Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sarah Matt, MD, MBA, Health Technology Atrategist and Author of "The Borderless Healthcare Revolution"

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Sarah Matt, MD, MBA, Health Technology Atrategist and Author of "The Borderless Healthcare Revolution" · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
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  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
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  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.
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  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
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  lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what
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  comes next. Join us April 13 through the
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  sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details,
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  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 Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to visit with a brilliant
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  physician leader.
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  We're joined today by doctor Sarah Matt.
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  Doctor Matt herself is both an entrepreneur. She's
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  an author. She's a physician. She's a lot
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  more.
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  She's written a book that's a bestseller that's
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  been really well recognized called the borderless health
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  care revolution.
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  Sarah, doctor Matt, can you take a moment
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  to introduce yourself?
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  Thanks, Scott. Sure. So I actually started my
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  career
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  as a general surgeon and then switched into
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  tech very early. So you may have seen
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  me at NextGen Healthcare or several startups or
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  at Oracle, where I built out our OCI
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  business for health care and life sciences globally
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  and got, after that, got to be a
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  part of the Cerner acquisition.
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  So I've been all around health care and
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  health tech. And these days,
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  I'm very focused on my book, which you
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  just mentioned, and that just came out in
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  December
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  '25.
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  And today, I still see patients. I do
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  charity medicine here in Upstate New York, and
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  I teach at SUNY Upstate Medical University
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  to first year med students.
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  And and SUNY is a magnificent place. And
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  and talk a little bit about you've got
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  this magnificent career,
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  went to medical school, became a surgeon, general
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  surgeon,
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  practice and still do some practice,
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  but but then really segued into technology
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  versus a practice of medicine.
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  Was that hard
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  after going to med school to sort of
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  transfer out of directly into being a practicing
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  surgeon?
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  And and and talk a bit about that
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  transition
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  and, you know, everybody's got different origin and
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  family stories. Were your parents upset with you?
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  Were they good with the transition?
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  That's a a great question, Scott. So I'd
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  say that, first of all,
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  hard is relative. So it's hard being a
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  surgeon. It's hard driving businesses in '26, and
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  it's hard driving new technologies when it's evolving
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  at such a fast pace. For me, you
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  know, at the time, it wasn't, I'd say,
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  a career move that everyone was very excited
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  about because back then, a lot of people
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  didn't switch from clinical careers into business or
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  technology.
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  But I think for me, it was all
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  about impact. And so
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  I recognize that
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  seeing one patient at a time was great
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  for that one patient, but I felt like
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  I could make a bigger impact
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  and
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  essentially touch the lives of hundreds, thousands, millions,
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  billions every day. And that switch to tech
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  allowed me to do just that. Now my
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  parents were not disappointed at all. I'm the
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  first doctor in my family.
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  And when I told them I was moving
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  into something more impactful, they said, great. Good
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  for you. So they've been a very supportive
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  group the whole way through.
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  It it that's fantastic. So we're so proud
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  of you becoming a surgeon, so proud of
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  you growing into technology.
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  And and and talk a little bit about
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  let's talk for a moment about the book
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  and where people can buy the book,
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  and talk a little bit about what drove
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  you to write the book and some of
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  the core thesis in the book.
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  So the book is called The Borderless Healthcare
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  Revolution. It's available everywhere where books are sold.
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  You can also look at my website, doctorceramat.com.
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  So I started writing this book
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  a year ago,
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  and it was right after twenty twenty four
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  election. And it was a time just like
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  today that's highly polarized.
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  Today, when we think about The United States
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  and health care system,
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  everyone is struggling. Doesn't matter how much money
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  you make, doesn't matter where you live, doesn't
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  matter where you came from. Everyone struggles with
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  health care system.
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  And for me,
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  how could I make that better? Well, I
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  had tried the tech rep. I had tried
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  the clinical route. What was next? Well, it's
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  about educating
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  the masses about what we can do, and
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  that's where health care access comes in. Health
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  care access is
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  something that we can all talk about. So
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  no matter who I talk to in any
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  forum, every single person has a terrible access
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  story about themselves,
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  their parents, their friends, their kids, you name
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  it. And so, Scott, when I think about
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  access
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  and the times we're in today,
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  this is a topic that I think can
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  bring real people together
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  so we can really make that impact we're
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  all looking to make and change health care
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  for the best.
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  And the access issue is so right on.
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  There's increasingly challenges to supply and demand. You
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  know, just ten years ago, people were talking
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  about in in systems where advertising to get
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  you into the ER in thirty minutes.
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  Now average wait times are three hours in
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  many, many states.
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  Mhmm. How do we how do we solve
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  some of this access? I mean, I I
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  see it ourselves. The beauty of health care
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  is we're all consumers, so so we all
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  see exactly the same thing. I go to
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  reschedule
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  a primary care appointment, the next available appointments
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  next April.
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  This was, from last June,
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  and and you go to find the right
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  oncologist. You have to know somebody. I mean,
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  it's it's it's it's
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  it's incredibly challenging
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  when you're in the part of the economy
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  that has more access. It's brutal if in
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  in a from a health equity perspective. How
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  do we solve some of this?
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  Well, I think right now, we focus on
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  access, and we think
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  merely about geography or merely about finances.
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  And those are two humongous parts of the
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  access story. But I really chop up access
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  into five different pillars,
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  geography, financial,
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  digital, cultural, and trusted knowledge.
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  And when we think about the reasons why
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  things become so difficult, it may not just
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  be because
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  health care is far away, and it may
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  not just because
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  it's difficult to pay for it. There's these
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  other aspects that oftentimes
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  we don't think about.
