He is a second-generation physician who prefers to be called by his first name, honoring his father, “the original Dr. Grossmann.”  In his own right, he’s a trailblazer at the nexus of surgical care and innovation. Born in Caracas, Venezuela and carrying forward his family’s medical legacy, he completed his surgical residency in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before establishing his practice in New England, serving as a general, trauma, advanced laparoscopic, and robotic surgeon at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire and Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Rafael is frequently linked to his groundbreaking use of Google Glass during surgery. But to define him by that singular innovation is to miss the deeper force driving his work: an unwavering belief that technology must serve—not supplant—the doctor–patient relationship. In recent interviews and longstanding contributions across digital health platforms, Rafael shares an increasingly urgent message: humility and empathy are not soft skills of the past—they are foundational elements of the future.

Proximity Over Performance
Rafael’s approach to technology is both deliberate and human-centered. He integrates AI, extended reality, and telehealth into care environments with one goal: to foster proximity between healer and patient. Whether bringing loved ones into ICU rooms through virtual tools, using augmented reality to teach medical trainees, or deploying wearables to enhance surgical insight, his purpose is consistent: technology must deepen the human connection.

“If the technology doesn’t enhance the connection between physician and patient,” Dr. Grossmann notes, “it has no role in care.”

That conviction reflects a broader truth in modern medicine: innovation must be guided by intention. The impact of a new tool is not measured by its complexity, but by its capacity to sharpen listening, expand compassion, and build trust. In this view, humility is not an abstract virtue—it is a clinical competency.

Humility as a Clinical Skill
While empathy is increasingly recognized as a measurable component of quality care, humility remains underappreciated. Yet humility—the ability to acknowledge limits, listen fully, and elevate the patient’s needs—may be one of the most critical skills a clinician can develop.

Rafael challenges medical education to do more than train for outcomes; he calls for cultivating presence. In trauma settings and academic halls alike, he models humility not as passivity, but as active, intentional leadership. It takes courage, he says, to be honest with patients—not just about diagnoses, but about uncertainty.

“The best medicine,” he reflects, “comes from presence, not only performance.” In high-tech environments where algorithms analyze and recommend, the clinician’s humility may be the most human—and healing—intervention available.

Empathy, Elevated by Innovation
To Rafael, empathy and innovation are not opposites. When used wisely, technology can extend—not replace—the clinician’s presence. Telemedicine platforms become conduits for comfort. Immersive simulations train for compassion. Data becomes dialogue when interpreted with care.

This mindset is especially important now. Patients today may have unprecedented access to information, yet they often feel unseen. In an age of instant answers, the experience of being truly heard remains rare. Rafael reminds health-sector leaders and policymakers that no system—however advanced—can succeed if it forgets the people it was designed to serve.

Clinicians stand at a crossroads as health delivery accelerates toward predictive analytics and AI-driven decisions. Technology offers an undeniable opportunity: greater access, improved accuracy, and better outcomes. But these advances must be matched by a return to the timeless principles of great medicine—empathy, humility, and presence.

Rafael’s work represents a rare blend of innovation and introspection. His willingness to explore the boundaries of digital medicine is matched by a steadfast insistence that patients remain at the center. The future of care, he contends, won’t be defined by who uses the most sophisticated technology, but by who uses it to deepen human connection.

Rafael is not focused on being remembered for the tools he introduced. He hopes to be known for something quieter: helping patients and clinicians feel seen, heard, and supported.

In an era when health systems are rethinking priorities, medical schools are reassessing competencies, and companies are racing to redefine care delivery, the voices of clinicians like Rafael’s matter more than ever. Humility, after all, is not the opposite of expertise—it is its most authentic expression.

The post “Humility” Is Cutting-Edge Medicine: What a Physician Innovator Teaches Us About Patient-Centered Care appeared first on Medika Life.

That moment, when the T-800, a machine built for destruction, understands human emotion, is among the most powerful in action cinema. It is the climax of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but also a beginning: the start of the android’s transformation, not into a human, but into something more self-conscious that recognizes the worth of organic life, even if it can outthink people, it can appreciate the human experience.

The metaphor feels timely as we stand at the edge of an AI-driven health future. Today’s GenAI tools are evolving rapidly, but are we, their creators and coders, evolving with equal intentionality? Are we teaching the owners of these systems why we heal, or just how?

We often speak of artificial intelligence as if it were separate from us. But AI is not alien. It is us—our ideas, data, values—encoded and amplified. It mirrors back what we feed it. In the realm of health, that reflection must be carefully considered. Unlike a Hollywood villain, GenAI doesn’t turn against us with malicious intent. But it can misalign from its purpose if we forget that behind every innovation must be a human-centered goal.

From the first recorded prayer for healing in the Bible—“G-d, please heal her now”—health has always been rooted in empathy, intuition, and relationships. The clinician’s pause before giving a diagnosis, the nurse’s touch when comforting a patient, and the community health worker navigating skepticism in underserved areas are not functions you can replicate with an algorithm. They are acts of presence, of judgment shaped by experience and emotion. Yet, technology now surrounds these moments, offering powerful new support.

Even Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, captured this imperative clearly: “Empathy must be embedded in artificial intelligence from the moment it is created to ensure it becomes a positive force in people’s lives.” It’s not just about what technology can do—it’s about how it’s directed, and who it serves.

GenAI is already beginning to assist clinical teams by synthesizing medical records, supporting drug discovery, and interpreting diagnostic images faster than human eyes. It scales knowledge, translates complex science for patients, and identifies early signals of population health risks. These are welcome advancements—but only when guided by a human compass.

Let’s not look at a future of “us vs. them”—patients and providers versus machines. The more accurate framing is “us and them”: a coalition of human and machine intelligence, working together in the service of healing. Patients, payers, providers, product developers, and policymakers are the “us.” GenAI, LLMs, machine learning, and chatbots form the “them.” Power lies not in one side dominating the other, but in how we integrate these efforts.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has often said, “At Apple, we believe technology should lift humanity.” In a world driven by rapid innovation, his words are a steady reminder that progress without purpose is not progress—it’s motion without meaning. Cook also noted at MIT, “Technology is capable of doing great things, but it doesn’t want to do great things. It doesn’t want anything … That part takes all of us.”

