When is a medical technology company more than a medical technology company? We’ll hear all about it when I speak with Dave Pacitti, the President and Head of the Americas at Siemens Healthineers. They’re out to solve problems bigger than the products they are known for.
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Dr. Moira Gunn (00:11):
When is a medical technology company more
than a medical technologycompany? When it sets out to
solve problems greater thansimply supplying just the best
technology. Dave Pacitti is thepresident of Siemens
Healthineers. Well, Dave,welcome to the program.
Dave Pacitti (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure
to see you.
Dr. Moira Gunn (00:31):
It seems like none of us can go into any
medical setting without seeing agreat variety of equipment with
Siemens Associated Labels.Still, I have to ask you about
something else. I know in injust preparing for this
interview, I saw that in yourcollege years, you were a big
football player and you went onto sign with the Miami Dolphins.
(00:53):
Now while I talk to a lot ofcompany presidents, I don't get
a lot of former NFL players. AndI wanna ask you, you got
drafted, you were signed, youshow up.
When did it really hit you? I'ma Miami Dolphin.
Dave Pacitti (01:08):
I think it hit me, when I had to run lots of wind
sprints in that hot Miami heat.And, yeah, it it yeah. It really
it really hit me well then. And,so I I wasn't drafted. I was a
free agent.
I was signed way back in 1990.As you mentioned, I played, I
played football college atVillanova University, which my
(01:29):
which my father went toVillanova as well, and many
family members went there. So,it it you know, the the the
football thing was great. Isigned a free agent contract in
1990. It was a great part of mylife.
And as you can imagine, youknow, I'm a I I grew up from an
Italian family, and, nobodyplayed that football. They
played a different kind offootball. Soccer? Yeah. Yes.
Dr. Moira Gunn (01:50):
What we call soccer, they call football.
Dave Pacitti (01:52):
Yes. Exactly. And, it took a lot lot of years to
sort of separate myself fromfootball and let them make
people believe I could do thejob I'm doing today. But I will
say, I don't think I would be aseffective as I am if I didn't
from my football background. Ilearned so much, especially
about teamwork and collaborationand the and the and the desire
(02:12):
to win and really desire to getbetter every day.
Right? That's what you learnfrom playing such a tough team
sport. And football was reallyhard, but I'll tell you what
we're gonna talk about today iseven harder. Right? The and a
lot has to do with health carein United States and its complex
problems that we're working on.
So, football gave me a goodfoundation, but I'm really
excited about what I'm doingtoday and, really, hopefully,
(02:35):
making a big impact. Our ourteam is.
Dr. Moira Gunn (02:37):
Well, it was a it's tough training, unavailable
to me. Thank goodness. But goodfor you and good for Siemens
Health and Ears. Now as I saidearlier, you'd be hard pressed
to go into a medical setting andnot see a Siemens associated
label on equipment everywhere.Remind us, what is Siemens?
(02:57):
And then what is SiemensHealthineers in particular?
Dave Pacitti (03:00):
Yeah. So Siemens has been a large industrial,
conglomerate, Siemens AG, that'sbeen around for well over a 100
years based in Germany. Siemenshad a Siemens had a medical
division, it was just calledSiemens Medical, that was spun
out into the market in 2017, andwe got a new name, Siemens
(03:20):
Health and Ears. And, and thenwe became our own company.
Siemens AG is a majorityshareholder of of Siemens
Healthineers, but but we, youknow, are independent company
now and, you know, have our ownstock symbol on the exchange.
And that all have back happenedback in 2017, but we still
obviously collaborate well withour Siemens AG colleagues.
Dr. Moira Gunn (03:45):
So what's the difference though? I mean,
you're why why Health and Ears?What does that mean?
Dave Pacitti (03:51):
So Health and Ears is really we're we're focused on
health care. The other parts ofSiemens are industrial
companies, like, you know,making trains and airplane
engines and, you know, smartinfrastructure and and, you
know, a lot of do in the end.There's a Siemens Energy
business that has now spun offas well. So, you know, think of
(04:12):
it as a very large industrialcompany. Siemens Healthineers is
a 100% focused in healthcare andwe make we make medical
products.
We had started out primarily asa diagnostic company. So
imaging, like MRIs and CATscans. We have laboratory tests,
and we make laboratoryequipment. But then, during
(04:33):
COVID, we bought Varian Varian,which is now a a part of Siemens
Health and Ear.
Dr. Moira Gunn (04:38):
A very old company, by the way. Very old.
Dave Pacitti (04:40):
Yeah. Also. So so there's a lot a lot of old
companies around. Right? Soyeah.
And, yeah, Varian has a greatlegacy, but it's a radiation
oncology company. So we're nowactually delivering therapy, not
just doing diagnostic work. Andthen as you know, in a very
difficult field, radiationoncology is is treating cancer
patients. So and we're reallyexcited to have Varian as part
(05:03):
of the team for the last coupleyears, and it's been a a a a
great synergies between the twocompanies.
