.  In this part 1 episode, they focus on healthcare web properties testing and test automation strategies and implementation. Vik starts with the basics and defining testing and test automation and testing reality in healthcare. Testing is underrated and not something organizations think about but it should be a top priority especially in these times when more and more online applications are used by patients and providers. Typically regression testing is missing because there are never enough test / qa resources in an organization. So there is limited testing in reality. Performance testing is usually not done and could be a potential user satisfaction issue if the website cannot handle web traffic, for example a COVID scheduling or registration web application. Jimmy asks who is involved in website management at a healthcare organization. Vik explains that it is a combination of marketing and IT departments. Sometimes the roles are clear but usually IT provides development resources, either in-house or outsourced. Marketing team in many cases is expected to do testing and user acceptance testing. Vik then explains the different categories of testing: Continuous, Automated, and Live Testing. Continuous testing is where testing is utilized at every stage of development. When test script development is complete,  then those scripts can be used for automated testing against hundreds of combinations of devices and browsers. Live testing is used by QA staff to test websites on real devices which are running in the cloud. Vik and Jimmy then use a real life example of COVID registration web application to discuss  the different types of web application testing.  Vik explains how selenium test framework is utilized for test automation. Test scripts are written in any of the major programming languages: Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Kotlin, etc. He also explains how this automation works with a real device cloud to test the scripts against hundreds of combinations of devices and browsers.  Jimmy and Vik then talk about types of testing: Functional, Compatibility, and Performance testing.They go into briefly about upcoming mobile and EHR testing in the next episodes of This Week in Health Tech.  Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech we welcome our very own and close friend Wayne Che to talk about Health System and Mobile Apps - Management, Resources, Build vs Buy, Testing, Infrastructure, Security, Privacy, and more!This episode aligns well with the new digital product offering of Tido Inc. for the management of mobile and web apps for health systems. Wayne Che works in multiple roles, primarily as CTO of Sowingo Inc., and has tons of experience with the implementation of mobile apps.We get right into mobile development by starting the discussion on build vs buy.Vik comments that health systems main focus is improving patient outcomes and it does not make sense to assemble a development team in-house. Wayne agrees that you gain speed of execution and plus allows you to focus on the primary job of using IT for providing better care of patients.Jimmy asks what to look for in the development shop and Wayne thinks that you need to have a partner that understands requirements and helps to define requirements. Also, the shop should not only have development skills but it is also more important to have management skills to keep the app updated and continuously test to provide the best user experience.Vik comments that Tido Inc. launched a new digital package to help health systems manage apps and includes custom development of apps. It also includes test automation and maintenance. Wayne indicates that testing and maintenance is a key component otherwise with iOS or android updates app may stop working.Vik and Jimmy then dive into test automation and the importance of testing on actual real devices. This is where real device testing comes into play. Both Vik and Wayne recommend the selenium framework with real device cloud providers like Sauce Labs or BrowserStack.Testing helps provide the best user experience and it is so crucial for patients who may be already going through a lot and a frustrating app experience just adds to negative patient satisfaction.The group then discusses infrastructure for apps. There are many cloud providers and what is the best approach for health systems.Wayne comments that cloud providers do several things well including staying compliant with HIPAA and PHIPA. Vik comments that using the cloud has another benefit which is to reduce traffic from mobile devices directly into the health system network.The group then talks about using APIs for data sharing for mobile apps. Also with ONC's Cures Act, it is required that there are no more data silos, but most health systems should go beyond Cures Act for bidirectional data flow securely.Wayne comments that this is where health systems should look into hiring the expertise for API development and management and ensure security.Jimmy asks the question of why this urgency of APIs and mobile development now? Wayne and Vik respond that not only Cures Act but from providing the best user experience, health systems have to provide APIs and app support.Group then talks about the hybrid approach for mobile app development where you have some expertise in-house, maybe a product owner or architect but use an outside development company.Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Wayne Che: Wayne CheSowingo Inc: https://sowingo.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

On this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy welcome Mark Brookman, CIO, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We jump right into tele-health and adoption with Mark. Mark indicated that even though they had started on tele-health path about 3-4 years ago, adoption was scarce. Providers were hesitant because there could be liability issues if they missed anything however things changed with COVID-19. Government changed their stance and they started reimbursing for telehealth visits. At commonwealth telehealth was now used even in emergency health where patient information about a patient being transferred to the hospital emergency department was provided to a ER physician, and this help ER department to prepare equipment and room according to the incoming patient needs. Jimmy poses question to Mark if provider mentality has changed and if they have adjusted to telehealth and if they will continue with telehealth post COVID-19.  