Latest / The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show / E179 | Why Pediatric Access Breaks When It Matters Most | Dr. Shannon Henning, DO

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E179 | Why Pediatric Access Breaks When It Matters Most | Dr. Shannon Henning, DO · The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show

0:10
Hello and welcome back to the Advancing
0:12
Healthcare Innovation Show. I am your
0:14
host, Michael Stantinos, and if you're
0:17
new to us, welcome. It's great to have
0:19
you here. We're having just some really
0:22
interesting, curious conversations with
0:24
real leaders that are painstakingly
0:27
reshaping the future of healthcare.
0:30
And we're pretty passionate about a few
0:31
different areas. We're passionate about
0:32
leadership, about innovation, adoption.
0:34
We're passionate about access. And if
0:37
it's your first time tuning in, let me
0:39
just just take a quick step back and
0:41
give you a little bit more about what we
0:44
are trying to get done here. So, our
0:47
focus is on bringing real stories of
0:50
leadership and innovation
0:52
within our space to life. And the goal
0:55
and the objective is to honestly just
0:58
highlight real people that are just
1:00
getting stuff done. Uh not stuff that
1:02
you read in a book uh but real things
1:04
that are happening uh on the front lines
1:06
and giving the guests the opportunity to
1:09
share their story with our community uh
1:12
through our platform and ultimately uh
1:14
share their story with the world. So
1:16
we've got an amazing action-packed year.
1:18
If you haven't checked out any of the
1:20
historical interviews, however you're
1:21
watching this, if you're listening to
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it, please hit the subscribe button now
1:26
so that any of the new episodes come
1:29
directly to you. So, one of the things
1:32
that I guess I've learned after having
1:34
now more than I don't know how many
1:35
episodes we're at, like north of 170
1:37
episodes, I've had hundreds upon
1:39
hundreds of conversations with leaders
1:41
across healthcare. It's it's kind of
1:42
this. It's that the people that are
1:45
doing the most interesting work um
1:48
rurally started their careers thinking
1:51
that they would be operators. They
1:54
started as clinicians. They wanted to
1:56
take care of patients. Um and then
1:59
somewhere along the way they realize
2:02
something important that if you want to
2:06
improve uh healthcare you eventually
2:10
have to step into the system itself. And
2:14
today's guest understands this reality
2:18
like really really well. So today's
2:21
guest is Dr. Shannon Henning. She is the
2:24
chief operating officer at Hello
2:25
Pediatrics. She is a physician who has
2:29
stepped into the operational side of
2:31
health care to really kind of help
2:32
rethink how families actually access
2:36
care for their kiddos. And if you're a
2:40
parent, you know exactly what this
2:44
moment feels like. Your child wakes up
2:47
sick in the middle of the night. Maybe
2:49
it's a fever or a cough and something
2:51
just doesn't feel right. and you're
2:53
standing there and it's like two in the
2:55
morning and you're trying to make a
2:56
decision, you know, do I do I wait until
2:58
the morning? Do I go to urgent care? Do
3:00
you go to the emergency department? Um,
3:03
so healthcare, we we talk a lot about
3:05
access, but I think those are the
3:08
moments where access really really
3:11
matters. So what Shannon and her team at
3:14
Hello Pediatrics are building is
3:16
actually different. It's different
3:19
because it meets families in that
3:21
moment. So bringing pediatric expertise
3:24
directly to parents, you know, when they
3:27
need it the most instead of forcing them
3:29
to navigate a system that often feels
3:32
confusing and slow, whether you have
3:34
been in it for a while or not for I
3:36
mean, it's just it's confusing. So I
3:38
think what makes Shannon unique, it's
3:41
her perspective. She's done things from
3:43
the clinical side. She's now seeing it
3:45
from the operational side. and now she's
3:47
helping build a model that kind of
3:49
brings both of those things together and
3:52
bridges both those things. So today my
3:55
focus is going to be uh for us to talk
3:57
about the realities of pediatric care
4:00
because I think it's something that
4:01
really hasn't gotten a lot of attention
4:02
at least we haven't done a ton of
4:04
episodes on the show and I want to give
4:05
it more of of a proper focus. I think
4:08
what it looks like when uh physicians
4:10
step into leadership roles and I think
4:13
why solving access for kiddos may end up
4:16
teaching us a lot about how the rest of
4:19
healthcare needs to really evolve. So
4:21
Shannon, great to see you. Welcome to
4:24
the show.
4:25
>> Thank you so much. So great to be here.
4:28
>> Wonderful. All right. So before we get
4:30
into Hello Pediatrics, um I kind of just
4:35
want to start with a very simple
4:36
question. I think when when people hear
4:41
chief operating officer, maybe they
4:43
picture spreadsheets or dashboards and
4:47
like different all different types of
4:48
meetings, but you started as a
4:51
physician. So, if we went back to the
4:54
first week of like your clinical
4:56
training, what what do you remember
4:59
feeling walking into the hospital uh for
5:03
the first time? I remember walking out
5:06
of my house and thinking the entire
5:08
20-minut drive to the residency program
5:11
I joined, I'm a medical student plus one
5:13
day and they're going to expect me to
5:15
know how to take care of a patient.
