Raise the Line

“Often, the real answer is at the bedside,” says Dr. Thomas Rebbecchi, who has worked as an ER doctor at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey for 23 years. “If you ask the right questions to people, they're going to tell you directly or indirectly what's going on with them.” Dr. Rebbecchi's educational mission is to teach students to focus less exclusively on technology and take the extra time for compassionate interaction with patients. In addition to his role on the National Board of Medical Examiners, Dr. Rebbecchi is also a scientific advisory board member at the Glut1 Deficiency Foundation. In this episode of Raise the Line, he speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about his family's journey to discover their son’s diagnosis through genetic testing, improved COVID outcomes, and the need for better mental healthcare, especially as a result of the mounting psychological effects of pandemic life. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on dentistry, says Eve Cuny, who has worked in the area of dental infection prevention and patient safety for the past 30 years. Many dental procedures create fine mists and sprays, including respiratory secretions, that can travel long distances, so dental professionals have had to go to great lengths to adapt. Throughout the pandemic, Cuny has been a guiding voice in dentistry, counseling a number of professional organizations, including the American Dental Association. In this episode of Raise the Line, she speaks with Jannah Amiel about the airborne precautions dentists have had to adopt, and the permanent changes to dentistry that she envisions with regard to ventilation, PPE, and sick worker protocol. Tune in to hear Cuny's take on the pandemic-driven renewal of interest in the crossover between medicine and dentistry, as dentists are increasingly performing oral diagnostics and even administering vaccines. Plus, learn what drew Cuny to dentistry and hear her advice to those new to the field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who just received a smart speaker as a holiday gift, you’re joining an enormous group. Earlier this year it was estimated that 90 million people in the U.S. own one, and that number is growing fast. They offer an easy way to get news, weather, listen to music and control functions in your home, but there are many other uses for these devices and health care is one area where they may play a major role, according to our Raise the Line guest Rachel Jiang who is Head of Alexa Health & Wellness at Amazon. COVID has only underscored this potential. “More than ever it's really important to help people remotely manage their health care needs, and we think Alexa is in a great position to do that,” she says. In fact, Jiang and her team have been working closely with health care providers to develop “skills” (the equivalent of an app on your smartphone) to facilitate safe care both in clinical settings and at home. As Jiang shares with host Jannah Amiel, RN, the video capability of the Echo Show adds power to the instructional value of these interactive devices. For instance, imagine videos showing post-op patients how to change a dressing or do physical therapy while at home. Check out this fascinating discussion to learn more about how this technology might help both patients and providers, how privacy concerns are being addressed and the role software developers will play in tapping what Jiang sees as the endless possibilities ahead. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Sara Miller’s advice for those in training to be healthcare professionals is fairly simple. “This is your opportunity to learn to be nimble and develop a spirit of innovation.” Miller believes taking this approach early leads to embracing lifelong learning, the benefits of which can be implemented in a provider’s job everyday. As Senior Director of the Quality Improvement Institute at Med-IQ, a leading healthcare improvement company, Miller's work centers around helping healthcare systems identify areas for improvement and to develop and evaluate programs addressing those needs. She has obviously had her hands full helping providers rapidly adjust to the challenges of COVID-19, and believes healthcare professionals and consumers should demand that things not return to business as usual after the pandemic. COVID has revealed too many inadequacies in the old “normal” with regard to emergency preparedness, structural racism, senior care services, and approaches to mental health and substance abuse, she says. In this episode of Raise the Line, Miller also tells host Shiv Gaglani about her work and career, including programs that helped organizations shift Hepatitis C care from specialized settings to primary care, and a popular question/answer series that Med-IQ ran in response to COVID. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Although the dental industry is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think of tech entrepreneurs, this is precisely where Alex Frommeyer has found himself. Frommeyer is the CEO and co-founder of Beam Dental, one of the country’s fastest-growing dental benefit providers offering employers a unique approach to coverage by incorporating dental hygiene behavior into policy pricing. This behavior is determined using artificial intelligence to interpret data gathered from the smart toothbrushes used by members. In this episode, Frommeyer describes to host Shiv Gaglani how Beam is trying to make dental hygiene more enjoyable, how their business has adjusted to the pandemic, and why you should aspire to be a disruptor in your field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Battling stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager exposed Dr. Omar Dawood to many flaws in the healthcare system and sparked a desire to find ways to improve them. Although his early experience in medicine was in the public health realm, he eventually saw how he could blend his clinical expertise and strategic mindset to make an impact in the business world, thereby expanding the positive difference he could make in people’s lives. He had opportunities to do just that in leadership positions at Ginger IO and AliveCor -- two of the leading companies in digital health – and has brought that experience plus decades of work as a clinician and researcher to his post as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Sales at Calm. It’s not exactly surprising that this hugely popular app has seen usage grow due to pandemic-related stress. In this episode, he joins host Shiv Gaglani to talk about Calm’s commitment to addressing clinician burnout, its growing work with employers to offer Calm to employees, the launch of Calm Coaching and the wisdom in building mental fitness and resiliency to handle whatever life throws at you. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Benjamin Young knows what it’s like to confront a pandemic early in one’s medical career but in his case, we’re talking about AIDS, not COVID-19. Trained as an enzymologist, Young was studying drug resistance in cancer cells, but he quickly pivoted to become an HIV specialist when AIDS surfaced in the U.S. “You would have to have a heart made of a lump of coal not to understand the human spectrum and burden of what it meant to live and die of AIDS,” says Young, who is now the Head of Global Medical Directors for ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company focused on advancements in research and development of new medicines for people living with HIV. After decades of work in science, medicine, policy development and human rights, Young sees all of these fields as being very closely connected. “The distance between discovery in the basic science lab, what happens in the clinic, what happens in therapeutics, what happens at the governmental level and what happens in a social, racial, or judicial justice environment is very short.” Join Young and host Jannah Amiel to learn about the current state of the global AIDS fight, and lessons from the long HIV journey that can apply to today’s struggle with COVID and pandemic battles yet to come. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Have you wondered what it was like for the doctors who treated the very first COVID-19 patients when so little was known about the disease? Well, you can find out directly from the source in this episode of Raise the Line. The initial cases were in Seattle where Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips works as the chief clinical officer at Providence Health, one of the nation’s largest health systems. In that role, she was deeply involved in quickly creating protocols to triage, test and treat the COVID patients who started to flow in. She was also involved in making masks for providers in the basement of the hospital as the crisis took hold. The COVID experience has deepened her commitment to make great healthcare available and affordable for everyone in the U.S., and in this insightful conversation with Shiv Gaglani, she shares many examples of the innovations Providence is employing to reach that goal. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you’re curious about the impact “big box” retailers are going to have on healthcare delivery in the U.S., this episode of Raise the Line has some answers. Host Shiv Gaglani welcomes Marcus Osborne, a senior leader at Walmart Health, who is helping to build a new approach that could shake-up the whole industry. “If we can create a model that is actually compelling for consumers, and consumers are willing to pay for it, then we don't really care what the payers do about us,” says Osborne, who has plenty of other candid insights to share. For instance, he believes the challenge the U.S. is facing is a “vast underconsumption” of healthcare, not overconsumption as many healthcare policy experts contend. His point is that too many people simply don’t get the care they need due to the cost and complexity of the current system, and that delay inevitably drives costs up over time. He’s hoping to change that with in-store clinics that will offer a variety of medical and dental services under one roof at an affordable price. Check out this fascinating discussion as Osborne speculates that worsening shortages of healthcare workers will make it necessary to find new ways to leverage new technology and types of providers, and that much greater accountability for the quality of care delivered will be a reality sooner rather than later. This is a great opportunity to get a peek at the future of healthcare. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Two out of three doctors did not vote over the past decade, laments Dr. Atul Nakhasi, a Los-Angeles-based physician and policy advisor who the Wall Street Journal once dubbed “Campus Kingmaker” for his role as head of the Iowa College Democrats. This represents a lower voter turnout rate than that of the general population, and in Dr. Nakhasi's estimation, it's got to change. Dr. Nakhasi believes the role of the physician should expand outside the exam room into Congress and City Hall. In this episode, he shares personal stories of patients dealing with poverty, talks about why national leadership matters, and calls for “brilliant” people to enter the healthcare profession. Tune in to learn more about this winter’s potential “twindemic,” some potential challenges of a COVID vaccine, the need for better public communication to combat misinformation, and the ripple effect of the pandemic on underserved populations. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

