Hi friends, it's a funny thing to say, but I write the obituary for Humans in Healthcare every day.

Here lies Humans in Healthcare… 🪦 

Morbid, perhaps, but it helps me remain grounded in my mission, especially in the ebbs and flows of building something solo.

Nothing in this life is guaranteed or lasts forever, so writing the obituary forces me to think about the present moment and how wisely I spend my time crafting, caring, and utilizing my resources for this space.

• Would I rest in peace with my effort in building it?

• Did I make a difference by creating it?

• Did it become a haven for members?

• Would it be missed if it were gone?

• What would be said about me?

• What would be said about it?

Last week, I posted a thought in our real-time vent and validation community space wondering if anyone else felt like they weren’t living up to their potential.

This thought has plagued me regularly since I jumped off any definition of a career path to forge one of my own. While I am settling into this season of my life more and more each day, it can uproot insecurities and comparisons, especially being in the healthcare space that is often driven by ambition, accomplishments, awards, and credentials. When I look at my potential through that lens of comparison, I don’t measure up. Not even close.

And as per usual, with crystal clear clarity, member Tzvi Doron said

Am I using my unique gifts and talents in the best way I can?

When I write the obituary of Humans in Healthcare or even me as its creator, it’s never about degrees, credentials, or accomplishments. It’s about compassion, courage, curiosity, humanity. Perhaps the best way to write an obituary is to let others contribute…

Kind
Seen
Brave
Heard
Diverse
Healing
Beautiful
Humanity
Authentic
Intentional
Encouraged
Compassionate

🥹

About a year ago, I was interviewed for a podcast. The conversation had no particular theme, but I had the opportunity to share my story, experiences and the soon-to-launch community — a space to bring humanity back to humans in healthcare. At the end, the interviewer said in a matter-of-fact way, so — your community is for ambitious healthcare professionals. And I thought to myself, no. No, that’s not who it’s for at all. It’s for the human behind the ambition. Behind the credential. Behind the career. It’s for the misfits looking for a place to belong. It’s for the human who no longer wants to shrink to the box they are in, but rather to expand to the space of their potential. Ambition? No. Human.

Unsurprisingly, that interview never aired.

I couldn’t be more proud of the fact that descriptors used for Humans in Healthcare don’t include words like ‘ambitious’ or ‘achiever’. If Humans in Healthcare ceased to exist tomorrow, I can walk tall knowing I created something meaningful and profound. Something from the best of me — me — not from what or who the world says I should be (and don’t worry, Humans in Healthcare is still alive and growing 😉).

I think Tzvi is right. Potential is where your gifts, talent, and calling collide and only you can muster the courage to rise up and reach it.

So, what does your potential mean to you? What are your unique gifts and talents? Are you using them in the best way you can? Perhaps writing your obituary can help bring clarity to that. And remember friends, in the context of obituaries — followers and fame don’t follow you to the grave. But legacies can. Relationships can. Caring can. Compassion can. What you do with the gifts and talents only you have — can.

💭 I’ll leave you with this thought today:

Do you need to stop chasing what isn’t meant for you to embrace what you are made to do?

In humanity,

Amy

ℹ️ Learn more about the Humans in Healthcare Network + Community here. Members get free yearly access to my curated job board which has 113 job leads and counting. And we have our next workshop about the Basics of UX design this week! Hope to see you there.

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Hey friends, I haven’t been consistently publishing this newsletter and as a result, I missed my first anniversary of this newsletter's publication [June 14, 2023].

I don’t think I ever told you the circumstances surrounding the date of starting this publication. Turns out, I was on an emergency trip back east to my parent’s house after my mom was bitten by a dog while on an out-of-state trip. Residing in the state next over, I flew there to help her navigate the rather severe injury and then helped her fly cross-country to her home on the East Coast.

Despite the unexpected events, it was the first time I had experienced quiet in a long time. While my mom rested and recovered, I found myself without distractions of screaming kids or screens.

Silence has a sound. For me, it’s often my own thoughts rising to the surface of clarity after percolating in the depths of uncertainty.

I say down to pen my first publication and hours later, Humans in Healthcare was born. A newsletter about humanity more than healthcare. An invitation to curiosity, compassion, and courage.

Flying back home, I shared these thoughts about my experience with quiet:

Ironically, a year later, that’s exactly what I needed to do again — disconnect to reconnect.

See, the world was becoming much too noisy for me, especially the ‘creator’ world. Relentless creator mode can take a toll. Further, when you dare to show up and share or to create or to be authentically you, one of the risks is that you make yourself accessible to the narrow opinions or judgments of others. I was on the slippery slope of letting people try to tell me who I was without even knowing me at all.

So I had to disconnect to reconnect with my inner voice. I deleted social media from my phone. I stopped consuming. I stopped writing for and about others. And I started listening to the silence again.

What did I hear?

To keep going. To keep building. To keep believing.

To continue to create something meaningful, even if it’s not for everyone, it might be for someone. To strive for significance of impact — not size of impact.

That my pain will not be in vain. I am a surthrivor, through and through.

(surthriving is the word I made up to describe the tension between surviving and thriving — grieving the good in our lives because some of it came out of the pain and suffering that preceded it).

And to keep writing. But this time — for me.

See, when I’m building the blocks of (figurative) architecture or painting strokes or writing words, I can’t always see the fully developed masterpiece yet to be — what is already inside of me.

That’s why creating has to start with you. Not for others. For you.

A reminder — that it does matter. If it makes you come alive, deep in your soul — it does. You are meant to create. Even if it’s just for you. You must celebrate you.

So here’s to you and here’s to me, too.

This newsletter has never been about news or trends or even healthcare. It’s about humanity. About stories. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s mine. And I’m done apologizing for taking up space.

So though this ‘newsletter’ might look a bit different moving forward and on a less frequent and less consistent basis, I’ll be writing it again. But this time, I’m writing it for me.

To those who have stuck around for a year — thank you.

And for those of you who have taken this next step of building this community with me — to show up even when you don’t need something — to give something even when you don’t know the outcome — you know who you are and I can’t do this without you. Deeply grateful for you.

See you in your inbox soon!

ℹ️ Learn more about the Humans in Healthcare Network + Community here

Augment Therapy | Immersive Augmented Reality Exercise Apps for Clinic and home

Augment Therapy creates AR rehabilitation exercises for enhanced therapy outcomes and fun wellness games to encourage movement at home.

As part of my clinician creator series, I’m thrilled to highlight Augment Therapy and the clinical team that functions in creative non-clinical roles that use the full extent of their lived clinical experiences.

How Augment Therapy uses the lived experience of the clinician to drive innovation

Augment Therapy is a digital health company that creates products like AR rehabilitation exercises to make clinicians’ jobs easier while making physical and occupational therapy more engaging for the patient.

I’ve talked about how we should be creating better experiences for both parties in healthcare — the clinician and the patient. One should not be secondary to the other, they both matter significantly for the sustainability of our system, yet the clinical experience is not well understood or often prescribed to a clinician without the actual input of a clinician. Augment Therapy understands this deeply given it was birthed out of the collective lived experience of PTs and OT’s as they struggled to engage with their patients in a way that honored both their needs and the patient’s needs.

Clinicians are uniquely qualified to identify pain points in the system of healthcare as well as function as supplemental advocates of the patient's voice. Augment Therapy’s product ARWell PRO was created from this unique vantage point, through the combination of PT and OT lived experience, clinical research, customer feedback, and product testing. This combination informed the product development based on the following principles:

• Make exercise fun 

• Make physical and occupational therapy more engaging for the patient 

• Increase flexibility for patient and therapist with telehealth 

• Automatic data collection so you can be more engaged and involved in your session 

• Engage clients at home with our home exercise programs, and watch your clients make progress with remote monitoring 

• Save time on documentation with automatic note generation 

• Back up our claims with clinical research: prove our products’ effectiveness 

• Help therapists save time planning sessions with 50+ gamified exercises 

• Be accessible for clinicians on the devices they already use, such as Windows and Mac devices 

• Make exercise gaming more equitable for patients and therapists: no expensive wearables are needed 

Clinician feedback as a cornerstone of product innovation

Solutions in health tech that involve clinicians or where clinicians are an end user need to have fundamental essentials:

• Insert seamlessly into their workflow

• Provide real value (not theoretical value)

• Solve a true problem not provide a solution looking for a problem

Augment Therapy incorporated clinician feedback as a cornerstone of their product innovation process for the ARWell PRO. Below is a short list of some of the changes made in their development process based on clinician feedback: 

• Added, and continue to modify the auto-generated notes feature 

• Created guided tours to help with ease of first use 

• Added a set of ortho exercises for home care and bed mobility 

• Added, and continued to brainstorm multi-player and group game options 

Using clinicians in non-clinical roles

Lastly, Augment Therapy is a company that speaks to the humanity of clinicians yearning to grow beyond their clinical expertise. They prioritize employing healthcare workers in non-clinical positions such as customer success and product management.

From Augment Therapy’s perspective, health professionals have unique skills that are necessary for product development in digital health and digital healthcare technology including:

• Experience with different abilities, bodies, ages, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds 

• Task Modification 

• Task Scaffolding 

• Accessibility and Universal Design 

• Lived experience of the pain points in clinical practice 

• Creation of educational content 

• Building and nurturing customer relationships 

• Ability to read and understand research and data 

Their purpose is to humanize the people on their team, inspire clinicians who are seeking a non-clinical path to keep trying and show it is possible to use your clinical skills in a non-clinical setting (therefore, not wasting your money or time on your degree).

