Five Good Things with Janae Sharp and Megan Antonelli: A rapid-fire segment highlighting positive developments in digital health. Janae and Megan share insights on recent innovations, successful implementations, and emerging trends that are driving progress in healthcare technology.
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT
Janae Sharp, Founder, The Sharp Index
Welcome 0:01 Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't. As we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:30 Hi and Welcome to Health Impact, digital health talks. This is Megan Antonelli, and I'm here with my friend Janae sharp, Hi, Janae.
Janae Sharp 0:38 Hi, Megan. Thrilled to be here today. We get to talk about five good things, and it's our last episode of the
Megan Antonelli 0:43 year. It is, and what a year it's been. There have been some
Janae Sharp 0:48 things that are pretty, pretty shocking this year.
Megan Antonelli 0:52 There have, I mean, it does feel a little like healthcare is under attack. We've had a number of security breaches, a number of, you know, those sort of the feel like we've been sandwiched by by these. And, you know, it's, um, yeah, there are good things.
Janae Sharp 1:08 There have been some of the biggest cyber security breaches and breaching, you know, physical, physical safety, you know, we've had a CEO of an insurance company be murdered. And people, people have a lot of emotions. Emotions are high right now in healthcare
Megan Antonelli 1:25 so and one, of course, you know, we've had an election too, and and an assassination attempt on a president, which, while not entirely healthcare related, certainly is, you know, speaks to the mental health of this country and where we're at, but none of these are good things. And people continue to work in healthcare doing good things, and there has been some bright spots and some good good things. And, you know, a lot of healthcare is about the silver linings. You know, I think we've been talking about the Silver Linings that come from the pandemic for a long time, and obviously that this sort of transformation and growth in technology and adoption has been a silver lining of the pandemic. And there's some silver linings to the learnings of what we're seeing here, and with all the
Janae Sharp 2:15 hard things that have happened, it's important to like, acknowledge that people have a lot of emotions right now. People have been through a lot this year, but we've also seen forward momentum in advocacy and in digital health that we haven't seen before.
Megan Antonelli 2:30 Yeah, so I'm hoping one of the Silver Linings I talked about with with Rob sebag Today, you know, I mean, from the change healthcare breach, and the you know, those continuous attacks on healthcare, there is a heightened attention, and therefore significant innovation around cybersecurity. And we're also seeing the attention being placed where it needs to be from a regulatory standpoint. So I think one interesting thing that's come out recently, at least in the last second half of the year, was around New York state's new hospital cyber security regulations. So not usually do I think regulations are the best things in health care. We have a lot of them. But you know, something like there should be a CISO at a health system seems like a right effort, you know, and right attention placement in an important area. And you know, as as I discussed with him, some of the things that are being done and that it is now, you know, the boards are paying attention, the staff is paying attention. And so many of the breaches happen because people say, Oh, it's not my problem. Let the IT guys deal with it. And now everybody understands it is their problem. It is something that we have to, you know, address and so, you know, cybersecurity rules better attention to that. More innovation is definitely a good thing that is coming out of 2024 right? So
Janae Sharp 3:54 that can be our number one thing that New York passed a law where they have a 72 hour reporting window for cyber security incidents and notifications matter. You have to do these things fast. One of the biggest problems with the change healthcare breach was how long it took to get people access, and some of that was just that not everybody had cyber security protocol in place. Um, so good job for that. Yes,
Megan Antonelli 4:25 and there's a lot of work to be done, but I know that there's a lot of good people working on it. So
Janae Sharp 4:30 for our second good thing, I think we should talk about one of our favorite topics, GLP-1s.
Megan Antonelli 4:36 Oh, my favorite. Because one of our favorite topics, US and yoga moms around the world can agree that this is revolutionary, right? Sure, recently, I read an article about how obesity rates in the US might be going down. Yeah,
Megan Antonelli 4:52 yeah. I was actually surprised to see the it was a small percentage in which they're going down, but I suppose that is the first. Advantage of folks who are getting access to these drugs, you know, at a high rate, but it is, you know, one to 2% I think I saw John Brownstein was on ABC News talking about it. Oh, I love him. That's
Janae Sharp 5:13 Brownstein speaking the talks on board, yes.
