Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Sagar Patel, Radiation Oncologist at Cape Radiation Oncology

Transcript

Dr. Sagar Patel, Radiation Oncologist at Cape Radiation Oncology · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  - Welcome everyone to the Becker's
• 0:01
  Healthcare podcast series.
• 0:03
  I am Maria Mohammed, writer
• 0:04
  and moderator with Becker's Healthcare,
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  and I'm thrilled to have with me today Dr.
• 0:08
  Sagar Patel, radiation oncologist at Cape
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  Radiation Oncology.
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  Doctor, it's very nice to have you
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  back on the podcast today.
• 0:15
  It's always a pleasure to speak with you to get us started
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  with you, may please introducing yourself
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  and telling us a bit about your background.
• 0:22
  - Hey Mariah, thanks again for having me.
• 0:24
  I'm very appreciative always of having the opportunity
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  to be on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:30
  Uh, so as you mentioned, uh, my name is Sagar Patel
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  and a little bit about me guess from a training perspective.
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  I completed an undergraduate degree in classics, um,
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  at Brown, completed my medical school there as well.
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  And then I completed my specialty radiation oncology
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  training at the University of Iowa hospitals and clinics.
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  From a practice perspective, I'm a radiation oncologist,
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  as you mentioned, at St.
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  Francis Healthcare System in, uh, southeast Missouri.
• 1:02
  And I'm one of the radiation oncologists
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  with my colleague Dr.
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  Ben Goodman there. And thankfully I have the opportunity
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  there to also be the medical administrative officer
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  for the oncology service line as well as the vice president
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  for the medical staff executive committee.
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  And from a leadership standpoint, uh,
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  where I've focused on primarily is trying to develop
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  and integrate meaningful access
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  and care pathways across primary care
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  and multiple specialties
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  with my colleagues in our care teams there.
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  - Wonderful, wonderful.
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  Thank you so much for giving us that background.
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  Um, so with your title
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  and everything that you are currently doing, what are some
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  of the biggest issues you're following
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  in healthcare in this year?
• 1:52
  - Yeah, sure. So Mariah, as you know, what we see
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  and experience daily is that care delivery
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  across the health ecosystem today, I'd say is very complex
• 2:04
  ever changing and quite demanding.
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  When I kind of break this down, I think that globally
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  we see patients in need
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  accessing health services at differing points of care
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  with unclear direction, navigation,
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  and various outcomes while their personal costs
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  of healthcare market entry
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  and exit for these patients continue to rise and accumulate.
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  When you look at the hospital
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  and health systems side, they're,
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  they're collectively continuing to face mounting pressures
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  of closures, mergers
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  and acquisitions from these rising costs of delivery,
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  while they're also trying to attempt
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  to secure favorable operating margins,
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  competitive payer contracts.
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  And they're ultimately grappling
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  with maintaining these critical health services amidst,
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  as we know the pervasive, uh, workforce shortages.
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  And then when you look from the provider side, I'd say from
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  the physicians and other healthcare provider's viewpoint,
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  they're confronted with
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  high increasing administrative burdens, increasing barriers
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  to practice meaningful medicine,
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  and this daily perennial pressure to produce,
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  which I think are ultimately contributing
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  and leading to increasing rates of burnout,
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  disengagement and moral injury.
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  As we know, when we look at this from a global perspective
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  and a societal perspective,
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  I'd say from a macroeconomic perspective, we know
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  that healthcare spending is about 20% of the GDP.
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  And you look, you see this stark discordance in the level
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  of quality and outcomes achieved across the data
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  and literature that we see.
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  And so when I internalize this, I see with the high spending
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  and suboptimal outcomes, there's clear opportunity
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  for accruing benefit from entry within the healthcare
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  sector of the economy.
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  What do I mean by that? Specifically?
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  We see that the traditional healthcare stakeholders are now
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  met with new entrants
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  and investors seeking opportunities to influ influence,
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  control and capitalize from the healthcare ecosystem.
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  And what I think is specifically happening,
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  these new entrants within the healthcare ecosystem
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  have identified particular niches in areas
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  to implement innovations technologies
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  and ultimately secure strategic product placement.
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  In addition, I think they've been very smart.
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  Uh, they've made sure that their marketing focuses
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  and depicts that they will increase access
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  and availability, address care gaps
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  and efficiencies contain overall cost, as well
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  as provide the particular technology in resources
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  to enhance data retrieval to make quick strategic decisions,
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  which we really need while optimizing overall system health,
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  system security and patient privacy.
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  So why, you know, summarize that I think we
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  therefore clearly see
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  a seismic shift in the healthcare landscape
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  and eco ecosystem accordingly.
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  So to go back to your question, your initial question,
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  when I put all this together
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  and I see all this manifest, I'd say the prime issue
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  or question that I'm following
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  in in healthcare trends right now is whether the motivation
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  of and market forces
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  of transforming the healthcare industry.
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  Is it truly to deliver high quality, low ca,
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  low cost patient-centered health?
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  Or is it once again simply a monetization
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  of certain market segments within the health ecosystem,
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  which ultimately may lead to an acceleration
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  of these health inequities that we see And ultimately,
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  unfortunately deriving value
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  for every entity aside from the
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  patient who's the most important.
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  So I'd summarize by saying,
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  will these transformative elements within the healthcare
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  landscape, secure population health,
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  or ultimately simply be one more
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  evidentiary process of driving profit margins?
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  - Yeah, wonderful. Thank you so much
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  for giving us that detail.
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  Very, very interesting.
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  And moving on to anything that you're seeing
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  that is making you excited
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  or is making you nervous,
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  whether it's something you're working on personally, um,
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  or something that you're seeing constantly come up.