One of the most dramatic changes to the field of telemedicine since COVID began is the shift from it being a facility-based to a primarily home-based service, and that’s been good for patients, says Samir Malik. It’s unknown if the emergency repeal of longstanding federal rules that previously limited the use of telemedicine will stay in effect in a post-COVID world, but Malik is hoping so because “patient-centeredness” is key to the work of his company, Genoa Telepsychiatry, which serves patients in all 50 states. In this episode of Raise the Line, Malik speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about the increase in anxiety, depression, and loneliness brought on by COVID, the disproportionate impact that mental health is having on underserved populations, and the destigmatization of mental health in countries like India, Brazil, and China. Tune in to this informative episode in which you’ll also learn about the passion for patient service at a community mental health agency on Long Island, and discover resources for further information on psychiatry and wellness. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

While serving in the army decades ago, Dr. Larry Benz noticed the importance of bedside manner and other nonclinical factors in determining clinical success. Keeping that top of mind has served him well over his 30 years as a physical therapist. In fact, he argues that these so-called “soft skills” can be even more important in affecting outcomes than clinical skills. Benz is the author of the newly released book Called to Care, about putting the humanity back in healthcare. His curriculum by the same name has been adopted by many PT schools around the country and even some medical schools. In this interview with Shiv Gaglani, Benz talks about the need to be intentional about empathy and compassion -- to exercise the “caring muscle” as you would any other muscle. Tune in to learn about how Confluent Health measures compassion, the impact of COVID on the field of physical therapy, the difference between dehumanization and burnout, and why Benz considers patient loyalty to be the key data point in an organization's success. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

As a pediatrician, Dr. Ryan Padrez was frustrated by the challenges of navigating education and health systems to get his patients the services they needed – whether it was speech therapy, mental health counseling or other important care. That’s why he’s gratified to be involved in building a model for early education, developed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, that integrates learning with health care and family support services. Padrez is medical director of The Primary School which is currently serving two lower income communities near San Francisco, but has ambitions to develop best practices that will be adopted nationally. The emphasis is on supporting all of a child’s needs from very early in their life and working closely with parents to build child and family well-being at the same time. COVID has increased the challenge because many of the school’s parents have lost jobs and health coverage, and levels of stress are on the rise. Padrez, who is also an assistant clinical professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University, says COVID has shined a light on just how much schools do to support the health needs of children and families, and the connection between the two systems needs to be strengthened going forward if kids are going to thrive. Padrez and host Dr. Rishi Desai also touch on trauma-informed care, the trust schools need to build with families, and what the evidence says about the safety of opening schools in the midst of COVID. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Chuck Cairns enjoyed practicing emergency medicine early in his career, but he soon realized he could have a bigger impact by focusing on how clinical care, education and medical research is organized, and how advancements in all three can be applied to benefit patients, especially those from underserved populations. That started him on a leadership path that wound its way around the country at several prestigious institutions culminating in his current role at Drexel University College of Medicine. It’s a good fit because Drexel has a longstanding commitment to serving populations in need, and Dr. Cairns finds working among students and researchers who share that mission to be very rewarding. He and his team are devoted to proactive approaches to healthcare that address social determinants of health. In fact, Drexel recently purchased a bankrupt hospital in North Philadelphia and partnered with the City to provide COVID-19 testing to that economically challenged community. In this conversation with Dr. Rishi Desai, Dr. Cairns reflects on his work partnering with local governments to bring the best of academic medicine into communities, how his school is addressing the challenge of staying connected across multiple locations, and shares his three key pieces of advice for medical students. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

As a young professional in Chicago in the early 1990’s, Tim Barry happened upon a poster in a store one day that simply stated, “You just can’t fake love, man”— and it was at that moment he realized he would focus only on things he was passionate about moving forward. After trying his hand as a tech entrepreneur, a friend convinced him to take a job in healthcare insurance, and he got hooked on the opportunity to impact the lives of others. Fast forward to seven years ago when he helped found VillageMD, which now provides thousands of primary care physicians with technology, staffing, and other support to help them provide better patient care. Village MD has also developed primary care clinics of its own, and announced this summer Walgreens is investing over $1 billion to build hundreds of clinics next to its pharmacies over the coming years. In this revealing episode, Tim is joined by host Shiv Gaglani to discuss his vision for transforming primary care and what the Walgreens partnership signals about how healthcare delivery in the U.S. is changing. Tim also shares his advice for anyone considering a career in healthcare, including the importance of diving into the data you have at your fingertips. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Jerry Balentine thinks a lot about the qualities successful medical students and physicians need. “I think all medical schools wish there was a way of testing who's going to be a great physician, but there's just no such test, so we use markers such as the MCATs to make sure that they're successful academically.” But he knows those markers don’t capture aspects of a person’s competence, character or experience that would make them a good fit for the profession. Qualities such as empathy, passion and grit are high on his list. In fact, he believes empathy is so important to practicing medicine that it’s both a research interest and something he builds into the learning experience at New York Institute of Technology’s College of Osteopathic Medicine from “day one.” Join Balentine and host Shiv Gaglani as they explore the growth of DO programs, the challenges of COVID, and NYIT’s success in building provider capacity in rural Arkansas. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“Science transcends politics,” says Dr. George Daley. “My hope is that physicians and scientists will, in fact, be a force for global harmony, and that will be a silver lining to come out of the pandemic.” In this important conversation with Shiv Gaglani, Dr. Daley, who is an internationally recognized leader in stem cell science and cancer biology, describes his collaboration with recent Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and others to call for restraint in experimentation with stem cell technology, and decries the current tension between the U.S. government and the scientific community. He also shares how, in response to COVID-19, he and his team were able to connect and mobilize disparate research communities -- including Chinese and European colleagues -- to develop the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness. Tune in to hear more about these critical topics and discover Dr. Daley's circuitous path to medicine and his perspective on COVID as a defining experience for this generation. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Kids without regular access to healthcare are obviously at higher risk for developing health issues, but it also makes them more likely to face long-term consequences such as dropping out of school, having trouble finding work and ending up in jail. What’s the connection? Poor health access can lead to chronic school absenteeism, which can start a downward spiral. That’s where Hazel Health fits in, a medtech start-up which uses telehealth to connect kids on demand to providers during the school day. The company currently serves 60 districts nationwide with 1.5 million students, focusing on the underinsured and those from disadvantaged communities, many of whom have no steady arrangements for primary care. Students can also access Hazel Health while at home, extending the reach of school health services. Like many companies in the telehealth space, Hazel Health has experienced turbocharged growth due to COVID. In this episode of Raise the Line, CEO Josh Golomb and Jeannie Chen, the Head of Clinical Operations and People, describe to host Shiv Gaglani what it’s been like to scale at that pace, the importance of building trust with schools and families, and the special combination of qualities and experience they seek in their providers. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“I think it's an enormous gift to pursue medicine and particularly academic medicine,” says former philosophy major Dr. Steven Scheinman, a distinguished researcher in the genetics of inherited kidney disease and dean of the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. The school in its current form is only a few years old, having not had a clinical system partner prior to 2017 when it aligned with the highly-ranked Geisinger Health System. Scheinman is thrilled with the learning opportunities the partnership is providing due to the health system’s emphasis on prevention and primary care. Forward-thinking programs in home care, geriatrics, whole genome screening and pharmacy innovation provide a rich grounding in population health for learners, and a generous scholarship program aimed at boosting primary care underscores the school’s commitment to a health management approach. But, as Scheinman enthusiastically says to host Shiv Gaglani, “Wait, there’s more!” Their expansive conversation also includes an overview of COVID’s impact on learning -- including a new “e-ICU” program and how med students will make better use of their 4th year. Speaking of which, Scheinman also shares valuable insights from his perch as Board Chair of the National Residency Match Program. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you’re wondering why the U.S. has had such a hard time during the pandemic keeping frontline health workers supplied with the protective equipment they need, or what is being done to improve the situation, Mike Alkire has some answers for you. He is president of Premier, Inc. which helps more than 4,000 hospitals and health systems improve efficiency and clinical outcomes through supply chain management and other strategies. He’s intimately familiar with the global medical supply chain and where the breakdowns and problems are that need to be addressed. Perhaps the most important change needed, he says, is manufacturing more of these critical items in the U.S. In this episode, Alkire and host Shiv Gaglani also discuss the use of AI in the health system, standardization of care to improve quality and safety, and the potential to share best practices across industries. Discover, too, why the key words for Alkire are humility, courage, and humanity. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