Megan Antonelli 5:16 And I, you know, I think that there is, again, a heightened understanding, I think there's, there's a certain with everything. There are some unintended consequences. There's some things that you know we still have to work out as a society and dealing with. You know, how we view obesity and how we treat obesity, but science has gotten to a place where it's manageable. And these dogs do not come without side effects. They have them, and they have to be managed, and people have to understand that. But there are certainly, you know, it is a bright spot in terms of, you know, healthcare solving a problem. I mean, I'm not going to go so faith so far to say that we've cured obesity, but, you know, it seems possible, you know, and so that is an incredible advancement in science. And now it's about the healthcare system fixing itself so that patients get access to this medicine, you know, because the problems and the challenges and the stigmas attached to it come from the fact that we have this, you know, one, it's incredibly expensive, and the system is built in such a way that not everybody gets access to it immediately, you know. And in fact, the people who need it most may not get access to it. And so that means we've got, we've still got work to do, but science is doing its job and and some patients are getting getting access. So that's right,
Janae Sharp 6:45 great news, yeah, and it's not, it's not perfect for everyone, and obviously there is debate about insurance companies don't want to pay for it. It's expensive at the same time, those rates, I don't care how we get there, the fact that we're getting there is great. Also, we saw so many people have a slump and inactivity during COVID and during the last few years, that seeing people come back around is great news. I think that's great well.
Megan Antonelli 7:12 And another one of our favorite topics, or at least my favorite topic, is menopause and women's health, not just menopause, but I feel like menopause is having a bit of a glow up, even though it's the not a very glowing thing.
Janae Sharp 7:27 When Halle Berry gets involved, things get pretty it is.
Megan Antonelli 7:31 It's true. And there's a lot, there's great attention. There's the movie. I mean, we reported a number of things, and they were just coming off of this week. There was another Women's Health Conference at the White House. Lots of important people there. Maven clinic was there. Lisa student from the aha was there. You know, great to see one. The Biden administration paying attention the recent efforts and work around women in the workplace, around menopause and the importance of that. And, you know, I had, we had a great him So Cal meeting last week, and there was a lot of discussion on this, you know, the aging, the silver tsunami, if you will, but also this aging perfect storm. So I've been thinking about that lately in terms of both, you know, the health care providers, the clinicians are aging. You've got aging nurses and physicians, and you know, they're aging out faster than they're coming in. And then, of course, they're taking care of an aging population. And so the you know that, coupled with this focus around, you know, kind of the acceptance of menopause, what that means and what it means for women in the workplace, super important. And it's just good to see that the attention is being placed on such an important matter.
Janae Sharp 8:42 Yes, and you see a lot of workforces and workplaces that are investing in it. I saw, you know, McKinsey is bringing people in that Ada rose people went in and talked about women and general health, and also Lula lemon has been doing things where women can call in and get support with advice about menopause. So, yeah, big deal that people are more aware of what's going on. So it's
Megan Antonelli 9:10 not just, I mean, it's just, you know, I mean, we are, we're getting older as a population. We're living longer, and this understanding and acceptance of how we make, you know, whether it's you know, make make that possible and make it comfortable and make it good, you know. And, of course, you know, not enough focus. But there's focus on women of childbearing age and how to help them in the workplace as we go through menopause. And certainly, you know, there's, you know, it should be for men too. I mean, it, you know, the ageism that's in our country is bad, and how we kind of address that both in the workplace, you know, and that's a lot of you know. I mean, think about nurses, men, women you know, on their feet for 1620, hours a day, and it's an aging workforce, and we have all this technology. I mean, the people that I you know, people that we spoke to. This week, if you think of the transportation that happens in a health system where, you know, you're bringing, you know, drugs from one place to another, and this innovation around the Moxie robot, and what, what Moxie can do to help, you know, we're always talking about, you know, increasing our number of footsteps, but, you know, decreasing the number of footsteps to make this a more manageable job, manageable job. But then in addition, you know, virtual nursing and the capabilities to have, and you know, Joyce Alito from Kaiser had talked about it, having more experienced nurses being able to be on the floor and having access to their knowledge and experience, and not losing that because they're aging out of the workforce, and because they're aging out of a particularly physically tasking job, you know. And so there's a lot of hope and a lot of innovation around how to do that and how to manage and make multi generational workforces, you know, a reality, particularly in healthcare, where it's so important,
Janae Sharp 11:01 right? And I think it's also, if you want to learn more about this, the US, Chamber of Commerce has some really interesting data that we can share about about women in the workforce and and rates, actually, fewer women are in the workforce now than they were in 2020 it's important for us to educate ourselves and to have those conversations speaking of the workforce, I feel like one of our good things this year has to be something that I care deeply about, and it's the Lorna Breen act, so we should talk a little bit about the Success that has happened with credentialing and with licensure. We've we've spoken about this before, but it has to be in our recap, right? People got together after a tragedy and passed a law, and there have been advocates and ambassadors. I'm an ambassador, talking about how important it is to reduce questions about people's mental health history, and also to make sure we can have honest conversations in the workforce without it damaging your career. And I know there are people who will be listening into this, who have experience like fear and haven't wanted to be honest about things that are going on with them, for mental health or with their family. So I think it's so important that that they're doing this work, the AMA has also released a lot of information about it, so everyone should check it out and contact their lawmakers. Over 15,000 people have already and it's nice to see people, you know, a bipartisan issue, where people accept that mental health needs to be better.