Dr. Moira Gunn (05:08):
Now all of that I could find online. That's
easy. But what I foundfascinating is that you are
going beyond well, here's ourdiagnostics. Here's our
treatment equipment. Here's allof this.
You're going beyond that intohealth, if you will, in terms of
of the reach of what you'redoing. Tell us about that.
Dave Pacitti (05:31):
Yeah. So, you know, and I may I stated this
earlier, health health care, nomatter where you are in the
world, is complicated. Right?Every every country's got a
different system and it all ithas its flaws and then they have
their benefits. Right?
So we know, whether in LatinAmerica or South America or in
the US, there's a lot ofcomplexities in health care. And
(05:52):
we've started a enterprisebusiness that we call value
partnerships. It's reallyfocused on trying to solve the
biggest challenges in healthcare. So we're we're we're
thrilled when someone wants tobuy our equipment. Right?
And and that's all we used todo. But now we come into a
institution and say, how aboutwe try to help you solve some of
your biggest challenges? Andsome of those challenges could
(06:13):
be workforce related. They couldbe driving efficiencies in the
hospital. It could be aroundaddressing disparities in care.
And we don't certainly don't saythat we can do healthcare better
than a hospital, but we think wecan help in certain areas. And
we've taken on that challengeand we've started these value
partnerships and we're, youknow, we're thrilled to have
(06:35):
them. You know, we only do a fewa year. And we have a 150 of
these partnerships worldwide and21 of these partnerships in the
US specifically. Why these areimportant?
And if you're a patient in a ina health care institution,
right, so if it's you, someonein your family, or it's me, one
of my kids, right, there areproblems in our healthcare
system. And what we're trying todo is address those problems.
(06:59):
Imagine you have to get acritical test done. You're a
patient and you need an MRI doneon your brain, right? But one of
the challenges, because they'reworkforce, they're short
workers, that MRI can't happenfor 4 months.
That's a real scenario today inthe US healthcare system in some
places. And what we're doingwith healthcare institutions,
(07:19):
that's just one example, we'rehelping them address their
workforce needs so people don'thave to wait as long to get a
test. Also, if you're someonewho is uncomfortable, you know,
getting care, right, or youdon't have access to care, well,
it gets harder if there's lessworkers. Right? Because then the
access is you don't have as muchaccess.
(07:40):
Right? So that's one of theproblems we're working on in
these partnerships that's veryrelatable to anyone. I know I I
call and I have to wait some solong to to see a doctor. It's
hard. Right?
Or get a test done. You know, Ihave a I have a my youngest son
is autistic. There's not a lotof pediatricians that are child
(08:01):
early development pediatricians.Right? So when my wife made the
appointment, it took 7 months togo see that this.
And that's that's a shortage.Right? That's because there are
shortages that in that case,there's a shortage of pediatric
pediatric physicians thatspecialize in in in, child
children that have neuroproblems. So there's one of the
(08:22):
issues, that I think is veryrelatable for people to
understand, that we're helpinginstitutions address.
Dr. Moira Gunn (08:28):
So you could have equipment standing there,
but if you have no one operatingit, that doesn't you can't get
into it. You just can't get intoit.
Dave Pacitti (08:36):
You said it better than I did. That's exactly
that's exactly it. Right? Sothere's a lot of ways to address
that. 1, you know, we believethat by utilizing technology,
you can we've learned now thatwe have utilizing technology, we
can operate more than one pieceof equipment with with less
people.
Technology, we can operate morethan one piece of equipment with
with less people. Right? Sousing AI and automation, you can
(09:00):
have one technician run multipleMRIs as an example. Right? Which
helps if you don't if you can'tfind 4 MRI techs, you have one
tech that can run 4 MRIs as anexample, right?
So technology plays a role inthis, right? Technology is super
important. Just like withdoctors, we have artificial
intelligence now that helpsradiologists look for things
(09:24):
that maybe are not prescribed onthe test. You know, if I had a
if I'm a patient and I havepneumonia, okay, and the doctor
writes a prescription, Dave, youneed to go get a chest CT
because I wanna verify if youhave pneumonia or something else
is going on. We now havetechnology.
When you get that that CT forpneumonia, the CT tells the
(09:47):
doctor this. Doctor, yes. Davehas pneumonia, but, oh, by the
way, sort of with a red greenlight system, you should be
looking at these other thingsand following up with Dave that
has nothing to do with hispneumonia. Right?
Dr. Moira Gunn (10:02):
That's exactly where technology comes in.
Dave Pacitti (10:05):
Exactly.
Dr. Moira Gunn (10:06):
It's not paying attention because because I
analyze everything I know how toanalyze, and there you are.