The mouth is a window to the body, says Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj of TruBlu Dentistry. Seeing the dentist can be an important component of preventative care, as oral health has links to heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, cancers, and even COVID. Nagaraj and his partner, Dr. Anushka Gaglani, are co-founders of TruBlu Dentistry, which has multiple locations in Illinois. In this episode of Raise the Line, they speak with Dr. Rishi Desai about the distinction between general and cosmetic dentistry, their experience operating their own practice during COVID, and the lessons they've learned in their careers. “Thinking with our heart is a huge thing for us,” says Gaglani. In addition to brains, she and Nagaraj emphasize, dentists and doctors need a patient-first philosophy and a willingness to put their lives on the frontline. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Healthcare needs to do a much better job of marketing truth, argues Dr. Keith Smith. Drawn to working with adult learners in the online world, Smith now oversees about 7,000 students across twenty programs, including medical assisting, health and wellness, public health, a military-only associate’s degree, and a master's in health informatics -- a field that Smith sees as key to helping citizens understand and respond to statistics they hear about during public health threats. In face of the COVID pandemic, Purdue was fortunate to already be an online institution, yet it still had to pivot in some ways to enable students to continue their studies. In August, they launched a telehealth micro-credential in recognition of that technology’s growing importance. Purdue allows credentials like that one to “stack-up” with other courses all the way up to earning master's degrees. In this episode with host Shiv Gaglani, learn why Smith calls COVID a “phenomenal wake-up call” to traditional higher education, why teaching online requires new -- not just transferred – instructional methods, and why folks entering the healthcare field should commit to lifelong learning. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“I think our educational model, our mission and our tradition are ideally suited for this moment of crisis,” says Dr. Mark Schweitzer. “The Wayne State graduate is always a doctor who rolls up his or her sleeves and gets things done regardless of the environment.” With a diverse student population that Schweitzer describes as coming from “the 99 percent”, the medical school he leads is intent on adding can-do leaders to the corps of can-do providers it sends out into the world. “I think ‘the 99 Percent’ should be the leaders in healthcare. So we've started an organized curriculum to train students on all the skills they need to be leaders in medicine that are separate from the science of medicine.” From his point of view, the best part about being a leader in academic medicine is the ability to create an environment where high level clinical care, teaching and research can touch the lives of so many. In this incisive discussion with host Shiv Gaglani, Schweitzer also provides his take on what the lasting impacts of COVID might be, his core educational objective, and what good can come when you combine mission and ambition. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Sachin Jain has always been drawn to taking "big swings" at tough problems, and the disconnect between care delivery and care administration is one of them. As a leader in various capacities in government and the healthcare system, he's tackled this and other complex issues at a high level, but he has also has maintained his clinical practice in order to stay grounded. In this engrossing interview, Dr. Jain speaks with host Shiv Gaglani about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have included an exacerbation of the loneliness epidemic, as well as renewed confidence in both the American biotech sector and the ability of the healthcare system at large to change. Tune in to this episode to hear Dr. Jain's arguments for more investment in prevention and primary care, the benefits of giving doctors an upfront budget with spending caps rather than paying on a fee-for-service basis, and why he’s worried about “big box” retailers getting into healthcare. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Described as “Bill Gates' favorite teacher” in Fortune Magazine, Salman Khan started his now-famous Khan Academy by tutoring his cousins long-distance in 2004. Since then, Khan's non-profit educational organization has evolved from experimental YouTube videos recorded in a bedroom closet to a standalone platform that has educated tens of millions of people. In this episode of Raise the Line, Khan speaks with Shiv Gaglani about the near-viral growth of Khan Academy and the recent impact of COVID-19 in accelerating that development. Listen-in to learn about the benefits of competency-based pathways and transcripts, the digital divide as the “dark cloud” of COVID, the growth of opportunities at the intersection between health and education, and the importance of having the right mindset for the medical profession. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Starting a traditional degree program can be a “risky proposition,” says Burck Smith, founder and CEO of the student success and college readiness company StraighterLine. For many, it makes sense to have low-cost, low-risk entry points where they can test the waters and prove themselves before diving in. Smith has a background in public policy, where he first became concerned about the burden caused by the rising price of college, and before StraighterLine, in 2009, he co-founded SMARTHINKING, the largest online tutoring provider for schools and colleges. In this episode of Raise the Line, he speaks with host Shiv Gaglani about stackable credentials, the disintegrating barrier between skills and a degree, and how COVID may affect consumer pricing expectations for online delivery. Tune in to learn why Smith believes the balance of power has shifted away from schools to students, and hear his counsel to students to consider options other than straight enrollment. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“It seems counterintuitive, but I believe we can use technology to enhance the humanity in medicine and get back to the deep connection with patients we used to have,” says Dr. Eric Topol, one of the most cited researchers and influential thinkers in the field. In a series of bestselling books on the future of medicine, Topol laid out that digitization of health information would lead to democratization of data and patient empowerment, and that applying machine learning and other technologies in the right ways could actually create room to enhance the level of humanity in medicine – something he feels has been lost over the years. “The reason we went into medicine was to care for patients, and if you feel you can't provide care because of all of the demands modern medicine places on clinicians, that's when you get depressed, and you get disenchanted, and you lose your sense of your mission.” In this fascinating dialogue with host Shiv Gaglani, Topol talks about the potential of Artificial Intelligence and deep neural networks to “get us out of the mess we’re in and usher in the most exciting time in medicine.” They also touch on COVID and highlights of his career including starting a medical school, being editor in chief of Medscape, and his research work in genomics. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Kathy Winston's passion is to help the next generation be successful in the delivery of care. The key to nursing education, she says, is balancing the old with the new. As we embrace technological advances in the field, we need to also keep the basic tenets of safety and compassion at the forefront. Dr. Winston started her 30-plus year career at age 19 as a critical care nurse, and then, interested in the prevention of illness, moved to the public health arena before shifting to nursing education. In her view, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused educational institutions to become more agile, but has also revealed the need for greater focus on community and public health. In this conversation with Dr. Rishi Desai, she asks us to reach back over 200 years ago to Florence Nightingale for advice that is still applicable to the crises we face today. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“Nothing crosses borders in our polarized world like a willingness to care for critically ill children,” says Dr. Jeffrey Burns, a former medical liaison for the US State Department. In addition to leading critical care at Boston Children's Hospital and teaching at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Burns is also the founder and co-program director at OPENPediatrics, an innovative, open-access online community where healthcare professionals from around the world share resources and best practices. Join us for a treat as Dr. Burns talks with Osmosis Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rishi Desai, a former student of his, about the OPENPediatrics platform's international COVID-19 discussion group and how this collaboration brought about the discovery of the potentially fatal MIS-C inflammatory syndrome. In this episode, Dr. Burns not only shares critical information about MIS-C, but also reflects on his career and work with the CDC, addresses public mistrust of vaccines, and encourages others to join the healthcare field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“If a patient feels like their doctor knows them as a person, they're eight to nine times more likely to follow through with their treatment instructions,” says Dr. Ken Johnson. Creating that kind of connection is more challenging in a virtual visit, he worries, not to mention the reduced opportunity to take the actual “hands-on” approach to care that osteopathic physicians practice. But schools of medicine like the one he runs at Ohio University are finding ways to teach telehealth skills, and Johnson has confidence the students will make it work. “Students have great ideas about how to evolve things, and I challenge every single class that comes in to give us feedback to improve the process for them,” he tells host Shiv Gaglani. Embracing the sudden ascendence of telehealth is just one of the major adjustments today’s medical students are having to make in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, and Johnson sees building their resilience to manage the stressful and unpredictable nature of a career in medicine as a key objective, which he says can be accomplished if you create an “environment of support.” Catch this conversation with host Shiv Gaglani as Johnson discusses how that can be done, strategies for serving rural communities and why so many schools of osteopathic medicine are located in relatively small towns. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

The “morass of healthcare misinformation” surrounding COVID-19 created the need for a clear, definitive voice to help fill the knowledge gap, says Dr. John Danaher. His company, Elsevier, stepped up. In response to the pandemic, Elsevier launched three COVID resource sites providing free information and research tools that were used by healthcare providers all over the world to help treat and manage the disease. Elsevier, an information and analytics company with roots in publishing, produces a quarter of the world's healthcare information. With this scope of impact, and a career that spans all sides of the healthcare delivery continuum, Dr. Danaher has some valuable perspective to share. Listen as he speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about his own background, providing curated clinical guidance at the point of need, meeting the demand for clinical training opportunities, and the need for frontline providers to take care of their mental health. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