To do that, we must resist the urge to see AI as an all-knowing oracle. AI is not autonomous in values, does not possess a conscience, and lacks intuition unless we teach it patterns. Those patterns, if drawn from biased data, can replicate systemic inequities. In health, where trust is everything, we cannot afford such blind spots. Human oversight is not just necessary, it’s irreplaceable.

There’s also a danger in assuming technology alone can fix what’s broken. We already know the limits of scale without empathy. We’ve seen systems become more efficient but less personal. We’ve witnessed patients lost in data flows, their lived experience reduced to metrics. If GenAI becomes another layer of distance rather than connection, we will have failed to grasp its most powerful potential: to bring clarity, not complexity; to extend human capacity, not replace it.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledges the promise and the peril: “This will be the greatest technology humanity has yet developed… We’ve got to be careful here … people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.” Fear, in this case, signals responsibility. Responsibility requires centering AI in the service of people, not pushing people to conform to the logic of machines.

There are lessons in Terminator beyond the thrill of a dystopian chase. Sarah Connor learns to trust the very machine that once tried to kill her. John Connor, the future leader of humanity, becomes the teacher. And the T-800—a symbol of cold efficiency—becomes the student. This reversal reflects what we need now: machines that learn how to act and why their actions matter, not just how to optimize workflows but why saving time matters when time is the difference between life and death.

We cannot forget how this transformation from killer machine to protector occurs. In “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” the T-800 model evolves into humanity’s hero because John Connor reprograms it from the future to protect his younger self and his mother, Sarah Connor. The human is the creator—the coder.

Somewhere in this cinematic science fiction lies a guiding truth for our future reality: technology learns from humanity. Just as this version of the Terminator changed by being close to people, our AI systems will evolve based on what—and who—they are near. If surrounded by empathy, equity, and ethical standards, they can amplify what’s best in us. If left untethered from human purpose, they risk scaling our worst habits.

We often frame digital health progress in terms of speed and scale. But what if we reframed it through the lens of dignity? What if the measure of innovation wasn’t just how fast a model can generate results, but how well it supports the human healing experience?

In the end, the T-800 sacrifices itself to protect a better future. It understands that some decisions aren’t logical; they are meaningful. It doesn’t cry—but it finally sees why we do.

Let’s not wait for machines to catch up with our humanity. Let’s lead with it.

The post It’s Not Us vs. Them: What the Terminator Teaches Us About AI and the Future of Health appeared first on Medika Life.

Sometimes it’s a look.

A line.

A moment that lands deeper than diagnosis.

This brief essay is a collection of those moments.

Brief.

Unexpected.

And always real.

“The Healing Power of Touch: A Patient’s Insight”

This week, a patient shared a poignant realization that emerged after years of emotional distance from his wife.

They had grown apart, but recently discovered a shared need: the simple, profound act of touch.

He reflected on how a gentle hug or a reassuring hand on the shoulder seemed to bridge the emotional gap between them.

“I think we’re wired for this,” he mused, referencing hormones like oxytocin that respond to physical affection.

His insight aligns with scientific findings.

Oxytocin, often referred to as the “love hormone,” plays a crucial role in social bonding and emotional connection.

Studies have shown that affectionate touch can increase oxytocin levels, reduce stress, and foster feelings of trust and closeness.

In fact, research indicates that even brief moments of affectionate touch can lead to measurable increases in oxytocin, a hormone that contributes to an improved mood and reduced anxiety.

This finding underscores the biological underpinnings of our need for physical connection.

My patient’s experience serves as a reminder that sometimes, healing in relationships doesn’t require grand gestures — just a touch of understanding, quite literally.

For more reflections on connection at the edge of life, read my essay: What Dying Men Confessed When No One Was Listening.

“The Prostitute’s Pasta”

In oncology, gratitude comes in many forms — thank-you notes, quiet nods, even tears.

But sometimes, it arrives as a steaming pan of pasta.

One of our patients, an older Italian gentleman with a twinkle in his eye and impeccable taste, has taken to feeding the staff.

Not metaphorically — literally.

Lasagna, tiramisu, and even delicate cannoli are dusted with sugar like freshly fallen snow.

Today, he arrived bearing a new dish. “Pasta Puttanesca!” he announced proudly. “You know — the prostitute’s pasta.”

A pause.

Then laughter. Nurses chuckled. My medical assistant nearly dropped her stethoscope.

He winked. “They say it was made quickly, between clients.”

I’ll leave the etymology to linguists.

But I can tell you this: the olives were briny, the sauce was bold, and the gratitude was unmistakable.

This event was something else entirely in a world often defined by scans and side effects.

A recipe for connection.

Served al dente.

Note: For patient privacy, I have modified some details.

Here are my previous Clinic Notes essays:

1. Clinic Notes 5/18/2025
2. Clinic Notes 6/26/2025

Want more stories like these — plus the science behind living longer and better? I’ve distilled the most powerful lessons from oncology, aging research, and patient wisdom into my new ebook: Extending Life and Healthspan.

Practical, evidence-based, and full of humanity.

The post Clinic Notes: What My Patients Said This Week appeared first on Medika Life.

—Gil Bashe, “Global Marketing Strategies” and “Emotion: The New Brand Integrator,” Pharmaceutical Executive, 2000

Twenty-five years ago, in a series of articles for Pharmaceutical Executive that may have seemed radical at the time, I argued that successful marketing wasn’t built on features but feelings. Back then, people were skeptical. “Emotion?” they responded. “We’re here to sell solutions.” Yet, as I revisit that article from the perspective of today’s fractured health landscape, I realize just how prescient that core message was.

In 2000, I wrote, “A brand must reflect the soul of the company. It must reflect its leadership and people’s beliefs, philosophies, and practices.” That truth remains, but in today’s health sector—beset by cost crises, consumer distrust, and system complexity—the soul of the brand must go even deeper. It must speak to human experience. It must unite the head (facts), heart (feelings), and gut (intuition) to unite the five pillars of the care community: patients, payers, product innovators, policymakers and providers.

The brands that do this don’t just survive, they lead.

The Head: Anchor in Truth, Lead with Clarity

We live in an era of data deluge. The health industry is drowning in numbers, from EMR systems to clinical trial dashboards. Yet many brands still mistake data for direction.

Yes, the head—facts—matter. Health is a science of logic, science, and proof. But it is also an art.