Mark thinks it is still quite early to tell however they are proceeding with plans to expand telehealth services over next few years. Mark then discusses remote monitoring and even in hospital monitoring for COVID patients where patients could be monitored without going inside the room.The conversation then flows into cloud versus on-prem and hybrid infrastructure setup for healthcare organizations. Mark indicates that he has a very cautious slow approach to cloud adoption. He does not like giving up control by hosting everything in the cloud. Industry is clearly moving in the direction of subscription or cloud hosted solutions. Vik indicates that it could be a hybrid approach, and gives an example for integration.  Hybrid approach would help separate external system connections to the cloud and not have them connected directly to the same on premise servers. Vik, Jimmy, and Mark then discuss remote working and how healthcare staff has adopted to working remotely and if there has been a culture change. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Associated Links:https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/leveraging-digital-transformation-rightSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of Digital Transformation acceleration with APIs, Vik and Jimmy discuss the basics of API and its impact on digital transformation in health systems. The biggest factor for talking about APIs in healthcare is digital transformation. COVID has accelerated digital transformation in healthcare, it started with telehealth, but it is way beyond just telehealth: increased use AI and machine learning, patient or provider facing mobile apps, analytics, and remote monitoring. As a CIO or CEO of a health system, you need to be ready for digital transformation. Healthcare has been working on digital transformation however COVID has expedited and pushed health systems to make changes, plus the government is also pushing digital transformation with CURES Act. Vik and Jimmy use examples from other industries to show user experiences are way better compared to healthcare.From a CIO standpoint, it starts with strategy, to enable digital transformation, you need to make it easier for data sharing for AI, Machine Learning, mobile apps, remote monitoring. And API is the way to go compared to the traditional way of integration. Vik and Jimmy then dive into specifics about strategy and use a practical example to explain how APIs need to be implemented. APIs also help realize significant ROI (return of investment) over traditional integration because of reduced resource time for implementation. Vik and Jimmy then dive into on-premise vs cloud for API implementations. Vik explains using FHIR specification for healthcare APIs. Vik explains the competitive advantage of having APIs to enable better user experiences. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Associated Links: https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/leveraging-digital-transformation-rightSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this week of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy tackle a very timely topic about COVID vaccine scheduling for health systems.Vaccines are here, Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca. The phone is ringing off the hook at health systems, which is creating operations issues for health systems. Clogged up phone lines does not help with patient care because more critical issues might not get the attention they deserve. Vaccine protocols are changing and currently, healthcare staff members, long term care facilities, and elderly people are prioritized over the general population. Now the number of vaccine shots are limited and health systems need to figure out a way to provide vaccine to people in the community. Roll out of vaccines is definitely a logistics issue. Jimmy and Vik dive into different ways to set up online scheduling for vaccines that could be useful for health systems. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Jimmy and Vik recap the 2020 episodes of This Week in Health Tech and chat about the best of 2020 topics, guests, and more. Vik and Jimmy start out by reminiscing about 2020 and how it all started. It is also the one-year anniversary of the TWIHT podcast. Vik concedes that it was not easy to start the podcast and staying on track. But over time it has definitely gotten easier, it no longer feels like work. They start out talking about the very first 2 episodes and how they really dived into it with security in healthcare. Throughout 2020, we actually talked about security in pretty much every episode, especially with the growing number of healthcare apps and data. Vik and Jimmy comment that on the surface it may seem that lots of apps like Gmail zoom etc may seem free however data they collect is priceless. Big tech influence in healthcare is continuing to grow and they talked about big tech in the episode with Unmesh. AI and machine learning were also topics that came up in a lot of episodes in 2020. COVID has also accelerated AI and machine learning influence in healthcare. Vik and Jimmy comment on how digital strategy has become very crucial now more than ever. They also talked about how COVID forced work from home in all industries including healthcare and the use of different technologies to work securely from home. Jimmy also comments on how he had to switch his corporate fitness programs to virtual programs to survive. Jimmy learned a lot from this and actually provided great tips for improving the telehealth experience in an episode in mid-2020.They also talk about how all the guests of TWIHT were very positive and contributed in different ways using their experience and expertise in dealing with the tough situation of COVID personally and professionally. Vik then reminds listeners of the human resources episode with Tony Welch which was emotional and raw. They also talk about the Alan Shoebridge episode where competing organizations came together to fight COVID. Vik mentions the episode with Laura O'Toole and being future prepared with technology. How do you deploy more applications quickly but securely and making sure all apps provide the best user experience. Test automation is the way to go to ensure the best user experience. They also talk about the mobile development episode and geeking out on the episode with Wayne Che. Vik then comments about the future 2021 trend. He suggests that because of the ONC Cures Act and the increased influence of AI, Machine Learning, and Big Tech, and based on the conversations that they are having with CIOs, managers are that there will be a spur in the healthcare app economy. Organizations will need to be ready with a hybrid architecture that will allow them to deploy apps, not just in-house but also external patient-provider facing apps. Vik also thinks that test automation and digital app management will play a huge role especially with the increase in healthcare apps. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech we welcome our very own and close friend Wayne Che to talk about Health System and Mobile Apps - Management, Resources, Build vs Buy, Testing, Infrastructure, Security, Privacy, and more!This episode aligns well with the new digital product offering of Tido Inc. for the management of mobile and web apps for health systems. Wayne Che works in multiple roles, primarily as CTO of Sowingo Inc., and has tons of experience with the implementation of mobile apps.We get right into mobile development by starting the discussion on build vs buy. Vik comments that health systems main focus is improving patient outcomes and it does not make sense to assemble a development team in-house. Wayne agrees that you gain speed of execution and plus allows you to focus on the primary job of using IT for providing better care of patients. Jimmy asks what to look for in the development shop and Wayne thinks that you need to have a partner that understands requirements and helps to define requirements. Also, the shop should not only have development skills but it is also more important to have management skills to keep the app updated and continuously test to provide the best user experience. Vik comments that Tido Inc. launched a new digital package to help health systems manage apps and includes custom development of apps. It also includes test automation and maintenance. Wayne indicates that testing and maintenance is a key component otherwise with iOS or android updates app may stop working. Vik and Jimmy then dive into test automation and the importance of testing on actual real devices. This is where real device testing comes into play. Both Vik and Wayne recommend the selenium framework with real device cloud providers like Sauce Labs or BrowserStack. Testing helps provide the best user experience and it is so crucial for patients who may be already going through a lot and a frustrating app experience just adds to negative patient satisfaction. The group then discusses infrastructure for apps. There are many cloud providers and what is the best approach for health systems. Wayne comments that cloud providers do several things well including staying compliant with HIPAA and PHIPA. Vik comments that using the cloud has another benefit which is to reduce traffic from mobile devices directly into the health system network. The group then talks about using APIs for data sharing for mobile apps. Also with ONC's Cures Act, it is required that there are no more data silos, but most health systems should go beyond Cures Act for bidirectional data flow securely. Wayne comments that this is where health systems should look into hiring the expertise for API development and management and ensure security. Jimmy asks the question of why this urgency of APIs and mobile development now? Wayne and Vik respond that not only Cures Act but from providing the best user experience, health systems have to provide APIs and app support. Group then talks about the hybrid approach for mobile app development where you have some expertise in-house, maybe a product owner or architect but use an outside development company. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Wayne Che: Wayne CheSowingo Inc: https://sowingo.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin:

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy invite Jeff Fallon with eVideon to talk about the hospital inpatient experience. It is the first time we are talking about changing inpatient experience with digital transformation in healthcare. We start out with the traditional/existing setup in most hospital rooms. Jeff explains that patient rooms have not changed a whole lot since 1970s. There is still the nurse call button in the room maybe with a hardwired phone and a tube tv which is controlled by up and down buttons on the bedside remote control. Vik mentions that the good thing is that digital transformation is in the works at most of the health systems. It starts with an infrastructure upgrade to support digital transformation. Jeff agrees that infrastructure is the backbone for digital changes but it is easier to do in newer buildings than in really old hospital buildings. It becomes inherently expensive to upgrade wiring for example in buildings with concrete walls and increases barriers for entry. Vik indicates that maybe we could get around the issue of physical wiring with advancements in wireless technology, especially with wifi 6.Jimmy stated that there must be a reason for the change now with the inpatient experience and Jeff comments that value-based care is a big driver for this. Patient satisfaction scores are used for value-based compliance and providing a better inpatient hospital experience will help drive up patient satisfaction scores and hence patient outcomes. Jeff also commented that pandemic also accelerated the transformation and the drive to use technology to provide a better experience but more importantly reduce contagious viruses. Vik comments that in COVID times, when caregivers are wearing masks it is difficult to make that connection with patients. But maybe a smart room will display the caregiver's photo on the screen and badge information so you can make a better connection even through a mask. Jeff also mentions that it is critical to give patients control of their experience and using technology we will be able to provide that experience. Vik thinks using a smart speaker could also be useful in the hospital room which can announce the schedule for the day or announce the person entering the room etc. Vik thinks in future patient could be given a tablet with all hospital approved apps to give the patient control on what apps / information they would like to make use of. Jeff thinks it needs to be balanced because some users could get overwhelmed and may need more hand holding.Either way, we all agree that digital transformation will drive inpatient experience and improve all patient satisfaction. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Jeff Fallon: Jeff FalloneVideon Healthcare: https://www.evideon.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