Meet the Augment Therapy team!

Meet Lindsay Watson

Lindsay Watson, CEO and Co-Founder

Lindsay is the CEO and Co-founder of Augment Therapy. With over 20 years of experience as a Physical Therapist, Lindsay has worked in a variety of therapy settings including school-based therapy and outpatient orthopedics.   

Lindsay began Augment Therapy initially as a side hustle while continuing to work clinically. She never intended to leave clinical work, per se, but to create technology that truly supported clinicians in their daily work.  Her current role is the ultimate “augmentative” position for a reluctant entrepreneur who just wanted to support her profession.   

As far as her career transition, she notes it’s been a long journey getting to the point of CEO and Co-Founder.  She spent countless hours reading business books, found business mentors, and has been coached by her technology team.  She can now speak these “languages” with some fluency and says it’s been an amazing learning process acquiring these new skills.   

Outside of work, Lindsay loves to read and cook for her family. Her favorite Favorite ARWell PRO exercise is the Puddle Jumper for the water effect on the ground and the cooky frog! 

Connect with Lindsay

Meet Amy Pratt

Amy Pratt, Director of Customer Success

Amy is the Director of Clinical Success at Augment Therapy. She has over 20 years of experience as a Physical Therapist, mostly school-based, with experience in exercise physiology, neuro rehab, and home health. 

Amy loved being a PT, but felt called to do more. Amy began teaching at pediatric therapy conferences and lecturing for DPT and PTA programs, got certified as an Animal Assisted Therapy Team with her dog, and picked up some contract work for pediatric complex cases in home care. When Lindsey asked Amy to test her new app, she found that her home patients loved it. She naturally grew into a training and customer support role with Augment Therapy, citing her love for traveling, meeting therapists in a variety of settings, and showing them innovative ways to engage patients.

As for how she got to this non-clinical point, she says she is still learning! She still provides direct patient care part-time to help her understand their product’s real-life application and continue to build trust and feedback from her clinician end users.

Outside of work, Amy enjoys reading, running, and dreaming of vacationing. Her favorite ARWell PRO Exercise is the rocket launcher as she loves how it motivates patients to stand on one foot for the satisfaction of launching the rocket.

Connect with Amy

Meet Elise Baron

Elise Baron, Director of Research

Elise received her PhD in biomedical engineering, with a focus in biomechanics. She began her non-clinical transition focused on industry due to a desire for more creativity, citing that industry research is exciting, especially in the start-up space, as it allows for greater freedom and creative approaches to researching innovation.

She joined Augment Therapy serendipitously. After expanding her research experience with a postdoc position, an unexpected network connection led her to Augment.

Outside of work, Elise enjoys interior design, crafting, and skiing — and in fact her favorite ARWell PRO exercise is skiing.

Connect with Elise

Danielle Barbieri, Associate Clinical PM

Danielle is an occupational therapist who has primarily worked in pediatric settings for 5 years.  

Flexibility, workplace culture, and a desire to drive innovation from the outside in is what led Danielle to seek opportunities outside of clinical care.  

To help set her up for success, Danielle engaged in coaching programs such as Collective Coaching, self-education courses through Udemy and Aspireship, networking events, and direct referrals through the coaching programs and networking.

Outside of work, Danielle enjoys roller skating, exercising, and finding unique cafes. Her favorite ARWell PRO exercise is air writing.

Connect with Danielle

Learn more about Augment Therapy here or follow on LinkedIn

Hey there, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare.

I wanted to take a quick moment to share an incredible opportunity for my PT, OT, and SLP subscribers.

Lauren Sheehan and Kylie Cicero, MS, OTR/L of Collective Coaching are two kind, generous, and thoughtful humans on a mission to support clinicians interested in expanding their skill set beyond the clinical realm. They share the ethos of Humans in Healthcare -- a supportive community to help ease what can be a lonely and challenging career transition.

I highly recommend any PT, OT, or SLP navigating the clinical transition to sign up for their next coaching cohort, starting June 12, 2024.

Lauren and Kylie have created a beautifully designed program from their lived experiences navigating this transition. This 12-week program takes you on a journey from clarity to action plan. Their insights are both informative and actionable and the empathy infused in the design, structure, and curriculum of the program is palpable.

You'll receive support, guidance, and a community of others navigating the transition together. I cannot underscore the importance of having a supportive group that can hold the space, celebrate, and learn together.

What I wish I had now exists in Collective Coaching. It can be lonely in the moment, but you are not alone.

Sign up here if you are ready for a transformative experience!

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare. Are you a clinician looking for community? Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and clinicians needing peer support and empowerment.

*Today’s newsletter chapter has nothing to do with healthcare. I shared this on social media one year ago. It remains in my top most viewed posts and still gets impressions to this day. Happy Mother’s Day.

A life well lived

I was watching a show on Netflix, arriving to one of the final scenes of a middle-aged woman nearing her last days, given a terminal cancer diagnosis. She was reflecting on her life and the time she spent worrying about what she would become in her career. But looking back, all that really mattered to her was the relationships and time spent investing in her daughter, husband, and friends.

On her deathbed, she regretted the time wasted worrying about the professional she would (or wouldn’t) become.

I feel this deeply as I often think about what I’ve done and not done in my career, what I will or won’t become.

If it matters. If I matter.

I look back at my own mother:

• Became a music teacher

• Then stayed home for 7 years raising 4 children in a tiny town with little support, one of whom is non-verbal with Down Syndrome and Autism, requiring 1:1 assistance in everything. All while my Dad spent every week across the state 6 hours away for his job, driving home on the weekends to see us, then driving back.

• She re-entered the education workforce, eventually becoming a School Superintendent, one of the few women in a male-dominated field

• Now in post-retirement life has built an incredible consulting business, sits on leadership boards, and continues to advocate for the many needs of my special needs brother

Sure, I saw her rise in the working world. I saw her succeed despite challenges to be seen and heard as a female in a male-dominated field, to be taken seriously. The double standards that we expect of women in leadership. The sideline critics. The same challenges that I have personally faced. The grace under pressure through it all and her ability to stand strong in her integrity.

Yes, she rose in her career and impacted many. But what she did is not what has impacted me the most.

It’s how she lived. Lives.

• A woman who loves and serves unconditionally

• Lives joyfully and wholeheartedly despite circumstances and the challenges she’s been given (and there have been many)

• Practices authenticity and extending grace

• Has never ceased to love and guide her children even through the most challenging years of strong-willed and stubborn temperaments

• A pure optimist, her favorite color is yellow

I appreciate her professional accomplishments. But I will remember her for not what she did, but how she lived.

Just as I will stand on her shoulders and the shoulders of the women who have gone before me, so too will my daughter, reaching for an outstretched hand to welcome her in. I can only hope that my daughter will remember me like I remember my mother.

How I live. Not what I did.

As I celebrate and reflect on Mother’s Day — it’s not lost on me that my greatest contribution to this world may not be what I do, but how I live.

It’s not lost on me that my greatest impact may not be how I rise in my career — but who I raise.

Children who see people.

Children who love people.

Children who are kind to people.

Children who are gracious and generous to people.

Children who turn into adults.

Adults who may raise the next generation.

To the mothers struggling to feel like they matter in the working world as I do — remember that Motherhood is a profession.

You are rising by raising generational changers right within your own home.

I celebrate us today. And I see you.

Happy Mother’s Day.

~7 year old me and my mom

In humanity,

Amy

Looking for visuals and charts, rather than words, to understand the daily news?

Bay Area Times is a visual-based newsletter on business and tech, with 250,000+ subscribers.

Hi friend, Amy here, creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is part of my clinician creator database where I highlight clinician creators. Want to be highlighted? Complete your creator database application below.

✨ Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Aligned Care / My Pharmacist ✨ 

MyPharmacist - Aligned Care LLC

I’m thrilled to feature Dr. Ahunna Freeman, PharmD and founder of Aligned Care, LLC and My Pharmacist.

Dr. Freeman is a Nigerian American who began her career in pharmacy as a community pharmacist in one of the big box retail pharmacy giants. There, she fell in love with problem-solving using her skills and expertise. In 2014, she quit corporate America, opened Southside Discount Pharmacy with her husband, and began the journey of pharmacy ownership, preceptorship, and entrepreneurship. She is the president of Aligned Care LLC, a healthcare company that endorses a team-based approach to patient care in community practices. Aligned Care LLC provides consulting services to pharmacists and other healthcare providers as well as preventive care services for medical practices.

Dr. Freeman is an established trusted pillar of support for health and wellness in her virtual and in-person communities. She is passionate about preventive care, clinical services in community pharmacies, patient education/health literacy, and pharmacist-provider collaborations that provide real patient care solutions in community practices.

She recently launched an on-demand pharmacotherapeutic confidence course to support early career prescribers confidently choosing the appropriate medication option for their specific patient with safety in mind. Please do check out the link above to read more about her services and incredible, action-packed, bite-sized courses!

Today, we’re doing something different for this newsletter and letting you listen to this insightful conversation between Dr. Freeman and myself.

Dr. Freeman shares:

• How being an immigrant from Nigeria informed her career choices

• How being on the lookout for problems to solve led her to launch Aligned Care and her other services

• The mindset of an entrepreneur

• How to balance building and creating with clinical practice

• And more!

In humanity,

Amy

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment.

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers

Musings on community building

In the past 4 months, I’ve hosted and facilitated over 40 community events, both individual and group.