In my original article, I noted that the “hallmark of a strong brand is clarity—a clear promise, consistently delivered.” In health, clarity is more than a brand virtue; it’s a money and mission obligation. Patients need clarity in order to make life-altering choices. Providers need clarity in order to correctly apply new technologies and administer novel treatments. Payers need clarity so that they may judge value and outcomes.

A brand that leads with the head communicates what it does and why it matters. The science, the evidence, the safety profile: these aspects of health products are essential. But they are not enough.

I wrote in 2000, “Even the most successful product will not remain so without continuous reaffirmation of its value and identity.” It’s still true today, but that reaffirmation must be human, not simply clinical.

The Heart: Where Value Becomes Meaning

A quarter-century ago, I argued that “emotional connection” was key to global brand success. In 2024, I echoed that idea, stating that empathy is a strategic imperative, not a “soft skill.” Writing in Medika Life, I asserted that “Empathy—the ability to sense and connect to another’s experience—has clinical consequences.”

Health isn’t delivered in abstracts. It’s experienced in human moments: a nurse’s tone of voice, the wait time for an appointment, a doctor’s bedside manner. Patients remember how they felt, not what was said.

The same is true of brand impressions. A health brand’s heart is measured by its humanity: how it listens, responds, and affirms the lived experience. Consider the rise of narrative medicine, patient-centered care design, or trauma-informed policy. These are not trends. They are a return to what medicine truly is: a human endeavor.

In 2000, I wrote that “People buy brands because they trust them and because those brands represent a relationship.” It’s never been more true. That relationship must be emotional. If we don’t move hearts, we will never move health.

The Gut: The Compass for Courage and Change

If the head is what we know, and the heart is what we feel, then the gut is what we sense. It’s instinct informed by experience. It’s the courage to take a stand when the data is inconclusive. It’s also the discipline to say no when a decision doesn’t align with the brand’s soul.

In 2000, I observed that “Global brands are built not just on strategy, but on intuition—on understanding the culture and values of the people they serve.” That same intuition now guides how we engage health audiences. Do we sense distrust? Fear? Exhaustion? Our gut tells us when a message is too technical, dense or transactional to resonate. It urges us to simplify and re-center on the human.

Great leaders trust their gut because it helps them detect the intangibles: tone, timing and truth. In brand leadership, that same sense keeps us authentic.

Reuniting the Quintet: Patients, Payers, Product Innovators, Policymakers and Providers

Today’s health ecosystem is fractured along functional lines. Patients seek access, providers seek time, and payers seek value. Too often, they work in silos, leaving innovation and empathy at the margins.

But brands can be bridges. When built with head, heart, and gut, they become platforms for unity.

I wrote in 2000 that the “challenge is to ensure that everyone in the organization consistently communicates the brand through behavior, not just brochures.” That principle is now essential in aligning care delivery. Health brands must operate across disciplines, sectors, and even continents, but always with a singular message: we see, hear, and serve you.

Whether you’re a Medicaid insurer, a diagnostics company, or a telehealth platform, your brand is a promise. And that promise must connect the person in the exam room with the person writing the policy.

The ROI of Human Experience

In 2025, health leaders face dual pressures: cut costs and elevate care. This seems like a paradox, but it’s not. Investing in human experience is not a detour from efficiency; it’s the gateway to it.

Empathy reduces readmissions, clear communication improves medication adherence, and trusted brands drive engagement. When we center on people, we improve systems.

Put simply, mission and money must align. One cannot exist without the other in sustainable health ecosystems.

Final Thought: A New Brand Equation

As I wrote in Global Marketing Strategies 25 years ago, “A brand is the product of what people feel, not just what they see.” That message, once contrarian, is now the compass.

The future of health brands is in the hands of those willing to embrace complexity with clarity, wield emotion with discipline, and make instinct an asset, not a liability. In short, the best brands will speak to the head with intelligence, the heart with empathy, and the gut with courage.

In an age when trust is currency and gaining attention means cutting through the information jungle, this is not just good branding. It’s savvy mission-centered business leadership.

The post Beyond Data: Why Human Decisions Are Shaped by Facts, Feelings—and the Fire Within appeared first on Medika Life.

HENRICO, Va. — Sheldon Ekirch spends a lot of time on hold with her health insurance company.

This story also ran on CBS News.

Do you have experience with prior authorization you’d like to share with us for KFF Health News’ reporting? Tell us here. COntact Us

Sometimes, as the minutes tick by and her frustration mounts, Ekirch, 30, opens a meditation app on her phone. It was recommended by her psychologist to help with the depression associated with a stressful and painful medical disorder.

In 2023, Ekirch was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy, a condition that makes her limbs and muscles feel as if they’re on fire. Now she takes more than a dozen prescriptions to manage chronic pain and other symptoms, including insomnia.

“I don’t feel like I am the person I was a year and a half ago,” said Ekirch, who was on the cusp of launching her law career, before getting sick. “Like, my body isn’t my own.”

Ekirch said specialists have suggested that a series of infusions made from blood plasma called intravenous immunoglobulin — IVIG, for short — could ease, or potentially eradicate, her near-constant pain. But Ekirch’s insurance company has repeatedly denied coverage for the treatment, according to documents provided by the patient.

Patients with Ekirch’s condition don’t always respond to IVIG, but she said she deserves to try it, even though it could cost more than $100,000.

“I’m paying a lot of money for health insurance,” said Ekirch, who pays more than $600 a month in premiums. “I don’t understand why they won’t help me, why my life means so little to them.”

For patient advocates and health economists, cases like Ekirch’s illustrate why prior authorization has become such a chronic pain point for patients and doctors. For 50 years, insurers have employed prior authorization, they say, to reduce wasteful health care spending, prevent unnecessary treatment, and guard against potential harm.

The practice differs by insurance company and plan, but the rules often require patients or their doctors to request permission from the patient’s health insurance company before proceeding with a drug, treatment, or medical procedure.

The insurance industry provides little information about how often prior authorization is used. Transparency requirements established by the federal government to shed light on the use of prior authorization by private insurers haven’t been broadly enforced, said Justin Lo, a senior researcher for the Program on Patient and Consumer Protections at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Yet it’s widely acknowledged that prior authorization tends to disproportionately impact some of the sickest people who need the most expensive care. And despite bipartisan support to reform the system, as well as recent attempts by health insurance companies to ease the burden for patients and doctors, some tactics have met skepticism.