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  We're all very excited about AI, telemedicine, you
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  name it. However, it doesn't matter if you're
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  in a rural environment with low bandwidth or
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  in an urban environment without the right tools.
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  It's hard for folks that don't have great
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  digital access or digital literacy
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  to utilize the tools that are now in
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  the market that we're actually using to decrease
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  burnout for providers and nurses that we're using
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  to expand our reach.
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  So we're missing those populations.
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  The other thing is, again, over the last
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  couple years, health care has become
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  beyond polarized. There's a ton of mistrust of
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  the system, mistrust of the information.
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  And so when you have lots of folks
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  within the system, patients, you name it, that
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  don't trust what their provider says or don't
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  trust the messages coming out from health care
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  systems, you've got yourself in a tough spot
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  to provide real care and to give them
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  the access, which includes that trust that they'll
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  require.
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  In in in how does this
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  get better? How does this get better? The
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  access get better?
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  Is technology is it more physicians? Is it
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  more PAs? Is it a mix of all
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  those things?
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  Doctor Matt, how do you see it getting
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  better?
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  Health care is not a widget. Health care
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  is a lot of things. It's an ecosystem.
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  And so if you're going to make real
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  change, you have to address the entire system.
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  That's hard.
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  What I see today that's the most, I'd
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  say, pressing problem is that everyone's focused on
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  one aspect of access. Oh, we're gonna
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  just deal with transportation. We're just dealing with
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  financial. We're just dealing with this trust issue.
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  Unfortunately,
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  you can keep pulling those strings,
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  and the sweater's gonna unravel. You really have
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  to find ways
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  to work with unlikely partners, if you will,
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  in different groups of
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  patients, providers, systems, you name it, so that
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  we're not only looking at the digital pillar,
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  we're also looking at the financial pillar, or
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  we're also looking at this.
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  So while we can all make big strides
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  in individual areas,
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  ultimately,
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  we need everyone
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  rolling in the same direction and attacking all
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  these different pillars at the same time. Otherwise,
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  we're still gonna have that imbalance, and otherwise,
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  we're gonna continue to have problems. Now will
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  things be better if we
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  address any of this? Absolutely.
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  But I don't think we're gonna find a
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  real solve until we address all the pillars.
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  Thank you. And when you look at your
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  mission and what you're trying to accomplish,
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  what are you most focused on this year?
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  I I know your book, The Borderless Healthcare
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  Revolution, is itself a USA Today bestseller,
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  magnificent it's found a magnificent audience.
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  What are you most focused on this coming
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  year and and and excited about?
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  So for me, my focus is on solving
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  problems. So I solve problems in lots of
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  different ways. I work with lots of different
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  startups. I do a ton of advisory. I
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  I also work with larger companies from a
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  fractional perspective.
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  And it all comes back down to access.
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  Because when we think about it, access is
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  good for business,
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  access is good for health care technology,
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  and access is good for patients. So I
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  see lots and lots of large provider groups,
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  health care systems,
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  technology organizations,
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  and those in
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  bioscience, etcetera, all now considering, hey. Is access
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  my new differentiator?
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  If I build this in from the get
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  go,
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  will this improve my bottom line and actually
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  impact a ton of patients too? So for
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  me, I'm in that problem solving area this
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  year, and access can be a part of
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  all of it.
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  Fascinating.
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  Take a second.
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  You've had this magnificent
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  career that's transcended a few different places.
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  Can you take a moment on
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  like, we we've got a daughter who's in
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  med school now.
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  What advice would you give to a
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  emerging physician and emerging leader? What advice would
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  you give to,
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  you know, to to an emerging professional?
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  So I teach first in your first and
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  second year med students at SUNY Upstate, and
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  it's very interesting
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  to see them kind of come into this
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  health care space
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  in a time like this. When I went
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  to med school, they handed me a compilot,
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  and we were super excited about the technical
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  advances of that. Right? Now it's a lot
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  different.
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  The advice I usually give to my students
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  and to other folks entering into the health
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  care sector is
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  be flexible,
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  be a lifelong learner,
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  and understand why you're there. If you're entering
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  the health tech or the health care field
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  for the wrong reasons,
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  that is going to
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  be a recipe for disaster.
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  The worst thing you can do is get
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  pushed into an occupation by
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  helpful parents and family members or
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  high school and college counselors. Health care is
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  a really hard industry to be in. There's
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  emotional toll. It's a constant learning environment,
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  and the evolution of technology and clinical practice
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  is accelerating a rate that not everyone can
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  handle. So if you're up for a living
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  in the gray and making decisions in times
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  of uncertainty,
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  then maybe health care is a great place
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  for you to be. But if you're not
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  in it to win it, maybe it's not.
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  Yeah. I I think that's a that's a
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  great call, and so it's so funny you
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  mentioned the PalmPilot days and so forth. The,
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  I'm older than you, so there weren't even
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  Palm Pilots, but I hear you entirely. The,
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  doctor Matt, tell us again
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  you know, and I don't wanna harp on
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  the book, but it's amazing what you've done
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  and amazing how well the book is resonating
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  with people. Tell people again the exact title
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  of the book and and where they could
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  buy the book, which is I know every
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  place. But if you don't mind, give us
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  one more shout out in the book.
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  Of course. So it's the Borderless Healthcare Revolution,
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  the definitive guide to breaking geographic barriers through
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  technology.
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  You can find it anywhere where books are
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  sold. Amazon's always a great place, and you
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  can see it on my website at doctorsarahmatt.com.
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  Fantastic.
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  Doctor Matt, thank you so much for taking
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  the time to visit with us today on
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  the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  I'm amazed and inspired by your career. Thank
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  you so much for joining us.
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  Thanks, Scott. Appreciate you too.