Dave Pacitti (10:11):
Yeah. And and they're busy. Right? So he a lot
of times, a doctor, becausethey're so busy and have to look
at so many scans, in thisexample, a day, they wouldn't
have time to look for all thoseother things. That's why
bringing it to their attentionis super important.
So so, Jen, just another examplewhere technology plays a role in
addressing workforce shortage.But it goes and where it goes a
(10:33):
step further, that's not theonly way to do it. There's a
little bit of we have to roll upour sleeves and also find new
workers. Right? Technology isnot gonna solve all the
problems.
So one example that we can sharewith you, the SSM, in Saint
Louis, which is a large healthsystem in the Midwest based in
St. Louis. We're actuallyworking with SSM, the health
(10:53):
system, and the Urban League inSt. Louis to identify candidates
that might wanna go to techschool to become a health care
professional. And they're reallylooking in the underserved
communities and the minoritycommunities in in St.
Louis where people might noteven know about these jobs
exist. And and the Urban Leaguewill be sort of the host. And
(11:13):
then between SSM and and SiemensHealthineers, we'll work
together in creating thecurriculum. You know, it takes
time, but put some of theseprograms, you don't need a
college degree depending on whatit is. Right?
And you could go through, like,a certificate program to get
certified to be whether it's arad tech or or something or
laboratory tech or aphlebotomist. So we we gotta do
(11:35):
it more than one way, technologyand the old grassroots effort of
really trying to find theworkers of the future.
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:41):
I like that.
Dave Pacitti (11:41):
Yeah. No. It's great.
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:43):
Stand on a street corner and say, hey. Want
a career? You know?
Dave Pacitti (11:46):
That's good. Exactly. People are looking for
that. You know? So it's it'sexciting, the work that we're
doing.
And and we obviously, we don'tdo it by ourselves. We're doing
it with our partners. Right?
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:56):
And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're also
working with the University ofMissouri. I mean, developing
curriculum for biomedicalengineering. I mean, what what
is that about?
Dave Pacitti (12:07):
Yes. Correct. It's and it's a great example. So
with the University of Missouri,I wish I'm actually going there,
today, they they we worktogether collaboratively with
the university there. They theyhave a biomedical engineering
program.
What we work with them on wascreating a certificate program,
some of it funded by the stateof Missouri. So we got a grant,
(12:27):
you know, the university did,and we created a clinical
engineering program that thatactually takes these students
and they get certified in how tofix our equipment. And they get,
you know, get a job, they comework for Siemens Healthineers,
they can work for the Universityof Missouri, they can work for
another health system, or theycan work for another company.
(12:48):
But it's a very creative ideathat the teams came up with.
First of all, there's a lot ofthere's more dollars out there
at the state and federal levelfor workforce development,
especially in healthcare,because everyone knows this is a
problem.
Right? We have a shortage ofworkers, also in other fields,
as you know too. But inhealthcare, it's super
important. So, we're also tryingto tap into those funds with
(13:11):
universities or and medicalinstitutions so that we can
access and create new trainingprograms. And we're spending a
lot of times in creatingcurriculum for those training
programs.
And our team has been involvedin developing that curriculum.
We were also involved in helpingwith the grant writing process
as an example too. So it's beena great, it's been a great
(13:34):
example of of 2 greatorganizations, University of
Missouri and Siemens Health andHuman Resources working together
to to create meaningful new jobsin the marketplace.
Dr. Moira Gunn (13:43):
Now it's one thing to work with the medical
centers. It's one thing to to goout, you know, develop all these
workers and get education forthem so that they could
participate not just with you,but anywhere in the field here.
We're we're you're reallyworking on that. But there's
another program that you havethat I thought was pretty
fascinating and it's this mobilemammography unit. It this would
(14:08):
be breast cancer screening orwhat I call the truck.
You're taking the truck. Tell usabout this.
Dave Pacitti (14:14):
Yeah. No. It's a great one. And so, yes, we we
have a a truck, a a large RValmost, I would call it. And you
walk into it, and it looks likea very much like an aesthetic
setting, and you're walking intoa procedural room at a hospital
like if you were getting amammography, you know, and it
has our equipment in there.
(14:35):
So, we have some wonderfulexamples that we've done this
all around the country. We'vedone it at WakeMed. We've done
it at MUSC. We've done it atUniversity of Pennsylvania.
We've done it at Missouri.
And we're looking forward to doit more places. So the way it
works is we bring the truck.It's a Siemens Healthineers
truck. It has our equipment init. And we go into a local town
with one of our partners, and weset up shop.
(14:56):
We actually set up shop with thewith the truck with the truck,
not at the hospital becauseyou're not really reaching
people if you go to thehospital. That's one of the
problems. Sometimes people areintimidated going to the
hospital. So we might be at theWalmart parking lot in
Philadelphia. We were in a highschool parking lot.