5:17
Imposttor syndrome to the hundth degree.
5:20
Um, it was exciting. It was
5:22
nerve-wracking. I got into a car
5:24
accident on the way home for my first
5:26
day of residency.
5:28
It was perfect.
5:30
Um, but I was ready. You know, I was
5:32
that really young, really animated
5:36
doctor who just wanted to make kids
5:38
smile and wanted to focus on the idea
5:40
that in general, children are pretty
5:43
resilient. They can get really sick or
5:45
really injured and we can easily fix
5:47
them.
5:48
>> And that was really simple to do in the
5:50
residency aspect because I was in a
5:53
hospital with all the care right there.
5:55
>> Um, or in our ambulatory clinic that was
5:58
connected to that hospital or those
6:00
specialists. So that access you talk
6:01
about was there at our fingertips 24/7,
6:05
>> right?
6:06
>> Um it was great. I learned so much, but
6:09
I almost learned so much in this little
6:11
bubble of all that access is right
6:13
there. And then you step out of that
6:15
role once you become an attending. I did
6:17
work in the ER for a few years. You're
6:19
still in that bubble.
6:20
>> But then I went from my lion share of my
6:22
career into urgent care, which is
6:24
>> different, a little less different. It's
6:27
the same thing of being able to assess
6:30
patients and determine that they're sick
6:31
or they're injured, but not necessarily
6:33
having access to the CAT scan or the
6:36
specialist or all the things that you
6:38
have in an ER. So, it was kind of like
6:40
that wind down access, if you will, and
6:43
I didn't have access to their medical
6:45
home record.
6:46
>> So, I'm taking what they're telling me
6:47
at face value.
6:49
>> I did that for years and it was great.
6:52
Um, but you start to see the cracks in
6:54
access in care when you are working in
6:56
that world. And then I transitioned to
6:59
general pediatrics where I saw even more
7:02
cracks in care. General pediatricians
7:04
are open when kids are in school and
7:06
parents are working and they're
7:07
generally closed when kids are out of
7:09
school and parents are out of work. And
7:11
you know, you're a parent, kids get sick
7:13
at six o'clock, nine o'clock, not two in
7:16
the afternoon.
7:17
>> Yeah. The most inconvenient time. You're
7:18
like, "Oh my gosh." Like you don't how
7:20
you don't get sick during, you know, 8
7:22
to 5. Come on. Come on, kid.
7:24
>> Never. And so, exactly what you said at
7:27
the beginning. You wake up to at 10 p.m.
7:30
wake up of a child who's got a fever, is
7:32
group coughing, is screaming from ear
7:33
pain. And what do you do? We used to
7:36
years ago just call the pediatrician and
7:38
they would advise over the phone. And
7:39
many pediatricians still do that. But
7:41
what kind of work life balance is that
7:43
for your pediatrician who you want to be
7:44
at top balance of sleep and self-care
7:47
the next day to take care of your child?
7:50
Or urgent carees which came around you
7:52
know 20 years ago and you can pop over
7:53
there but they close at midnight. ER is
7:56
where you can get exposed to a million
7:58
things spend a ton of money andor be
8:00
treated by an adult doctor who doesn't
8:03
know how to take care of kids. Their
8:04
kids are not little adults and so you're
8:06
kind of in that in between and that was
8:08
the true gap in care noted by Dr. Sandy
8:11
Chun who started Tele Pediatrics.
8:15
>> This So you're
8:16
>> so you're running you're running this
8:19
company and um you guys are rethinking
8:23
pediatric access. I'm just thinking
8:25
growing up did did you did you ever
8:27
imagine that you would end up operating
8:30
a healthcare company?
8:32
>> No.
8:32
>> Or was just the plan always medicine?
8:35
>> The plan was always medicine. I was
8:36
seven, I think, when I told my parents I
8:38
wanted to be a doctor and it never
8:40
changed. Not through the opportunities
8:42
to
8:43
>> So, what kind of kid were you?
8:45
>> Oh, I was the kid who took a book to my
8:47
prom.
8:49
>> Yep. It's okay. You can laugh. It's
8:51
totally fine. I
8:52
>> not laughing. It's fascinating.
8:54
>> I was the kid.
8:55
>> Either that or your date was really
8:56
boring.
8:57
>> Uh, no. He was great. Um, I loved
9:00
school. I loved learning. But I also
9:02
have so many pictures of my childhood
9:05
with me in fake stethoscopes and then
9:07
real stethoscopes examining my stuffed
9:09
animals, my siblings, my cats who, you
9:13
know, they're I'm not a vet, but hey,
9:14
they're like little babies, right? I can
9:16
pretend. Um, I definitely went to
9:20
college with the intent to go to med
9:21
school. Definitely finished school a lot
9:23
younger than expected and got a masters
9:25
in between, but medicine was always the
9:27
goal. Pediatrics, not necessarily. that
9:30
that found me. I didn't find it.
