February 4, 2020 • 26 mins
Imagine a future where most of your medical checkups happen virtually, without ever leaving the comfort of your home. Hard to believe, but it could be the future of healthcare unlocked by advancements in telemedicine and powered by advanced network connectivity. In this episode host, Jonathan Strickland sits down with Firdaus Bhathena, Chief Digital Officer of CVS Health, to learn how he hopes to advance the healthcare system for customers by cutting costs and providing access to those in rural areas through low-cost connected devices that will leverage future 5G networks. Make sure to check out other episodes in this series featuring: Rob Carter, Chief Information Officer of FedEx and Ravi Simhambhatla, Chief Technology Officer of United Airlines.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Restless Ones. I'm Jonathan Strickland. I've spent
the last twelve years covering technology and learning how it works,
demystifying everything from massive parallel processing to advance robotics and
everything in between. As we stand at the beginning of
a new era of unprecedented connectivity with the rollout of
(00:23):
five G technology, I'm partnering with T Mobile for Business
to sit down with some of the visionary leaders in
tech across all industries, from companies like Fiat Chrysler and
FedEx and many more that play an integral part of
our economy to get a better understanding of how tech
and connectivity will change business forever. These leaders are the
(00:44):
pioneers who don't follow trends. They define them. This show
is their story. They are the restless Ones. There's going
to be an explosion in increasingly low cost connected devices
UM and the infrastructure the connectivity that they that they
(01:07):
need that will be provided by things like five gene
networks will be critical to making them available to You know, everybody.
Imagine that in the future, most, if not all, of
your medical checkups or your medical visits can be done
in the comfort of your home. I had the chance
to speak with CBS Health's Chief Digital Officer for US, Bethana,
(01:31):
to get his take on how digital technology is both
an enormous opportunity and a challenge for the healthcare industry,
and how five gene networks will provide the connective structure
that will transform how we access healthcare services in the future.
In our previous episode, Unlocking the Autonomous Automobile, in which
I spoke with Fiat Chrysler's CEO Manta to Mardi, I
(01:52):
learned about how the digital revolution is disrupting the automotive industry.
As I listened to ford Ass, I realized that there
are some interesting parallels between that story and how those
same technologies are affecting health care services. I want to
thank you so much for joining us to have this
(02:14):
conversation and to start, I wanted to get a little
more information about you and your background, and it's a
question I love to ask people who have risen to
levels of leadership in tech. How did you first get
interested in technology? So um I was born and raised
in India, UM and then it's only when I came
to m I T in Cambridge to study for my
(02:36):
undergraduate degree that I got really interested in technology. UM.
What m I t taught me was not just about um,
you know, the nuts and bolts of technology, but the
fact that technology could actually be used to improve the
world we live in. So that's how I kind of
got into tech UM and then UM, I've stayed there
ever since because I'm an I'm an engineer by training,
(02:57):
but a product person at heart, and that means I
want to take the engineering knowledge I have and the
technology that's around us and use it to build products
that people can use. I love the fact that everyone
I taught to who has an engineering background, I get
the sense that they view the world as a series
of either problems or challenges and how do you how
(03:18):
do you create the solution that can meet that. And
it's that sort of creative thinking that I find really
inspiring that you know, that drives the people with that
engineering kind of philosophy. So what sort of lessons did
you learn in your experiences with startups that then sort
of informed your leadership style here at CBS Health. UM,
(03:40):
I think the biggest lesson I learned is that technology
is all about the people involved. UM. Like in most
other endeavors, UM, you're only as good as the team
around you. UM. It's UM, it's certainly interesting and fascinating
to work with cutting edge technology. UM. But if if
you can take that and then build a team uh
(04:00):
to actually use technology to have an impact on people's lives. UM,
that's what makes the difference between a science project in
a lab somewhere um and a product or a company
in the real world excellent. So, so what actually brought
you over to CVS Health after these twenty years working
with startups? You know, when I was a young techie,
(04:20):
I didn't really care what kind of impact I was having.
I just wanted to be successful, right, whatever that meant to,
you know, my younger mind. UM. But as you get older,
you start to think about the kind of impact you're
actually having on the world. UM. And so it's not
often in your life that you get a chance to
work with really cool technology, UM, in the pursuit of
(04:44):
a mission that you can really wake up every morning
and believe it. I mean, what we are trying to
do is to use technology to enable people to lead happier, healthier,
more productive lives. UH. And that's pretty cool and for us,
as mission driven usage of technology and transform the health
care industry, But how can he apply certain technologies to
advance the industry today. One of the things I find
(05:08):
really fascinating is that over the recent past we've seen
dramatic evolution and processing power in sensors and seeing them
decrease in costs and increase in deployment, and it gives
a lot of opportunity. And now that we are in
the very beginning with the rollout of five G technology
and connectivity that promises to develop benefits like high data
(05:31):
throughput and low latency, you start to see some really
interesting opportunities arise. I'm curious about your perspective on that world,
so so the health care industry, you know, and coming
from the outside, Um, you know, three years ago, it
was very clear to me and it's obvious to a
lot of people that like the health care industry has
been kind of a laggard when it comes to adopting technology.