We were at a church parking lotin another town. We went into my
(15:16):
hometown of Upper Darby,Pennsylvania, and we're in the
supermarket parking lot. And itwas I have to say, it was
incredibly powerful to see. Sothe patients we're targeting are
obviously females. They don'thave insurance.
And a lot of them never even hada mammography. What's scary,
Moira, is some of these womenwere well over the age of 60.
(15:37):
They've never had a mammography.And the partner institution that
we're dealing with, they bringtheir staff to help run the
equipment. Our staff does theregistrations.
We have to make sureeverything's set up. We need
security. We need that power.Right? There's a lot of
logistics.
You have to work with the stateon getting everything approved.
So we've gotten really good atthe logistical piece. And, well,
(15:58):
sometimes we'll be there for acouple weeks. I think, you know,
in in in certain instances, in acouple weeks, we've scanned over
300 close to 400 women, WakeMedand and at MUSC and and
University of Pennsylvania as anexample and at and at University
of Missouri. And, unfortunately,sometimes something is found,
and the hospital agrees tofollow those patients and
(16:20):
follow-up on those patients.
Okay? So it it it's just beenwonderful. I mean, it it to me,
it's this is why we do what wedo. Right? It's very powerful.
You it it feels like for somereason, when we bring the truck
to an area that people are morecomfortable, it gets a lot of
people. In fact, in in somecases where we haven't had
(16:43):
enough available spots. We wefilled up 2 weeks worth of
scanning. Right? And we've hadto stay longer to try to get
everybody.
You know, we do, you know,social media advertising. We
advertise through the localchurches and schools so people
know about it. Kids tell theirparents. The other thing that's
been so fascinating about thisis at the same time and I gave
(17:04):
you the example one time we didit at a high school, maybe
twice, we've done it at a highschool now. We've actually had
the kids come out and ask about,what are you doing?
And this is how they learnedabout careers in health care,
which is I mean, is that's likea, you know, that's like a grand
slam.
Dr. Moira Gunn (17:19):
A 2 fer. Yeah. It's a 2 fer. 2 fer. Alright.
Grand slam. All of it. Yeah.
Dave Pacitti (17:24):
We're We're taking care of people that don't have
insurance, the underservedcommunity, and we're also
finding potential workers of thefuture. So it's just a win win,
and we're so proud of the team.Our team does a great job. Of
course, all of our partners, allthese health care institutions I
mentioned, they do a great job,and it's it's it's it's very
it's powerful. It's emotional.
Right? It's it's a big deal.
Dr. Moira Gunn (17:45):
Well, I I just have to say this has really been
terrific, Dave. Going forward,is this the big vision, or or is
there even bigger vision foryou?
Dave Pacitti (17:54):
Yeah. You know what? It's a great question. I
think about that a lot because,you know, and I'll answer it. I
promise I'll answer it, but butthings change so fast in health
care, so we gotta be flexible.
And I'll give you examples why Isay that. You know, a couple
years ago, if I went to a healthcare institution and I talked to
a CEO, they were only talkingabout one thing. Well, that was
COVID. Right? How could you helpus?
(18:16):
You know, we have all this stuffgoing on with COVID. Then as a
result of COVID, we had theworkforce topic. Right? Because
a lot of people left theworkforce. Right?
That that was hard being ahealth care worker during COVID,
and people decided to retire.And then, you know, today, if
you talk to them, they say, youknow, sustainability is a topic.
(18:38):
Right? You know, we're trying todo things in a more carbon
neutral fashion, and, you know,health care throws out a lot of
carbon. Right?
A hospital. Right? And they'renot the most energy efficient
places. So now we're working onhow do we help them with some of
those problems. So if I thinkabout the big vision, I mean,
ultimately, we wanna reallyimpact health care in a
(18:58):
meaningful way.
Right? We really wanna do that.We wanna help our partners. We
wanna be very customizable. Andwe say, look, tell us where your
pain points are.
And we'll be honest with you andtell you if we can help you or
if we can help you. And and, andwe sort of put our money where
our mouth is, and we really tryto do things and make a big
impact. Sometimes the problem isaround efficiencies or driving
(19:20):
out cost. Right? And and we wewe work on those on those
things, as well.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:26):
Well, I'll tell you, Dave. I think that if if
any of your employees listen tothis, they're gonna be a total
fear that you're gonna make themrun wind sprints.
Dave Pacitti (19:36):
You know?
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:36):
Okay. 1st, we're gonna run down the field.
Dave Pacitti (19:39):
Okay. I got a couple of them. I think I'll do
that anyway.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:42):
That's terrific. I really appreciate you coming
in. I hope you come back, see usagain.