Yes, over 40. 😬 And events are just a fraction of what goes into building a community.

I've learned a lot by showing up and doing the work and while I'm not an expert, I am sharing a few of my learnings about community building that could help you if you are considering starting your own.

Enjoy!

It’s about you and not about you.

People join my community because they resonate with me, my story, and my great big heart for humanity. But, to have a great community experience, it must become about them. What starts as me must become a collective we.

How does this happen? It has to be designed and optimized for before the doors open with clear exceptions for engagement and reciprocity. The word community has been corrupted in the age of the creator economy. Community doesn’t mean a transactional, one-sided service, passively consuming, or watching content on demand.

Community means showing up to give and get.

As James Clear says, “greed is wanting the benefits of community without contributing to it."

A lot of the work is invisible.

Often times, your personal success is a long game and subject to the success of the members of your community. Therefore, the long game isn't a game, but a mindset. Invest in their success and it will pay dividends.

You may not be invigorated by this work if you crave the spotlight or recognition. This ultimately is a servant leadership role that is very much behind the scenes. Remember, it is about you and not about you.

Building momentum is different than maintaining it.

In the early days, you must do both. See above on the invisible work.

No community has 100% engagement, most times it’s a balance. Be mindful of where you spend your energy. Disengagement can suck the energy away from the people who are showing up — that is where you want to spend most of your energy. Understand engagement trends so it can inform a strategy to re-engage members who haven’t participated, but time box the re-engagement efforts to several attempts and move on if there is no response. Reinvest and show up for the people who are showing up for you.

Many people ‘see’ the value from the outside but never take action.

This is ok (see above James Clear quote). You are not for everyone and everyone is not for your community.

The missing link here is people often expect an outcome (what’s in it for me?) but fail to recognize that in communities, the outcome is a byproduct of engaging with the experience. You must how up for the experience and the outcome will be revealed to you. What’s in it for you is — you and how you show up and engage.

And, you don’t need to have multiple subscription types. Align it to what you offer and how long it takes to ramp up. I offered a monthly option for a hot second and then remembered that my mission and goal is to build true community and longitudinal support. 30-day subscriptions don’t align with my offering or where the value is, so I removed the option. Do I lose customers who won’t pay for a quarter or year? Probably. And that’s ok.

Comparison is a fool’s game

This is a big space and you can fill it too. The thing your community has that others don’t — is you. The unique differentiator I have — is me, unapologetically.

Keep your head down to the work you are committed to doing and only compare and be competitive with the person you were yesterday to be the better version of you tomorrow.

In a world of noise, the way you stand out is being you.

It’s less about strategy and more about experimentation

Have a strategy and roadmap for the community evolution, but keep it loose, especially in the early days. If you are too prescriptive of your strategy, you lose the chance to let things bubble up organically from within the community. This, in my opinion, is fundamental for listening to your members and building what they need instead of what you want or think they need.

My mantra has always been — I’m not building this for you — you are building this with me. In the same way, there is a difference between being talked at vs talked with. The former is an event, the latter is a community.

Word of mouth can be marketing.

There’s a reason I haven’t invested in marketing. Heck, I don’t even have a functioning webpage, just a landing page for $19 on Carrd. One reason is because I don’t have a budget for any marketing — the budget is my personal bank account 😆, but two, because of the point made above. Things need to develop organically and solidify and that will require evolution. I took Jamie Wilkey’s advice, whom I respect in the creator space, who says to just start with a form as your website until your product is proven. And even then, the best marketing is members within the community referring their own network, in their own words.

Am I losing out on developing a pipeline of potential members? Probably. But my gut says to wait and so I’m waiting. Slow growth is still growth. The significance of impact doesn’t always equate to the size of impact.

Community for the community builders.

I had to add this in post-publishing because of an invigorating and refreshing conversation I had today with a fellow community builder. It’s easy to feel alone on this journey due to the invisible and behind-the-scenes work that can’t always be explained to the members you serve. It’s of utmost importance to find fellow community builders doing the work to collaborate and have a space to talk about the wins and challenges.

Your mental health is paramount to the longstanding health and sustainability of your community.

You must rest and recharge to continue to show up and do the work. You can not pour from an empty cup. You do not need to be available 24/7. Perspective helps. For instance, a yearly membership at $200 is the equivalent of .60 cents a day. Things can wait for you to fuel up and recharge. Care for yourself first before you pour into your community.

So, on that note, I’m off to rest so I can show up recharged and ready for the amazing humans in the care of my community. 💜

There’s still room for more and you better believe if you show up, we will too.

Apply here and I hope to see you there!

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment.

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is part of my clinician creator database where I highlight clinicians building creative endeavors. Complete your creator database application below to be featured.

✨ Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Defining Point Coaching & Consulting ✨ 

Brandy Wilkins is a PT turned healthcare quality expert and career coach, and founder of Defining Point Coaching and Consulting. She has taught me so much about the strategy of a non clinical transition. She is offering an incredible 4-week boot camp to jumpstart your transition. She is pairing up with experts like fellow Humans in Healthcare Community member Dr. Ruth Vo to bring this action-packed and practical boot camp. The first live session is Monday, 4/29 so click the link below to enroll. Don’t miss out!

JUMPSTART YOUR NON CLINICAL TRANSITION

A 4-week bootcamp designed to help clinicians pivot into a non-clinical role

Jumpstart your non-clinical transition

To expand on why Brandy is an expert on transitions, for this newsletter chapter, I’ve infused some of the insights she recently shared in the Humans in Healthcare community about a transition to a non-clinical role with my own relatable experiences.

I meet with many clinicians who are exploring that first step out of the box of their clinical career. Commonly, they want the care (or action) plan before they’ve done the diagnosing. I understand why. Action feels good, like forward momentum, but contemplation doesn’t always feel the same — it’s slower because you are often asking yourself deep questions that you may never have confronted in your clinical work. What do I like? What environments would be best for me? What jobs would I enjoy? What skills do I have that also give me energy? And so on.

📌 Enter Brandy’s first tip: Don’t blindly apply.

Narrow down what it is you want to do next as it relates to your values, interests, passion, and goals. For instance, if you want to leave clinical work because you need a break from interacting with people every day, perhaps a person or client-facing role as your next opportunity is not ideal. Or, maybe you have loved the data analysis and trending of data that comes with being a clinician. Perhaps a data-driven role could be interesting. In Brandy’s boot camp, Dr. Ruth Vo, founder of the Career Cliniq, will speak to how to identify a path that aligns with your strengths, passions, and unique gifts. This is fundamental to your transition.

So you’ve narrowed it down to something that resonates with who you are, what you like, and what you need, but how do you know what the day-to-day is like in these roles or how people have successfully pivoted to them?

📌 Enter Brandy’s second tip: start making connections.

Healthcare professionals aren’t taught the value of a network during their education. Though there is a definite increase, many healthcare professionals still don’t use LinkedIn. You are already at an advantage if you do. Side note, in her bootcamp, Brandy is bringing in expert Shantel Love to teach you how to set your LinkedIn up for success in a way that does not offend your current employer — a masterclass in and of itself.

Networking can feel like a chore, especially for us introverted types. And many times, networking is an exclusive, not inclusive event. Not all of us can attend a happy hour in downtown cities at 9 pm to try to be in the room of exclusivity and opportunity 😏.

The good news is networking and making connections can happen quietly and virtually and still be as impactful in the way you need it to be. How do I know? Because I created a community for this reason — clinicians doing interesting things in their careers to connect on a deeper level and learn from each other. A good majority of us identify as introverted and the depth of our connections is our superpower. Come join the community and get immediately connected to a network!

Back to Brandy’s insights. So you’ve narrowed down your interests and learned from new connections about their experiences. Now you need to get practical about learning for the new role.

📌 Enter Brandy’s third tip: upskill strategically.

As clinicians, we are knowledge holders, SMEs, and continuous learners. In general, we love to learn. But the reality is, when it comes to a transition, we need to strategically learn. We can’t take all of the courses or get all of the certificates. It’s not useful to gain a certification just to have it on your resume. You’ll want to gain skills that apply to the new role. Showing proficiency matters, but the application of said skill also matters — you’ll want to speak to how you applied what you learned and how you’ll continue to apply it in the new role.

This happened on one of my interviews. I have a certification in Change Management and had it listed on my resume. During my interview, the interviewer wanted to know how I specifically used the change management methodology in my current job and what the outcome was. Storytelling in interviews matters significantly, but, that’s another newsletter for another day!

Finally, after you’ve narrowed down your interests, made connections, and upskilled strategically, Brandy says this is the time to focus on crafting your resume. And, if you want tips on that, you’ll just have to sign up for Brandy’s boot camp where she she has specific and actionable tips on the art of resume crafting!

I hope this has been helpful as you explore your career transition. I’ll leave you with this:

In humanity,

Amy

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment.

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

✨ Today’s newsletter is sponsored by The PMHNP Source ✨ 

Kirby Williams is an incredible human who has created the PMHNP Liftoff Mentorship program and is enrolling the second cohort now. This is a MUST program for new NPs or recent grads in psychiatry looking for community and guidance. Share or sign up! Cohort enrollment ends 4/22 — don’t miss out 👇️ 

The PMHNP Source

The PMHNP LiftOff Mentorship program is an ongoing membership community for new grad and novice PMHNPs with 0-2 years of experience and provides further education on complex clinical topics, mentorship from an experienced PMHNP, career guidance and support, and clinical case consultation.