9:32
>> Yeah. Interesting. Because, you know,
9:34
pediatric medicine is very um it's
9:38
unique because you're not just treating
9:40
the kiddo. You're often treating the uh
9:44
parents anxiety and their stressors. I
9:48
guess what's something about um
9:51
pediatric care that most healthcare
9:54
leaders who don't practice medicine
9:58
completely misunderstand
10:01
>> exactly what you just said. Many people
10:04
think we're just treating rainbows and
10:06
stickers. Um and while kids are
10:08
resilient and they bounce back very
10:10
easily, they decompensate really easily,
10:12
too. I was that connection with parents
10:16
actually drew me closer into pediatrics
10:19
than anything else.
10:20
>> Caring for patients that were really
10:22
sick and getting to know their parents,
10:23
their siblings, their friends as they
10:25
visited them in the ICU or wherever they
10:27
were and seeing not only was my impact
10:29
on the patient also impacting their
10:33
family and their lives. I'm an
10:35
osteopathic physician. We'd like to look
10:37
at everything from a holistic view.
10:38
Yeah. And instead of just treating the
10:40
patient, you know, everything you're
10:42
doing for that patient is also treating
10:43
their family and their friends and their
10:45
future.
10:46
>> It's really,
10:47
>> it keeps you going. For sure.
10:50
>> I think every friend of mine that is a
10:53
physician, they they generally have like
10:55
um a patient or moment that sticks with
10:59
them um something that they don't
11:02
forget. Is there a moment from your
11:05
clinical years that you kind of still
11:08
sits with you?
11:10
>> Yeah, I have um the names of seven
11:12
children that I can still remember till
11:13
this day. All of their cases have
11:15
affecting me. I would say the one that
11:18
most affected me was a little boy who
11:20
had fallen into a pool in a backyard at
11:23
a family party, didn't know how to swim,
11:25
and his 18-year-old cousin just the day
11:27
before had taken a BLF class to be a
11:29
lifeguard. noted that the little boy had
11:32
fallen in the pool, pulled him out and
11:34
did CPR. Um, this little boy was brought
11:37
in as blue as a blueberry and
11:39
unresponsive and walked out of our ICU
11:42
eight days later fistp pumping and
11:44
singing to everybody perfectly fine. And
11:47
it was definitely known that because
11:49
that cousin took the class and was aware
11:52
and helped until people could come.
11:55
>> That was the defining moment of ensuring
11:57
that child was going to be okay. That
11:58
immediate response changed every course
12:01
for that child. And he was so cute
12:03
walking out. It was like nothing ever
12:05
happened.
12:06
>> Wow. Amazing story. That's it's
12:09
incredible. Let's um let's talk about
12:12
parents for a second. What's like the
12:15
most common thing that you know worried
12:17
parents do that actually makes
12:20
pediatricians smile a little bit?
12:22
>> They Google everything.
12:25
We're competing against Dr. Google now.
12:27
how we compete against chat GPT and AI
12:30
and it's fine. Um,
12:32
>> yeah, they Google everything and you can
12:35
look at that as they're trying to work
12:37
against you or can you you can look at
12:39
that as they're trying to educate
12:40
themselves and you want to work with
12:42
them to figure out that answer. Parents
12:44
are going to come in knowing their
12:45
children much better than you do.
12:49
>> I would say that one of the hardest
12:51
lessons to learn as a pediatrician is to
12:53
trust the gut of a parent. Um, even
12:56
though you have the medical training,
12:57
they have the parent training. I've
12:59
learned that both on the parent side and
13:01
the pediatrician side, parent side with
13:03
my own daughter.
13:05
>> Interesting. So, I mean,
13:08
most physicians, right, they just sort
13:10
of stay the track. They stay in clinical
13:11
practice
13:13
and you moved on to the operational side
13:15
of the house. Um, what what changed for
13:18
you?
13:20
>> I started the operational side actually
13:22
um right after I had my daughter. Um I
13:25
was working with PM pediatrics and they
13:27
were starting to dabble in tele
13:28
medicine. The first tele medicine
13:30
machine they brought in was as tall and
13:31
as wide as I am at 5'2. Um and we
13:34
started playing around with it
13:36
ironically about a year before the
13:37
pandemic hit. And we really were diving
13:39
deep into creating a tele medicine
13:42
platform to support after hours. And
13:44
just as that pandemic was hitting it was
13:46
hey you know what we're using this for
13:49
let's pull you from clinical let's teach
13:51
everybody how to do it. let's try and
13:53
keep those doors open. And so I got
13:55
pulled to the operational side there and
13:56
I loved it. I loved being able to help
13:59
them keep their doors open and keep
14:01
everything moving. Um really educate
14:04
those providers on the best way to
14:06
manage patients.