Dave Pacitti (19:47):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:48):
Dave Pacitti is the president of Siemens
Healthineers . More informationis available at Siemens. That's
siemens, siemens hyphenhealthineers .com.
When is a medical technology company more
than a medical technologycompany? When it sets out to
solve problems greater thansimply supplying just the best
technology. Dave Pacitti is thepresident of Siemens
Healthineers. Well, Dave,welcome to the program.
Dave Pacitti (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure
to see you.
Dr. Moira Gunn (00:31):
It seems like none of us can go into any
medical setting without seeing agreat variety of equipment with
Siemens Associated Labels.Still, I have to ask you about
something else. I know in injust preparing for this
interview, I saw that in yourcollege years, you were a big
football player and you went onto sign with the Miami Dolphins.
(00:53):
Now while I talk to a lot ofcompany presidents, I don't get
a lot of former NFL players. AndI wanna ask you, you got
drafted, you were signed, youshow up.
When did it really hit you? I'ma Miami Dolphin.
Dave Pacitti (01:08):
I think it hit me, when I had to run lots of wind
sprints in that hot Miami heat.And, yeah, it it yeah. It really
it really hit me well then. And,so I I wasn't drafted. I was a
free agent.
I was signed way back in 1990.As you mentioned, I played, I
played football college atVillanova University, which my
(01:29):
which my father went toVillanova as well, and many
family members went there. So,it it you know, the the the
football thing was great. Isigned a free agent contract in
1990. It was a great part of mylife.
And as you can imagine, youknow, I'm a I I grew up from an
Italian family, and, nobodyplayed that football. They
played a different kind offootball. Soccer? Yeah. Yes.
Dr. Moira Gunn (01:50):
What we call soccer, they call football.
Dave Pacitti (01:52):
Yes. Exactly. And, it took a lot lot of years to
sort of separate myself fromfootball and let them make
people believe I could do thejob I'm doing today. But I will
say, I don't think I would be aseffective as I am if I didn't
from my football background. Ilearned so much, especially
about teamwork and collaborationand the and the and the desire
(02:12):
to win and really desire to getbetter every day.
Right? That's what you learnfrom playing such a tough team
sport. And football was reallyhard, but I'll tell you what
we're gonna talk about today iseven harder. Right? The and a
lot has to do with health carein United States and its complex
problems that we're working on.
So, football gave me a goodfoundation, but I'm really
excited about what I'm doingtoday and, really, hopefully,
(02:35):
making a big impact. Our ourteam is.
Dr. Moira Gunn (02:37):
Well, it was a it's tough training, unavailable
to me. Thank goodness. But goodfor you and good for Siemens
Health and Ears. Now as I saidearlier, you'd be hard pressed
to go into a medical setting andnot see a Siemens associated
label on equipment everywhere.Remind us, what is Siemens?
(02:57):
And then what is SiemensHealthineers in particular?
Dave Pacitti (03:00):
Yeah. So Siemens has been a large industrial,
conglomerate, Siemens AG, that'sbeen around for well over a 100
years based in Germany. Siemenshad a Siemens had a medical
division, it was just calledSiemens Medical, that was spun
out into the market in 2017, andwe got a new name, Siemens
(03:20):
Health and Ears. And, and thenwe became our own company.
Siemens AG is a majorityshareholder of of Siemens
Healthineers, but but we, youknow, are independent company
now and, you know, have our ownstock symbol on the exchange.
And that all have back happenedback in 2017, but we still
obviously collaborate well withour Siemens AG colleagues.
Dr. Moira Gunn (03:45):
So what's the difference though? I mean,
you're why why Health and Ears?What does that mean?
Dave Pacitti (03:51):
So Health and Ears is really we're we're focused on
health care. The other parts ofSiemens are industrial
companies, like, you know,making trains and airplane
engines and, you know, smartinfrastructure and and, you
know, a lot of do in the end.There's a Siemens Energy
business that has now spun offas well. So, you know, think of
(04:12):
it as a very large industrialcompany. Siemens Healthineers is
a 100% focused in healthcare andwe make we make medical
products.
We had started out primarily asa diagnostic company. So
imaging, like MRIs and CATscans. We have laboratory tests,
and we make laboratoryequipment. But then, during
(04:33):
COVID, we bought Varian Varian,which is now a a part of Siemens
Health and Ear.
Dr. Moira Gunn (04:38):
A very old company, by the way. Very old.
Dave Pacitti (04:40):
Yeah. Also. So so there's a lot a lot of old
companies around. Right? Soyeah.
And, yeah, Varian has a greatlegacy, but it's a radiation
oncology company. So we're nowactually delivering therapy, not
just doing diagnostic work. Andthen as you know, in a very
difficult field, radiationoncology is is treating cancer
patients. So and we're reallyexcited to have Varian as part
(05:03):
of the team for the last coupleyears, and it's been a a a a
great synergies between the twocompanies.