(05:53):
But I'm a big believer in sort of right place
at the right time, and I think the time has
come for healthcare to have its day. Um, we are
at an inflection point right now. There are some very
key technologies that we look at and we believe are
critical to our future. UM. Yeah, it's a I for
health care UM. It's connected devices, and it's virtual care.
(06:15):
And if you think about it, UM, all of those
UM can only succeed with you know, fantastic network connectivity
UM and the use of data UM in the right way.
And so by being able to combine these technologies of
you know, AI UM, connected devices and and virtual care
(06:39):
using the underlying infrastructure that has mature to a point
where now we're talking about five G networks with low
latency and throughput of wire line networks. UM. We think
that it's going to lead to an absolute explosion in
UM the kinds of healthcare experiences that will really truly
improve people's lives. I would love to hear more about
(07:02):
how you're leveraging that type of connectivity. Yeah. See UM.
So so let me make it personal. I've been married
to a pediatrician for twenties six years. I better get
that right, twenty six years now, UM. And so although
I didn't have I didn't work in the health care industry,
you know, I am an honorary physician because you know
(07:23):
of my connection at home. UM. Now, every once in
a while, friends and family will text my wife and
ask her a question. They'll send her an image of
a tick bite on a child's arm, uh, and say,
what do I do about this? Is that a dear tick?
Is it lyme disease? Should I be going to the er?
(07:44):
Or they will bring little Johnny over because Johnny is
pulling on his ear and screaming his head off, and
he has an earache and they're not sure whether it's
an ear infection or whether you know, his sister Jim
the pencil in his ear and he has a perforated
ear drum. Um. And I look at this happening around me,
and you know when people come over and my wife
(08:05):
is you know, takes out our autoscope and looks in
the kid's ear. Um. I'm looking at that and thinking like,
not everyone is lucky enough to have a connection like this. Uh.
And we always hear about how accessibility to to health
care in a cost effective manner is one of the
biggest challenges that we face in this country. Well, think
(08:26):
about how this would play out in the future when
little Johnny is pulling on his or her air um,
as opposed to picking up the phone and trying to
call a friend or a family member. If you happen
to know somebody who was in the medical profession or
thinking about whether I should go to the e er.
You'd pick up your connected autoscope, you hold it up
against the child's ear um. Mom would get an instant
(08:46):
read out using you know, an AI based service that
would say there's a seventy two point six percent likelihood
that this is actually just an ear infection that needs
an antibiotic. UM you know, tap here to get connect
it to a health professional who can verify this diagnosis
and prescribe an antibiotic uh. And then you know, thirty
(09:07):
minutes later it shows up at your home from the
local you know, pharmacy, CVS, health UB whatever it is. UM.
That's the kind of experience we're talking about, you know,
we want to enable in the future. And that's just
the very beginning. That's the tip of the iceberg. Right
from there on, using things like five G networks, you
can go to where you can do remote surgeries for
people because you know, you don't have the latency anymore.
(09:29):
And the way I think about it, it's like five
G makes it like being there. You don't need to
use fancy VR a R technology to benefit from the
feeling of just being there. Um, So being able to
reach reach remote locations. I mean this is not just
about you know, somebody in a suburban home when it's
(09:51):
you know, Saturday night and the kid is crying because
some you know, something's hurting. Um, but it's also people
in remote locations who don't have regular access to care
and being able to reach them in a timely manner.
I think that will lift the level of care and lift,
um the quality of the health outcomes we have while
(10:11):
dramatically lowering cost. Well, how's CVS Health going to partner
with other companies in order to kind of make these
visions come true? Do you see yourself partnering with hardware
and software companies and you know other health companies like this?
This is a very, as I said, a very broad
approach that you're looking at. So what's your your perspective
(10:33):
on that? So, Um, first of all, we are opening
open to partnering with anybody. UM. We think that uh,
to move this whole industry forward is going to take
the efforts of you know, many companies, many of them
are like not in the traditional healthcare space, UM, you know,
(10:53):
including the big tech companies. You know, transportation companies. I
mean very often we find that, Um, the challenge somebody
faces is that they don't have the right kind of
transportation to to get to you know, their doctor's office
or to get to a pharmacy. Um, it's as simple
as that. But at the other end of the spectrum,
(11:14):
there's gonna be lots of really small innovative companies where
their biggest challenges. You know, how do you get adoption,
how do you get out? You know, I lived in
the world of startups, right, this is the biggest challenges.
