Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Making Digital Health Work for Rural Communities with Christian Milaster

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Making Digital Health Work for Rural Communities with Christian Milaster · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings health care
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  leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues
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  facing the industry.
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  and unexpected ways.
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's
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  sixteenth annual meeting. Seven ninety five elite speakers
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  will offer new lessons, new case studies, and
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  predictions about what comes next.
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  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Scott Decker with the Becker's HealthCare
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  podcast.
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  I am thrilled today to be joined by
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  Christian Molasder,
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  and and Christian's gonna talk to us about
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  what he does, how he's grown his business,
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  the world of digital health, and a lot
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  more. K. Christian, so pleased to be with
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  you. Can you take a moment to introduce
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  you introduce yourself
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  and tell us about both yourself,
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  your career, and your firm?
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  Very good. Yes. Thanks for having me on
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  here. Glad to be talking with you.
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  My name is Christian Laster. I'm a German
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  engineer by background. Came to The US in
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  1998
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  and stumbled into health care at the Mayo
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  Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,
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  in the year 2000,
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  and fell in love with health care,
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  and then had an opportunity to actually jump
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  ship and focus
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  on sharing my expertise and my passion for
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  improving health care delivery,
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  with a larger audience, I shall say. And
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  I'm now leading
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  Ingenium Digital Health Advisors, and we are a
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  vendor agnostic boutique consulting firm,
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  and we're specializing since 2012 on rural health
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  transformation through what I call digitally enabled care.
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  So digital health, telehealth,
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  RPM.
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  And and in our role, we provide design
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  and implementation guidance to rural health systems, critical
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  access hospitals, rural health clinics, community health centers,
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  and behavioral health agencies.
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  Take a moment and tell us about
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  it it seems like there's a tremendous amount
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  of funding that's gonna move towards rural health.
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  Yeah. There's a tremendous shortage of physicians and
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  caregivers in rural health and often aging populations.
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  In your view,
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  how could some of this money that's gonna
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  flow towards rural health be used well
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  to actually make an impact on rural communities
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  and people's lives?
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  Well, as you can imagine, for someone who's
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  been in this digital health care delivery spectrum
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  and have,
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  worked, like, almost 90% of our work in
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  rural health, I'm very excited about this. And
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  I think,
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  I'm also very excited about how CMS is
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  taking this on very differently than any grant
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  funding in the past by really communicating very
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  clearly that they wanna see, really clear outcomes
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  and clear results and not just the spending
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  of the money. So I'm very excited about
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  the opportunity ahead of us here to really
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  use everything that we've learned about how to
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  not implement digital health in the last twenty
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  years and to actually use this funding as
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  an opportunity
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  to do it right, to give rural patients
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  more access to
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  primary care and behavioral health to begin with,
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  but also, obviously, to specialty care,
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  which because of the geographic distances is always
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  hard to come by. And so I think
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  this is a great opportunity
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  if and when it is deployed in the
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  right way. And if and when,
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  the states are,
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  designing their RFPs in a way that
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  demands what I call implementation science,
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  with regards to the deployment,
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  not just the purchasing of digital health technologies.
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  Fascinating. And talk about
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  the trends that you're watching in two areas,
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  digital health and rural health. What are a
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  couple of the big trends that you're watching?
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  Yeah. I mean, digital health has this plethora,
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  and it's now even fueled even more by
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  AI. Again, the advancements that we have done
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  in abilities that we can do that are
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  also now powered by AI capabilities
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  are virtually endless. I mean, there is no
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  shortage of innovation
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  and hasn't been a shortage of innovation for
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  many decades now, but there's a shortage of
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  implementation.
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  And so, what I have seen repeatedly,
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  especially in the last weeks,
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  come across my kind of inbox or my
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  LinkedIn
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  feed is that realization
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  that technology alone is not sufficient to really
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  move outcomes and to achieve outcomes. Why it's
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  theoretically possible,
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  it always
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  fails,
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  because,
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  not enough thought is being given to how
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  to mindfully
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  integrate these digital health solutions into
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  the workflows and into the processes and actually
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  give clinicians a chance to,
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  be involved in the design into integration process.
