TDP 80: Hoag’s Kathy Azeez-Narain: Removing Friction Through Personalized Healthcare Experiences & Using Technology to Better Align Patients, Providers & Payers

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On this episode of "The Digital Patient" podcast, hosts Alan Sardana & Dr. Joshua Liu speak with Kathy Azeez-Narain, Chief Digital Officer at Hoag, about "Removing Friction Through Personalized Healthcare Experiences & Using Technology to Better Align Patients, Providers & Payers". Click the play button to listen or read the show notes below.
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Audio:

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Video:

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Guest(s):

• Dr. Kathy Azeez-Narain (@Kazeez22), Chief Digital Officer at Hoag
• Dr. Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 80 - Show Notes:

[00:00] Introducing Kathy Azeez-Narain, Chief Digital Officer at Hoag;

[2:10] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain got into Computer Science after graduating early from high school and wanting to pursue a subject she found to be challenging;

[4:20] How Ms. Azeez-Narain found her way into marketing after developing HTML emails and recognizing the convergence between her acquired skills: product, programming and marketing;

[7:55] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain chose to leave the financial services industry and join healthcare after a poor experience with her first pregnancy/delivery where she recognized the potential for more integrated technology, and upon reflecting on whether she would regret not jumping in;

[12:30] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain believes transformation is a buzzword and that there are 3 specific buckets of indicators she is using to measure and determine success:

1. Cultural signals: How does the organization as a whole react to new technologies, workflows, new team, customer feedback
2. Usage: Sign ups, engagement 
3. Financial ROI

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[16:26] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain believes there are certain similarities between the financial industry and healthcare such as situational emotional response (e.g. identifying fraudulent activity in finance and complications or detrimental diagnosis in healthcare), and things that are vastly different between the two industries such as the need for a human element (in healthcare) and the impact of getting things wrong (getting something wrong in healthcare is infinitely more traumatic);

[19:40] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain obsesses over the customer to get an understanding over what can help drive influential conversation between payers, providers and patients, and why she believes sharing learnings across these stakeholder groups and pushing for constant dialogue can drive meaningful change;

[24:18] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain always starts a new build/innovation by defining “who” they are solving for and then talking to those people – asking them non-leading questions – and then getting their feedback on the mockups/prototypes as she knows that what people say is not necessarily what they mean;

[28:12] How Hoag Compass – an app that was meant to tap into one problem they had heard around primary care being too transactional – was successful in supporting patients to access care how they want (physical vs. virtual), bridging the gap between primary care, the patient, and specialty care, and in providing guidance on everyday things such as nutrition, mindfulness and exercise;

[31:46] How Ms. Azeez-Narain and her team developed the technology she wishes she had with her first birth – the Hoag Nona app – for mothers to receive support at home after giving birth, including two-way communication with nurses, doulas, etc.

[36:00] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain believes different demographics have different healthcare access needs, sharing how younger, healthier patients are more concerned about the method of access (e.g. virtual), whereas older, or patients with more complications, care more about trust and getting information from the right physician;

[38:33] Why Ms. Azeez-Narain specifically hires a diverse team, including diversity of opinion, skillset, ethnicity, gender, etc. to account for potential implicit bias and ensure there is diverse thinking on her team;

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Fast 5 / Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   “Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World” by Tim Ferriss
   “Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” by Jay Shetty
   

2. Who is a person–dead or alive–you'd love to meet?
   “Einstein & Steve Jobs”
   

2. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   “Mind reading.”
   

4. What is something in healthcare you believe that others might find insane?
   “The complexity!”
   

5. COVID-19 lockdown related – what is 1 hobby or activity you’ve gotten into since the pandemic?
   “Tried to be more present and live in the moment.”