Some insurers’ efforts to improve prior authorization practices aren’t as helpful as they would seem, said Judson Ivy, CEO of Ensemble Health Partners, a revenue cycle management company.

“When you really dive deep,” he said, these improvements don’t seem to touch the services and procedures, such as CT scans, that get caught up in prior authorization so frequently. “When we started looking into it,” he said, “it was almost a PR stunt.”

The ‘Tipping Point’

When Arman Shahriar’s father was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in 2023, his father’s oncologist ordered a whole-body PET scan to determine the cancer’s stage. The scan was denied by a company called EviCore by Evernorth, a Cigna subsidiary that makes prior authorization decisions.

Shahriar, an internal medicine resident, said he spent hours on the phone with his father’s insurer, arguing that the latest medical guidelines supported the scan. The imaging request was eventually approved. But his father’s scan was delayed several weeks — and multiple appointments were scheduled, then canceled during the time-consuming process — while the family feared the cancer would continue to spread.

EviCore by Evernorth spokesperson Madeline Ziomek wrote in an emailed statement that incomplete clinical information provided by physicians is a leading cause of such denials. The company is “actively developing new ways to make the submission process simpler and faster for physicians,” Ziomek said.

In the meantime, Shahriar, who often struggles to navigate prior authorization for his patients, accused the confusing system of “artificially creating problems in people’s lives” at the wrong time.

“If families with physicians are struggling through this, how do other people navigate it? And the short answer is, they can’t,” said Shahriar, who wrote about his father’s case in an essay published last year by JAMA Oncology. “We’re kind of reaching a tipping point where we’re realizing, collectively, something needs to be done.”

The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk in December prompted an outpouring of grief among those who knew him, but it also became a platform for public outrage about the methods insurance companies use to deny treatment.

An Emerson College poll conducted in mid-December found 41% of 18- to 29-year-olds thought the actions of Thompson’s killer were at least somewhat acceptable. In a NORC survey from the University of Chicago conducted in December, two-thirds of respondents indicated that insurance company profits, and their denials for health care coverage, contributed “a great deal/moderate amount” to the killing. Instagram accounts established in support of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Maryland suspect accused of murder and terrorism, have attracted thousands of followers.

The outpouring of anger at health insurers following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continues a cycle of rage that dates back decades.Read More

“The past several weeks have further challenged us to even more intensely listen to the public narrative about our industry,” Cigna Group CEO David Cordani said during an earnings call on Jan. 30. Cigna is focused on “making prior authorizations faster and simpler,” he added.

The first Trump administration and the Biden administration put forth policies designed to improve prior authorization for some patients by mandating that insurers set up electronic systems and shortening the time companies may take to issue decisions, among other fixes. Hundreds of House Democrats and Republicans signed on to co-sponsor a bill last year that would establish new prior authorization rules for Medicare Advantage plans. In January, Republican congressman Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey introduced a federal bill to abolish the use of prior authorization altogether.

Meanwhile, many states have passed legislation to regulate the use of prior authorization. Some laws require insurers to publish data about prior authorization denials with the intention of making a confusing system more transparent. Reform bills are under consideration by state legislatures in Hawaii, Montana, and elsewhere. A bill in Virginia approved by the governor March 18 takes effect July 1. Other states, including Texas, have established “gold card” programs that ease prior authorization requirements for some physicians by allowing doctors with a track record of approvals to bypass the rules.

No one from AHIP, an insurance industry lobbying group formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans, was available to be interviewed on the record about proposed prior authorization legislation for this article.

But changes wouldn’t guarantee that the most vulnerable patients would be spared from future insurance denials or the complex appeals process set up by insurers. Some doctors and advocates for patients are skeptical that prior authorization can be fixed as long as insurers are accountable to shareholders.

Kindyl Boyer, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Infusion Access Foundation, remains hopeful the system can be improved but likened some efforts to playing “Whac-A-Mole.” Ultimately, insurance companies are “going to find a different way to make more money,” she said.

‘Unified Anger’

In the weeks following Thompson’s killing, UnitedHealthcare was trying to refute an onslaught of what it called “highly inaccurate and grossly misleading information” about its practices when another incident landed the company back in the spotlight.

On Jan. 7, Elisabeth Potter, a breast reconstruction surgeon in Austin, Texas, posted a video on social media criticizing the company for questioning whether one of her patients who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing surgery that day needed to be admitted as an inpatient.

The video amassed millions of views.

In the days following her post, UnitedHealthcare hired a high-profile law firm to demand a correction and public apology from Potter. In an interview with KFF Health News, Potter would not discuss details about the dispute, but she stood by what she said in her original video.

“I told the truth,” Potter said.

The facts of the incident remain in dispute. But the level of attention it received online illustrates how frustrated and vocal many people have become about insurance company tactics since Thompson’s killing, said Matthew Zachary, a former cancer patient and the host of “Out of Patients,” a podcast that aims to amplify the experiences of patients.

For years, doctors and patients have taken to social media to shame health insurers into approving treatment. But in recent months, Zachary said, “horror stories” about prior authorization shared widely online have created “unified anger.”

“Most people thought they were alone in the victimization,” Zachary said. “Now they know they’re not.”

Data published in January by KFF found that prior authorization is particularly burdensome for patients covered by Medicare Advantage plans. In 2023, virtually all Medicare Advantage enrollees were covered by plans that required prior authorization, while people enrolled in traditional Medicare were much less likely to encounter it, said Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, an associate director at KFF’s Program on Medicare Policy. Furthermore, she said, Medicare Advantage enrollees were more likely to face prior authorization for higher-cost services, including inpatient hospital stays, skilled nursing facility stays, and chemotherapy.

But Neil Parikh, national chief medical officer for medical management at UnitedHealthcare, explained prior authorization rules apply to fewer than 2% of the claims the company pays. He added that “99% of the time” UnitedHealthcare members don’t need prior authorization or requests are approved “very, very quickly.”

Recently, he said, a team at UnitedHealthcare was reviewing a prior authorization request for an orthopedic procedure when they discovered the surgeon planned to operate on the wrong side of the patient’s body. UnitedHealthcare caught the mistake in time, he recounted.

“This is a real-life example of why prior authorization can really help,” Parikh said.

Even so, he said, UnitedHealthcare aims to make the process less burdensome by removing prior authorization requirements for some services, rendering instant decisions for certain requests, and establishing a national gold card program, among other refinements. Cigna also announced changes designed to improve prior authorization in the months since Thompson’s killing.