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  And so that's the one trend I'm seeing
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  is that there's growing realization and growing
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  talk about that some companies have discovered just
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  like what we're doing that there's a right
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  way to implement digital health. And I think
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  that knowledge is now making its way to
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  the digital health vendors as well as into
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  the committees that are making decisions about buying
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  technology.
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  With regards to the trends in rural health,
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  I think it's,
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  not much has changed, other than the growing
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  needs,
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  exacerbated
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  by,
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  by the anticipated
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  cuts in in, in,
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  Medicaid insurance
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  eligibility.
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  And I think the the population,
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  increasingly why they have more access to technology
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  and maybe more technical affinity
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  than ten, twenty years ago,
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  the needs are still out there. And the
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  chronic disease burden we've worked with a couple
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  of organizations right now in West Virginia,
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  is just very high. And I think it's,
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  over the time, it's been a disproportional
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  increase
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  in chronic disease as morbidity and also maternal
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  health deserts
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  are really, really, very disheartening to learn about
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  in many rural areas. So I think we've
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  just seen an exacerbation
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  of needs that despite all these the progress
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  with telehealth and
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  other things, still they have really haven't moved
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  the needle. And so this rural health transformation
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  funding is hopefully an opportunity
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  to do,
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  right by the people who live in rural
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  area.
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  Thank you. And you've got more and more
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  rural health systems closing down labor and delivery,
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  and other services, not because they want to,
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  because they can't staff them.
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  Are there answers to some of these questions?
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  Are are there long term answers to some
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  of these questions, or are we gonna see
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  more and more of the population just move
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  to more metro areas in rural communities age?
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  Any quick thoughts there, Chris? I know that's
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  a deep question, Christian, so I apologize. But
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  Yes. And it and it requires it's it's
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  it's a it's a it's a systems problem
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  that requires a system solution.
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  Yes. I mean, the reality is that we
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  cannot manufacture
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  staffing. It it it is very hard, and,
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  obviously, the actual intervention,
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  where we need to see the patient in
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  person is,
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  can only be done at a unit, and
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  it's not feasible if you only have five,
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  six deliveries a month. So financially, that doesn't
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  make sense.
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  I think the,
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  it's an ounce of prevention. It's worth a
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  pound of cure, I think, is where we
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  need to go with.
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  And so I think we need to identify
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  these high risk pregnancies early. Actually, they are
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  identified, but we need to manage them well.
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  We need to manage them with,
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  some digitally enabled hand holding,
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  whether that's video visits, whether that's remote physiological
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  monitoring, whether that's secure messaging, whether that's an
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  app, but really hold the hands of this
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  expecting mom and this budding life,
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  and really help them to stay safe, to
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  stay healthy so that their condition does not
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  exacerbate. And then it is an it is
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  a high risk pregnancy, but it's then an
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  an a coordinated and a conscious
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  transition
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  from,
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  being pregnant at home to then going into
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  a more distant unit. But it's not an
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  emergency transport. And so I think I really
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  wanna see much more,
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  embracing of these
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  technologies,
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  which, again, the the the the the governing,
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  association has also recognized that they need to
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  really change the protocol, which was developed in
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  the nineteen thirties and hasn't really changed.
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  Thank you. And and take a second. Aside
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  from being founder and CEO,
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  you are titled chief methodologist, and and talk
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  about why that is and what what what
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  drove you to that title because it must
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  mean something in how you think about the
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  world and what you do.
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  Yes. I think,
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  again, I'm an engineer by training. So,
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  right, and so, I think that every problem
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  can be solved,
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  through a systematic approach and through a methodology.