Once you achieve product market fit, you know, how do
you get to a critical mass of consumers so that
you get beyond. And So if we see a startup somewhere,
(11:34):
UM that is building algorithms to be able to listen
to someone coughing to figure out what the root cause
of that coffee is, of what the diagnosis for that
coffee is. Or we see a startup that's building a
toothbrush that analyzes the saliva in your mouth to give
you a little medical check up every time you brush
your teeth. Um, those are innovations that we think we
(11:56):
are uniquely positioned to bring to market. Big us off
our presence across the country, both in the local community
with our with our pharmacies and our health hubs, but
also with our digital presence that we're building out, you know,
in a big way. Right now, we'll be right back
with our conversation with ferdls Bethana of CVS Health in
(12:18):
just a moment. You know who you are, A boundary pusher,
a big thinker in the relentless pursuit of the next
big innovation for your business. T Mobile for Business knows
that the future demands true workforce mobility and in the
new era of five G being able to assess the
needs of your company in real time could transform everyday functions.
(12:39):
The five G revolution has begun and the future of
businesses like yours will be powered by advancements in five
gene networks built to reach more people in more places
without slowing you down. T Mobile for Business can help
you realize the full potential of your business as five
G unfolds business is changing. Learn more at t mobile
for business dot com. What do you identify as some
(13:05):
of the biggest challenges rather than say problems, the biggest
challenges you face in order to kind of make this
vision a reality, so we are going to be getting
to a point where the amount of data coming in
from connected devices and other sources UH is going to
dwarf what we see today, especially in the world of health.
(13:27):
But that doesn't take away the challenge of what do
you do with all this data? How do you make
sense of it? UM? And so being able to ingest,
UH and process and protect you know, billions of bits
of data and to make sense of it all to
be able to derive insights and actions from that data
that actually meaningfully improve people's lives is one of the
(13:50):
big challenges we face in front of us, right, So
this is sort of big data taken to a whole
new level UM, but also UH the ability to win
the trust of people as we learn more about them
and figure out what we want to recommend that they
do to make their lives better. This is truly a
(14:12):
partnership with the consumer. We have to be extremely transparent
about what we're going to do with that data. It's
probably a bigger challenge than any technology challenge out there UM,
and we have to earn that trust, you know, one
step at a time. It's not something we can just
sort of wish into existence and every action we take
every single day. You know, we need to we need
(14:32):
to focus on that. I like that answer a lot.
It's uh, it's really interesting to see that insight where
the big the big challenge is not necessarily technological, although
I think we're now coining the term bigger data because
of the scale you're talking about, but rather this very
human element that often gets overlooked when we're talking in
(14:53):
terms of technology. What are some of the near term
goals for CVS health as far as the digital transformation goes,
and can you talk about sort of maybe what a
more mid or long term goal would be sort of
a manifestation of these ideas you're talking about. So in
the very near term, you know, we are constantly updating
(15:15):
enhancing our digital experiences to make things easier given the
breadth of resources we have at our disposal now. I mean,
no matter how you want to engage, whether it's by
walking into a physical health hub or into one of
our ten thousand pharmacies, or into one of our thousand
plus minute clinics, or you want to engage digitally, or
(15:36):
if you so wish, you want to pick up the
phone and call just like we used to in the past.
What we're also investing in for the mid term and
long term in a big way, are is the healthcare
platform that underlies a lot of the things we just
talked about. So within the context of healthcare, I know
you've been a passionate advocate for accessibility and the equal
(15:59):
access of healthcare across the entire population. How will increase
connectivity this potential of a low latency, high data throughput
world that we're moving towards, how is that going to
be a part of that mission? I think it's pretty straightforward.
It's there's going to be an explosion in increasingly low
cost connected devices UM and the infrastructure, the connectivity that
(16:24):
they that they need that will be provided by things
like five G networks will be critical to making them
available to you know, everybody. Imagine that in the future, most,
if not all, of your medical checkups or your medical
visits can be done in the comfort of your home.
UM it would be dramatically lower cost. I mean, the
(16:45):
way we look at it is we look at all
of the things that can be done by a professional
in person, can they be done remotely UM or if
not remotely, then at least in a local community setting.
Like you know, health right with someplace where you might
have medical professionals but perhaps not specialized in those specific
(17:07):
areas of medicine doing theater right. But hopefully nine times
out of ten you don't need one. Times out of
a hundred, you don't need one. UM. And so I think,
but I think, I think the advanced networks will be
extremely valuable when it comes to pushing that kind of
interaction physical interaction at a distance UM Einstein used to
(17:30):
call it, you know, spooky action at a distance for
quantum entanglement. Well, and as you point out, like a
lot of these underlying technologies have existed, but the limiting
factor was the fact that that you couldn't get the
information fast enough to its destination. And so that's why
we're excited about seeing rollouts like five G where we
can see that connectivity popping up and it doesn't require
(17:53):
the physical cables. It frees up a lot of the
the what would previously be limiting factors for these sort
of implementations. I like that you're removing barriers and reducing latency.
