TDP 90: RWJBarnabas Health’s Director of Digital Health, Harshal Shah: The importance of educating patients for digital transformation, understanding the complexities of the consumer journey, and more...

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On this episode of "The Digital Patient" podcast, hosts Alan Sardana & Dr. Joshua Liu speak with Harshal Shah, Director of Digital Health at RWJBarnabas health, about "The importance of educating patients for digital transformation, understanding the complexities of the consumer journey, saying "Yes" to opportunities to learn grow, and more..." 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):

• Harshal Shah, Director of Digital Health at RWJBarnabas Health
• Dr. Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 90 - Show Notes:

[00:00] Introducing Harshal Shah, Director of Digital Health at RWJBarnabas Health;

[1:31] How Mr. Shah discovered his passion for healthcare operations while he was studying for a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree;

[2:41] How Mr. Shah’s involvement in helping a professor with a PowerPoint presentation led to his first role in healthcare as a policy management associate at Chilton Hospital, which provided him with an introduction to the healthcare industry and a broad education on policies, workflows, operations, and patient experience from various perspectives;

[5:14] Why Mr. Shah advocates for continuous learning to improve the patient experience, understanding their perspective, workflow, and bridging gaps between technical and patient-focused components in the development of a new patient portal;

[05:41] How big tech are playing different roles in the industry such as Google, offering the cloud and AI for drug discovery, Microsoft playing a nuanced role, and Amazon exploring direct care delivery; 

[06:21] How Mr. Shah's MHA and MBA helped him understand the healthcare journey from both business and administration perspectives, which led to the realization that patients are equivalent to customers and their importance to the healthcare organization and vice versa;

[07:28] How Mr. Shah's current role as the Director of Digital Health involves working with internal teams such as IT, marketing, regulatory, legal, and policies;

[08:32] Why Mr. Shah emphasizes the importance of having a patient-centric model in healthcare and the need for healthcare providers to understand the patient's journey, criteria, and questions as there is lots of information available to patients online;

[09:58] Why Mr. Shah suggests the need for a 360 model of care, which focuses on inclusive care and takes into account the patient's day-to-day habits and lifestyle – emphasizing the value of utilizing available data, such as from wearable technology, to have meaningful conversations with patients;

[11:50] How Mr. Shah and his team are focused on improving access for patients across New Jersey by creating a single front door for all services through a unified portal or app, similar to how Amazon, Walmart, and Target have a single access app for all their services, while also ensuring that healthcare-specific restrictions, protocols, and security measures are in place;

[13:58] Why Mr. Shah advocates for policy changes in telemedicine to improve the patient-provider relationship and access while maintaining the standard of care, as it creates new opportunities within telehealth;

[16:26] Why Mr. Shah believes telehealth is increasingly popular due to patients' comfort level with the technology and their desire for convenience, and how making patients comfortable with telehealth requires healthcare organizations to educate their patients and provide support, such as live chat boxes and webinars;

[19:06] Why Mr. Shah stresses the importance of providing easy access to learning and knowledge, being transparent with patients, and keeping the patient and provider experience at the center of attention to increase usage and improve the healthcare system;

[21:46] Why, during their transition from multiple EMR portals to one, Mr. Shah and his team are focused on MyChart activation rates to determine patient engagement, and how this KPI may change overtime to become more granular such as measuring appointment rates, scheduling rates, etc.;

[23:31] Why Mr. Shah leverages patient and employee feedback to understand root problems  so he can make unique assumptions that improve on the core of their EMR;

[26:25] Why Mr. Shah believes the potency of Machine Learning depends on how and what data is being collected, and why remote patient monitoring is key to unlocking useful data points from patients outside the four walls of the hospital;

[28:41] Why Mr. Shah advocates for the ACHE and similar collaboratives for their goals promoting networking, learning opportunities, and ability for a traditionally competitive industry to set aside competition for the sake of overall growth;

[31:42] Why Mr. Shah advocates for new healthcare professionals to follow their curiosity, say “yes” to opportunities, and create opportunities for themselves because there is always learning and growth involved;

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Fast 5 / Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   “The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible” by Gifford Thomas

2. Who is a person–dead or alive–you’d love to meet?
   “Jeff Bezos"
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3. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   “Super speed”
   

4. What is something in healthcare you believe that others might find insane?
   “Pass... Because I’m sure others would actually agree with me in what I believe is insane.”
   

5. COVID-19 lockdown related – what is 1 hobby or activity you’ve gotten into since the pandemic?
   “I’m turning my house into a smart house. Working with switches and wiring and electronics to make it happen and perhaps one day will create an app for the house.”