We have our first physician on This Week in Health Tech. Dr. Michael Farmer, Cardiologist and founder of Corverix to talk about wearables. Michael got into wearables because he found current healthcare very reactive and not enough on prevention. It became frustrating and Michael found that patients had access to smartwatches and all the indicators captured on these devices going wasted. Patients used to fax ECG from apple watch to his clinic. Vik agrees that it is absolutely after the fact medicine but we should be getting to more active caring of patients. Value-based care will incentivize prevention and wearables and value-based care align quite well. Michael indicated that there is a huge return on investment for organizations that recommend wearables for employees. For example, 50% of the US population suffers from high blood pressure and if even lowered blood pressure for 10% of the population using wearables would be a huge benefit. Vik brings up the point that there are massive amounts of data collected by wearables so how do you go about deciphering so much data and presenting it to the provider where it is actually useful. Michael indicated in a perfect world, it would very useful to have a link in the EMR that would present him with all the data points from wearables. For example sleep time, exercise time, etc. Because a lot of times the information you get from patients is not accurate so from a provider perspective it just helps to see actual data points collected in the last few months to make informed decisions. Michael, Vik, and Jimmy then dig into more details about wearable data points like heart rate variability and how they help a physician. Next, they talk about the limitations of EHR and how the data presented in a standard EHR is not easy to use and there is usually way too much going on instead of presenting crucial data points in a visual manner. The other huge advantage of wearables is provided personalized care for patients. Vik then mentions the strategy they use for digital apps integration. Instead of traditional pushing data and duplicating data, it will be on-demand. Also, because of the Cures Act, it will open up data using APIs. Having FHIR APIs in the cloud, it will allow apps to access EHR data in real-time.Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Guest Linkedin: Dr. Michael FarmerCoverix Website: https://corverix.com/pages/wearablesMusic Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, we welcome Ryan Neaves, VP, Care Applications from Novant Health, and Laura O'Tool, President, Santa Rosa Consulting. We focus on test automation for Electronic Health Record systems and also for digital testing of mobile and web applications. As some wise person noted, there is never enough testing to provide the best user experience and satisfaction. Tido Inc. has test automation packages which help end to end testing of all workflows for EHR and also for the growing number of mobile and web applications with digital transformation in healthcare. Laura comments that we are always scrambling to do testing or cover all the workflows. Testing is required for multiple reasons including whenever we are upgrading EHR or health systems. And we need to do enough rigorous testing because we care about patients and providing the best healthcare. So it is important all the scenario testing, integrated testing are covered in an automated fashion. This also frees up resources to actually focus on patient care. Especially in these difficult pandemic times, it is crucial to allow key resources to have confidence in health systems and not be bogged down by testing or incorrect workflows. Ryan comments that it has been a great journey for Novant health and implementing test automation. There were also some unintended consequences of the test automation strategy. He also indicates that test automation has been used in other industries forever. While in healthcare we do testing with getting people in a room and running through workflows once. Laura indicates that we have increased innovation in healthcare and Ryan agrees that we search for opportunities, and as the industry changes, there are a lot of tools available. Vik agrees with Ryan that he has been part of those testing calls that Ryan mentioned where resources get together in a room. But a lot of times, there was no documentation of scenarios, it was mainly just relying on clinical personnel remembering workflows. Ryan comments that traditionally you are relying on the key 3 or 4 personnel, and even when you do the testing manually once, it is still only done once! Laura provides an example of how many different data elements or workflows that have to be considered so testing once is definitely not enough. The other issue Ryan highlights are that key resources don't enjoy testing as it takes away from more important tasks at hand. Vik asks Ryan what were some of the challenges with test automation implementation. Ryan indicated that culture shift or change of mentality was one of the main challenges. It was wrestling that control and providing confidence to staff that test automation will test applications thoroughly and intended as it needs to be tested. Vik comments that with the COVID situation, digital transformation is happening rapidly, so from a digital strategy, there will be an increasing number of mobile and web apps. Ryan indicates that Novant is looking at everything including machine learning and AI. Ryan provides the example of telehealth and how they went from a few hundred users to 30000 users and it highlighted issues that were not known below. Laura comments that because of COVID through health systems into the frying pan and really highlighted the skills of healthcare staff and forced us to be more innovative and utilize automation. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Santa Rosa Consulting Inc.: https://www.santarosaconsulting.com/Novant Health: https://www.novanthealth.org/Music ProvidSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT we focus on the ONC's Cures Act Final act which is all about "Empowering Patients with Their Health Record in a Modern Health IT Economy".The ONC Cures Act Final Rule implements interoperability requirements outlined in the Cures Act. Vik and Jimmy jump into the details about how this Act helps Patients. Putting the patient first in health technology enables the health care system to deliver:Transparency into the cost and outcomes of their careCompetitive options in getting medical careModern smartphone apps to provide them convenient access to their recordsAn app economy that provides patients, physicians, hospitals, payers, and employers with innovation and choiceVik mentions about the API access that has already been enabled by EHRs and how it is allowing patients to access their health information on iPhone and Android devices. Vik indicates that this ruling will spur up an App Economy, starting from purchasing a health service by comparing services and pricing provided by healthcare providers. Another example would be the way information would be available to patients instead of the standard patient portal, where understanding the health / medical record is not very easy for most patients. This is going to promote better health and better outcomes since it puts patients first. Jimmy comments that this does sound amazing for patients but could be bad for bad performing clinics and hospitals. Vik said it will definitely increase patient quality because now the data available will show patient outcomes for every provider. Vik and Jimmy also discuss privacy and security concerns. Vik discusses that you still need to follow the security protocols, OAuth2 to access patient information. There is also governance and authorization and it's not just open data. Vik compares it to banking budgeting apps that have to be authorized by the user and also need a valid back-end connection with the bank. The same idea will be used with the FHIR API access in healthcare and privacy and security concerns will be addressed. Jimmy asks if everyone is for this ruling and Vik indicates that not everyone is. Big Tech (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon), even more EHRs (Cerner, AllScripts, Meditech, etc). are for the ruling. Epic EHR did oppose this ruling based on patient privacy concerns. Vik comments that innovation is also going to benefit clinicians as the app economy will lead to the development of many apps for every service provided by healthcare. Jimmy and Vik also comment on few other examples including sharing medical record between clinicians and hospitals. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy focus on telehealth experience and making changes to provide an optimal user experience for providers and patients. Like it or not, this pandemic has pushed telehealth to the forefront and usage has gone up more than a hundred percent. Vik flips the script on Jimmy and in this episode wants to ask questions to Jimmy, so listeners learn audio, video, and other technical aspects of a video visit from Jimmy. They start out by focusing on audio since that according to Jimmy is the number one important factor of a video visit. Even though it needs to be visual, is because audio adds depth to the visual. You can't really show empathy that well on a video visit but using audio you can clearly hear and show empathy. Especially dealing w/ sensitive health information.Jimmy likes apple AirPods because it allows you to move around freely and the sound quality is the top-notch however battery life of the AirPods is definitely challenging. Vik and Jimmy comment that most times it seems that physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners use mobile phones or tablets for the virtual visit, and it does not seem like there is a dedicated desk for virtual visits. Vik indicates that he uses a wired Samsung Q2U microphone, it was inexpensive, and the sound quality is quite good. Jimmy uses a Blue Yeti microphone which has lots of settings for a single speaker or group of speakers. Microphones were out of stock when everyone started working from home but it does look like more microphones are now available in online stores. Vik indicates that connectivity is also very crucial for a video visit and providers and patients and recommends using home internet connection over phone wireless connection for better quality. If possible to use a wired connection, especially for providers in a hospital or clinic setting, then that should be used for better quality.Jimmy comments about video quality and there are many kinds of video cameras available for desktops. There are even tools available to make the high-quality back camera of a phone into your main video conference camera. There are also surround cameras available for work or home office, so even if you move around and look at different screens, you won't go out of focus on the video call. Jimmy recommends having the video at face level, it should never be below face level. The other aspect of making the telehealth experience seamless is that the visitor experience starts with scheduling the video visit. Patients should be able to easily pick open timeslots, pre-register online, and then receive very clear video visit instructions. This compares to the traditional way when a patient's visit experience is impacted by parking, building elevator, wayfinding, etc. Jimmy also recommends having very good online manners and having a quiet space without distractions for the video visit. It is also a good idea to close apps on your phone or tablet to improve performance and reduce distractions before the telehealth visit. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In the latest episode of This Week in Health Tech we welcome Tony Welch, Senior VP and Chief Human Resources Officer, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.Vik mentions that actually, Tony Welch hired him in his first hospital job, at Hardin Memorial Health in Kentucky. We jump into the COVID-19 situation and how it has affected remote working at Phoebe Putney. Vik explains that Tido's team is used to remote working but it is definitely different for hospital staff. Tony indicated that they had to pretty much write a new manual. Tony explains that Phoebe had a surge of COVID-19 patients at the same time as New York City. PPE was a challenge with a huge population of COVID patients. Phoebe had the foresight and did have six months' worth of PPE stock however because of the surge, they used up 6 months stock within 7 days! Because of the highly infectious disease, they had to dispose of PPE gear after each use. However industrious staff at Phoebe created mask guards so N65 mask can be re-used without having to be disposed of after each use. Phoebe had to repurpose beds for COVID-19 patients. They also created a labor pool that was managed by the Human Resources team. Staff was re-assigned jobs, probably way below their skill level. Jimmy asked if staff morale was affected by this but Tony shared that the staff handled it as well as they could. They took new job duties to help out with the crisis. Facilities in the area actually followed Phoebe's lead. "Emergencies tend to be a morale booster," Tony said and that was true with this situation. Vik asked how was the communication handled with this crisis in keeping staff updated. Tony shared that Phoebe stood up a command center to deal with crisis communication. The Command Center was manned for 17 hours a day to ensure staff was kept updated.CEO and leadership team had decided early on that they were going to be very transparent with staff and with the community. They have a newsletter that communicated about challenges and news. They also started a new video series and the link to the video is shared via email for all staff. There was also the collaboration with hospitals in the region however Phoebe was affected way more than others in the region. Vik indicates that with Tido's partners they are seeing huge uptake on digital transformation to support new digital tools example telehealth, covid testing/check-in tools, etc and if Phoebe has seen a change in the digital strategy. Tony shared that telehealth was in the works for a couple of years but COVID definitely escalated the project implementation and now they are seeing more than 70-80 telehealth visits a week and it works great for chronic health patients example diabetic patients. Lastly, we dig into the social unrest and changes happening or needed in our society. Tony indicated that Phoebe wants to meet the needs of the community and wants to represent the community appropriately in Phoebe staff. They have done a diversity focus group and are standing up a diversity council. They also had to let go of some employees because their ideas of social justice and Phoebe did not align who disparaged people on social media. Tony indicated that they are also looking at their metrics including generational mixes. For example, the biggest number of staff is millennials however they are not represented appropriately in management and even board members. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Phoebe Putney Health Systems: https://www.phoebehealth.com/

We welcome Laura O'Toole with Santa Rosa Consulting Inc. in this episode of This Week in Health Tech and she presents a very candid and insightful view on the current healthcare crisis and how to be better prepared for the future.We start out with the introduction of Laura and Santa Rosa Consulting, a healthcare-focused company.Vik comments about the new virtual world we live in and Laura reflects on how it has affected the way her staff communicates with clients and how she encourages engagement even internally within the company with online happy hour and other ways.Laura talks about how healthcare had to adjust rapidly in the last 4-5 months and digital transformation taking place in healthcare.We comment about interoperability and taking advantage of cloud infrastructure for rapid implementation of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Mobile Apps.Laura comments about test automation which is an integral part of digital transformation especially with the addition of so many digital tools.We comment about tools that can be used for better communication like Intranet so companies can keep staff updated no matter where employees are located.Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Santa Rosa Consulting Inc.: https://www.santarosaconsulting.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLinkedIn: Laura O'TooleSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT, Vik and Jimmy comment on security and privacy in this new normal of COVID-19 crisis. We start by talking about the latest in health tech. Vik talks about digital strategy: telehealth, AI, mobile apps, and how healthcare systems in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis are having to figure out how to update their strategy and make use of innovative tools. Jimmy compares similar situations in the fitness industry. It's all virtual. Vik agrees, that lot of patient care can happen virtually and it continues to grow. But again that is why we wanted to talk about security and privacy concerns with the new virtual and remote services. We start with the tracing apps. Vik provides an example with Norwegian public health who developed a mobile tracing app and was pushed to the public. However, the Norwegian privacy and security agency indicated that the app did not comply with the privacy laws, and the Norwegian tracing app had to be suspended. They were forced to delete all the data collected via the tracing app. Jimmy reminds us that we discussed the confusion around the data governance and policies in the last episode w/ Unmesh in the future of healthcare episode 19 of TWIHT. Vik and Jimmy then talk about working from home and authentication from home. This is where multi-factor authentication can provide added security for access to networks or apps.Security is an even bigger concern because the percentage of employees working from home is way higher than before COVID-19 times. Vik mentions that the biggest way hackers get access to networks is through phishing emails. Especially, nowadays, hackers will use COVID-19 related phishing emails to lure people into clicking links to download or log in or filling out a form. It looks legitimate and when you are not working from home, your guard is down, so it is easier to become a victim to phishing emails. Jimmy mentions a couple of people that did fall victim to these phishing emails and these are educated people who are aware of phishing emails. Jimmy and Vik talk about security tool examples like Microsoft security center with Microsoft 365 and Azure. There are alerts available that are customizable. It monitors the pattern of traffic and app usage and alerts users if the network or app usage is outside of the norm. Vik mentions that they are seeing increased demand of test automation especially with increase in enhanced digital strategy. He mentions examples w/ telehealth, a mobile app for COVID-19 testing, or patient-centric apps for accessing information. Using test automation, it is possible to test and validate applications against hundreds of combinations of devices and browsers. Test Automation also helps the testing and validation of web and mobile applications as they are updated with continuous and regression testing. It is important not just for user experience but also for security and privacy to make sure all healthcare apps are thoroughly tested and validated. Vik comments about disaster recovery but in this new normal, it is