I may fail, but I won’t be a failure to launch

A few Thursday’s ago, we had a Community Connect event within the Humans in Healthcare community to connect and build relationships on a deeper level. The theme of the event was asks + offers. I thought the asks might be practical, but was pleasantly surprised when one of our members, Dr. Christopher Deussing asked for more opportunities to talk openly about failure.

He went on to share his experience launching paid events after so generously pouring his time, energy, effort, and experience into them for free. Out of 300 registrants, 4 converted to paid tickets and 3 of those 4 were $1 donations [read his incredibly vulnerable post].

There was a slight silent pause and then head after head started to nod in solidarity which began a movement of members sharing their own vulnerabilities and insecurities around failure:

• launching an offering, unsure of who will show up. Will it be an empty room?

• the sting of shame when a launch doesn’t convert in the way you thought. Objectively looking at it as separate from oneself instead of internalizing it

• the fear of asking for beta testers to what you’ve created

• the length of time it has taken to think about transitioning to a new role and the inner critic that comes with it

• how we feel we must have a next step or plan, but sometimes all we want is a space to explore, not a plan

Hearing this was healing to me — I’m right there with building this newsletter and this community. I shared that the most unsubscribed newsletter chapter I’ve written to date was the chapter when I soft-launched the community. Every time I think about it, I’m taken back to the moments in my life when I felt embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, and small. But every time I share it in a space of others who get it (like at the Community Connect), I feel less alone in my shame. Shame thrives in secrets and isolation but cannot survive in connection.

And for clinician creators, a space to launch and softly land no matter the outcome of that launch can be a game changer as we embark on our creative endeavors.

See, while this does not apply to everyone, generally speaking, it’s harder for clinicians to think about taking risks and failure. Failure in the clinic can have significant consequences so when we think about moving out of the clinic or creating, we may remain in analysis paralysis or it can hurt a lot when we don’t get the result we are hoping for.

But having a space to launch and land softly, no matter the outcome — can be a game changer.

Truthfully, I’ve never much resonated with the term entrepreneur. To me, it has felt like this out-of-reach character — a hustler dazzling in the shine of charisma and confidence.

Um, have you met me? I wouldn’t describe myself like that, haha. Yet, here I am building my creation. I think that’s why I prefer the term creator. There’s room to grow, there’s room for versions of what I create, but also versions of who I am and can be. It’s within reach. Within me.

While to be the confident, dazzling, charismatic entrepreneur is admirable, it’s not relatable for me. I think the the vast majority of us admire strength and confidence, but relate and connect to vulnerability which often means sharing things like weaknesses or failures. This is exactly what our Community Connect event revealed to me.

Of course, I want to show up here as confident and competent and compelling and courageous and all the things that I can be — but being only that version creates a disconnect, a dissonance within me.

So I must show up as the truest form of me. The rhythmically real, raw, honest, full-stop human. Not a version to be sold, just a story to be told. The highs and lulls, the laughs and lows. Maybe you follow along or maybe you don’t.

This is what being a creator is about, at least for me. It’s not the journey toward the best self, most confident self, most wealthy self — it’s the toward the truest self. Is there any better journey to be on?

I don’t think there is, yet this creator journey has been one heck of a lonely journey of paradox.

Believing in a vision but being uncertain of how to get there. Feeling competent while being aware of just how much you don’t know. Taking risks while trying to stay in the guardrails of responsibility and duty. Celebrating the highs while simultaneously feeling the depth of lows. Knowing how much you’ve grown and how much you have to grow. Making decisions while asking questions. Being brave and scared.

Something tells me you might relate.

If you are on a similar journey as a clinician entrepreneur creator and ready to take the next right step in your journey, I invite you to travel with us at Humans in Healthcare. These are the stories, conversations, and spaces that exist within the community. Because they are real. Because we are human. Because social media conditions us to think we should be winning all of the time. Because we hurt and hope at the same time and it’s hard to carry that alone.

We may fail, but we won’t be a failure to launch. And if you need a built-in launch party where you can cry (and laugh) if you want to, we’ve got you :)

In closing, I’ll leave you with a call to courage:

In humanity,

Amy

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is part of my clinician creator series where I highlight clinicians building newsletters, podcasts, products, services, and beyond. Are you a clinician creator and want to be listed in my creator database? Complete your application below.

Today, I’m sharing Kate Martino’s entrepreneurship story. Kate is a physician assistant who left clinical practice in pursuit of more flexibility. She now offers healthy lifestyle coaching with a special focus on healthy eating and meal planning, to help others be more consistent and organized, and feel less stressed through busy weeks. Be sure to click on the link below to learn more about Kate’s services. Humans in Healthcare subscribers receive $50 off their first coaching session!

Kate Martino | Humans in Healthcare

Organize, streamline and up-level your meal plan to nourish yourself through the week, even when you have little time, don't feel like cooking or feel indecisive, burned out and overwhelmed.

Humans in Healthcare newsletter subscribers + community members receive $50 off the first coaching session!

Below, Kate shares her path from medicine to coaching and what she’s learned along the way.

Kate, what prompted you to become a PA and what was that experience like?

I decided to pursue a PA career to help people prevent chronic disease. I worked as a nurse aide on a medical/surgical floor at a local hospital while in undergrad. This was my first exposure to chronic disease care. I’d leave my shifts deeply affected by the impact of chronic disease progression, the patient suffering, and the ripple effect on their families. I went home and researched how to prevent various conditions after work, and learned that most chronic diseases are preventable through the same basic diet and lifestyle habits. This was right before social media when health, wellness, and prevention weren’t very popular. The experience ignited my passion to incorporate more education, lifestyle, and preventive habits to medical care. 

Throughout my PA program, I was surprised by how little we learned about nutrition, prevention, and root causes of chronic conditions. I enjoyed learning about medicine, but as I got deeper into the program and rotations, I felt like I wasn’t finding where my interests and passion fit in.

Why did you find yourself wanting to transition out of clinical practice and what challenges did you experience as you processed through that?

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and been very interested in medicine, so naturally I’ve identified problems to solve in my own way. I started thinking about transitioning out of clinical practice in my first year working as a PA. It felt too rigid and limiting and I thought I’d have more autonomy to practice the way that I wanted to. The rushed and overbooked schedule was depleting for me, and I felt the business of medicine took away from the quality and personalized care I wanted to offer. 

Being interested in a career beyond clinical practice was only the first step. It took me a decade to conceptualize what I wanted to offer through a lot of trial and error and work through my own limiting beliefs. I experienced guilt from wanting to ‘give up’ a profession I’d invested so much time and money into, shame that the PA career didn’t work out for me as expected and imposter syndrome transitioning into a field I had no experience in (blogging and business).

What led you to entrepreneurship and what has helped you learn about entrepreneurship?

Burnout is what ultimately led me to transition out of clinical practice to put more energy into growing my own business. Early in the process, I took an online business course that taught the basics. Personally, there’s been a lot of self-guided learning and trial and error. 

What are you working on now and why are you passionate about it?

Currently, I offer lifestyle coaching with a focus on nutrition. I love good food, living well, and optimizing health, so I’m able to incorporate all three into my work. I can also express my creativity through my website and fun digital product design.

My mission is to help others eat well consistently, without feeling like a relentless chore. I’ve developed an approach to meal planning to support my own success and consistency. It lightens the mental load of managing meals each week and revolves around simple but flavorful and satisfying meals. I guide clients through healthy meal planning, providing a lot of personalized support and recipe ideas. It simplifies the process and helps people feel organized, enjoy satisfying meals, and save time throughout the week.

What has been the hardest and most rewarding part of entrepreneurship including anything unique or specific to clinicians?

To me, one of the most challenging, yet also rewarding, parts of entrepreneurship is freedom. As a clinician you have a structured educational path, then in clinical practice, you have an ordered approach to patient visits and treatment protocols to guide your decisions. This structure has helped me realize that a solid foundation of knowledge and systems supports success. And that applies to starting and growing a business, as well as being consistent with healthy habits. I’ve spent the most time establishing a solid foundation to grow from and help others establish a foundation to support consistent habits. This can be challenging in itself because you don’t always have anything to ‘show’ for all the work you put into it, and it’s not immediately profitable work either. 

What is your call to courage for any healthcare professional who is thinking about entrepreneurship?

I think courage continues to grow as we stretch our comfort zone, so my advice would be to make the entry point as approachable as possible. There’s so much pressure in the entrepreneurial space to take big leaps, which can make starting feel more daunting. 

Before you dive in, be clear on exactly who you want to help and what you want to offer, and stay true to your vision. I’ve personally found that having more clarity has boosted my confidence. When I first started my blog, my focus was broad on health and wellness. It was only when I got more specific on how I wanted to help people improve their health and well-being, that I felt more comfortable putting myself out there. 

Thank you for sharing your story Kate!

In humanity,

Amy

When you are ready, there are 3 extra ways I can help:

1. CLINICAL COMMUNITY: Join a curated membership space for clinicians in transitions, clinician creators, and peer support and empowerment

2. FIND TALENT & OPPORTUNITIES: Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

3. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story? Collaborate here.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

Are you a NP or PA interested in working for an innovative tech-enabled population health-focused primary care company serving the most underserved in and around NYC? Check out these roles and apply today.

NP for home based care and pop health for underserved | Humans in Healthcare Company: Galileo Health Stage: venture, series unknown Location: NYC (mostly Brooklyn), ability to travel into patient homes. 60-80% of your time "in the field" and at your market's HQ. Type: Full time Credential: NP, licensed in NY Experience: 2+ yea...

