Yesterday we were luck enough to be joined by Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal, Executive Vice President of Jefferson Strategic Ventures in Philadephia, to discuss integration of technology into the practice of medicine. While other areas of the economy, most notably finance, have fully integrated technology into their function - in fact they would be unable to function without it - health care has been different. Part of the difference lies in the immutable reality that health care frequently requires human touch. A notable exception is behavioral health where physical encounters, while important, are not as vital as with a well baby visit that requires vaccinations, measurements and response assessments.
Nonetheless, the confluence of economic realities no longer able to tolerate ever rising health care expenses; a trillion-dollar fueled pandemic and an unprecedented deregulatory regime puts the health care industry at the start of transformation unlike anything we have seen since, perhaps, that of transportation in the 1980s. Leading the way is Jefferson Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadephia.
Below is a link to this very ticker-rich discussion on robotics, telemedicine, remote monitoring and why investing in things that advance the practice of medicine should be part of the long game. Time stamps below.
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CLICK HERE for event replays (includes video/audio and materials link) |
Timestamps:
0-1:15 Introduction
1:15 - 13:01 Background: The First DaVinci robot (ISRG) as the start to a career moving technology into medicine
13:02 - 18:34 Barriers to emancipating technology in the practice of medicine
18:34 - 25:00 Role of COVID-19 in proliferation of robotics into non-hospital settings (SYK, ISRG) like ASCs and the differentiation of care between academic research centers, Walmart Health, CVS and OneMedical (WMT, ONEM, CVS)
25:00 - 34:35 COVID Capacity constraints and spillover into alternative and non-traditional sites of service; Overhype of telemedicine and failure to deliver digital transformation and improve workflows (TDOC, LVGO, AMWL).
34:35 - 40:12 Telemedicine delivering visits but not necessarily care and the problem of the point solution (GDRX)
40:13 - 44:38 Future of telemedicine, where does it go from here? (AMWL, TDOC); FFS v Value-based Care
44:39 - 49:09 B2C care (ONEM, WMT, CVS) bringing choice for consumers and ensuring equity
49:10 - 58:55 Jefferson Strategic Ventures, early stage and needs based innovation
58:55 - 1:03 Is Google Glass ever going to be a thing in medicine?
During the call, Dr. Aggarwal and I referenced two other Hedgeye calls on technology and medicine. One with Sen. Bill Frist, long time advocate for telehealth and Matthew Holt of SMAC(K) Health. Links to those calls below:
Sen. Bill Frist: CLICK HERE for video & audio replays.
Matthew Holt: CLICK HERE for video & audio replays.
I hope you enjoy the discussion. Please let me know if you have any questions.
About Dr. Aggarwal: Our guest, Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal, in his role as Executive Vice President of Jefferson Strategic Ventures, has focused on health care innovations encompassing digital applications and health IT platforms, virtual and augmented reality solutions, medical devices and interventional robotics and advanced analytics. He has established experience with leading venture, strategic, research and commercial partnership deals for health systems and external parties. Dr. Aggarwal is also Professor in the Division of Minimally Invasive, Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.Dr. Aggarwal undertook his Bachelor’s degree in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge, medical school at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London, and completed general surgical residency at Imperial College London.
In 2008 he was awarded a PhD degree in virtual reality technologies for surgical education at Imperial College London, under the mentorship of Professor Ara Darzi, current Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, past Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health in the United Kingdom, and a member of the House of Lords. Whilst working at Imperial with Professor Darzi, Rajesh engaged in collaborative work with the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, and Imperial College Business School, comprising redesign of the cardiac arrest trolley, and the Design out Medical Error (or the DoME project), in addition to projects with industrial partners in the fields of simulation, medical devices and robotics.
His current role in strategic ventures and partnerships at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, utilizes the 14-hospital health system as a living laboratory, to engage and partner with external companies, to transform health care in its broadest sense. The underlying process is to embed, co-develop and translate novel tools, technologies and platforms, into clinical, academic, reputational and revenue-based impact at Jefferson, which may then be translated to other sites and settings, across the US and beyond. Complete biography here.
Emily Evans
Managing Director – Health Policy
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