“Brian was an incredible friend and colleague to many, many of us, and we are deeply saddened by his passing,” Parikh said. “It’s truly a sad occasion.”

The Final Denial

During the summer of 2023, Ekirch was working full time and preparing to take the bar exam when she noticed numbness and tingling in her arms and legs. Eventually, she started experiencing a burning sensation throughout her body.

That fall, a Richmond-area neurologist said her symptoms were consistent with small fiber neuropathy, and, in early 2024, a rheumatologist recommended IVIG to ease her pain. Since then, other specialists, including neurologists at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, have said she may benefit from the same treatment.

There’s no guarantee it will work. A randomized controlled trial published in 2021 found pain levels in patients who received IVIG weren’t significantly different from the placebo group, while an older study found patients responded “remarkably well.”

“It’s hard because I look at my peers from law school and high school — they’re having families, excelling in their career, living their life. And most days I am just struggling, just to get out of bed,” said Ekirch, frustrated that Anthem continues to deny her claim.

In a prepared statement, Kersha Cartwright, a spokesperson for Anthem’s parent company, Elevance Health, said Ekirch’s request for IVIG treatment was denied “because it did not meet the established medical criteria for effectiveness in treating small fiber neuropathy.”

On Feb. 17, her treatment was denied by Anthem for the final time. Ekirch said her patient advocate, a nurse who works for Anthem, suggested she reach out to the drug manufacturer about patient charity programs.

“This is absolutely crazy,” Ekirch said. “This is someone from Anthem telling me to plead with a pharmacy company to give me this drug when Anthem should be covering it.”

Her only hope now lies with the Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance, a state agency that resolves prior authorization disputes between patients and health insurance companies. She found out through a Facebook group for patients with small fiber neuropathy that the Bureau of Insurance has overturned an IVIG denial before. In late March, Ekirch was anxiously waiting to hear the agency’s decision about her case.

“I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, though,” she said. “I feel like this entire process, I’ve been let down by it.”

The post ‘They Won’t Help Me’: Sickest Patients Face Insurance Denials Despite Policy Fixes appeared first on Medika Life.

Doctors are evaluated on patient throughput, not the depth of their engagement. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies create and perfect new products for patients but often neglect their preferences, stated needs, and lived experiences in recruitment and development efforts.

Real-world evidence (RWE), a promising frontier in health settings from innovation to care decisions, is poised to change this dynamic. If we are open to acting upon it, it can become the basis for centering efforts directly on the patient experience.

As a father and caregiver, I’ve walked this journey firsthand. My child’s health challenges have brought me face-to-face with the limitations of a system that often measures success in drugs prescribed rather than resolutions achieved. I’ve seen the toll that rushed consultations and fragmented care take on families searching for answers. It is a stark reminder that even as the science of medicine advances, the art of listening lags.

Recently, we visited a doctor’s office to consult about our young adult’s rare disease. We hired a patient advocate to bridge the chasm between clinical expertise and lived experience. They translate medical jargon, connect patients with appropriate specialists, and, most importantly, validate the patient’s voice.

Listening to the advocate prompted me to ask a critical question about this complex clinical case: “What is the underlying cause of the symptoms?”When our non-medically trained patient advocate suggested surgery to address the root causes of our child’s GI problems, one doctor we consulted, who came from a noted teaching hospital, confronted us.

“Who are you going to believe,” he asked. A patient or me?”  Ultimately, the patient advocate, who consulted with other patients and their physicians, was spot-on. The operation took place; the outcome was outstanding. That is the power of RWE as a catalyst for objective conversation.

Real-World Evidence: A Catalyst for Change

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines RWE as “the clinical evidence about the usage and potential benefits or risks of a medical product derived from analysis of real-world data (RWD).” These data include electronic health records, insurance claims, and patient-generated information from mobile health apps and wearable devices. Unlike randomized controlled trials, which too often exclude diverse populations, RWE provides a more comprehensive view of how treatments perform in real-world settings.

Physicians face immense pressure to see more patients in less time. Emergency physicians, for example, are expected to see 2.4 to 3.3 patients per hour, while family doctors might handle 3.3 patients or more per hour in high-volume settings. These metrics may boost productivity, yet at the same time, often come at the expense of meaningful patient interactions. The result? Missed opportunities to understand the full scope of a patient’s experience and even the true nature of the problem.

Empowering Patients and Data

One possible example of how RWE can prioritize the patient’s voice is StuffThatWorks, a platform founded by Yael Elish, one of the founders and executives of the consumer navigational company WAZE. Like WAZE, StuffThatWorks uses AI-powered crowdsourcing to connect individuals with similar diagnoses, enabling them to share experiences and generate actionable insights into treatments and outcomes. It’s a patient-led approach that democratizes data collection, making it richer and more representative. For sponsors of medical trials, the platform offers the chance to harness a massive customer focus group, gaining access to the voices of millions of people struggling with health concerns ranging from treatment to anxiety around illness to the cost burden of sickness.

StuffThatWorks – collaborating with companies and patient organizations, recently began collaborating with The Marfan Foundation, highlighting the potential to engage non-profits in leveraging RWE to benefit global disease communities. Similarly,  The StuffThatWorks partnership with Advanced Clinical, a major research services and clinical resourcing organization, allows project teams to engage with patients directly through surveys and focus groups, enhancing patient participation in clinical research. These initiatives demonstrate the transformative power of intentionally centering patient experiences in healthcare innovation.

More and more, leading academic hospitals such as Weil Cornell Medical Center’s Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Department in New York City are recognizing that care extends beyond cutting-edge medicine and outstanding physicians—it calls for experts who have been on frontlines—as patients and counselors.

“I feel fortunate to bring my real-world experience as a patient to my work as a provider,” says Emily Epstein, LMSW, Genetic Social Worker/Clinical Behavioral Health Care Specialist at Weill Cornell. “This deep understanding of the patient journey inspired me to create a role where I can offer the very support I once advocated for, rooted in true empathy and knowledge. Real-world patient experience is essential to transforming healthcare, infusing it with humanity, compassion, and meaningful change—ensuring we honor and serve both the science of medicine and humanity at its heart.”