PA for home based care and pop health for underserved | Humans in Healthcare Company: Galileo Health Stage: venture, series unknown Location: NYC (mostly Brooklyn), ability to travel into patient homes. 60-80% of your time "in the field" and at your market's HQ. Type: Full time Credential: PA, licensed in NY or can become licen...

Hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

After a short writing hiatus, I’m back in your inbox today sharing the journey I’ve been on for the past 3 months since the early launch of the Humans in Healthy Community. At 80 members strong, it’s beyond proof of concept and blossoming into a space of meaningful connection and belonging.

You don’t often understand what’s happening on the inside of the community unless you’re there, so I’d love to tell you a bit about what we’ve been up to and what’s on deck. Below are just highlights, there’s so much more value-packed inside:

Clinicians in transitions

• We’ve been having regular office hours hosted by community members themselves to share their career transitions, and lessons learned, and provide practical tips for others getting started with support such as resume review, interview practice, and 1:1 and group chats to talk through the next steps.
  

• We are gearing up to kick off a job seeker accountability group so no one has to search alone!
  

• The job board curated for community members is very active with many connections being made to recruiters and others
  

• A clinician recruiter in tech is hosting upcoming guest office hours to demystify resumes, interviewing, and hiring questions
  

• What I love most is people showing up for each other. As I have often said, getting the job wasn’t necessarily the hardest part — it was the transition. It’s been so satisfying to watch how fellow community members are normalizing the highs and lows of transitions. It is exactly the space I didn’t have but desperately needed in my transition(s)

Clinician Creators

• Jamie Wilkey, PharmD, creator of a 1 million dollar business is hosting guest office hours to chat about creating, growing newsletters, and building brands
  

• Michelle Stephens, NP, PhD and co-founder of Oath Care, now in the process of shutting down, will be sharing her lessons learned on building a VC-backed company as a clinician
  

• Creator accountability groups in action! The best comment this past week regarding the creator accountability small groups (shared in our Gratitude + wins space which is THE most active space) 👇️ 

Clinicians needing peer support and empowerment

• Amazing book club reading The Algorithm Will See You Now co-hosted with author Jennifer Lycette, MD. It was a thoughtful session about how the book impacted us and her experience writing it.
  

• Dana Strauss empowering us to uplevel our knowledge of VBC and innovative models of healthcare. Don’t forget to subscribe to her newsletter, Timeless Autonomy [subscribe]
  

• Our inaugural Grief Rounds. This was a non-recorded, small sharing circle between a few of us clinicians. It was not to debrief about the details of a medical case in the way that typical "rounds" might go, but rather to share a story of a time a patient deeply changed us. As clinicians, we encounter moments in which patients' lives change — end — yet many of us don't have an opportunity to share how it also changes us. So we carry it, bury it, alone.
  
  Sharing a story allows for connection to others in their own stories and to disperse the burden, sometimes even to release it and let go. The grief can be heavy, but the burden can be lighter this way.
  
  I can't exactly articulate how moved I was by this experience, just that I was profoundly moved by my colleagues, their stories, and the heart and care they have for their patients and each other. Healing happens in community and healthcare professionals surely need it. We’ll be conducting another Grief Rounds soon.

I have spent countless hours curating and cultivating it into what it is today and how it grows tomorrow — but the most important part is it’s not just me, it’s the incredible members who show up every day to build it with me. A community is nothing without the people who show up. I am so grateful for their support and for being on this journey with me. We > me.

Scroll through these testimonials to better understand the tangible and intangible value members have received from the community.

❗️ Given all of the above and feedback from members, the price is changing (for new members who join) to better reflect the value of the community. This is the last call to join at the current price point before it changes on 4/1. I hope to see you there.

Lastly, since launching the community, many people have reached out to me for guidance on launching their own clinical communities. I am not an expert here, but in the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned (and am still learning!) in hopes it helps others. I hope you join in!

In humanity,

Amy

P.S. Check out fellow member Dr. Ruth Vo’s new newsletter sharing career stories from healthcare professionals. You’ll hear from many of the Humans in Healthcare members (a tangible benefit of the many connections made these past 3 months). Also, consider taking her Steam Ahead assessment which is a 10-minute interest profiling tool for health professionals to help realize possibilities within and beyond clinical practice.

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by the  Humans in Healthcare community ✨ 

Yes, I promote my products because if I can’t be proud and care about what I’m building, why should you? 😉 

Are you a clinician looking for community, creativity, and humanity? Consider joining the growing private community of diverse humans who are living at the intersections of career transitions, creating, and peer connection and empowerment. Hear from one of our members:

I’m on a theater kick lately.

Starting as a theater major in college, one of the fundamental classes I took in my first year was Intro to Acting. We were required to read Respect for Acting by revered actor and teacher, Uta Hagen. She teaches us that acting is a craft that requires respect and mastery through dedication and preparation.

One of the exercises we were given for the class was to pair up with a partner. One person would develop their narrative and act out a routine scene from a day in their life, complete with props (it had to be believable) while the other person was tasked with creating their narrative that would be shared when they knocked on the door and entered the room of their partner. Each narrative was unknown to the other person.

The exercise would be performed in front of the class and had to engage two ideas from Hagen — the 4th wall (an invisible, imaginary wall that separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot) and Immediacy (the fight to prevent anticipation, to prevent thinking and planning ahead, to prevent setting yourself for an action already knowing what its consequence will be).

I was paired with a guy named Phil and was tasked with acting out my scene, while I waited for him to enter my pretend room. The day of the class when we were to perform, I lugged my props across campus in the dead of winter (dedication to my craft!). I put on some Franz Ferdinand (yes, so emo), in my pretend dorm room, while I waited for my friend to come by so we could grab something to eat.

Knock, knock. I open the door. Phil enters. Immediately, I see the distraught look on his face. No longer is this a friend who is picking me up to go eat — this is a man who is deeply hurting.

My mom’s dying, he says. And the tears come.

End scene.

While that particular scene was made up, it is rooted in reality, perhaps the reality for some of you reading this right now. Something similar can happen when we open an exam room door, a car door, an office door, or a computer door (screen). What we expect to see may not be what faces us on the other side. In the scene, my narrative was expecting a friend to pick me up to eat. Instead, it was a person whose life was changing forever.

Daily events are a series of scenes and acts in the grand play of life. They are not all good, they are not all bad. But they exist and we exist in them, with them, and with each other’s narratives. And much of our learning in life is in how we respond to them, relate to them, and make space for them.

That exercise and theater in general have taught me so much about the grand play of life and how I interact with it as a friend, partner, mother, and clinician.

What acting teaches us about humanity

The 4th wall (an invisible, imaginary wall that separates actors from the audience).

In life, it’s often flipped. It’s an invisible wall that separates and disconnects us from each other. The invisible, but real burdens we carry. The invisible, but real scars we carry. The invisible, but real traumas and hurts and heartaches that we carry. How many of us exist in a 4th wall? What will it take for us to see beyond it? To break down the wall so it is no longer invisible? This is something I try to be mindful of and appreciate when I am interacting with others. What is their 4th wall? Are they putting on a brave outward face, but fighting an inner battle that I can’t see? How can I show up for the people and be invited to their 4th wall? Sometimes simply showing up and caring can be enough.

Immediacy

We live in an increasingly on-demand society where it is becoming less common to make space to pause. A productivity mindset, grind, and hustle outweigh the natural seasonality of life and the need to rest. Social media has conditioned us to react vs respond and scroll by each other on the way toward our next click.

And despite how much we plan, we cannot always control the outcome of our plans. We cannot control how others respond. In healthcare, patients have bad outcomes despite our best efforts.

We can tend to want to immediately fix other’s problems or our own problems out of discomfort. In many ways, a desire for immediacy is a mechanism to avoid discomfort. But on the other side of discomfort is growth and the only way to it is through it.

To fight against the desire for immediacy, we must train ourselves to live in the present pause, what Viktor Frankl says is the space between stimulus and response, and “in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Craft

Finding success (or being a good clinician or creator) isn’t just about talent — it’s about the development of character, ethics, and a point of view. Being a good clinician can be meaningless if we don’t uphold our ethics — our moral code, first do no harm, and the sanctity of the patient and provider relationship. And if we fail to develop a point of view (what we value and how we operate from that), our character becomes wobbly.

As Hagen states,

Service

Acting is about generosity. It’s about serving the other person. It’s about being willing to be open to what your fellow actor has to share, even when it’s unexpected. It’s about being curious about their story without the immediacy to jump to conclusions and control the outcome. Like in the pretend scene, I didn’t expect that news, but when I heard it, I had to be humble enough to be in that space of pain with my fellow actor. Relationships (ideally) are the same way. How true is this when we walk into an exam room, either as a clinician or patient? How true is this in our friendships or with our co-workers or kids?

Humanities — the connection between art and science

I think Steve Jobs said it best:

The theater and the art of acting can teach us so much about how we show up as friends, parents, partners, and colleagues. Like the theater, life is a communal adventure. We must serve the play by serving each other.

How are we serving each other?

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider engaging with an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more! Clinicians can complete a free talent profile today.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by the ✨ Humans in Healthcare community ✨ 

Are you a clinician looking for community, creativity, and humanity? Consider joining the growing private community of diverse humans who are living at the intersections of transitions, creators, and peer connection and empowerment. We aren't just one thing in this community. We are a collective, a collection of unique intersections. There is magic that happens at the point of crossing and converging. Come join in on the magic!