Do you anticipate any other emerging technologies playing a really
important role in the near term in health care? Whether
(18:13):
it's it's something that the average person would actually, you know,
recognize upon encountering it, or if it was something seamlessly
happening in the background that just sort of magically made
things work. So when I typically say connected devices, I
mean like a whole spectrum of them. Right at one
end is the home hemo dialysis system that sits in
your home. It's not awareable, it's not something you you know,
(18:36):
walk around with on the street. Um. But I think
the range of connected devices is going to be far
beyond what people are imagining right now. It will be
built into almost everything we do. That will take some time,
and it will take this building of trust that I
talked about. I also think that there will be lots
(18:57):
of things that will be always on, uh, as opposed
to today when you know, I lose connectivity or I
have a low bandwidth signal, or um, I'm out of range. Um,
that kind of stuff will slowly start to go away.
And UH. It's interesting as well because I see this
again as a convergence where any one company or any
(19:20):
one innovator might be able to make a piece of something,
but that piece really doesn't have value until it fits
in with this larger picture we're talking about, and you
have to have the actionable responses that you can then
either send directly to the person or send to a
medical professional that can then, you know, enact the change
(19:43):
that is necessary. All these pieces have to come together.
Ford Us makes using technology to improve the health of
people seem easy, and those changes will have a huge
impact on the future of the healthcare industry in the US.
He'll tell me how that vision of tomorrow will come
together after the break. The future is closer than you think,
(20:06):
and it all starts in the palm of your hand.
You've heard the news five G is here, but what
does that really mean? How will it impact you? In
this I Heart series This Time Tomorrow, presented by T
Mobile for Business, join hosts os Volition and Cara Price
as they walk us through a mobile revolution that will
start to change the future of business and the way
(20:28):
we interact with the world around us. From environmental science
to law enforcement, entertainment, healthcare, and travel, innovation is coming.
Join them as they explore how this revolution could impact
your life and give you new ways to connect and engage.
This Time Tomorrow is now available on the I Heart
Radio app or wherever you listen to podcast. So with
(20:56):
these various pieces that are all either emerging or matureing
things like machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, telemedication, the network connectivity,
integrated sensors, what do you think healthcare is going to
look like in a decade or two? How how transformative
(21:18):
are we talking about at this point? You know, I
think most of the early triage will probably get done
by machines um, which is not to say that we
won't we'll be putting, you know, physicians out of business.
I actually think we will be empowering physicians and other
care providers to operate, as we like to say, at
(21:41):
the top of their license. I think, as you say,
like using the technology to augment, not to replace like that,
I think it would many cases free us up to
concentrate more on those things that were very good at
and take care of some of the things that we
might be good at. But it's something that could easily
be automated, it frees us up. Well, to wrap this up,
(22:02):
we're going to have our five rapid questions. You do
not need to take a lot of time to think
about these. We just want your gut answer, and here
we go. Question one, What one piece of technology could
you not live without? Um my mobile device. I knew
(22:23):
you would expect that. Yeah, I'm in the same way,
all right, virtual reality or augmented reality, augmented m We're
two for two right now. I'm just letting you know
what science fiction technology would you most want to see
become reality? Um? The medical tricorder on what's it called
(22:46):
a tricorder? Yes, it was. It was a tricorder on
Star medical tricorder on Star Trek. It would diagnose and
fix at the same time. Yes, it's fixed by waving
it over at wound. It's incredibly timesaving device. There's all right,
autonomous car or eight I robotic personal assistant. Oh, definitely
autonomous car. And I don't need more people in my
(23:07):
life telling me what to do. That's fair. That's fair,
all right. And what do you see as being the
biggest potential disruptive technology in the near future? UM. I
(23:28):
know I've said this before. I really think the medical
grade connected devices. UM, that will provide the kind of
real time monitoring that we've been talking about, you know,
off and on for the past hour. Um, I think
that's going to really change people's lives. Where you can
go from you know, being reactive to truly being proactive.
(23:48):
I want to thank you sincerely for the time you've
taken to to talk with us and to share your
vision and to inspire with this. Uh, this this vision
of the future which I also agree. I think this
is fully attainable if we set our minds to it,
and and as far as I'm concerned, we have every
reason to do that and no good reason not to.
(24:10):
So thank you so much for joining us. You're very welcome.
It was a lot of fun, and thank you for
having me appreciate it. It's difficult to frame the impact
digital technology has already had on the healthcare industry and
what we should expect next. From giving patients more access
and control over their own healthcare, to enabling new applications
(24:31):
of telemedicine to providing the foundation for back end operations,
the digital world is playing a critical role in how
we manage and access healthcare, and without the pervasive access
to network connectivity, none of these advancements would be possible.
Five gen networks will create new opportunities to help consumers
and enable new lines of business at the same time.
(24:54):
That's a powerful story in our next episode, join us
as we speak with a show case Rivastava, the chief
Data Officer of into It, as we look at how
advanced technologies like AI and machine learning will become the
underlying infrastructure for industry in the near future. This has
(25:15):
been the Restless Ones, a production of T Mobile for
Business and I Heart Radio. No matter what you're after,
T Mobile for Business is here with a network born
mobile and built from the ground up for the next
wave of innovation, from mobile broadband to IoT to workforce
(25:39):
mobility and everything in between. T Mobile for Business is
committed to helping innovative decision makers like you move your
business forward with the products and services you need, as
well as the dedicated, award winning service your business expects
from America's most loved wireless company. Business is changing. Learn
more at T Mobile for Business dot com.