Dr. Moira Gunn (05:08):
Now all of that I could find online. That's
easy. But what I foundfascinating is that you are
going beyond well, here's ourdiagnostics. Here's our
treatment equipment. Here's allof this.
You're going beyond that intohealth, if you will, in terms of
of the reach of what you'redoing. Tell us about that.
Dave Pacitti (05:31):
Yeah. So, you know, and I may I stated this
earlier, health health care, nomatter where you are in the
world, is complicated. Right?Every every country's got a
different system and it all ithas its flaws and then they have
their benefits. Right?
So we know, whether in LatinAmerica or South America or in
the US, there's a lot ofcomplexities in health care. And
(05:52):
we've started a enterprisebusiness that we call value
partnerships. It's reallyfocused on trying to solve the
biggest challenges in healthcare. So we're we're we're
thrilled when someone wants tobuy our equipment. Right?
And and that's all we used todo. But now we come into a
institution and say, how aboutwe try to help you solve some of
your biggest challenges? Andsome of those challenges could
(06:13):
be workforce related. They couldbe driving efficiencies in the
hospital. It could be aroundaddressing disparities in care.
And we don't certainly don't saythat we can do healthcare better
than a hospital, but we think wecan help in certain areas. And
we've taken on that challengeand we've started these value
partnerships and we're, youknow, we're thrilled to have
(06:35):
them. You know, we only do a fewa year. And we have a 150 of
these partnerships worldwide and21 of these partnerships in the
US specifically. Why these areimportant?
And if you're a patient in a ina health care institution,
right, so if it's you, someonein your family, or it's me, one
of my kids, right, there areproblems in our healthcare
system. And what we're trying todo is address those problems.
(06:59):
Imagine you have to get acritical test done. You're a
patient and you need an MRI doneon your brain, right? But one of
the challenges, because they'reworkforce, they're short
workers, that MRI can't happenfor 4 months.
That's a real scenario today inthe US healthcare system in some
places. And what we're doingwith healthcare institutions,
(07:19):
that's just one example, we'rehelping them address their
workforce needs so people don'thave to wait as long to get a
test. Also, if you're someonewho is uncomfortable, you know,
getting care, right, or youdon't have access to care, well,
it gets harder if there's lessworkers. Right? Because then the
access is you don't have as muchaccess.
(07:40):
Right? So that's one of theproblems we're working on in
these partnerships that's veryrelatable to anyone. I know I I
call and I have to wait some solong to to see a doctor. It's
hard. Right?
Or get a test done. You know, Ihave a I have a my youngest son
is autistic. There's not a lotof pediatricians that are child
(08:01):
early development pediatricians.Right? So when my wife made the
appointment, it took 7 months togo see that this.
And that's that's a shortage.Right? That's because there are
shortages that in that case,there's a shortage of pediatric
pediatric physicians thatspecialize in in in, child
children that have neuroproblems. So there's one of the
(08:22):
issues, that I think is veryrelatable for people to
understand, that we're helpinginstitutions address.
Dr. Moira Gunn (08:28):
So you could have equipment standing there,
but if you have no one operatingit, that doesn't you can't get
into it. You just can't get intoit.
Dave Pacitti (08:36):
You said it better than I did. That's exactly
that's exactly it. Right? Sothere's a lot of ways to address
that. 1, you know, we believethat by utilizing technology,
you can we've learned now thatwe have utilizing technology, we
can operate more than one pieceof equipment with with less
people.
Technology, we can operate morethan one piece of equipment with
with less people. Right? Sousing AI and automation, you can
(09:00):
have one technician run multipleMRIs as an example. Right? Which
helps if you don't if you can'tfind 4 MRI techs, you have one
tech that can run 4 MRIs as anexample, right?
So technology plays a role inthis, right? Technology is super
important. Just like withdoctors, we have artificial
intelligence now that helpsradiologists look for things
(09:24):
that maybe are not prescribed onthe test. You know, if I had a
if I'm a patient and I havepneumonia, okay, and the doctor
writes a prescription, Dave, youneed to go get a chest CT
because I wanna verify if youhave pneumonia or something else
is going on. We now havetechnology.
When you get that that CT forpneumonia, the CT tells the
(09:47):
doctor this. Doctor, yes. Davehas pneumonia, but, oh, by the
way, sort of with a red greenlight system, you should be
looking at these other thingsand following up with Dave that
has nothing to do with hispneumonia. Right?
Dr. Moira Gunn (10:02):
That's exactly where technology comes in.
Dave Pacitti (10:05):
Exactly.
Dr. Moira Gunn (10:06):
It's not paying attention because because I
analyze everything I know how toanalyze, and there you are.
Dave Pacitti (10:11):
Yeah. And and they're busy. Right? So he a lot
of times, a doctor, becausethey're so busy and have to look
at so many scans, in thisexample, a day, they wouldn't
have time to look for all thoseother things. That's why
bringing it to their attentionis super important.