14:07
>> And even through the pandemic, they used
14:09
it. Post pandemic, they're still using
14:10
it. And it was really great to see both
14:13
sides, right? The clinical effects and
14:16
the financial effects for the company to
14:18
ensure they were doing okay. Um I did go
14:21
back to a lot of clinical work after
14:22
that. Kind of split my time between and
14:25
then when Helpiatrics needed someone to
14:27
come in and kind of do similar work to
14:29
that, I came on initially as a
14:31
contracting basis and a couple weeks in
14:34
they needed work. They have bare bone
14:38
staff. So I came on full-time and it was
14:40
great. Um, and working through the
14:43
protocols and having been able to see
14:45
the clinical side and the operational
14:47
side at PM really allowed me to pivot,
14:49
tailor, and optimize their protocols to
14:52
tailor to what they were trying to fix
14:54
that root issue.
14:57
um never thought I would be doing
15:00
spreadsheets or any kind of
15:02
presentations or decks or marketing or
15:04
business development um when I was
15:06
seven, but definitely by the time I had
15:09
a child and I was back in the workforce,
15:12
I could see it happening. It's been a
15:14
great experience.
15:16
>> You feel like aspects of being on the
15:18
operational side of the house are are
15:20
kind of like different rotations like
15:22
you did in your residency. You're like,
15:24
"Oh, I'm doing this now. Now I'm doing
15:25
this." Like how do you does that ever
15:27
feel? Uh
15:28
>> yes.
15:29
>> Okay,
15:30
>> for sure. Yeah. So, you know, when you
15:32
we first started it was let's stand it
15:34
up. Let's make sure we can just run.
15:36
Even if it's not perfect, let's see if
15:38
we can run. And then you start running
15:40
and you go that doesn't work as great as
15:42
it should. Let's fix this. Okay, we
15:44
fixed that. Now, could this be
15:46
optimized? Yeah. Okay. Now, we want to
15:49
grow. We have to strategically make this
15:51
expand. How do we do that?
15:53
>> Okay. Now there's legalities behind it
15:56
and now there's protocols behind it and
15:58
now there's hiring behind it and there's
16:00
so many layers and just as you feel like
16:02
you thinking, okay, we're good. Do I
16:05
have any work left to do for the
16:06
something else comes along of course
16:08
>> and then more projects come along. Um
16:11
and it's just grown. It's been wild.
16:15
>> Well, why do you think that um more
16:19
physicians don't step into like
16:22
operational roles?
16:25
I think to some degree, at least in the
16:27
generation of doctors I grew up in, it
16:30
was be a workhorse. Stay on the patient
16:33
side. That's where you're needed. Um,
16:36
and truth be told, things have evolved
16:38
and we need physician leaders to run
16:40
these companies. You don't want business
16:42
leaders who don't understand the
16:44
clinical side leading these companies.
16:46
>> You you can, right? You can partner with
16:48
those business leaders for sure to
16:49
ensure finances are going well, business
16:52
development is going well, but you need
16:54
clinical leaders to make sure you're
16:57
compliant medically. Um, you're billing
17:00
the best you can, you're coding the best
17:02
you can, uh, your providers are doing
17:04
what they need to do without being
17:06
burned out, or else you're going to just
17:08
have turnover and you're going to be
17:09
working just as hard to retrain a new
17:11
workforce. Um, and I think that I
17:14
definitely know when I was in medical
17:17
school and residency, it was stay to
17:19
clinical side. You'll never never never
17:21
not have a job if you stay the clinical
17:23
side. That's true, right? We need
17:24
clinical doctors. But I think it's um
17:28
the pandemic for as terrible as it was
17:31
opened a lot of doors for people to see
17:33
where clinical leaders were needed.
17:37
>> Let's let's shift gears. Let's let's
17:38
talk more about Hello Pediatrics. Um, so
17:42
for someone who's listening that, uh, I
17:45
guess has never heard of it before, how
17:47
would you describe it to, um, a worried
17:52
parent in about 30 seconds?
17:55
>> Sure. Uh, we're just a great company
17:58
that is an after hours partner to
18:00
pediatric practices and their
18:02
clinicians.
18:04
Ideally, we are partnering with
18:05
pediatricians, both small practices all
18:08
the way up to hospital systems to
18:10
provide after hours pediatric triage to
18:13
help a parent decide, do they go to an
18:15
ER, do they have to go to that ER, do
18:17
they have to go to that urgent care, can
18:19
they wait to see their PCP, what can
18:21
they do overnight to help that patient
18:22
that just woke up at 10 in the morning,
18:24
at 10 at night.
