151: The Future of Prescription Decision Support with Carm Huntress

The Healthcare QualityCast

Introducing today's guest, Carm Huntress, Chief Innovation Officer and founder of RxRevu. With a Degree in Electrical Engineering, Carm started out working in early-stage technology companies focusing on product and technology. In this episode, Carm expounds on the deficiency in information regarding the cost of medical treatment both on the side of the medical professionals and the patients. He describes his passion for his work, which involves bridging this gap to create room for transparency and measurement, as the ultimate steps to healthcare improvement. Top Takeaways [00:44] It's easy to tell be people what to do but it's very hard to get people to want to do what must be done. [04:44] RxRevu provides real-time cost transparency. What healthcare lacks today, both for providers and patients is an understanding of the cost of any product or service. RxRevu helps to bring real-time drug costs to doctors when they are prescribing at the point of care. [07:32] Probably the most important thing for early-stage startups to understand is that "Timing is everything"; about half of your success is about timing. Startups need to have the best when it comes to disciplined people, disciplined thoughts, and disciplined actions. [11:35] Critical concepts for healthcare leaders: Transparency especially with information for decision making. The second is Right place, Right time. The third issue is about fitting into the value chain of healthcare in the right way. [14:28] The biggest success is what the company has achieved today. Carm shares his past failure to work more collaboratively and this affected the team but he continues to work on it. [19:18] The biggest challenge and opportunity in healthcare today: The biggest challenge is what to do as we come out of Covid; do we go back to the way things were, or will Covid-19 be a trigger for a major change? [25:02] For Carm, inspiring others comes from discussing the mission, to let workers feel the emotional connection of what the mission means to them. His inspiration comes from the time spent discussing with healthcare leaders to share the benefits of his company's work. [27:56] Best career advice: it's not about your career, it's about your calling. What you need to find is your personal brand or the thing you're better at than any other person. [29:31] 3 attributes of a data-driven healthcare leader: Measure everything; so many times, we have assumptions but data will show something different. [32:22] A professional society recommendation: The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). A conference Carm recommends is "The Health Evolution Summit". [35:04] Book recommendation: " No Rules Rules" by Reed Hastings, and "The Growth Handbook" by Elad Gil. [37:35] Carm hopes to continue to expand cost transparency nationally offering services beyond just pharmacy. He also hopes to be a better leader. Key Quotes: "Leadership is about getting people to want to do what must be done" "If you're a leader and you look behind you, and nobody's behind you, then you're not a leader" "Someday, all providers, all patients are going to have access to real-time costs for the services and products we buy in healthcare" "People tend to follow their emotions, not their thoughts" "Find the thing that you love to do that keeps growing your unique knowledge and pursue that wholeheartedly" "Measure every part of your business" Connect: Find | Carm Huntress LinkedIn – Carm Huntress Twitter - Carm Huntress Website – www.rxrevu.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/healthcarequalitycast/message