Welcome to the Restless Ones. I'm Jonathan Strickland. I've spent
the last twelve years covering technology and learning how it works,
demystifying everything from massive parallel processing to advance robotics and
everything in between. As we stand at the beginning of
a new era of unprecedented connectivity with the rollout of
(00:23):
five G technology, I'm partnering with T Mobile for Business
to sit down with some of the visionary leaders in
tech across all industries, from companies like Fiat Chrysler and
FedEx and many more that play an integral part of
our economy to get a better understanding of how tech
and connectivity will change business forever. These leaders are the
(00:44):
pioneers who don't follow trends. They define them. This show
is their story. They are the restless Ones. There's going
to be an explosion in increasingly low cost connected devices
UM and the infrastructure the connectivity that they that they
(01:07):
need that will be provided by things like five gene
networks will be critical to making them available to You know, everybody.
Imagine that in the future, most, if not all, of
your medical checkups or your medical visits can be done
in the comfort of your home. I had the chance
to speak with CBS Health's Chief Digital Officer for US, Bethana,
(01:31):
to get his take on how digital technology is both
an enormous opportunity and a challenge for the healthcare industry,
and how five gene networks will provide the connective structure
that will transform how we access healthcare services in the future.
In our previous episode, Unlocking the Autonomous Automobile, in which
I spoke with Fiat Chrysler's CEO Manta to Mardi, I
(01:52):
learned about how the digital revolution is disrupting the automotive industry.
As I listened to ford Ass, I realized that there
are some interesting parallels between that story and how those
same technologies are affecting health care services. I want to
thank you so much for joining us to have this
(02:14):
conversation and to start, I wanted to get a little
more information about you and your background, and it's a
question I love to ask people who have risen to
levels of leadership in tech. How did you first get
interested in technology? So um I was born and raised
in India, UM and then it's only when I came
to m I T in Cambridge to study for my
(02:36):
undergraduate degree that I got really interested in technology. UM.
What m I t taught me was not just about um,
you know, the nuts and bolts of technology, but the
fact that technology could actually be used to improve the
world we live in. So that's how I kind of
got into tech UM and then UM, I've stayed there
ever since because I'm an I'm an engineer by training,
(02:57):
but a product person at heart, and that means I
want to take the engineering knowledge I have and the
technology that's around us and use it to build products
that people can use. I love the fact that everyone
I taught to who has an engineering background, I get
the sense that they view the world as a series
of either problems or challenges and how do you how
(03:18):
do you create the solution that can meet that. And
it's that sort of creative thinking that I find really
inspiring that you know, that drives the people with that
engineering kind of philosophy. So what sort of lessons did
you learn in your experiences with startups that then sort
of informed your leadership style here at CBS Health. UM,
(03:40):
I think the biggest lesson I learned is that technology
is all about the people involved. UM. Like in most
other endeavors, UM, you're only as good as the team
around you. UM. It's UM, it's certainly interesting and fascinating
to work with cutting edge technology. UM. But if if
you can take that and then build a team uh
(04:00):
to actually use technology to have an impact on people's lives. UM,
that's what makes the difference between a science project in
a lab somewhere um and a product or a company
in the real world excellent. So, so what actually brought
you over to CVS Health after these twenty years working
with startups? You know, when I was a young techie,
(04:20):
I didn't really care what kind of impact I was having.
I just wanted to be successful, right, whatever that meant to,
you know, my younger mind. UM. But as you get older,
you start to think about the kind of impact you're
actually having on the world. UM. And so it's not
often in your life that you get a chance to
work with really cool technology, UM, in the pursuit of
(04:44):
a mission that you can really wake up every morning
and believe it. I mean, what we are trying to
do is to use technology to enable people to lead happier, healthier,
more productive lives. UH. And that's pretty cool and for us,
as mission driven usage of technology and transform the health
care industry, But how can he apply certain technologies to
advance the industry today. One of the things I find
(05:08):
really fascinating is that over the recent past we've seen
dramatic evolution and processing power in sensors and seeing them
decrease in costs and increase in deployment, and it gives
a lot of opportunity. And now that we are in
the very beginning with the rollout of five G technology
and connectivity that promises to develop benefits like high data
(05:31):
throughput and low latency, you start to see some really
interesting opportunities arise. I'm curious about your perspective on that world,
so so the health care industry, you know, and coming
from the outside, Um, you know, three years ago, it
was very clear to me and it's obvious to a
lot of people that like the health care industry has
been kind of a laggard when it comes to adopting technology.