It's time to change the narrative on menopause, says Jannine Versi. Women in their 40s, 50s and 60s aren't fading from relevance, they're discovering greater freedom and creativity, and looking to the future. Versi's company, Elektra Health, is facilitating this shift, offering a platform for women navigating hormonal health that features education-focused, highly individualized care. In this episode of Raise the Line, Versi speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about the multifaceted nature of menopause and how underemphasized it generally is in physician education and patient care. Tune in to learn more about Versi's career, Elektra's approach, and the connection of menopause to long-term health outcomes. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Mental illness was on the rise in the U.S. even before COVID-19 hit, and studies show a majority of Americans say their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the coronavirus. In the absence of definitive blood or genetic tests for mental health disorders, and given the acknowledged limitations of self-reporting and questionnaires, there is certainly room for new screening and diagnostic tools. Work is underway to test the effectiveness of brain scans, mobile device data and other modern technologies for diagnosis, but turning to one of the oldest forms of communication might also yield valid clinical results: analyzing speech. That's the focus of Mainul Mondal, CEO and Founder of start-up Ellipsis Health, which is aiming to create a new vital sign for behavioral health by using AI to analyze just a few minutes of speech. "We want to be able to measure depression and anxiety objectively in a scalable, engaging way so you can quantify it and manage it," Mondal tells host Shiv Gaglani in a thoughtful discussion that also touches on the "trust factor" with AI, patient privacy, improving access to care and other potential applications for this approach. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

You can make purchases, travel plans and dinner reservations in a few clicks, but being able to pay your hospital bill with similar ease is a rarity. That's where Cedar comes in, a "fintech" start-up bringing personalization and transparency to the notoriously cumbersome world of healthcare, especially when it comes to billing and payment. Among the improvements Cedar enables are personalized reminders and payment plans, bill tracking, a customer service chat bot, and translation of indecipherable billing codes into understandable language. CEO Florian Otto, who holds an M.D., D.D.S. and PhD, started his business career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and is a former executive at Zocdoc. Check out this episode of Raise the Line with host Shiv Gaglani to hear more about his fascinating career, his predictions for the post-COVID healthcare landscape, and how Cedar assisted healthcare systems communicate with patients during the COVID crisis. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Community colleges are often described as the gateway to higher education because they are often the most affordable option. But they’re also the gateway to careers because of the many internship, certificate and shadowing programs that are typically arranged with local organizations. The Maricopa Community Colleges District, which serves 200,000 students on ten campuses in Arizona, is a poster child for this kind of community-based access and career training. Two leaders in the Maricopa system join Raise the Line host Shiv Gaglani to share how the system rallied to retain students thrown off-course by COVID, describe new partnerships spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement, and talk about the innovations in their nearly 50 healthcare programs to keep learning on track despite a reduction in clinical training opportunities. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

"If we do things right, this will be your last job." That's the message Dr. Bradley Younggren has for physicians applying to join his company 98point6, which offers a text-based, AI-powered mobile app for delivering primary care. For Younggren, getting it right involves making doctors full-time employees with equity in the company, and encouraging them to innovate. "Providers know what the problems in healthcare are," says Younggren. "The key is creating a physician workforce that's allowed to impact change." His own impact includes service as a decorated Army combat physician and being at the center of handling one of the first major outbreaks of COVID in the U.S. as medical director of emergency preparedness, trauma and urgent care at EvergreenHealth in Seattle. Check out this interview with Shiv Gaglani packed with insights on how telehealth can be leveraged to increase patient and provider satisfaction, and be utilized to achieve the goal of making primary care universally accessible. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Over the course of his career, Dr. Thomas Mohr has helped start three medical schools and over 25 different residency programs, so he's in a good position to help launch the first medical school in Idaho, a state with a very low number of physicians per capita. In this fascinating talk, Dr. Mohr shares his take on the difference between osteopathic and allopathic medicine – a distinction that has become less obvious over time, he notes, as more MDs embrace a holistic approach to treating patients. The division is perhaps most clear on the training level: whereas most MDs train in large academic medical centers, osteopathic medical schools like ICOM are smaller and feature a “distributed model” of medical education in which third and fourth year students train in community-based hospitals and smaller rural posts – placements that strongly influence where students will later practice as professionals. Tune in to hear how COVID is impacting the teaching of osteopathic principles and practices, the importance of high-touch techniques in treating COVID patients and the opportunities to make a difference through medicine. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Despite being integrally involved in making diagnoses and treatment plans, pathologists remain fairly invisible to most patients. According to pathologist Greg Osmond, some of his colleagues don't mind staying behind the scenes, but out of concern that the profession in undervalued and at risk for automation, he's sees an opening for greater relevance in having pathologists provide a coherent picture to the wider care team of the many diagnostic and prognostic test results any given patient may have. In addition to considering that new role, the profession is also facing a deluge of digital tools and techniques that are coming online. Osmond, despite co-founding a digital pathology company, shares with host Dr. Rishi Desai that doctors really need to understand the limits of AI and other emerging modalities that are sure to change the practice of pathology in the coming decade. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