Chief Patient Officers

Several pharmaceutical and clinical research companies have established Chief Patient Officer (CPO) roles, recognizing the importance of patient engagement. Parexel, for example, appointed Stacy Hurt as a CPO to lead patient advocacy efforts. Hurt says, “Parexel’s priority focus is on providing patient-centered solutions that enhance the clinical trial experience and make participation more accessible to everyone.”  A health professional who is both a cancer survivor and a caregiver for her son, Hurt brings a patient’s perspective to the work.  Companies like Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Astellas have also created similar roles, signaling a broader industry commitment toward integrating patient insights into drug development.

The National Health Council emphasizes that as RWE becomes a cornerstone of health decision-making, the experience and needs of patients must be prioritized, not addressed as an afterthought. Integrating RWE into the health system can enhance treatment efficacy, safety, and patient satisfaction. However, this requires more than technological innovation; it demands a cultural shift within the healthcare ecosystem.

Now What?

Reflecting on my child’s medical journey and the rise of patient advocacy communities that began to take form during the HIV epidemic and that patient community’s vocal demand to be included in conversations about drug development and news flow, it’s clear that the journey toward patient-centered care is still at an awkward early stage.

Platforms like StuffThatWorks offer a glimpse into what’s possible when prioritizing patient voices. By fostering communities where individuals can share their experiences, these tools generate valuable data and empower patients to take an active role in their care.

Let us commit to creating a health system where every patient’s story is heard, valued, and acted upon. By doing so, we honor the science of medicine and humanity at its heart.

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As communication leaders and health executives, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: A significant segment of the American public harbors deep-seated resentment and frustration toward us. Some view Thompson’s murder with a sense of bizarre satisfaction, a stark indicator of how broken the relationship is between those who seek healing and the entities that are pledged to heal.

Despite its role in driving unmatched technological and scientific advancements and its world-class roster of skilled and dedicated professionals, the American health ecosystem is increasingly frustrating for patients who are constantly challenged to access and pay for care. A 2022 KFF survey revealed that 41 percent of Americans carry some form of healthcare debt. This statistic paints a grim picture of household pocketbooks emptied because of poor coverage and high costs.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Even those with private and employer-sponsored insurance face a labyrinth of frustrations. High premiums strain household budgets, pushing some into medical poverty. Costly co-payments discourage those who need it from seeking preventive care. Confusing coverage rulings, such as step-through therapy or non-medical switching, are deeply frustrating and leave many who need medications in limbo. Seemingly arbitrary denials of care, which are devastating to cope with when fighting serious illness, provide life’s most stressful moments.

The outcome? There’s a growing body of consumers who feel they’ve been abandoned by a system meant to protect them, a system that they pay a significant amount of every paycheck to support, that will not support them when needed. The contract, in their experience, has been broken. When coverage denials arise and bills pile up, people with illnesses often find themselves at the mercy of collection agencies, adding frightening financial insult to physical injury and illness.

A public cry for systemic change

The view of the shooter as a folk hero reflects the public’s deep frustration with a system that makes managing care, accessing services and understanding payment obligations needlessly complex. This is leading to a significant shift in public opinion; a recent Gallup poll indicates a substantial upswing in support for government-insured universal health coverage, which suggests that Americans have an appetite for a radical overhaul of our health system. The industry must recognize that public outcry is kindling fires that fuel changes in public policy.

In the health industry, we often claim that the patient is at the center of care; that naïve Band-Aid should be ripped off. The public reaction to Thompson’s death provides us with an essential opportunity to recognize that we have lost the trust of many of the people we supposedly serve. It must be a catalyst for health companies—innovators and insurers—to reassess their approach to patient care and public trust.

Profitability and service to the patient aren’t two separate outcomes. Investing in interventional care and providing that care are also inextricably intertwined. There are several key recommendations the industry should consider at this moment:

Prioritize transparency: Simplify policy language and coverage explanations, which currently make it difficult for patients to understand their insurance and impossible to make decisions about their care. They feel the ground is shifting under their feet, so make it clear what is covered and why specific treatments might be denied.

Enhance the customer experience: Invest in solid support systems that guide patients through the complexities of their care options. How can apparel chains like Nordstrom have better customer service than the health industry? Shouldn’t our bodies be entitled to a level of customer service that is at least the equivalent to that of the companies that clothe us? Insurance companies must recognize that customer service is one of the most important parts of their business and not an afterthought.

Embrace preventive care: Our system prioritizes sick care over healthcare. To promote better health—while helping to keep insurance company and patient costs lower—it’s time to shift focus from stressful reactive treatment to supporting proactive health management. This can improve patient outcomes, keep people from suffering from progressive illnesses and reduce long-term costs.

Advocate for systemic reform: Health is not a partisan issue, and the industry must work proactively with patients and policymakers to address the root causes of health inequality and inaccessibility. We can make social impact an integral part of our business models and channel a percentage of profit to address health equity challenges that cost the most vulnerable right now and will cost the industry and taxpayers significantly further down the road.

Humanize the industry: Communications is part of the cure, and health companies, particularly insurance companies, can and must do better when sharing information and narratives with patients. We must share stories—within HIPPA guidelines—of how lives can be improved and saved, and we must do so regularly, not only when the industry’s reputation is threatened. Take the time to speak to patients, communicate how things work and build trust.

Communication as a bridge to trust

As communication professionals, we have a crucial role in this transformation. Our task must not simply be about defending reputations. We are responsible for facilitating a dialogue between health providers and the public they serve.

To do this, we must craft narratives that emphasize the human element of healthcare and facilitate forums for patients to voice their concerns and to be heard to foster fruitful discussion. Our communications expertise should not simply be leveraged to highlight initiatives that demonstrate a company’s commitment to putting patients first; it must be employed to educate the public on how to navigate the complexities of health delivery, to advocate for simplification of communications and to executive information campaigns that help patients to access the care they must have.

A new vision for the American health system

Brian Thompson’s murder is a tragedy that should never have occurred. There’s no justification for violence. At the same time, we must not let this moment pass without reflection and action.

It’s time for the health industry to recommit to its core mission: to prevent illness and to heal. This commitment must be more than a PR strategy. It must be the driving force behind every policy, every customer interaction and every decision. By placing people at the center of our efforts, we demonstrate that the US health system’s primary interest is in the well-being of those it serves.