(05:53):
But I'm a big believer in sort of right place
at the right time, and I think the time has
come for healthcare to have its day. Um, we are
at an inflection point right now. There are some very
key technologies that we look at and we believe are
critical to our future. UM. Yeah, it's a I for
health care UM. It's connected devices, and it's virtual care.
(06:15):
And if you think about it, UM, all of those
UM can only succeed with you know, fantastic network connectivity
UM and the use of data UM in the right way.
And so by being able to combine these technologies of
you know, AI UM, connected devices and and virtual care
(06:39):
using the underlying infrastructure that has mature to a point
where now we're talking about five G networks with low
latency and throughput of wire line networks. UM. We think
that it's going to lead to an absolute explosion in
UM the kinds of healthcare experiences that will really truly
improve people's lives. I would love to hear more about
(07:02):
how you're leveraging that type of connectivity. Yeah. See UM.
So so let me make it personal. I've been married
to a pediatrician for twenties six years. I better get
that right, twenty six years now, UM. And so although
I didn't have I didn't work in the health care industry,
you know, I am an honorary physician because you know
(07:23):
of my connection at home. UM. Now, every once in
a while, friends and family will text my wife and
ask her a question. They'll send her an image of
a tick bite on a child's arm, uh, and say,
what do I do about this? Is that a dear tick?
Is it lyme disease? Should I be going to the er?
(07:44):
Or they will bring little Johnny over because Johnny is
pulling on his ear and screaming his head off, and
he has an earache and they're not sure whether it's
an ear infection or whether you know, his sister Jim
the pencil in his ear and he has a perforated
ear drum. Um. And I look at this happening around me,
and you know when people come over and my wife
(08:05):
is you know, takes out our autoscope and looks in
the kid's ear. Um. I'm looking at that and thinking like,
not everyone is lucky enough to have a connection like this. Uh.
And we always hear about how accessibility to to health
care in a cost effective manner is one of the
biggest challenges that we face in this country. Well, think
(08:26):
about how this would play out in the future when
little Johnny is pulling on his or her air um,
as opposed to picking up the phone and trying to
call a friend or a family member. If you happen
to know somebody who was in the medical profession or
thinking about whether I should go to the e er.
You'd pick up your connected autoscope, you hold it up
against the child's ear um. Mom would get an instant
(08:46):
read out using you know, an AI based service that
would say there's a seventy two point six percent likelihood
that this is actually just an ear infection that needs
an antibiotic. UM you know, tap here to get connect
it to a health professional who can verify this diagnosis
and prescribe an antibiotic uh. And then you know, thirty
(09:07):
minutes later it shows up at your home from the
local you know, pharmacy, CVS, health UB whatever it is. UM.
That's the kind of experience we're talking about, you know,
we want to enable in the future. And that's just
the very beginning. That's the tip of the iceberg. Right
from there on, using things like five G networks, you
can go to where you can do remote surgeries for
people because you know, you don't have the latency anymore.
(09:29):
And the way I think about it, it's like five
G makes it like being there. You don't need to
use fancy VR a R technology to benefit from the
feeling of just being there. Um, So being able to
reach reach remote locations. I mean this is not just
about you know, somebody in a suburban home when it's
(09:51):
you know, Saturday night and the kid is crying because
some you know, something's hurting. Um, but it's also people
in remote locations who don't have regular access to care
and being able to reach them in a timely manner.
I think that will lift the level of care and lift,
um the quality of the health outcomes we have while
(10:11):
dramatically lowering cost. Well, how's CVS Health going to partner
with other companies in order to kind of make these
visions come true? Do you see yourself partnering with hardware
and software companies and you know other health companies like this?
This is a very, as I said, a very broad
approach that you're looking at. So what's your your perspective
(10:33):
on that? So, Um, first of all, we are opening
open to partnering with anybody. UM. We think that uh,
to move this whole industry forward is going to take
the efforts of you know, many companies, many of them
are like not in the traditional healthcare space, UM, you know,
(10:53):
including the big tech companies. You know, transportation companies. I
mean very often we find that, Um, the challenge somebody
faces is that they don't have the right kind of
transportation to to get to you know, their doctor's office
or to get to a pharmacy. Um, it's as simple
as that. But at the other end of the spectrum,
(11:14):
there's gonna be lots of really small innovative companies where
their biggest challenges. You know, how do you get adoption,
how do you get out? You know, I lived in
the world of startups, right, this is the biggest challenges.
Once you achieve product market fit, you know, how do
you get to a critical mass of consumers so that
you get beyond. And So if we see a startup somewhere,
(11:34):
UM that is building algorithms to be able to listen
to someone coughing to figure out what the root cause
of that coffee is, of what the diagnosis for that
coffee is. Or we see a startup that's building a
toothbrush that analyzes the saliva in your mouth to give
you a little medical check up every time you brush
your teeth. Um, those are innovations that we think we
(11:56):
are uniquely positioned to bring to market. Big us off
our presence across the country, both in the local community
with our with our pharmacies and our health hubs, but
also with our digital presence that we're building out, you know,
in a big way. Right now, we'll be right back
with our conversation with ferdls Bethana of CVS Health in
(12:18):
just a moment. You know who you are, A boundary pusher,
a big thinker in the relentless pursuit of the next
big innovation for your business. T Mobile for Business knows
that the future demands true workforce mobility and in the
new era of five G being able to assess the
needs of your company in real time could transform everyday functions.