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  I thrive on,
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  the ability to design
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  approaches or systems that are highly efficient and
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  highly effective
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  in being efficient. And so those are really
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  the two driving,
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  forces behind my motivation. And so with that,
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  I have developed over the last twenty five
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  years starting at the Mayo Clinic, really a
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  lot of
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  systematic approaches on how to,
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  do certain things, how to launch a telehealth
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  service, how to implement an RPM program, how
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  to prioritize digital health strategies. And so I'm
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  constantly trying to document it, and it also
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  stems from this understanding that,
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  if if the process is not defined, then
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  you cannot improve it. And so in order
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  to improve it to get better,
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  you really need to take the time to
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  identify what is your methodology? What is your
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  approach? What are your systems, your processes, your
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  tools, your templates,
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  that you're using to create the outcomes that
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  you wanna create?
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  And that really, as a leader of a
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  boutique consulting firm, I see as my the
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  biggest asset that I can produce,
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  and contribute to the success of the consulting
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  teams that we have and, ultimately, to the
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  success of the clients and the values that
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  we create
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  for them. Really remarkable. And and, Christian, tell
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  us what you're most focused on and excited
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  about this year. Where are you most focused
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  inside of this year? Four letters, RHTP,
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  rural health transformation program.
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  This is,
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  the golden moment, so to speak, in my
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  career where everything is coming together. There's funding
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  available. There's avail there's awareness about the needs
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  for our expertise. And so we're,
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  that that is the primary focus is to
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  really demonstrate in this first year of how
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  this can be done well so that in
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  in future years, because the funding is over
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  five years,
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  we will be able to call on and
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  and help other states and other regions
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  to repeat the successes that hopefully we can
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  demonstrate this year can be achieved with the
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  RTP funding building on our 120 of, or
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  so projects in in rural health implementations.
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  Thank you. And you've had a great leader,
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  a great career as a leader,
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  an entrepreneur, an engineer.
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  What advice would you give
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  to emerging professionals,
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  emerging leaders?
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  What advice do you give people?
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  The biggest, change for me was, really investing
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  and growing my own emotional intelligence.
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  I came across this concept twenty years ago,
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  and I dived really deep into it. And
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  then so that's one of the aspects is
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  really recognizing and managing your own emotions and
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  really understanding the emotions of people to be
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  a good leader, be a good team member,
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  be a good colleague. And then the other
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  tools that I'm using is practicing the four
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  agreements
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  and the seven habits of highly effective people,
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  specifically from the four agreements,
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  to, don't take anything personally,
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  that everybody is running around with their own
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  story in their mind, and it's never about
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  you. It's always about them.
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  And then being proactive. I think that's, as
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  a leader, is the biggest skill that you
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  can bring is to take action to to
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  show resilience where emotional intelligence comes in. And
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  then the last and probably most important part
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  is surround yourself with people,
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  that are smarter or more emotionally intelligent than
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  you. And that doesn't just mean the people
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  in your life or that you interact with,
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  but the people that you read,
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  the people that you read on LinkedIn, for
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  example, that post in great posts or the
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  people that write great books
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  or are on great podcasts. So really immersing
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  yourself with other leaders and looking as to
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  what you can take on to grow and
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  then constantly improve yourself.
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  I I I love that concept of self
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  improvement. Christian, I wanna thank you so much
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  for joining us today on the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. It's just a great pleasure to visit
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  with you. Can you take a moment again
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  and tell everybody the name of your firm
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  and your full name so people know where
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  to reach you and they could find you
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  on LinkedIn? But give us the full name
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  of the firm and your full name again.
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  Absolutely. Thank you very much. It's Christian Milaster.
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  That's m I l a s t e
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  r, and the firm is Ingenium
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  Digital Health Advisors
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  can be found at ingeniumadvisors.net.
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  Thank you so very much, Scott. Christian, what
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  a pleasure visiting with you. Thank you so
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  much for joining us. Thank you.