Humans in Healthcare community

Where clinicians come for community, creativity, and humanity

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Theatre was my first love. I started as a theatre major in college before eventually becoming a healthcare professional. I used to love watching awards shows like the Oscars or the Golden Globes, rooting for my favorite actors with whom I felt a connection through their storytelling and portrayal of characters. I don’t often watch those shows anymore, but recently had the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards playing on the TV in the background. Lily Gladstone won Best Actress for the movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and her acceptance speech made me pause:

How much I needed to be reminded of the bravery of an open heart and deep compassion — of storytellers who humanize us and invite people out of the shadows and into their light.

Newsletter writing is hard. To be transparent, I struggle to find my footing among the trendy newsletters that share news, business models, hacks, tips, and tricks because that is the antithesis of what I write about, it is the antithesis of me. This newsletter is a reflection of me — a generous and open giver of my thoughts, story, and heart — and a generous extender of my platform, inviting others out of the shadow and into their light. The tremendous effort of input week after week doesn’t always match the output and sometimes I ask myself — why do it at all?

Lily’s eloquent speech reminds me how we storytellers are compassionate souls who bring empathy into a world that so much needs it. That is who I am, what this newsletter is, and will continue to be against the tide of discouragement, the closed hearts, and the near and far enemies of fierce compassion.

As a generous giver of my thoughts and story, I have an open heart, but am working to develop what Brene Brown calls, a strong back and soft front — what can help me to stand in my authenticity and vulnerability while continuing to wear my heart on my sleeve with my soul exposed, what she describes as the link between vulnerability and courage. The duality of being brave and afraid, strong and sensitive, fierce and gentle. That is what will allow me to share my own stories and provide a platform for other brave and compassionate souls to do the same, regardless of who reads, who relates, or who rejects it.

Brave people who have been willing to share their stories like:

• Karen sharing her postpartum story [read]

• Kelley sharing her grief story [read]

• Sam sharing her cancer story [read]

• Harrison sharing his frontline story [read]

• Sonia sharing her caregiving story [read]

• May sharing her sibling story [read]

• Bryce sharing his burnout story [read]

• Elena sharing her crisis story [read]

Maya Angelou is one of my favorite famous authors. She had one son, Guy. When she passed, Guy was asked if he felt like he grew up in her shadow. No, he said. I grew up in her light.

When I think about this newsletter and my life — I want people to live in my light, but not only that, to invite others into their light by providing a platform for their stories to be told and to be heard. As Lily Gladstone said about telling stories, it brings people out of the shadows and creates visibility. Her call to action to keep speaking truths and keep speaking up for one another in compassion will not soon be forgotten.

Are people living in our shadow or our light?

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by the ✨ Humans in Healthcare community ✨ 

Are you a clinician looking for community, creativity, and humanity? Consider joining the growing private community of diverse humans who are living at the intersections of transitions, creators, and peer connection and empowerment. We have conversations and resources that span the human experience — from building a life of authenticity to professional grief to streamlining a career transition to building podcasts and newsletters to tech roles and terminology to parenting and beyond.

We aren't just one thing in this community. We are a collective, a collection of unique intersections. There is magic that happens at the point of crossing and converging. Come join in on the magic!

Humans in Healthcare Community

Where clinicians come for community, creativity, and humanity

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

I grew up listening to the music greats.

Musicians like…

Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and Brahms. 

Surprised? Having a mother as a music teacher will do that :)

Nothing moves me more than classical music.

Like Gershwin’s jazz-infused Rhapsody in Blue. Or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Or Holst’s The Planets. Or Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of The Bumblebee. Or Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

My non-verbal, autistic brother used to scream at the top of his lungs to the beat of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. You had to be there to understand the full effect.

I always embraced my classical music taste until the 4th grade when, at a school assembly, we were asked in front of the school who our favorite musical group was. Girl after girl in my row said Spice Girls — so when it came to my turn, I hesitantly followed suit with Spice Girls. New to the school, I didn’t want to stand out and be labeled as “that weird girl who likes classical music”. Kids can be so cruel. This is one of the distinct times I remember following a crowd instead of standing firmly in my likeness, my authenticity. I still feel the warm rush of shame wash over me when I reflect on that experience.

As my mother was the music teacher at my school, playing an instrument was a given. When it came time for me to pick my instrument to play, I dutifully chose a woodwind, the clarinet, since my mother played a woodwind, the flute, and my grandfather, the clarinet, too. 

That lasted all of three days. I hated the squeakiness and the feeling of the reed in my mouth. The clarinet just didn’t feel right, didn’t fit right. But in the corner, I saw the shiny bell of a 3-valved instrument and my curiosity became my destiny.

I picked up the trumpet and never looked back. 🎺

I’m still usually met with surprise when I share with people that I’m a trumpet player. Stereotypes still exist especially those of 5’3” females. Same for my mom who moved on from her music teacher days to become a school superintendent in a male-dominated field. Flute player and all. But, I digress.

Turns out my brother and sister also chose brass as their instruments (sorry Mom) — french horn and trombone. With me on the trumpet, we called ourselves the brass trio and we were dynamic!

What I love about the trumpet is the breadth of sound and depth of emotion within those sounds. The bold sass of brass, the melancholy tone of Taps, the smooth vibes of jazz — parallel to the breadth and depth of my emotions. The trumpet suits me because it describes me. It fits me. It’s my likeness.

What can we learn from this musical tale?

Thought 1 — Perhaps it’s not the person who chooses the instrument but the instrument who chooses the person.

Or like in Harry Potter, the wand that chooses the wizard. 

We often talk about finding our calling. Perhaps, we don’t find it — perhaps it finds us.

Are you missing out on being discovered by your calling because you’re hiding from your potential instead of stepping out to embrace it? Are you being called into something — the thing — and you’re missing it because you’re still playing the squeaky clarinet when you are meant to embrace the boldness of brass?

Thought 2 — It’s ok to trade what isn’t right for you for what is right for you in this season.

I quickly knew that clarinet was not for me, but the trumpet somehow found me and was just right for me. Me.

In your life, there may be situations that don’t feel right. Relationships that don’t feel right. Jobs that don’t feel right. Careers that don’t feel right. They might be right for someone else, but might not be right for you.

Or perhaps something feels forced or you are doing something for the sake of doing it because you’ve been conditioned to believe that you must. Must you, though? Have you ever challenged your thinking?

We had a wonderful conversation within the Humans in Healthcare community this past week about living a life of authenticity and much of what we discussed came down to the word alignment. Aligning your life and choices around your values and living in a way that is in congruence with that.

Given the number of career conversations I have these days with clinicians who feel guilt and shame as they seek to prioritize what is best for them — I think we need to hear this message: it’s ok to trade what isn’t right for you for what is right for you in this season.

I've come to think about my life in seasons as a way to honor and meet myself where I am, not where I think I should be. The world has made me believe that as a working woman, I should climb the career ladder, shatter the glass ceiling, and have it all at the same time while maintaining my sanity. But— that’s the quickest way for me to lose my sanity, my sense of self. So in this season, what is right for me is creating a space where I can be an intentional and present parent without losing my sense of self. Climbing a career ladder and overextending myself in a job that depleted me so I had nothing left over for my children is not right for me in this season of my life right now. Dreaming, thinking, building, creating, and parenting — is. So I’m trading in what isn’t right for me for what is right for me and leaving the guilt and shame behind.

Thought 3 — Live in your likeness, your authenticity.

I felt the warm shame of not living in my likeness that day I traded classical music for the Spice Girls. And I regret it.

For me, regret and reflection of such regret are signals of change. What has slowly changed since that day is the courage to live a life authentic to me — to live in my likeness instead of trying to live in someone else’s likeness.

Let’s have the courage to be different — to stand in our likeness instead of the shadow of someone else.

Remember — in the world of 8,005,176,000 people, there is only 1 of you.

The world needs the rarity of your soul, the magic that you bring. Don't dim your light. Shine bright.

Let’s strive to be more like the music greats who dared to bring their light into the world.

To trumpeters and the squeaky clarinets 💜 

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is sponsored by Timeless Autonomy and Dana Strauss, PT, DPT as part of my clinician creator spotlight where I highlight clinicians building newsletters, podcasts, products, services, and beyond. Are you a clinician creator and want to sponsor this newsletter for more eyes on your product or services? Complete your application below.

Timeless Autonomy

Health care delivery news, innovation, and perspectives for growth-minded industry professionals

Dana Strauss is the author of the Timeless Autonomy, a newsletter focused on value-based care. She is a PT turned expert in health care payment and alternative payment models, acute and post-acute care, home-based care, and care transitions. She works as a health policy analyst for a Fortune 10 company, where she leads VBC policy focused on Medicare and Medicare Advantage payers.

Today, Dana is sharing Part 2 in the series Value-Based Care 2.0. Below, she provides expert tips on how health tech companies can approach showing value to payers, providers, and patients when building solutions in the value-based care space. Enjoy!

📖 Value-Based Care 2.0: what health tech startups need to know about showing value to payers, providers, and patients

Value-based care is still both young and full of opportunity. There’s so much left to fix in healthcare, and between new payment incentives and technology, health tech companies can develop solutions for the three P’s: payers, providers, and patients.

The continuum of VBC engagement by all parties varies greatly from zero to full risk, and there is so much yet to be solved. VBC is a young toddler, if not still an infant. 👶 

While value-based care aligns the interests of three P’s, solutions are often sold to just one or two of the P’s. To be competitive, be a solution that spells out your value to all three.