(12:39):
The five G revolution has begun and the future of
businesses like yours will be powered by advancements in five
gene networks built to reach more people in more places
without slowing you down. T Mobile for Business can help
you realize the full potential of your business as five
G unfolds business is changing. Learn more at t mobile
for business dot com. What do you identify as some
(13:05):
of the biggest challenges rather than say problems, the biggest
challenges you face in order to kind of make this
vision a reality, so we are going to be getting
to a point where the amount of data coming in
from connected devices and other sources UH is going to
dwarf what we see today, especially in the world of health.
(13:27):
But that doesn't take away the challenge of what do
you do with all this data? How do you make
sense of it? UM? And so being able to ingest,
UH and process and protect you know, billions of bits
of data and to make sense of it all to
be able to derive insights and actions from that data
that actually meaningfully improve people's lives is one of the
(13:50):
big challenges we face in front of us, right, So
this is sort of big data taken to a whole
new level UM, but also UH the ability to win
the trust of people as we learn more about them
and figure out what we want to recommend that they
do to make their lives better. This is truly a
(14:12):
partnership with the consumer. We have to be extremely transparent
about what we're going to do with that data. It's
probably a bigger challenge than any technology challenge out there UM,
and we have to earn that trust, you know, one
step at a time. It's not something we can just
sort of wish into existence and every action we take
every single day. You know, we need to we need
(14:32):
to focus on that. I like that answer a lot.
It's uh, it's really interesting to see that insight where
the big the big challenge is not necessarily technological, although
I think we're now coining the term bigger data because
of the scale you're talking about, but rather this very
human element that often gets overlooked when we're talking in
(14:53):
terms of technology. What are some of the near term
goals for CVS health as far as the digital transformation goes,
and can you talk about sort of maybe what a
more mid or long term goal would be sort of
a manifestation of these ideas you're talking about. So in
the very near term, you know, we are constantly updating
(15:15):
enhancing our digital experiences to make things easier given the
breadth of resources we have at our disposal now. I mean,
no matter how you want to engage, whether it's by
walking into a physical health hub or into one of
our ten thousand pharmacies, or into one of our thousand
plus minute clinics, or you want to engage digitally, or
(15:36):
if you so wish, you want to pick up the
phone and call just like we used to in the past.
What we're also investing in for the mid term and
long term in a big way, are is the healthcare
platform that underlies a lot of the things we just
talked about. So within the context of healthcare, I know
you've been a passionate advocate for accessibility and the equal
(15:59):
access of healthcare across the entire population. How will increase
connectivity this potential of a low latency, high data throughput
world that we're moving towards, how is that going to
be a part of that mission? I think it's pretty straightforward.
It's there's going to be an explosion in increasingly low
cost connected devices UM and the infrastructure, the connectivity that
(16:24):
they that they need that will be provided by things
like five G networks will be critical to making them
available to you know, everybody. Imagine that in the future, most,
if not all, of your medical checkups or your medical
visits can be done in the comfort of your home.
UM it would be dramatically lower cost. I mean, the
(16:45):
way we look at it is we look at all
of the things that can be done by a professional
in person, can they be done remotely UM or if
not remotely, then at least in a local community setting.
Like you know, health right with someplace where you might
have medical professionals but perhaps not specialized in those specific
(17:07):
areas of medicine doing theater right. But hopefully nine times
out of ten you don't need one. Times out of
a hundred, you don't need one. UM. And so I think,
but I think, I think the advanced networks will be
extremely valuable when it comes to pushing that kind of
interaction physical interaction at a distance UM Einstein used to
(17:30):
call it, you know, spooky action at a distance for
quantum entanglement. Well, and as you point out, like a
lot of these underlying technologies have existed, but the limiting
factor was the fact that that you couldn't get the
information fast enough to its destination. And so that's why
we're excited about seeing rollouts like five G where we
can see that connectivity popping up and it doesn't require
(17:53):
the physical cables. It frees up a lot of the
the what would previously be limiting factors for these sort
of implementations. I like that you're removing barriers and reducing latency.
Do you anticipate any other emerging technologies playing a really
important role in the near term in health care? Whether
(18:13):
it's it's something that the average person would actually, you know,
recognize upon encountering it, or if it was something seamlessly
happening in the background that just sort of magically made
things work. So when I typically say connected devices, I
mean like a whole spectrum of them. Right at one
end is the home hemo dialysis system that sits in
your home. It's not awareable, it's not something you you know,
(18:36):
walk around with on the street. Um. But I think
the range of connected devices is going to be far
beyond what people are imagining right now. It will be
built into almost everything we do. That will take some time,
and it will take this building of trust that I
talked about. I also think that there will be lots
(18:57):
of things that will be always on, uh, as opposed
to today when you know, I lose connectivity or I
have a low bandwidth signal, or um, I'm out of range. Um,
that kind of stuff will slowly start to go away.
