In the latest episode in our Digital Health C-Suite SeriesTM, our CEO and Co-Founder, Kal Patel, MD spoke with Anita Pramoda, Founder and CEO of Owned Outcomes, a health analytics software company. She was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Epic Systems, a leading EHR company and currently serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Health Catalyst.
The conversation focused on data—why data integration is so critical, how physicians use data and how biopharma and medtech companies can support end users by enabling data analytics that fit into the clinical workflow.
“Healthcare is a team sport.” Anita so eloquently describes the physician/patient relationship and notes that physicians are working from muscle memory as they make clinical judgements. As she points out, data should be available to all members of the care team without latency or friction “so that they can improve outcomes.” Data is a critical tool for the healthcare provider—it should not add tasks, but rather, data should support the physician’s clinical decision making. Data integration is important so that you are not adding another layer of cognitive burden on the physician. “Physicians are not thinking about technology, they are thinking “how do I help my patient?”
Historically, biopharma has been hesitant to capture patient data in the commercial environment, outside of the clinical trial world. We are starting to see a shift due in part because we are so much more data-driven now. Anita shared where she sees healthcare in their journey to viewing data as an asset versus a liability.
Anita points out that in fact, data has been a liability and introduced reputational risk for biopharma and medtech. However, with advancements in platform technologies like BrightInsight that make it easier for healthcare companies to generate digital insights from data, viewing data as an asset is much more possible.
While the first inclination might be to consider building a digital health platform internally, there are many factors to consider. There are calculations a CFO might instinctively make that is based solely on the financial implications, for instance, considering the money saved or the value of getting to market one year earlier. But Anita suggests that there are other considerations, including risk assessment.
When doing a risk/benefit analysis, think about “what is the likelihood that you can pull this off, and what’s the business cost if things go wrong?” She suggests that the minor marginal costs of partnering are so low compared to the upside of getting it right—which will also speed time to market and give you a competitive advantage. If you evaluate build versus buy on this criteria, the asymmetry becomes quite apparent and the partnering or “buy” option is obvious.
The second point Anita makes is about talent. The skills of biopharma and medtech teams are not necessarily the skills required to build a digital health platform or digital health products. She suggests that by partnering you can “stand on the shoulders” of those who do this, and do this at scale. She recommends that vendors, like BrightInsight, build the stack so that the biopharma scientists can apply their expertise to engage with the stack to manufacture insights.
About Anita Pramoda:
Anita Pramoda is the founder and CEO of Owned Outcomes, Inc. - a software company that enables data-driven decision making for healthcare providers and payors as they seek financial sustainability alongside clinical outcomes in patient care. She also serves as an Executive Advisor to Technology Crossover Ventures and on the boards at Health Catalyst, and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Los Angeles).
She previously served as the CFO of Epic Systems Corporation and as a board member at Allscripts. Ms. Pramoda holds a MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.