Payers

Whether it’s the federal government as the payer, states, commercial insurance, or private pay…the cat’s out of the bag. They know it’s possible to care for patients better, more effectively and efficiently, more upstream, and more proactively.

They also know that a patient engaged proactively in the health system is more likely to manage their health and seek preventative care and that MANY reasons for high cost, poor quality, and poor value spending are the result of non-medical drivers.

So the payers’ challenge is that they don’t provide care.

I know, it’s obvious.

But when the person paying isn’t the patient, expecting something specific in return, it removes the comfort, or the assurance, that what’s billed is what’s needed. What’s actually NEEDED is what’s going to lead to early detection, management of diseases, health habit development, alternatives to hospital and ER care that have a cascading spend effect, and referrals to other high-value providers.

The provider, who in fee-for-service makes a living by quantity of billable care, procedures, and services, is not incentivized to save money or provide efficient care for the payer of services, specifically because it’s usually a third party.

Have you ever heard a provider say something like “We don’t want to order an MRI at that high-cost center because we want to save the payer money?”

It’s funny, isn’t it?

Showing value to a payer

First, make sure you know what the payer’s goals and pain points are.

• Are they developing high-value networks?

• What types of beneficiaries are they serving?

• Is there a lot of patient churn?

• Are they struggling because of quality scores?

• What levers are available?

Second, know how far they are in value-based care arrangements and in what product segments. Surface opportunities to make progress to the next step. Remind them of the future state and why it’s inevitable.

An example:

If your product offers a way for primary care providers to identify, refer, and communicate with the most high-value specialists and other clinical and service solutions and are pitching to the payer to reimburse 100% of the cost of these services, consider demonstrating:

• why and how the provider will embrace the solution?

• how it will improve their operations, and how it supports payer/provider alignment.

• how patients will experience the results of the provider using this tool

• will the high-value specialist connect more meaningfully with the patient?

• will the patient feel more seen, heard, and cared for when the primary care practice reaches out after the specialist is called to coordinate care?

• how likely would it be for a patient who feels part of the care team to remain a loyal customer of that primary care provider?

• how likely will they be to reach out sooner when they don’t feel well rather than waiting until they need the ER?

How does your product facilitate a flywheel effect? Engaged and loyal patients, enthusiastic, committed providers, and flexible and responsive payers foster engaged and loyal patients.

Providers

Providers can be more resistant to change. The move to VBC has been driven largely by payers. You are painting a picture of the inevitable future state. Providers are on a spectrum of acceptance of this reality.

Primary care providers taking full financial risk for a population, especially the Medicare population, have developed a framework for success. The Medicare population is more stable in terms of which patients are part of which payer. There are those in FFS and then the Medicare Advantage population. In full-risk models with high-value providers, patients are also getting high-quality experiences that make them more likely to commit to the same payer year over year.

In full financial risk, providers typically build care teams, support patients’ multidimensional medical and non-medical social determinants of health, do more proactive outreach to patients, and put systems in place to facilitate hospital avoidance at all costs.

They build primary specialty care into their practice, work with high-value specialists, and collaborate closely with all others who provide care and services. They may engage in provider to provider e-consults. They are paid to cover the total cost of care of the patient for the calendar year and do everything they can to help avoid high-cost, low-quality utilization. They often spend much more on primary care-related services than a typical practice. The way they practice doesn’t resemble the care most of us are used to. Patients are generally happy and engaged, feel heard, and feel better.

These types of providers exist in pockets, but this is only the beginning. Solutions have to scale and get to the masses.

Showing value to Providers

Develop and present solutions to primary care providers and teams considering the following:

Providers can be wary of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Ease those fears by shifting the narrative. De-mystify AI. Demonstrate examples of AI solving problems that help patients they can’t reach easily. Such as:

• AI makes humans smarter. It allows providers to scale their care, better engage patients, and provide “just in time” contact.

• AI democratizes access to care.

• AI saves lives. An example today is being able to identify teens at risk of suicide by changes in their responses to questions.

• AI solves workforce issues and variability issues.

• AI allows care coordinators to reach out to the right patients at the right time and makes the experience for the coordinator more satisfying.

Most of what drives health outcomes is related to non-medical or social determinants of health. Demonstrate how your product does what providers can’t:

• Can your product connect the right patient to the right community support?

• Can your product assist with transportation, in-home access, or remote access to care?

Providers are pitched solutions that may meet one need well, but either don’t play well with other fixed tools and workflows already in place or are too limited in their future scope of applicability.

• Ensure your product makes operations and workflow more intuitive and simpler, and articulate how.

• Predict future needs and share how your product will be adapted to meet those needs (example-as interoperability requirements change, what does that mean for your product?)

• Can your product eliminate boring, unsatisfying work? Can it make the quality of work in the office more consistent across the board?

Predict the quality metrics of the future. CMS is interested in aligning quality measures across all payers. How does the future of quality, including a move away from process measures, help you demonstrate the value of your product?

• The more we move to outcomes-based quality measures, the more providers have to lean into care transformation.

• Quality metrics we could see more consistently, especially when providers are paid prospectively, per member per month, capitated:

  • Days at home per year

  • Care received at home vs. in a facility

  • Patient-reported outcomes measures

• Quality measures of the future will likely move fully off of “process” measures, like reporting the number of diabetic eye exams completed in the relevant population, and colonoscopies, mammographies, etc, because payment and penalties are so dependent on high-quality disease management and early detection, that process metrics have to be good to be successful.

Use patient examples.

• Patient examples are so incredibly powerful in demonstrating the value of a solution and/or service.

• Providers/health systems/clinicians very commonly collect and share patient stories to keep everyone focused on the mission, the long-term goals, and the “why.”

• Most want to partner with technology vendors who understand that. They show the results that align with their goals, and they know what fits their culture.

Patients

Let’s back up and think about what patients care about. What do you care about when choosing and remaining loyal to a physician practice? You should directly point these out to a practice if they fit with your solution.

Showing value to a patient

• Does your product make it simple for patients to communicate with their providers? Patients want their chosen method to be available, whatever that is. Same with communicating with the payer. It should be simple and reliable.

• Does it address access to care? Zero to minimal wait time for urgent issues. If I perceive them as urgent, they are urgent, and I want to be able to ask someone.

• Does the product improve operations for staff and providers so they can take more time and be more human with their patients?

• Does the solution make calling, texting, or messaging to follow up on visits simple? Can the practice easily send information, contact me, and coordinate with my other providers?

• Does the solution allow patients to use their health insurance benefits wisely and does that use drive good outcomes? If a patient’s benefits include non-medical, supplemental benefits, can the product help match the patient's needs to the benefits available?

Putting the 3 P’s together

Here’s an example of showing value to the provider, patient, and payor when selling a patient engagement tool to a primary care practice:

“Our patient engagement tool eases the burden on the practice and reduces variability.” (1st P: provider).

and

“Our patient engagement tool automates an enjoyable, patient-centered experience, improving compliance, loyalty to the practice, trust, and engagement. It improves the quality of care and outcomes by making it easy and enjoyable for your patients to stay close to the practice and providers” (2nd P: patient).

and

“Our patient engagement tool reduces the likelihood a patient will seek emergency room care when they just need urgent care access. It ensures changes in their condition are caught early before decompensation is so significant that they need a hospital stay. That reduces the likelihood of not just the hospital stay, but additional post-acute care and the risks and complications inherent in transitions of care and post-acute care.” (3 P: payer).

Bonus: other considerations to make you and your product competitive in the VBC space

Stay up to date on policy and regulatory barriers and opportunities and what’s on the horizon. Be a visionary and make the vision make sense. Paint a picture of the path.

Be transparent about your roadmap. Be honest. Don’t sell what’s not built yet.

Build into your offering direct support for implementation and problem-solving.

Create a newsletter and share it with prospects and clients. Provide tremendous value. Be a thought leader. Make them proud to work with you.

If you don’t have clinicians on your team as you build, refine, develop your roadmap, support implementation, add them.

And regarding clinicians, here’s a great place to find talent!

Thank you Dana for sharing your insights and knowledge and helping us step into the future of VBC. Be sure to stay updated on health policy news and educational opportunities from Dana, delivered right to your inbox!

In humanity,

Amy

Dana is hosting a VBC workshop for members of the Humans in Healthcare community. Are you a clinician interested in joining a space where we regularly host office hours and workshops on a variety of topics related to clinicians, creativity, and humanity?

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Are you a clinician who is seeking community, creativity, and humanity? Consider joining the community filled with diverse clinicians who are showing up for themselves and others. It’s turning out to be a magical experience!

Last week, a guest post by Dana Strauss shared about value-based care 2.0. Dana is hard at work drafting out part two in the series: how to show value to patients, providers, and payers, set to hit your inbox next week.

In the meantime, I am inviting you to a dose of humanity by giving you an update on a previous contributor to this newsletter, Samantha Gomolka. If you recall, Sam is a physician assistant who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year at the age of 42. She vulnerably shared her journey here in chapter 16: from physician assistant to cancer patient.

I am happy to report that Sam has since completed all 6 rounds of chemotherapy and an elective double mastectomy due to being BRCA2 positive. She will be undergoing her final breast reconstruction in about 4 weeks.

I’ve always admired Sam’s vulnerability in documenting her journey through her unique lens of being both a physician assistant and patient. Today, I want to leave you with an update in her words that weave together and honor her dual identities as a healthcare professional and patient.