And UH. It's interesting as well because I see this
again as a convergence where any one company or any
(19:20):
one innovator might be able to make a piece of something,
but that piece really doesn't have value until it fits
in with this larger picture we're talking about, and you
have to have the actionable responses that you can then
either send directly to the person or send to a
medical professional that can then, you know, enact the change
(19:43):
that is necessary. All these pieces have to come together.
Ford Us makes using technology to improve the health of
people seem easy, and those changes will have a huge
impact on the future of the healthcare industry in the US.
He'll tell me how that vision of tomorrow will come
together after the break. The future is closer than you think,
(20:06):
and it all starts in the palm of your hand.
You've heard the news five G is here, but what
does that really mean? How will it impact you? In
this I Heart series This Time Tomorrow, presented by T
Mobile for Business, join hosts os Volition and Cara Price
as they walk us through a mobile revolution that will
start to change the future of business and the way
(20:28):
we interact with the world around us. From environmental science
to law enforcement, entertainment, healthcare, and travel, innovation is coming.
Join them as they explore how this revolution could impact
your life and give you new ways to connect and engage.
This Time Tomorrow is now available on the I Heart
Radio app or wherever you listen to podcast. So with
(20:56):
these various pieces that are all either emerging or matureing
things like machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, telemedication, the network connectivity,
integrated sensors, what do you think healthcare is going to
look like in a decade or two? How how transformative
(21:18):
are we talking about at this point? You know, I
think most of the early triage will probably get done
by machines um, which is not to say that we
won't we'll be putting, you know, physicians out of business.
I actually think we will be empowering physicians and other
care providers to operate, as we like to say, at
(21:41):
the top of their license. I think, as you say,
like using the technology to augment, not to replace like that,
I think it would many cases free us up to
concentrate more on those things that were very good at
and take care of some of the things that we
might be good at. But it's something that could easily
be automated, it frees us up. Well, to wrap this up,
(22:02):
we're going to have our five rapid questions. You do
not need to take a lot of time to think
about these. We just want your gut answer, and here
we go. Question one, What one piece of technology could
you not live without? Um my mobile device. I knew
(22:23):
you would expect that. Yeah, I'm in the same way,
all right, virtual reality or augmented reality, augmented m We're
two for two right now. I'm just letting you know
what science fiction technology would you most want to see
become reality? Um? The medical tricorder on what's it called
(22:46):
a tricorder? Yes, it was. It was a tricorder on
Star medical tricorder on Star Trek. It would diagnose and
fix at the same time. Yes, it's fixed by waving
it over at wound. It's incredibly timesaving device. There's all right,
autonomous car or eight I robotic personal assistant. Oh, definitely
autonomous car. And I don't need more people in my
(23:07):
life telling me what to do. That's fair. That's fair,
all right. And what do you see as being the
biggest potential disruptive technology in the near future? UM. I
(23:28):
know I've said this before. I really think the medical
grade connected devices. UM, that will provide the kind of
real time monitoring that we've been talking about, you know,
off and on for the past hour. Um, I think
that's going to really change people's lives. Where you can
go from you know, being reactive to truly being proactive.
(23:48):
I want to thank you sincerely for the time you've
taken to to talk with us and to share your
vision and to inspire with this. Uh, this this vision
of the future which I also agree. I think this
is fully attainable if we set our minds to it,
and and as far as I'm concerned, we have every
reason to do that and no good reason not to.
(24:10):
So thank you so much for joining us. You're very welcome.
It was a lot of fun, and thank you for
having me appreciate it. It's difficult to frame the impact
digital technology has already had on the healthcare industry and
what we should expect next. From giving patients more access
and control over their own healthcare, to enabling new applications
(24:31):
of telemedicine to providing the foundation for back end operations,
the digital world is playing a critical role in how
we manage and access healthcare, and without the pervasive access
to network connectivity, none of these advancements would be possible.
Five gen networks will create new opportunities to help consumers
and enable new lines of business at the same time.
(24:54):
That's a powerful story in our next episode, join us
as we speak with a show case Rivastava, the chief
Data Officer of into It, as we look at how
advanced technologies like AI and machine learning will become the
underlying infrastructure for industry in the near future. This has
(25:15):
been the Restless Ones, a production of T Mobile for
Business and I Heart Radio. No matter what you're after,
T Mobile for Business is here with a network born
mobile and built from the ground up for the next
wave of innovation, from mobile broadband to IoT to workforce
(25:39):
mobility and everything in between. T Mobile for Business is
committed to helping innovative decision makers like you move your
business forward with the products and services you need, as
well as the dedicated, award winning service your business expects
from America's most loved wireless company. Business is changing. Learn
more at T Mobile for Business dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.