So so, Jen, just another examplewhere technology plays a role in
addressing workforce shortage.But it goes and where it goes a
(10:33):
step further, that's not theonly way to do it. There's a
little bit of we have to roll upour sleeves and also find new
workers. Right? Technology isnot gonna solve all the
problems.
So one example that we can sharewith you, the SSM, in Saint
Louis, which is a large healthsystem in the Midwest based in
St. Louis. We're actuallyworking with SSM, the health
(10:53):
system, and the Urban League inSt. Louis to identify candidates
that might wanna go to techschool to become a health care
professional. And they're reallylooking in the underserved
communities and the minoritycommunities in in St.
Louis where people might noteven know about these jobs
exist. And and the Urban Leaguewill be sort of the host. And
(11:13):
then between SSM and and SiemensHealthineers, we'll work
together in creating thecurriculum. You know, it takes
time, but put some of theseprograms, you don't need a
college degree depending on whatit is. Right?
And you could go through, like,a certificate program to get
certified to be whether it's arad tech or or something or
laboratory tech or aphlebotomist. So we we gotta do
(11:35):
it more than one way, technologyand the old grassroots effort of
really trying to find theworkers of the future.
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:41):
I like that.
Dave Pacitti (11:41):
Yeah. No. It's great.
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:43):
Stand on a street corner and say, hey. Want
a career? You know?
Dave Pacitti (11:46):
That's good. Exactly. People are looking for
that. You know? So it's it'sexciting, the work that we're
doing.
And and we obviously, we don'tdo it by ourselves. We're doing
it with our partners. Right?
Dr. Moira Gunn (11:56):
And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're also
working with the University ofMissouri. I mean, developing
curriculum for biomedicalengineering. I mean, what what
is that about?
Dave Pacitti (12:07):
Yes. Correct. It's and it's a great example. So
with the University of Missouri,I wish I'm actually going there,
today, they they we worktogether collaboratively with
the university there. They theyhave a biomedical engineering
program.
What we work with them on wascreating a certificate program,
some of it funded by the stateof Missouri. So we got a grant,
(12:27):
you know, the university did,and we created a clinical
engineering program that thatactually takes these students
and they get certified in how tofix our equipment. And they get,
you know, get a job, they comework for Siemens Healthineers,
they can work for the Universityof Missouri, they can work for
another health system, or theycan work for another company.
(12:48):
But it's a very creative ideathat the teams came up with.
First of all, there's a lot ofthere's more dollars out there
at the state and federal levelfor workforce development,
especially in healthcare,because everyone knows this is a
problem.
Right? We have a shortage ofworkers, also in other fields,
as you know too. But inhealthcare, it's super
important. So, we're also tryingto tap into those funds with
(13:11):
universities or and medicalinstitutions so that we can
access and create new trainingprograms. And we're spending a
lot of times in creatingcurriculum for those training
programs.
And our team has been involvedin developing that curriculum.
We were also involved in helpingwith the grant writing process
as an example too. So it's beena great, it's been a great
(13:34):
example of of 2 greatorganizations, University of
Missouri and Siemens Health andHuman Resources working together
to to create meaningful new jobsin the marketplace.
Dr. Moira Gunn (13:43):
Now it's one thing to work with the medical
centers. It's one thing to to goout, you know, develop all these
workers and get education forthem so that they could
participate not just with you,but anywhere in the field here.
We're we're you're reallyworking on that. But there's
another program that you havethat I thought was pretty
fascinating and it's this mobilemammography unit. It this would
(14:08):
be breast cancer screening orwhat I call the truck.
You're taking the truck. Tell usabout this.
Dave Pacitti (14:14):
Yeah. No. It's a great one. And so, yes, we we
have a a truck, a a large RValmost, I would call it. And you
walk into it, and it looks likea very much like an aesthetic
setting, and you're walking intoa procedural room at a hospital
like if you were getting amammography, you know, and it
has our equipment in there.
(14:35):
So, we have some wonderfulexamples that we've done this
all around the country. We'vedone it at WakeMed. We've done
it at MUSC. We've done it atUniversity of Pennsylvania.
We've done it at Missouri.
And we're looking forward to doit more places. So the way it
works is we bring the truck.It's a Siemens Healthineers
truck. It has our equipment init. And we go into a local town
with one of our partners, and weset up shop.
(14:56):
We actually set up shop with thewith the truck with the truck,
not at the hospital becauseyou're not really reaching
people if you go to thehospital. That's one of the
problems. Sometimes people areintimidated going to the
hospital. So we might be at theWalmart parking lot in
Philadelphia. We were in a highschool parking lot.