18:25
>> Um, we provide tele medicine for
18:27
patients who kind of fall in between the
18:29
don't need an ER but can't wait to see
18:31
their doctor. It really provides that
18:33
wraparound service for their
18:35
pediatrician which decreases the cost to
18:37
the parent. It decreases exposure and
18:40
wait time in an ER. Um, but it ensures
18:42
that that care is all kept in the
18:44
medical home. So, acute care follow-up
18:46
is done with their pediatrician. All of
18:47
that documentation goes back. The doctor
18:49
is never going to wonder what happened
18:50
with their patient overnight, right?
18:52
>> It's really a full communication system
18:56
with that patient. Does the parent go
18:58
directly to Hello Pediatrics or do they
19:00
initially go to their pediatrician which
19:03
then gets triaged and kind of the baton
19:06
gets passed to Hello Pediatrics like
19:09
>> yeah the majority the majority of the
19:11
practices were partnered with patient
19:12
behavior stays the same. You call your
19:14
pediatrician if they're open they're
19:15
caring for you and if they're closed
19:17
we're caring for you. We're just their
19:19
after hours partner. So calling the
19:21
practice means you're being rerouted to
19:24
our doctors and nurses that are triaging
19:26
you. based on protocols set by us in
19:29
collaboration with the pediatrician
19:31
>> and that allows that care to be
19:33
seamless. The patients don't have to
19:34
memorize 800 different numbers or go to
19:36
different websites. They can just call
19:38
their pediatric home.
19:40
>> Are physicians, you know, practices that
19:42
hear this, I mean, are they skeptical at
19:44
first? Do they know that this is like a
19:46
a big issue? I'm just trying to think
19:48
about this from a
19:50
>> No, that's hard to want to make a to
19:52
make a shift.
19:53
>> Yeah, that's a great question. So I do
19:55
think there's an innate question of
19:57
afterhour services. Are we going to take
19:59
revenue from the practices? Are we going
20:01
to take attribution? The answer is no
20:02
and no to both of those. We're not
20:04
looking to take revenue from practices.
20:06
We don't take attribution. We're
20:08
removing patients from ERS and urgent
20:09
cares. We're not removing patients from
20:11
their private practice. We truly do work
20:14
in collaboration to ensure we're not
20:16
seeing patients when the practices are
20:17
open and we're not seeing patients that
20:19
should be in the office, not just
20:21
perirically or prophylactically treating
20:23
anything. if that ear needs to be looked
20:25
at, those lungs need to be listened to,
20:26
that test needs to be done. We're
20:28
telling that patient how to manage
20:29
symptoms overnight and then we're
20:31
sending them to the office the next day
20:32
for that evaluation. And we're closing
20:34
gaps in care with wellchild visit
20:36
checks, hunger vital checks, um even
20:39
vaccine checks to ensure that all of
20:41
that is communicated back. I do think
20:45
that there is minor skepticism and then
20:47
we get on the phone and we work through
20:48
the workflows that we're taking the
20:50
hours of operation of your practice.
20:51
We're putting it into our system. we
20:53
know that we're not going to see your
20:54
patients during those hours. And once
20:56
they hear all of that and they go live
20:58
and they take a breath and they see
21:00
we're very cost-effective for them, we
21:02
are doing exactly what they need us to
21:04
do after hours without taking revenue
21:06
from them and they have work life
21:08
balance returned. It's a huge win. All
21:11
the practices that have joined us from
21:12
the beginning have not left us. Not a
21:14
single one.
21:16
>> 100% retention. That's amazing.
21:19
Has there been anything that's really
21:21
surprised you the most, you know, as
21:24
you've started to really sort of scale
21:26
and and build this out?
21:29
>> Honestly, I think there was a part of me
21:31
having come from general pediatrics that
21:32
was a little skeptical that practices
21:34
would be so open to joining. Um, we
21:37
partnered with large hospital systems,
21:39
Children's National, CHKD,
21:42
>> filling areas where they just don't have
21:44
the bandwidth right now. they don't have
21:46
the time or the resources to do this for
21:48
themselves and partnering with us has
21:50
allowed them to take the breath. Um just
21:52
the reception has been beautiful for
21:54
sure.
21:57
>> That is pretty cool.
21:58
>> So I want to shift gears for a second. I
22:01
guess um if I was to sort of magically
22:04
place you as the uh chief uh pediatrics
22:08
officer for the uh for the United
22:09
States, we're going to drop you in there
22:11
tomorrow. And what's the first thing
22:14
that you change?
22:17
The distrust of pediatricians that I'm
22:19
noticing across the country right now is
22:21
hard. Um, it's it's very hard. It's hard
22:24
to hear parents questioning, but it's
22:27
almost understandable. There's so much
22:29
information out there that parents are
22:31
trying to digest. So much information of
22:34
do we vaccinate, do we not? What's
22:35
harmful? What's not? Is Tylenol harmful
22:38
when I'm pregnant? Is it harmful to my
22:39
child now?
22:40
>> Yes.