also necessary to think about how will organization deal with the loss of key personnel in a department example loss of a key integration engineer or system administrator. This is why documentation and disaster recovery drills are very crucial.Jimmy and Vik then comment about ransomware attacks and how the number of attacks has gone up. A lot of these ransomware attacks start with phishing emails. They talk about an example of UCSF healthcare ransomware attack and how they ended up paying. Vik talks a few details about how ransomware attacks are carried out and how it affects organizations. Lastly, they discuss migration to the cloud, especially now that so many healthcare organizations are moving from on-prem to cloud hosting, and detailed plannSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of TWIHT, Vik and Jimmy talk about readiness post pandemic. They comment about planning and changes healthcare organizations will need to make to incorporate tools and workflows to be better prepared for next pandemic. Vik provides examples of tools being used at Cleveland Clinic and other leading healthcare organizations.They comment about the exponential growth of Telehealth usage since COViD-19 and how it is being implemented.Virtual teams is not just used for patient-doctor communication but also used by clinical care teams for care coordination. Example use of Microsoft Teams in healthcare organizations.Vik comments about how organizations will need to make changes to quickly adapt and implement new workflows and tools next time we face COViD-19 or any other pandemic.Cloud integration framework deployment using Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS or Google Cloud will become crucial for healthcare organizations as per Vik and Jimmy.Twitter: @TWIHT1TWIHT: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTido Inc: https://www.tidoinc.comMusic Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLink to Cell Phone tracking mentioned in the podcasthttps://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/phone-data-reveals-who-is-staying-home-during-covid-19-1.4892194Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

A very exciting packed episode with Unmesh Srivastava in this episode of TWIHT.Unmesh introduces P3 Health Partners, a health population management group that wants to shift the industry's focus from managing illness to cultivating wellness.Unmesh manages everything digital at P3 in his role as CTO at P3. We start out with understanding the timing of revamping and redoing digital strategy at P3.Unmesh explains the need for this and how Big Tech (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon) is jumping into healthcare. We all agreed that there needs to be disruption in healthcare and it is the right timing, though obviously no one predicted COVID-19 situation. Vik talks about Big Tech, and mentions that the status quo needs to change in healthcare. Vik mentions Big Tech being questioned by Congress in the antitrust hearings. Vik mentions how combining healthcare data with all the other data that Big Tech already collects is definitely taking it to the next level and probably needs to be concerned about privacy. Jimmy questions why Big Tech is so eager to jump into healthcare? Unmesh indicates healthcare is close to 18% of GDP and with high costs of healthcare, it is not the most efficient system and needs to be disrupted. Unmesh provides disruption examples of Amazon and Uber in retail and transportation resp.Vik comments that at the end of the day it is about money and Big Tech sees a huge opportunity. Unmesh explains P3 data fabric and how it all integrates data from different sources (HIE, payers, provider clinics, and more). Unmesh then digs into more details about P3 data strategy and APIs. Build patient and provider experiences based on the normalized data. Vik indicates a very similar strategy at Tido Inc., using Smart Integration, Tido's team is working w/ health partners to normalize data so it can be used for example by artificial intelligence or machine learning tools, care-coordination tools such Teams, and patient-facing mobile apps. Unmesh mentions value of data is realized when you can drive actions from the collected data and provides an example of identifying high-risk patients and better remote monitoring. Vik mentions the example of re-admissions in hospitals and costing a lot for healthcare and so it does make sense to use data to identify patients and also notify physicians using the Secure Notify tool. The group then digs into Big Tech and regulations. There are no policies and regulations or governance that Big Tech can also follow. Jimmy, Unmesh, and Vik then talk about future of healthcare. Did heavy-handedness and compliance in healthcare hold back healthcare innovation? Vik mentions that actually it might be more related to model in healthcare and getting paid for solving the problem after the fact. Value-based model will help innovation and keeping patients healthy. Unmesh discusses about moving away from encounter-based healthcare to value-based healthcare. Unmesh thinks future of healthcare will be less episodic and more continuous care. The group talks about an exciting future where we are constantly monitored in different ways like wearables or even chip in the body but it will be more active than reactive. Twitter: @TWIHT1TWIHT: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com Tido Inc: https://www.tidoinc.comP3 Health Partners: https://p3hp.org/ Music Provided by Soundstripe.com Linkedin: Vik Patel Linkedin: Jimmy Kim Linkedin: Unmesh Srivastava Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