We were at a church parking lotin another town. We went into my
(15:16):
hometown of Upper Darby,Pennsylvania, and we're in the
supermarket parking lot. And itwas I have to say, it was
incredibly powerful to see. Sothe patients we're targeting are
obviously females. They don'thave insurance.
And a lot of them never even hada mammography. What's scary,
Moira, is some of these womenwere well over the age of 60.
(15:37):
They've never had a mammography.And the partner institution that
we're dealing with, they bringtheir staff to help run the
equipment. Our staff does theregistrations.
We have to make sureeverything's set up. We need
security. We need that power.Right? There's a lot of
logistics.
You have to work with the stateon getting everything approved.
So we've gotten really good atthe logistical piece. And, well,
(15:58):
sometimes we'll be there for acouple weeks. I think, you know,
in in in certain instances, in acouple weeks, we've scanned over
300 close to 400 women, WakeMedand and at MUSC and and
University of Pennsylvania as anexample and at and at University
of Missouri. And, unfortunately,sometimes something is found,
and the hospital agrees tofollow those patients and
(16:20):
follow-up on those patients.
Okay? So it it it's just beenwonderful. I mean, it it to me,
it's this is why we do what wedo. Right? It's very powerful.
You it it feels like for somereason, when we bring the truck
to an area that people are morecomfortable, it gets a lot of
people. In fact, in in somecases where we haven't had
(16:43):
enough available spots. We wefilled up 2 weeks worth of
scanning. Right? And we've hadto stay longer to try to get
everybody.
You know, we do, you know,social media advertising. We
advertise through the localchurches and schools so people
know about it. Kids tell theirparents. The other thing that's
been so fascinating about thisis at the same time and I gave
(17:04):
you the example one time we didit at a high school, maybe
twice, we've done it at a highschool now. We've actually had
the kids come out and ask about,what are you doing?
And this is how they learnedabout careers in health care,
which is I mean, is that's likea, you know, that's like a grand
slam.
Dr. Moira Gunn (17:19):
A 2 fer. Yeah. It's a 2 fer. 2 fer. Alright.
Grand slam. All of it. Yeah.
Dave Pacitti (17:24):
We're We're taking care of people that don't have
insurance, the underservedcommunity, and we're also
finding potential workers of thefuture. So it's just a win win,
and we're so proud of the team.Our team does a great job. Of
course, all of our partners, allthese health care institutions I
mentioned, they do a great job,and it's it's it's it's very
it's powerful. It's emotional.
Right? It's it's a big deal.
Dr. Moira Gunn (17:45):
Well, I I just have to say this has really been
terrific, Dave. Going forward,is this the big vision, or or is
there even bigger vision foryou?
Dave Pacitti (17:54):
Yeah. You know what? It's a great question. I
think about that a lot because,you know, and I'll answer it. I
promise I'll answer it, but butthings change so fast in health
care, so we gotta be flexible.
And I'll give you examples why Isay that. You know, a couple
years ago, if I went to a healthcare institution and I talked to
a CEO, they were only talkingabout one thing. Well, that was
COVID. Right? How could you helpus?
(18:16):
You know, we have all this stuffgoing on with COVID. Then as a
result of COVID, we had theworkforce topic. Right? Because
a lot of people left theworkforce. Right?
That that was hard being ahealth care worker during COVID,
and people decided to retire.And then, you know, today, if
you talk to them, they say, youknow, sustainability is a topic.
(18:38):
Right? You know, we're trying todo things in a more carbon
neutral fashion, and, you know,health care throws out a lot of
carbon. Right?
A hospital. Right? And they'renot the most energy efficient
places. So now we're working onhow do we help them with some of
those problems. So if I thinkabout the big vision, I mean,
ultimately, we wanna reallyimpact health care in a
(18:58):
meaningful way.
Right? We really wanna do that.We wanna help our partners. We
wanna be very customizable. Andwe say, look, tell us where your
pain points are.
And we'll be honest with you andtell you if we can help you or
if we can help you. And and, andwe sort of put our money where
our mouth is, and we really tryto do things and make a big
impact. Sometimes the problem isaround efficiencies or driving
(19:20):
out cost. Right? And and we wewe work on those on those
things, as well.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:26):
Well, I'll tell you, Dave. I think that if if
any of your employees listen tothis, they're gonna be a total
fear that you're gonna make themrun wind sprints.
Dave Pacitti (19:36):
You know?
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:36):
Okay. 1st, we're gonna run down the field.
Dave Pacitti (19:39):
Okay. I got a couple of them. I think I'll do
that anyway.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:42):
That's terrific. I really appreciate you coming
in. I hope you come back, see usagain.
Dave Pacitti (19:47):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dr. Moira Gunn (19:48):
Dave Pacitti is the president of Siemens
Healthineers . More informationis available at Siemens. That's
siemens, siemens hyphenhealthineers .com.
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