22:41
>> Do I let my child go to brick and mortar
22:43
school? Do I keep them home so they
22:45
don't have to vaccinate? There's so many
22:47
questions out there. And I don't think
22:49
there's great resources for parents to
22:52
be heard and their concerns to be heard.
22:55
Yes, there's great resources out there.
22:57
The AAP will tell you all the things
22:59
that they should tell you. And yes, you
23:02
can read them and digest them, but
23:04
there's no real place for parents to go
23:06
and ask questions specific to their
23:08
child, specific to their situation, or
23:10
even just hear out their concerns. They
23:13
don't even trust enough to go to their
23:14
own pediatricians to ask because all
23:16
they're going to hear back or that they
23:18
think they're going to hear back is you
23:20
must do this, you must do that, and I
23:21
don't want to hear from you otherwise. I
23:24
do work with pediatricians every day who
23:27
feel like they are trying to combat
23:29
those fears. Um, and I just would really
23:32
hope that there would be a a better way
23:34
for parents to be heard and
23:36
pediatricians to be heard on an even
23:38
playing field where the parents can
23:40
express their concerns and ask their
23:41
questions and pediatricians can
23:43
understand and then express the correct
23:46
advice where it's going to be heard by
23:48
the parent and not confused with all the
23:49
other things they're reading and
23:50
hearing.
23:53
>> You bring up such a it's a really
23:55
important point, right? because there's
23:57
we're at a time where
24:00
access to information and knowledge is
24:04
so readily available and I think where
24:07
what you're talking about is like the
24:09
personalization of something as it
24:11
pertains to a specific case is it's not
24:15
always an applesto apples comparison and
24:17
like you said you have to look at the
24:19
entirety of it you know you being an
24:22
osteopathic uh physician looking at a
24:25
whole entire fair thing.
24:28
Maybe that is the lens that we want to
24:31
say, hey, look, we're looking at this
24:32
from the entirety, not just
24:35
grabbing this from chatbt or claude or
24:38
whatever, you know, the latest uh LLM
24:41
that you're using.
24:43
I would also I'm a pipe dreamer would
24:46
love to at some point in this world have
24:50
a place where families can access care
24:52
in an easier way. Um for those who are
24:56
in my generation I grew up watching ER
24:59
which was a great Noah Wy medical drama.
25:01
Now he's in the pit which is an equally
25:03
great medical drama.
25:04
>> Um he created something in an ER called
25:07
the Carter House and it was always a
25:09
dream of mine to do that. It's
25:11
essentially a place where parents and
25:13
children can take one single day off of
25:15
school and work and not miss out on that
25:17
finance that they need or the learning
25:19
that they need. But in that one day that
25:22
they can all see the dentist, dad can
25:23
see the internist, the child can see
25:25
their pediatrician, the mom can see
25:26
their OB/GYN, everybody can do whatever
25:29
testing they need because it's all in
25:30
one building, all in one place. The lab,
25:33
the radiology, the dentist, the social
25:34
worker, whatever comes up in that day of
25:37
care
25:39
>> and it doesn't disrupt their day-to-day
25:40
life more than in one day. I just I know
25:43
for myself, I have one child yet I feel
25:44
like
25:45
>> one day she has to go here and another
25:47
day I have to go there. I'm out of six
25:49
kids. I can't even imagine what they
25:50
went through when I was growing up.
25:52
>> I would love for that to exist
25:55
>> pipe dream and it's very very far away,
25:58
but it's definitely something I would
25:59
love to see come to fruition somewhere.
26:01
>> Do you feel like with the advent of
26:03
what's available virtually that that's
26:05
actually even now closer to a
26:06
possibility than before?
26:08
>> Yeah, there's
26:09
>> I do think there's a time and place with
26:10
brick and mortar. Absolutely. And yet
26:14
there's probably a large percentage of
26:16
things that can probably be done
26:17
remotely. And I don't want to I don't
26:20
want to take away from the in-person
26:22
connection that you have with a kiddo,
26:26
>> with a parent. There's there's something
26:27
that,
26:28
>> you know, it amplifies when you do
26:30
things in real life. However, there's I
26:32
think there's some adjunctive things
26:33
that you can do
26:35
>> that are very complimentary.
26:37
>> Uh I agree that don't detract from that.
26:40
>> Yeah. a lot of the social work work out
26:43
there, um, behavioral health, honestly,
26:46
even just the patient care coordination
26:48
side of it, right? Coordinating that
26:50
care can all be done through AI enabled
26:53
things through virtual things so that a
26:56
parent doesn't have to take a day off to
26:57
go see a social worker or to do the
27:00
intake to then see the behavioral health
27:02
therapist. Like there's so many steps
27:04
that can be done virtually and AI
27:07
enabled and with tech to reduce the
27:09
burden both on the people providing the
27:12
care and the people receiving the care.