The path ahead is challenging; we must walk it together—industry leaders, health providers, life science innovators, policymakers and patients alike. As we move forward, we in the industry must note that healing extends beyond the physical; it encompasses the restoration of faith in a system that has the great potential to protect and nurture all Americans, regardless of their location and bank account size—one that inspires confidence rather than despair and rage.

It’s time for the industry to lead by example, to show through deeds that the health and trust of the American people are its most valuable assets. Only through collective effort and a shared vision centered on ensuring “medicine is for the people” can we achieve that long-awaited transformation. Thompson’s tragic death—and his family’s enduring pain—must be a catalyst for that transformation. It’s not about saving face; it’s about saving lives and restoring the soul of the American health system.

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The Marfan Foundation is the world’s most extensive patient and professional community addressing the needs of people living with genetic aortic and vascular conditions, serving one million people with educational materials and reaching 3.2 million people in the digital space annually.

The Marfan Foundation will play a crucial role in informing individuals living with Marfan, Loeys-Dietz, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, and related conditions about the resources and community dialogue offered by StuffThatWorks. This collaboration will enable StuffThatWorks to develop a comprehensive strategy for engaging non-profits with the goal of ultimately benefiting the global patient community.

“We’re honored to have been selected as the first non-profit to align with StuffThatWorks to elevate community members’ voices, foster additional personal empowerment, and advance access to potential learnings that may be derived through global self-reporting,” said Michael L. Weamer, CEO of The Marfan Foundation.

StuffThatWorks’ operational value is that patients’ crowdsourcing information can highlight issues that need to be addressed from the patient perspective as well as spotlight various treatment options, side effects, and obstacles to care: “Understanding how patients experience various treatments is one of them,” according to their website. “The Marfan Foundation has a steadfast commitment to scientific rigor and fostering a strong global community. Operationally, the Foundation leverages world-class experts to focus on research and best practices in patient engagement and empowerment,” says Yael Elish, CEO of StuffThatWorks. “The Foundation’s investment in basic and applied research and translating these understandings into patient support and education reinforces that real-world data is valued in applications with the potential to advance treatments and quality of life.”

“We’re enthused to share what we know about specific non-profit needs and goals while we learn more about the possibilities StuffThatWorks’ patient-centric knowledge-base will offer,” said Weamer.

About 1 in 5000 people have Marfan syndrome, including men and women of all races and ethnic groups. Roughly 3 out of 4 people with Marfan syndrome inherit it. There is a 50 percent chance that a person with Marfan syndrome will pass along the condition each time they have a child. Because connective tissue is impacted and found throughout the body, Marfan syndrome can affect many body parts. Features of the condition are most often found in the heart, blood vessels, bones, joints, and eyes. Some Marfan features – for example, aortic enlargement (expansion of the main blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body) – can be life-threatening. People living with Marfan syndrome and related conditions have a 250 times greater risk of aortic dissection than the general public. The lungs, skin, and nervous system may also be affected.

About StuffThatWorks

Created by Waze founding team members, StuffThatWorks uses crowdsourcing and AI to empower patients to transform their experiences into organized, large-scale structured Real-World Data needed for research. StuffThatWorks is the home to three million members across 1250 condition communities that have shared 1.3B data points. Now the largest organized Patient Level Real World Data platform, StuffThatWorks is differentiated by its expansive data collection, structuring, and organization of accessible information. The unique proprietary data set and unique AI and powerful Chat GPT-like capabilities enable the generation of insights for research, market access, and drug development.

Crowdsourcing Treatments that Work | Community Research | StuffThatWorks

About the Marfan Foundation

The Marfan Foundation is a global nonprofit organization that empowers people with genetic aortic and vascular conditions to foster optimal quality of life and longevity while building community. We save lives through research and education, enabling healthcare providers to offer the best-quality treatment and helping to foster mental and physical wellbeing. We serve communities impacted by Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and related conditions. To learn more, visit marfan.org or meet us on social media:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X (Twitter) | Threads | YouTube | TikTok

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People-centred care represents an essential evolution from patient-centred care, which “restores a functional life”, to person-centred care, which “promotes a meaningful life.”[1] As the authors explain, “People-centred care expands the scale and scope of person-centred care to the level of health systems and populations. People-centred care requires a whole-of-government approach that engages patients, carers, families, and communities in shared decision-making to ensure health services are provided ‘at the right time, in the right place, in the right way’.”[2]

The Commission seeks to fill crucial gaps by defining how people-centred care can be “operationally defined, rigorously measured, and effectively implemented across various settings and income levels.”[2] Achieving this will require determining the current state of people-centeredness in different contexts, developing optimal measurement approaches, and identifying best practices for the co-production of health systems and services through “shared partnership and leadership alongside people with lived experience.”[2]

Notably, the Commission is grounded in participatory principles, using “community-engaged methods and shared governance models”[2], starting with an open call for commissioner nominations. The authors emphasise, “Such a shift toward transparency and shared decision-making is crucially needed in publications with such global influence as the Lancet, which can intentionally contribute to dismantling unequal power structures in global health.”[2]

The open call aims to recruit a “diverse, independent group of multidisciplinary experts on people-centred care including people with lived experience, academic researchers, policymakers, health-care providers, private sector actors, and civil society.”[3] Commissioners will be selected rigorously based on their experience, impact, commitment to equity, networks, and availability.[3] Selection will ensure an appropriate mix of skills and diversity across gender, geography, income-level and inclusion of marginalised groups.[3]

Over 2.5 years, the Commissioners will formulate research questions, synthesise evidence, and conduct new research to inform policy and practice recommendations for operationalising people-centred care in diverse settings.[3] Working groups will use participatory, community-engaged methods aligned with people-centred principles.[3]

Through this innovative and inclusive approach, the Commission aims to “forge a new way of knowing and practicing health care in the post-Sustainable Development Goal era, using people-centred care as our guide to achieving Universal Health Coverage”[2]. If successful, this could help reorient health systems worldwide to be for and with the people they serve truly.

References:

1. Håkansson Eklund J, Holmström IK, Kumlin T, et al. “Same same or different?” A review of reviews of person-centered and patient-centred care. Patient Educ Couns 2019; 102: 3–11.

2. Duong DB, Holt B, Munoz C, Pollack TM. For and with people: announcing the Lancet Global Health Commission on people-centred care for universal health coverage and a call for commissioner nominations. Lancet Glob Health 2024; published online May 29.

