#10 - Bri Buch: Healthcare's ‘human band aid’ approach no longer works

In this episode, Buch sits down for an in-depth conversation with Dr. Muthu Alagappan, CMO at Notable. Among other things, the two discuss how healthcare suffers from the DMV effect, how artificial intelligence and machine learning are impacting the industry, the challenges associated with depending on an EHR to be a one-stop-shop for all technology innovation, and more. 

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Bri Buch leads solutions development and product strategy in patient access and digital engagement at Notable. Previously she served as a consultant and strategic advisor to over 20 leading healthcare organizations on digital health transformation and digital front-door strategy. Prior to this, Bri worked at Epic Systems, leading EHR installations around the globe. She was integral to the debut of Epic’s predictive analytics suite, launching the first five AI analytics models for Epic customers and training internal teams on commercialization and deployment. Bri holds degrees in Public Health and Economics from the College of William and Mary, a Master's degree from the London School of Economics, and a certificate in Managing Innovative Technology from the University of Oxford.

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0:03:16.8: Dr. Alagappan asks what do you think some of the biggest challenges in healthcare are today?

0:03:56.7: Bri Buch: “I'm really laser-focused on two issues right now. And they are, how do patients access care and then how do providers get paid for that care? And even within both of those, we could talk about equity of care access across different patient populations, and right patient to right doctor, right provider matching, and even the amount of kind of manual work or humans required to get a bill out the door and make sure that bill is accurate.”

0:05:09.0: Bri Buch: “But even beyond that, something that I spend a lot of time thinking about is, why are we not getting better, right? Even in my training in economics and policy, we spend a lot of times looking at these questions and they haven't gone away.”

0:05:53.0: Dr. Alagappan asks “Why do you think digital technology has failed to meet its expectation in the last 20, 25 years?”

0:07:29.7: Bri Buch: “...we have this idea that healthcare and specifically healthcare access is inherently something worth investing in that we don't necessarily hold it to a high standard of outcomes, right? We don't necessarily measure on the backend, are we getting patients in at the rate we need to? Are we keeping patients in the system? And the dollars that are funneled in are not necessarily held to the same standard of are they achieving the outcomes we want to see? I think the second case is oftentimes, something I think of maybe the DMV effect, right? We have a consumer population that need this service. And sometimes, there's competition for those patients, but oftentimes there's kind of one group that can take care of their needs or see them in a geographic location.”

0:08:29.6: Bri Buch: “...we need to switch from saying, ‘okay, this technology is going to replace a workflow’ to, ‘how is it going to enhance, augment or improve a workflow alongside the humans that are currently doing these tasks?’” 

0:09:39.4: Dr. Alagappan: I haven't heard that before, and I think it's very true. And so you're describing the DMV effect as not having to improve your process because you sort of own that geography. 

0:14:25.9: Dr. Alagappan talks about Bri’s work to help healthcare organizations big and small implement automation technology, asking, “What advice would you give to those organizations or other organizations looking at automation as a potential solution?” 

0:15:02.8: Bri Buch: “I think there are three things that come top of mind and