Megan Antonelli 12:51 Yeah, now, and that's, you know, I think that you know, again, in terms of positive regulatory movement and making sure that that, you know, stays where it is, and that we, you know, get that that protect, those protections in place for our clinical workforce, is so important. So, you know, I think you the work that you do at the sharp index, and how you bring that conversation to the forefront for people is so important.
Janae Sharp 13:15 These conversations about mental health and about hope and about the potential that people have to create change. They're really important to have.
What they are the last thing, what is the last thing? The last thing health?
Megan Antonelli 13:31 Oh, well, the health acquisition, I don't know that. I mean, that was new news. I think it is interesting to see, you know, and congratulations to them and their team. And, you know, I think it means it's not going anywhere, right? It's certainly they've got a private equity company that's got investments in that space, you know. But I think in general, the conference business is back. So of course, that, to us is, is a good thing. I don't know if everybody believes it's a good thing. But for us, for sure, the value and the importance of in person connections, you know, is still there. And in fact, if anything, it's more needed. You know, with so many you know, teams being virtual, the ability to come together and be it at these meetings, whether they're, you know, 3000 30,000 or 300 there, there is value to be gained from being in person, and the connections and the networking that happens, you know, in speaking with Rob Seba again today, you know, he talked about, you know, health impact is a good thing, you Know. And bringing together people, like minded people from different parts of the organization to talk, to tackle these problems, is important. And so, you know, I'm it's a good thing we're still here.
Janae Sharp 14:50 Yes, it is a good thing. I think it's a good thing. We're still here. We're still going for it, some of our predictions and our good. Things from earlier in the year, like employers taking leadership with employee health, they're coming through, and that is going to be an ongoing good thing for all of us.
Megan Antonelli 15:11 Yeah, yeah, no, I think that there's an there's a lot of excitement around the power of digital health, the employers getting engaged around that what they can do with their employees to improve health using some of these tools. So that is another, another good thing, and it's been great. I mean, I think you know, thank you, Janae, and thank you to all of our listeners, being able to connect with people throughout the year through the podcast, through health impact, live and of course, at our in person events, it's been amazing. And I think the the work that's being done, you know, particularly by women. You know, I every day, very every day. Now I am getting proposals from female founders and female CEOs to be on the show, and literally nothing could make me happier. I mean, to see that level of innovation, to see the creativity, to see the work being done, and the incredible amount of impact these companies are having on healthcare and innovation and technology implementation within healthcare, particularly with a focus on patients, has been super
Janae Sharp 16:21 Yes. So those are good things. I hope everybody likes and subscribes and shares it with roughly everyone they know. Oh, wait, I have
Megan Antonelli 16:29 one more breaking you have another one. All right, we have one more breaking news. Good things, and I hope I get in trouble for sharing it already. But um, as we've mentioned before on the show, road recovery is going to be our charity partner at health impact in January, January 22 and 23rd and they have an incredibly impressive board. They are a music foundation that helps teenagers, you know, with mental health and addiction problems through music. And Simon Kirk, who is the drummer and founder of drummer of Bad Company and founder of free is going to be joining us and them for a special performance on january 22 so we are not only going to have a whole lot of rock stars, but we're actually going to have a real rock star. Yes,
Janae Sharp 17:21 that's exciting. Like, we'll have the classic rock. I left out the good thing about Paris Hilton, I think the stop institutional Child Abuse Act is good news. Like, speaking of stars, like, I think January is going to be fantastic. We're going to have lots of people there who have, who've done great work in music, great work and lots of stuff, and then also pretty cool people
Megan Antonelli 17:45 . Always, we always have the cool kids, but maybe we can get Paris in June. Just go to Paris in June both.
Janae Sharp 17:57 I'm sure she's home.
Megan Antonelli 17:59 Well, I that is a good thing. It is good to see celebrities do good work with their influence. And, you know, however they became several celebrities, that's, you know, that's up to them, but, but to do it and to help people is a good thing. So thank you. Thank you, Janae, for those of you listening, my puppy has been in the frame. He is a good thing. His name is bear. He has joined us this year too. But he is pretty. My active, my
Janae Sharp 18:32 mug from calamity, where is a good thing, and my marks upon red bush tea is a good thing. It's for the holidays
Megan Antonelli 18:40 absolutely well. I am wishing everyone the happiest of holidays and a wonderful new year, and we look forward to seeing you all in December or in January at health impact in New York City. All
Janae Sharp 18:54 right, thank you so much, Megan. We'll see you soon.
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