We welcome John Marchica, CEO, Darwin Research. Darwin Research. Darwin Research provides research and subject matter expertise for health systems, #ACOs, Payers, Home Health, #Pharmaceuticals, and more. John introduces Darwin Research and then discusses the current coronavirus numbers in Arizona. John indicates that current #research and surveys are tough because the #COVID-19 situation is very fluid and changes from week to week. Vik agrees that this is why it is very difficult for healthcare executives to plan for current and future times. Group dives into #Telehealth implementations and it will be important to revisit these implementations because a lot of telehealth implementations are band-aid solutions and not #integration solutions. Vik provides insight into how health systems can revisit and provide a seamless experience for patients. Vik encourages health systems to build a digital strategy for future-readiness.John Marchica highlights challenges with #telemedicine especially in rural areas where connectivity and wireless coverage for a clear video visit are not always available.John talks about a process involved in developing a #vaccine including testing timelines. Seems like as per Dr. Fauchi's recent comments, the vaccine might available late 2020, which would break all-time records for producing a vaccine. Vik requests if Jimmy can reach out to Dr. Fauchi and see if he can be a guest on This Week in Health Tech?Vik highlights the process of treating COVID-19 as another service line as seen by Tido's integration and web teams, and how the intake of patients happens starting from #scheduling, #pre-registering, and paying online is being streamlined. Vik then dives a little more into digital strategy and cloud infrastructure and integrating telehealth, #remotemonitoring devices, #AI, and #machinelearning tools. Vik responds to John's question about the digital strategy conversation that we have w/ C-Suite leaders of a health system. At the end of day it is about improving patient outcomes. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Darwin Research Group Website: https://www.darwinresearch.com/Health Rounds with John Marchica https://www.darwinresearch.com/category/podcast/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLinkedin: John MarchicaSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

Vik and Jimmy welcome Alan Shoebridge, Director of Marketing, Salinas Valley Memorial Health System. Jared, founder of Shift.Health introduced Alan to Vik and we give a shout out to Jared at the beginning of the podcast. We start out with the introduction of Alan and the current state in California with the COVID-19 crisis. SVMH has adapted for COVID-19 starting with a new podcast and allows them to provide a story and message to their population. SVMH provides COVID-19 numbers on their website since it seems like the population is really interested in knowing how many are in the hospital/county etc even though there are many sources of these statistics. Alan highlights the process of quickly rolling out telemedicine in a week. Vik is interested in knowing the digital strategy and adaptation of AI/ML tools at SVMH and Alan highlights the tools implemented at SVMH. Alan also highlights the challenge of dealing with a significant percentage of non-English speaking populations in the tools that are deployed.Lastly, the group discusses mobile strategies and shifting strategies for patient engagement. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Salina Valley Health Care System: https://www.svmh.com/Alan Shoebridge Website: https://www.alanshoebridge.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy KimLinkedin: Alan ShoebridgeSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

We welcome Laura O'Toole with Santa Rosa Consulting Inc. in this episode of This Week in Health Tech and she presents a very candid and insightful view on the current healthcare crisis and how to be better prepared for the future. We start out with the introduction of Laura and Santa Rosa Consulting, a healthcare-focused company. Vik comments about the new virtual world we live in and Laura reflects on how it has affected the way her staff communicates with clients and how she encourages engagement even internally within the company with online happy hour and other ways.Laura talks about how healthcare had to adjust rapidly in the last 4-5 months and digital transformation taking place in healthcare. We comment about interoperability and taking advantage of cloud infrastructure for rapid implementation of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Mobile Apps. Laura comments about test automation which is an integral part of digital transformation especially with the addition of so many digital tools. We comment about tools that can be used for better communication like Intranet so companies can keep staff updated no matter where employees are located. Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/Santa Rosa Consulting Inc.: https://www.santarosaconsulting.com/Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy Kim LinkedIn: Laura O'TooleSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy provide their thoughts and comments on Top 10 COVID-19 tech trends in healthcare. This original post was published on Forbes by Gil Press, link provided below. Here are the top 3 trends from the list: 1. Say goodbye to your office—the virtual becomes real2. Beyond the PCR drive-through—diagnostic testing embraces real time3. Automation leaps ahead to discovery—robots learn to teach themselvesWebsite: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.comTwitter: @TWIHT1Forbes Article: 10 Covid-19 Tech Trends Music Provided by Soundstripe.comLinkedin: Vik PatelLinkedin: Jimmy Kim #healthcare #covid-19 #tech #virtual #telehealth #ai #ml #cloud #robots #automationSupport the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

In the first episode of the new season of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy discuss Apple and Android tracing apps for COVID-19. However, they disagree on use of the tracing app. Jimmy feels it is a slippery slope if we start using tracing apps and Vik is of the opinion that tracing app will help us keep our citizens safe and help us re-open economies with more confidence. Whose side are you on? Do you think it is worth signing up despite privacy concerns especially if it helps our at-risk population? We would love to hear from you. Reply on Twitter, LinkedIn, podcast website. Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)

Finally, there is a glimmer of hope, and lots of states and provinces in North America are starting to prepare to reopen more healthcare services. Vik and Jimmy comment on how health systems are planning and preparing to reopen more services like diagnostic services, radiology, non-urgent and elective procedures, and also ambulatory-clinic visits. They talk about examples outside of healthcare like procedures that were used at the Lenovo factory in China. Vik mentions the anxiety around reopening healthcare services in other countries like for example in Modena Italy. They had to plan to accommodate other healthcare services however stay ready for COVID-19 patients. Hospitals will have to innovate and use tools at their disposal to reopen healthcare services and at the same time be prepared for COVID-19 patients. Support the show (http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com/)