3. Supplementary Appendix to Duong et al. Lancet Glob Health 2024.

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No Wild Expectations – A Will to Try Something New

The collaboration between Amazon Medical Services and the 220-site One Medical may signal a near-term business model shift in patient care. In a brief conversation with the companies’ four-person strong chief medical officer team at HLTH 2023, it was evident that senior staff at both companies have been rolling up their sleeves to think through how to leverage their combined strengths to improve people’s access to care. It’s happening.  There were no promises or predictions of what’s ahead.  Yet, the combined leadership team was frank in acknowledging the possibility of making a difference in people’s health.

Amazon and One Medical objective is to team up and make it easier for customers to access its wide range of primary care and pharmacy services. One Medical offers in-office and 24/7 virtual care services, on-site labs, and programs for preventive care, chronic care management, common illnesses, and mental health concerns. Through its app, members can access on-demand video chats, receive “Treat Me Now” assessments for common health concerns, book same- or next-day appointments, direct messages with providers, renew prescriptions, and access their care plans.

Amazon has invested in varied clinical, pharmacy and telehealth services.  Amazon Pharmacy is a digital-first, full-service pharmacy on Amazon.com—essentially, a pharmacy in your pocket. As expected, the warehouse giant carries most prescription medications with the ability to deliver right to customers’ doors – even providing free delivery for Prime. Their pharmacy team is available 24/7 to answer patient questions.

Composite Wisdom with IQ + TQ = EQ Health Offer

Combining Amazon technological and supply chain savvy with the One Medical patient-centric approach, the healthcare industry could witness a business model transformation prioritizing personalized, efficient, and proactive healthcare services. While industry leaders often talk about “patient centricity,” the Amazon Medical Services lead exec made it clear that is where they are heading – a  healthier and better patient experience.

In an exclusive comment to Medika Life, Neil Lindsay, senior vice president Amazon Health Services, said:

“Much of the current health care experience is simply too hard. At Amazon, we believe we can make health care easier by relentlessly applying customer obsession to experiences that deliver  choice, convenience, and continuity of care for people in their pursuit to get and stay healthy.”

Lindsay was integral in building the Amazon consumer brand, shaping branding for the Kindle e-reader and Fire and Echo devices.  He knows the strengths of Amazon consumer marketing and technology strengths.

Leading economist and authority on integrated delivery systems, Dr. Alain C. Enthoven wrote more than a decade ago that the “healthcare system is fragmented, with a misalignment of incentives, or lack of coordination, that spawns inefficient allocation of resources. Fragmentation adversely impacts quality, cost, and outcomes.”

Not much has changed since Dr. Enthoven penned those words; fragmentation complicates every aspect of care. Amazon and One Medical executives know that and are looking at how their combined strengths and readiness to invest in building a better medical mouse trap will make their vision valuable to payers, patients, product innovators and providers.  The two companies sit at the nexus of the ecosystem.

Among the possible advantages lies in integrating Amazon’s innovative technologies into One Medical’s patient-care model, such as augmented intelligence, data analytics, and home automation. Patients could benefit from personalized health recommendations from their medical history, lifestyle, and physician’s advice.

“We believe technology, threaded across health care, can improve the entire experience—reducing the time customers spend seeking care, saving customers money, and supporting clinicians so they can focus on patient care,” adds Amazon’s Lindsey.

Amazon’s voice assistant devices like Alexa could finally find a practical purpose and accelerate communication between patients and their health providers, enabling remote consultations and medication reminders. Amazon supply chain expertise has yet to be fully realized, tapping into the consumer giant’s logistics network potential to streamline the medication and medical supply delivery, ensuring timely access for patients, especially those with chronic conditions. The ability to handle prescription refills and follow-up on diabetes monitoring and therapeutic supplies can reduce urgent hospitalizations.

It’s long been suggested that “the patient is at the center of care.”  That is a distant dream.  Consumerism is at the center – prescribing products that patients may never fill at pharmacies.  No doubt, Amazon knows consumer patterns and markets.  When the partnership moves into high gear, it might enhance the overall patient experience through convenient and comprehensive healthcare services.

“Improving how primary care providers can access the information they need to understand a patient’s full health picture while reducing administrative burden has long been a priority for One Medical. For example, One Medical has already forged relationships with leading health systems across the country to digitally integrate to provide for the seamless and secure flow of information between primary care and specialty care settings to improve the experience of both patients and providers,” shared primary care physician Andrew Diamond, MD, Ph.D., chief medical officer, One Medical.

Making the Consumer Matter

The One Medical patient-focused approach, characterized by longer appointment times and same-day scheduling, could be augmented by Amazon user-friendly interfaces so that patients could easily manage appointments, access test results, and communicate with health providers. A business model centered around patient design and technologies could reduce administrative hassles and waiting times, leading to higher patient satisfaction and better health outcomes. That in itself would be a high bar set for others to follow.

Amazon is savvy about integrating technology into its business platforms. If One Medical can find its way to advance proactive healthcare management through wearable devices and remote monitoring tools, patients could actively track health metrics and invite health professionals to around shifts in their well-being. An approach to real-time data exchange would be a shift from sick care to preventive care, potentially reducing patterns around chronic disease management and unplanned hospitalizations. This might well be the (healthy) version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups when it comes to personalized care combined with a tech-based touch.

HLTH Showed its Sector Commitment

“As part of Amazon, we look forward to continuing to innovate on using tech to improve the organization, filtering, and presentation of patient health information for care teams while prioritizing security and privacy. We’d love to reach the point where providers can see a comprehensive summary of a patient’s health history as easily as Amazon customers can see their past purchases on Prime,” added One Medical’s Diamond.

The United States health ecosystem is a modern-day version of the mythological Labyrinth. Like the Cretan maze, it is almost impossible for patients and providers to navigate. Still, Amazon Health Services, now with One Medical as a big piece of its supply chain and tech puzzle, certainly has the resources, patience and self-interest to explore and try to get it right. HLTH was the perfect forum for Amazon Health Services to let the sector know it’s in the game!

While success will take time and effort, expect this e-commerce giant and its significant investment in One Medical to continue to press forward learning until it gets it right.

Amazon Introduces New Health Benefit for Prime Members

Read their news release here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/one-medical-amazon-prime-benefit

The post The Amazon and One Medical Combo May Not Disrupt the Health System Now – They Will Champion its Transformation appeared first on Medika Life.