People with Atrial Fibrillation, or AFib, just have to learn to live with it, right? Wrong, says Dr. Aseem Desai. While AFib, which he calls "the electrical epidemic”, can be a challenging condition to treat, there is much that can be done to tame symptoms and improve quality of life even for those with "permanent" AFib. In this episode of Raise the Line, Dr. Desai talks with host Dr. Rishi Desai about the origins of his interest in cardiology, his new book, Restart Your Heart: The Playbook for Thriving with AFib, and the fascinating brain-heart relationship. He also shares how meditation has been a game changer for him personally, and offers valuable advice for those entering the healthcare field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

We've all heard the U.S. population is aging, but even so, this is a pretty eye-popping statistic: 50% of people born in the U.S. in 2007 will live to be 100. Perhaps more surprising is the lack of products, services and experiences designed for older adults to help them live their "best lives." Filling that gap is the new focus for two veteran entrepreneurs and business leaders, Alan Patricof and Abby Levy, who joined forces this year to launch the investment firm Primetime Partners. As they explain to host Shiv Gaglani, they are finding plenty of founders who have ideas to serve the needs of this population -- from telehealth to support for caregivers to addressing financial issues -- who also want to serve a purpose. As Abby Levy puts it, "if we don't have a positive social impact, then we won't have succeeded either on the investing side or on the mission." Check out this episode for a fascinating glimpse into the future of senior living and what caregivers -- professional and otherwise -- should keep in mind as they interact with "the ageless generation." If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Lawrence Chin loves telehealth and sees it as a positive byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, for providers and patients alike. Still, he admits, “You can't learn to be a doctor virtually...it is a social job.” In steering 500 faculty members and over 700 students through the COVID crisis, Dr. Chin and his team have had to re-evaluate what is truly essential to delivering a high quality medical education. Join him as he speaks with host Shiv Gaglani about the shift to online learning, the lasting changes COVID is making to the medical curriculum, providers as role models of compassion, and why he believes now is one of the best times to enter the medical field. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

No matter what position they hold, from floor nurse to administrator, all nurses are leaders, and all health care professionals have a responsibility to use their knowledge to impact change. Those are core beliefs of AACN president Dr. Deborah Trautman and ones she has lived out in her impactful career. From ER nurse to policy leader Dr. Trautman, who was a Robert Wood Johnson fellow in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the development of the Affordable Care Act, has also seen firsthand the importance of sharing clinical expertise with policymakers. In this wide-ranging interview, Dr. Trautman speaks with Dr. Rishi Desai about the shift toward competency-based curriculum, the impact of COVID, the importance of mentorship, and why you can't divorce policy from politics. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

A healthcare venture capitalist's take on COVID? The pandemic has basically been an accelerator. It's prompted a “digital, virtual revolution” that can be seen in the boom in telehealth and technologies like remote patient monitoring. Change that would have happened over several years or more, has happened in mere months. Join Cyril Philip of Providence Ventures, the venture capital arm of Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH), one of the largest health systems and integrated delivery networks in the country, as he talks with Shiv Gaglani about these changes and what is currently driving his company's investment strategy. On his horizon as growth areas: Medicaid solutions, hospital supply chains, and workforce optimization. Plus, hear Philip explain why allowing providers to practice at the top of their licenses would not only create greater caregiver satisfaction, but also increase efficiency and lower cost. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Practicing what he preached in inner city Detroit led Methodist minister Mel Hall to pursue a PhD in statistics. Not your typical path, perhaps, but Hall had a vision to use data to describe the conditions he observed and seek improvements. When he then connected with Press Ganey, the South Bend, Indiana-based health care company known for developing and distributing patient satisfaction surveys, the community he served expanded considerably. In this episode of Raise the Line, Hall speaks with Shiv Gaglani about the secrets behind Press Ganey's rapid growth and success, including his company's culture of accountability, its focus on science, and its “maniacal” customer service. Tune in to catch Hall's take on making improvements by seeking out and using data in continual feedback loops, the importance of personal touches, and his argument for having the voice of the patient drive the process of healthcare. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast