My background
As someone with a graduate degree in information technology, it was natural to start my career journey as a software engineer in the healthcare insurance industry. If you choose to stay in the engineering function i.e. regardless of whether you are building software for healthcare, insurance, finance etc., you ’d have transferable skills and can apply your learning regardless of your job. In my case, although I enjoyed the engineering function (still do), I realized that engineers were almost never consulted and as a result spent nights and weekends delivering software. That led to me switching roles to business analysis and project/program management in my 2nd job in the financial services industry. With agile transformation, I had experience being a scrum master and then a product owner. Finally now, I have been consistently a product manager in my current job in the medtech industry for over 6 years.
Observations in healthcare from a provider perspective
- Our providers are really short-staffed. They spend time on doing tasks that are not part of their core job profile. They don’t have the tools to do it or have broken workflows.
- Depending on the area, you may or may not have enough doctors/specialists. Virtual care is something that will help everyone get better care. It will not solve all the issues but at least provide guidance for smaller issues and improve out-of-hospital care. Preventative care in general will help reduce burden on healthcare.
- Every organization (it could be a clinic, hospital, IDN etc.) has a difference in the patient population, they treat. For instance, if you have heart specialists, then most likely, you may not have patients with orthopaedic issues. So, the standard of care could be different for every organization.
- Unsure of how it is within other domains, but in case of sleep medicine, the initial care provided is good but later on the follow-up care is reactive. The patients call in if they have issues. We need smarter care for the same.
- Among the few good things that came out of COVID, were the regulations for tele-health and tele-monitoring. Given the fact, that tele-health and tele-monitoring were rare and not many physicians were motivated for the same, hospitals (As we all know) were completely filled with patients during the same. So, the regulations are improving for the same in many parts of the world so that out-of-hospital care can be improved.
- If you are using a device like a CPAP machine, fitbit etc. then organizations can actually contact you if your health is struggling. If the devices can transmit data wirelessly then it can help you be in better control of your health.
Observations in healthcare from a patient perspective
- Having worked in healthcare for over 6 years, I decided to invest in a FitBit last November. It actually helps you change your behavior for the better. It gives you things like heart rate, oxygen levels, heart rate variability and so on to slow down or pick up as needed. Of course, it also gives you regular features like steps you walked and so on.
- Some countries like Canada have a public health system. While it is great that you don’t have to pay for your operation (hope you never need one!), it depends on how many patients are in queue and their severity. Pharmacy have also started clinics, which is great for smaller issues.
- Dental and vision unfortunately is something that is ignored practically everywhere. You have to have insurance for the same.
- While the internet and social media groups for different diseases is extremely helpful, like my idol cricketer, Rahul Dravid says “It depends who you take the advice from”. But it gives you an idea that there are options and you can ask your provider about the same.
My passion for healthcare
Based on all of the above observations, I realized that for healthcare to be effective in any country, you can’t just blame the physicians, nurses etc. They are of course the cornerstone of the system. But then there are things you don’t think of
- Cost of education - Especially when it comes to STEM (Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), it is getting expensive everywhere. So, that is why it is getting harder to produce more doctors, nurses, engineers and so on!
- CROs for drugs - While the COVID mRNA vaccine by Pfizer was a miracle, we need better protocols to accelerate research for drugs. It takes a couple of years to get a drug into market.
- Digitization in healthcare - Having worked in finance, I think we could apply a lot of the learning in healthcare from chatbot to annual check-ups (analogous to tax filing :)). With digitization, physicians and patients will be at peace!
- Supply chain of devices, drugs, everything that is needed to treat a patient - We need efficient supply chains so that the patients can receive the care they need on time.
- Interoperability in healthcare - We need to think of the patient as 1 WHOLE person. Having multiple records of the same person means that the providers won’t have the complete information of the patients. Besides, our providers are using multiple systems to find out different pieces of information about the same patient. For example, they might use their hospital system for the medication of the patient and might use another system to track the devices the patient uses. This also leads to inefficiencies in the way providers operate.
- Tele-health - We have many clinics and small hospitals, in which we have people don many hats. In many cases, I have seen nurses (who can read charts and clinically advise patients!) work with insurance companies to get paid or set followup meetings with patients. This is something that can be done by admin staff, which they can’t have right now. They are not educated enough on tele-health to be able to afford one!
- Tele-monitoring - To prevent exacerbation of diseases especially in the older population, the usage of non-invasive devices is smart so that your doctor can interject and guide you accordingly to reduce and prevent hospital visits.
- Healthcare policies - Every country is trying to come up with better healthcare policies to gain brownie points with people (sad but true). While politicians are doing this for their own benefit, it will help people. Positive policies that will help people be proactive about their health.
- Partnering with intermediaries like health care insurance companies - Unfortunately, in many countries, people have to pay out-of-pocket, should there be a need. Having an insurance plan is important for things we aren’t covered by default!
Final Thoughts
We all need to pool in our skill sets for healthcare to be affordable. If we want, we can contribute as per our skills to improve healthcare!