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  - Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot
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  to be excited about and equally nervous about.
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  I tried to, you know, think about
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  what specifically impacts me
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  as an oncologist and also globally.
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  So, you know, I tried to think about framing this, uh,
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  from my own perspective and you know, building on that.
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  So I'd say as a radiation oncologist, I truly enjoy
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  the daily privilege and opportunity of defining
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  and depicting the diagnosis stage
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  and overall treatment paradigm with my colleagues
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  and care team for my cancer patients
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  and ultimately being a part
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  of our patient's care in a multidisciplinary fashion
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  and evidence-based approach.
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  I think this is very, this is very important.
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  In turn, I recognize and seek
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  and enjoy this daily responsibility
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  and challenge of being informed as possible, as prepared
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  as possible, and most importantly,
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  being the most present possible for each individual moment
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  and the summative longitudinal journeys our cancer patients,
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  our cancer patients face the particular opportunity
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  to in impact or influence our patient's overall outcome
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  and quality of life with our care team is endlessly
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  rewarding and unequivocally why I'm here.
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  However, at the same time every day I wish we
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  as a team could further drive the best outcomes
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  for each individual patient
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  and at the same time limit our collective administrative
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  burdens accordingly along the way.
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  So I would say building on this idea
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  and experience this very sentiment is
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  what drives my excitement in the current
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  and future applications of both predictive
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  and generative AI
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  and its potential to ultimately transform the level
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  and ability to deliver either personalized
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  or precision medicine.
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  In oncology, I would say the ability
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  to I identify and diagnose cancer early
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  and tailor cancer therapies to the specific characteristics
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  of each individual utilizing genomic profiling
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  and molecular diagnostics is no longer un unimaginable,
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  which is super cool.
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  And it's also the only outcome
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  that which we would expect and accept.
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  So as an oncologist,
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  imagining the potential high reaching scale pace
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  and magnitude to which artificial intelligence may deliver
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  precision medicine to cancer patients is not only amazing,
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  but also reinvigorating as a physician.
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  The same time you asked about being nervous.
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  So I would summarize by saying,
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  while the transformative potential impacts
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  of artificial intelligence is what I'm most excited about,
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  it also makes me most nervous as well, why
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  we know that the adoption, implementation
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  and regulation of artificial intelligence in healthcare
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  decision make in healthcare decision making would certainly
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  bring forth immense challenges with respect
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  to ensuring no bias, true patient representation,
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  transparency, privacy, trust, accountability,
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  and most importantly explainability.
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  So when I think about this,
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  I truly wonder whether the transformative elements
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  of generative AI will lead to true care augmentation
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  patient empowerment as a consumer of healthcare
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  and administrative burden simplification,
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  or will it once again ultimately accelerate the exclusivity
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  and healthcare delivery further disempower the patient
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  and limit the opportunity to deliver healthcare to
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  a select few entities who hold and control the data.
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  - Yeah. Thank you so much for giving us
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  that insight, doctor.
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  That is definitely so important.
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  And the last thing I wanted to ask you
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  before letting you go is what would the most effective
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  healthcare leaders need, uh, need in order
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  to be successful in the next two
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  to three years, do you think?
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  - Yeah, so just going back earlier, we already emphasized
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  that healthcare delivery is very complex, always evolving,
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  and the pressures and demands on health systems globally are
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  quite high and only increasing.
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  So I'd begin by saying that the ability to adapt
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  and be resilient when addressing rising costs,
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  implementing technology
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  and innovation to optimize health services offered
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  and maintaining data security
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  and patient privacy are essential for healthcare leaders.
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  Now more than ever, I ultimately think health systems will
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  adopt and implement diverse strategies
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  to address these challenges and meet market
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  and meet market forces likely resulting in both progress
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  and additional struggles.
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  But amidst these challenges and uncertainty,
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  however, I think what I know is still important
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  is always primarily focusing on who the healthcare
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  ecosystem serves.
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  And that's the patient no matter what,
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  we must keep the patient at the forefront
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  and that overlying sentiment must permeate
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  and be embodied within the culture
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  and vision of the health system.
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  Its providers and particular stakeholders, both individually
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  and collectively with patients in mind.
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  Health systems must clear, have a clear strategy,
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  and establish the right partnerships to drive care together.
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  I think certainly there may be a few vertically integrated
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  health networks and
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  or a few health systems that may arguably have potential
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  to provide comprehensive patient-centered care
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  as one entity, but even then they certainly will need
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  strategic collaborative partnerships as well.
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  Thus, I think partnerships and collaborations are central
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  and critical across health systems in order
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  to achieve scale, meet, demand,
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  and share costs, both to secure health services
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  and to ensure safety, security,
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  and privacy for our patients.
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  And I think along with strategic partnerships,
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  leadership must engage governance structure
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  and boards to look beyond the financials
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  and to determine appropriate physical footprint, scope,
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  and infrastructure and to integrate appropriate technology
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  and innovation to augment care
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  for the particular communities and regions it serves.
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  Ultimately, I would say healthcare is not easy.
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  We know this, but it's the most rewarding
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  and like no other sector
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  because of the consumers we serve, which is our patients.
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  So I think healthcare leaders along with their internal
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  and external networks must continue
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  to embrace these opportunities
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  and must all always hold on to the why of what we do
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  as they meet these challenges.
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  - Yeah, wonderful. Thank you so much
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  for those final thoughts, doctor.
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  This has definitely been an amazing, informative discussion.
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  So again, I wanna thank you so much
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  for coming back on Becker's Healthcare.
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  We really do appreciate it
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  - Thank you very much, Mariah. Have a good day.
• 14:10
  - You too.