27:14
And I do I see so many companies really
27:16
working to optimize care and close those
27:19
gaps and create that access utilizing
27:21
the tech that's out there now
27:23
>> or the tech that that can be created.
27:26
How much of this is really around
27:27
education to parents? And if you could
27:29
give every parent in America like just a
27:33
very simple rule
27:35
um about when to truly worry about their
27:38
kiddos's health, like what would it be?
27:42
>> So, it's funny. My sister has a
27:45
one-year-old and the advice I gave to
27:46
her at the very beginning, she's very
27:48
chill about being a mom, was I parented
27:51
like I am on an airplane. If the
27:54
steartus isn't panicking, neither am I.
27:56
And so I said to her, if your
27:58
pediatrician isn't panicking, then you
28:01
shouldn't.
28:02
>> With that being said, I do I want
28:05
pediatricians to be trusted and I want
28:08
parents' guts to be trusted.
28:11
>> That would be my two big things. Um, I
28:14
think that pediatricians are really good
28:16
at listening to parents and I think
28:18
parents are really good at listening to
28:20
their pediatricians. And I think both
28:23
end up hearing all of the talk and the
28:25
chatter outside and so sometimes it can
28:27
jade the productive conversations they
28:30
can have.
28:32
>> Interesting. It's I mean we were talking
28:34
about this off camera but I'd be
28:36
remissed if I didn't bring it up. You
28:37
know the 777 rule. How do you think that
28:39
applies in this particular case? And for
28:41
those that don't know it, share share
28:43
with them what that means.
28:44
>> The 777 rule in our house is um seven
28:48
minutes when we wake up in the morning.
28:49
We talk about what we'd like our day to
28:51
look like, the the good things, the bad
28:53
things, the hard things, the easy
28:55
things, whether that's tackling
28:56
something for school, personal,
28:58
anything. Uh seven minutes once our
29:01
school day is over to know where did we
29:03
struggle, where did we have wins, how do
29:05
we feel about all of it? and then the
29:06
seven minutes before bed to focus on all
29:08
the good things and all the things we're
29:10
thankful for so that we can go to sleep
29:12
mentally and bodily regulated to get
29:14
that good restorative rest that
29:16
everybody needs especially when you're a
29:18
growing kid. So we do that in our
29:20
household. Um, and I think it's really
29:23
important if we could apply some just
29:25
some of that to our medical care for our
29:27
children that even if you did less,
29:31
right? Two minutes. Two minutes. Two
29:33
minutes. Two minutes for a parent to
29:35
give you their thoughts about their
29:37
child. Two minutes for the pediatrician
29:38
to give their expertise to the parent.
29:41
And then two minutes to collaborate and
29:43
really discuss family centrically what
29:46
the plan is going to be. I did a
29:48
residency program where we did family
29:50
centric rounds. So instead of just the
29:52
medical team rounding, we stopped at
29:54
every room and the family, the parent,
29:56
the child was involved in that
29:58
conversation. Obviously ch children were
30:00
removed from anything that would be
30:02
above their heads, if you will. But it
30:03
was really important for us to get that
30:05
feedback from the nurse, the social
30:07
worker, the nutritionist, the dietitian,
30:08
the parent, the child, the doctor, the
30:10
resident, you name it. Just everybody.
30:13
And I really feel like two minutes from
30:15
the parent who knows their child, two
30:18
minutes from the doctor who knows
30:19
medicine, and then two minutes to
30:21
collaborate. That collaboration can come
30:23
to a good conclusion. It's a win.
30:27
>> Brilliant. And you know, we talked about
30:29
this also. It's like
30:32
running a company is hard. There's a
30:34
there's a lot of things that come at you
30:36
that you're you're trying to be
30:37
proactive, but you also are reactionary.
30:39
when when things get really hard, when
30:42
things get difficult um in in a company,
30:45
what what kind of leader
30:48
do you try to be for your team?
30:51
I am a role my sleeves up kind of leader
30:54
if things are getting hard on the
30:56
clinical side. I am there to help
30:58
triage, help determine if somebody needs
31:00
to go somewhere, determine if workflows
31:03
or protocols aren't working optimally to
31:05
ensure that that care is given as
31:07
efficiently and well as possible. Um,
31:11
I'm also a person who is analytical. So
31:14
I will break things down and work with
31:16
the financial side and the business side
31:18
to say this isn't working but is there a
31:21
way to do this differently without
31:23
breaking the bank without compromising
31:25
care but ensuring that it's scalable.
31:27
>> Um I truly believe in compassion. You
31:31
want to make sure that your staff can
31:33
see that you're a human and that you see
31:35
them as a human too. We don't want to
31:37
make people robots especially in
31:39
pediatric medical care. Robots are not
31:41
here to treat pediatric patients and
31:43
they're not here to talk to parents
31:44
about any of that either.
31:47
>> Let's just uh let's say we fast
31:50
forwarded 10 years from now and we did
31:53
this conversation again and it's now
31:56
2036
31:58
and let's just say you know pediatric
32:01
care delivery
32:03
vastly vastly improved.
32:06
What happened?
32:10
>> Payers got on the same page as
32:12
pediatricians and reimburse them in the
32:14
ways that they are entitled and should
32:16
be. It's very hard to improve access
32:20
when payers are not reimbursing the
32:22
pediatricians in the manner that they
32:23
should, specifically in the Medicaid
32:26
community, but everywhere. Um it's
32:29
really really hard to talk to Medicaid
32:31
patients who
32:33
>> essentially just the emergency room is
32:35
their only option.
32:37
>> Um yeah,
32:38
>> we're trying to reduce that mindset and
32:40
say, "Hey, it's not we're here."
32:42
>> But then when the payers don't want to
32:44
reimburse, that's free care given away.
32:47
And so that's financially not
32:49
sustainable for pediatricians,
32:51
especially small pediat small practice
32:53
pediatricians.
32:55
I will scream from the rooftop.
32:56
Reimbursement rates need to get better
32:58
for the pediatricians or we're just
33:00
going to create a generation of really
33:01
sick adults.
33:05
>> Preventive care starts with our little
33:07
people for sure.
33:09
>> Mental health, obesity, asthma, all
33:12
starts when they're really, really
33:14
little.
33:17
>> How do people follow the work that
33:19
you're doing at Hello Pediatrics? Like
33:21
give us a give us a bit of a commercial.
33:24
give us a snapshot and then we'll kind
33:25
of get into our last question.
33:27
>> Love it. We're on Instagram, we're on
33:30
Facebook, and we're on LinkedIn.
33:32
Primarily, we're working directly with
33:34
pediatricians and pediatric practices,
33:36
hospitals, mega groups, IPS, ACOs to
33:39
partner directly with the pediatricians.
33:41
But if a parent finds us on Facebook, on
33:44
Instagram, even on LinkedIn, and they
33:46
think that service would be beneficial,
33:48
we would love for those parents to try
33:50
us out and then go back to their
33:51
pediatrician and say, "Look what I did.
33:54
This would be awesome for the practice."
33:56
And hopefully that will drive
33:57
conversations with their pediatricians
33:59
to say, "Hey, we're here to support you.
34:00
Let's partner. We're ready to go. 50
34:03
states, let's do it."
34:06
And last question is what what gives you
34:09
I guess the most hope about you know the
34:11
future of healthcare right now.
34:14
the people I work with wholeheartedly.
34:16
Um, this work is hard, right? Working in
34:20
healthcare right now is very hard.
34:22
>> But I do get up every morning and I do
34:24
go to bed every night knowing that I
34:26
have an amazing team both above me,
34:29
parallel to me and below me working on a
34:32
a really missiondriven company that is
34:35
really working hard to change the
34:36
ecosystem for healthcare when it comes
34:39
to kids. And without that staff, we
34:41
would be nowhere. These are people who
34:44
grind every day to ensure Helped is
34:47
providing really good care.
34:50
>> It has been awesome. I think one of the
34:52
things Shannon that stood out for me is
34:54
um
34:55
I guess your journey reflects a lot of
34:58
the things that I see happening more and
35:00
more in healthcare. You know, people
35:01
start their careers, you know, focused
35:03
on taking care of patients and then they
35:08
maybe not in all cases, but they realize
35:10
that like, hey, look, if the system
35:12
itself doesn't work, then even the best
35:16
clinicians in the world are limited and
35:18
they can only do so much. And you
35:21
obviously stepped into medicine because
35:23
you want to care for patients and
35:25
kiddos. And along the way, you stepped
35:28
into leadership given that you've you're
35:31
multifaceted
35:32
and you you seem like a builder like you
35:35
know you're you want to build something
35:37
new and that's not always an easy
35:39
transition and it just seems as though
35:42
that you've made it look really easy and
35:45
it's and it's not. uh however it's I
35:50
think those transitions are from
35:53
clinicians going into these operating
35:54
roles is something that healthcare
35:57
desperately needs in order to kind of
35:59
make that next sort of evolution. Um so
36:04
I've just really thoroughly enjoyed the
36:05
conversation. So for those
36:07
>> that have uh if you're listening to this
36:10
>> and there is a topic that um you want to
36:13
hear about or you want us to explore
36:15
further or even a leader that you want
36:16
to hear from you know drop a note leave
36:18
a comment and if you don't mind share
36:21
this share this with people you care
36:23
about um with your networks with your
36:25
communities like this is a resource this
36:27
is a platform that is not just about
36:30
content in my opinion um it's really
36:32
about community and a community is an
36:34
interactive living breathing thing. It's
36:36
not just take take. It's take, give,
36:39
give, take. All those things. So, um,
36:43
thank you for listening and, uh, keep
36:45
building with purpose and, uh, we'll see
36:47
you next time on the Advancing
36:49
Healthcare Innovation Show.