✍️ Sam writes:

Beyoncé has her posse, and now I have mine……

Another doctor’s appointment today, and to be honest, I have been averaging 2-3 appointments per week since last May.

Before my own diagnosis, I would review the past medical history of patients coming in, mentally acknowledge any diseases, and think that once done with treatment, cancer really did belong in the Past Medical History section of the chart.

Oh humble pie, it tastes awful.

As advised yesterday, these next two years are when my risk of recurrence is at the highest, so my follow-ups are short-term to make sure we can catch anything in the early stages, but there is a whole team that is keeping me safe, nursing me back to health, and generally making sure that I avoid disaster.

Who are these angels?

• Rockstar oncologist

• PMD

• Pancreatic specialist

• Breast surgeon

• Plastic surgeon

• Hormone Specialist

• Dermatologist

• Ophthalmologist

• Dentist (I haven’t had a cavity in 35 years, but found out at my cleaning a couple of weeks ago that I had two small ones….thank you chemo)

So, in the past 9 months, it feels that I have gone from a healthcare professional to a professional patient. Some of the specialists I see weekly, others I see every couple of months. It’s been a busy time. Add bloodwork, imaging, and other tests that they order and my week fills quickly.

The week before my diagnosis I thought I pulled a hamstring from kayaking. I was slamming Motrin and walking around my office thinking my leg pain would get better, and would eventually go away. I never even thought to make an appointment with my doctor, partly because I didn’t want to cancel my patients. I know that they arranged babysitters or took time off work for their appointments with me.

It is not lost on me that the leg pain was actually two blood clots in my leg, and could have killed me way faster than the huge tumor in my abdomen. I was, and still am so very lucky.

So, now I go to the doctor. All the time. And I make sure that I don’t fall into the knucklehead category of ignoring my health while instructing people on how to achieve theirs.

Fear of recurrence is real and lives in the back (ok, sometimes the front too) of my mind. While I’m past the “hard” part, this is not over. Every pain, twinge, or weird thing stops my heart for a second to think is it back?

I’m not depressed, or sad — I’m actually quite happy, and feel that I have come a long way on my healing journey. Acknowledging that I still think about the disease can be a blessing in some ways. It keeps me sharp on what is important to me now and prevents the facade of mundane life lulling me back to complacency. I’m striving to find the magic each day — whether it’s walking in the woods, or starting a new book club for Gracie — I have committed to make each day special.

I read that Toby Keith passed away while I was scrolling this morning. He had millions of fans but left this world surrounded by family and friends. Those were his people. I have tried to be intentional about focusing my attention on my people, mostly Mike and the kids. It’s so good for the soul.

I will never forget that each day here is a bonus day. One more day that each of us was never promised.

So I challenge you — how do you find the magic in each day? And are you loving YOUR people as you should? Live. Really live and love.

Thank you Sam for the poignant reminder — that while we do our best to show up for our patients, we also need to recognize our own humanity and right to care for our own needs while we care for others as well. Not either, or. Both, and.

Let this be a reminder today to get that check-up, schedule that screening, follow up on that nagging feeling, and honor your needs. Care for yourself so that you can care for others. 💜 

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, Amy here, your authentically honest full-stop human, community builder, and creator of Humans in Healthcare, sharing the stories and experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Today’s chapter is sponsored by Timeless Autonomy and Dana Strauss, DPT, PT as part of my clinician creator database where I highlight clinicians building newsletters, podcasts, products, services, and beyond. Are you a clinician creator and want to list your services or sponsor this newsletter for more eyes on your product or services? Complete your creator database application below.

Timeless Autonomy

Health care delivery news, innovation, and perspectives for growth-minded industry professionals

Dana Strauss is the author of the Timeless Autonomy, a newsletter focused on value-based care (subscribe through the link!). She is a PT turned expert in health care payment and alternative payment models, acute and post-acute care, home-based care, and care transitions. She works as a health policy analyst for a Fortune 10 company, where she is responsible for VBC and Medicare public policy.

And today, she’s unpacking what any founder building a health tech company centered around value-based care in 2024 should know. This will be a two-part series with an invitation for more learning opportunities in part two.

📖 Value-based care 1.0 is behind us; value-based care 2.0 has arrived.

What Health tech startups need to know about VBC 2.0 to create and sell their solutions.

Value-based care is not about limiting necessary utilization

There are many misunderstandings about VBC. This is a big one ☝️ 

Health tech startups should understand it.

• Necessary utilization improves outcomes and reduces high-cost, interventional, higher-risk care

• Necessary utilization engages patients in their care, detects diseases and chronic conditions early, assists in differential diagnoses, assists in coordination of care, provides the right intervention at the right time in the least restrictive site

• Necessary utilization is evidence-based or evidence-informed and specific to each individual

• Necessary utilization is the treatment or care that’s most appropriate based on evidence and patient-specific needs, not what leads to the highest billing

• Necessary utilization uses data-driven insights when available, not provider “experience” alone

Value-based care is about avoiding and preventing unnecessary care, care driven by “wants,” instead of “needs,” and making referrals and creating orders that will not improve patient outcomes

Unnecessary care includes many things. Here are a few examples:

• Based on patient or provider “wants” after an acute stay: As an example, a patient has a short hospital stay for a UTI. She is a bit weak and will need some support for a few days as she gets back to moving. Her daughter is home with her. The discharge planner says she could go “for rehab to a skilled nursing facility.” However, she can be managed well in home health. But that referral takes longer for the d/c planner, and the daughter said she could “use a break.”

  • Cost of SNF for 3 weeks in FFS Medicare: around $15,000

  • The cost if she had gone home with home health: around $2,000

  • And we won’t even touch on the risks of adding another transition of care or another inpatient stay

• Referring for services because no solution fits in a fee-for-service payment paradigm: A classic example PTs can relate to:

  • Chronic low back pain patient who has had negative impacts on her mental health in multiple failures of treatment. Siloed care, unsuccessful procedures, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, etc. The physician has sent the patient for a PT evaluation 4 times in 6 months. Treatment approaches require behavior change, support for depression, coaching, and more. PT has exhausted options in terms of treatment modalities, but the referrals continue

• Patients dictating what they think they need, and providers complying. Example, again based on musculoskeletal care: Low-risk low back pain patient with no red flags, acute mechanical pain. No fall or trauma

  • Patient is afraid of “something serious” and requests an MRI and Percocet

  • Provider prescribes both

  • Neither are necessary in this simple patient scenario

Health Tech startups should understand the fee-for-service incentives of every site of care. Some examples:

• Inpatient acute care hospital: short lengths of stay, procedures/attracting and retaining surgeons

• Outpatient medical practices: visit volumes, procedures, simplifying and optimizing operations

• Inpatient Rehab Facilities: short lengths of stay, relationships with hospitals

• Skilled Nursing Facilities: long lengths of stay, relationships with hospitals and IRFs

• Home Health Agencies: beyond the LUPA, low number of visits per 30-day episode, relationships with all community referral sources: hospitals, SNFs, IRFs, physician practices, etc

Also, understand the lingo, how payers and their possible payment arrangements with providers are alike and different. Talk the talk:

Medicare FFS vs MA, Medicaid FFS vs. MCOs, MA SNPS, MSSP, EOCs, ACA plans, CMS vs HHS risk adjustment, EOM, KCC…

There’s nothing worse for a healthcare executive than being pitched on a product by a team that doesn’t understand at least as much as they do about these things. They expect you to be an expert!

Identify motivators for a provider or site of care to engage in VBC arrangements:

For primary care physician practices, it depends on what kind. Primary care levers are pretty well-established.

McKinsey & Company

What about for specialists? Simple answer—depends.

Depends on things like:

• the local market

• the specialist type

• the payers more or less common to that specialty

• where they see patients

Stay abreast of healthcare delivery and payment policy and the political climate

What will cost the payer vs. what will save the payer?

Who will be advocating for and against something that you do or don’t want to see happen?

What upcoming changes are expected to programs in which your ideal client participants or may want to participate?

What political pressures and timing could impact the actual movement by Congress to change policy?

An example: Telehealth Policy and Implications. What do you need to know?

Maybe you provide telehealth solutions for a group physician practice focused on the Medicare population that hasn’t yet entered into risk-based arrangements.

Telehealth use has expanded in the Medicare population with the PHE waivers allowing beneficiaries to receive telehealth in their own homes. That was extended for two years in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. It wasn’t legislated into policy or paid for beyond 2024.

Why does this matter?

Telehealth has to be added to the Physician Fee Schedule payment regulations and funded in a budget-neutral way. Physician payments have been through several years of conversion factor cuts and a long-term solution is badly needed.

So how will telehealth be paid for? What’s going to happen? We don’t know.

But what we do know is that there are ACO models with a telehealth waiver available, and by joining the model, providers can continue to offer telehealth services regardless of fee-for-service regulations and policy and payment updates.

If I’m the telehealth solutions provider, I might think about:

• presenting an update on telehealth policy relevant to their setting and patient population

• sharing what the risks mean for them

• offering to help them enter a model that would ensure they continue to have access to telehealth for their patients

We’re going to leave it here for today. Come back for part two when Dana will share insights on how to successfully demonstrate what value your solution brings to patients, providers, and payers (a must to be a successful company in the VBC space) as well as offer resources for learning more about VBC in 2024! Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to Timeless Autonomy.

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

📌 Check out my featured jobs from the PCOS & Women’s Health start up Allara

• Part time NP (remote)

• Part time MD/DO (remote)

• Part time RD (remote)

And a side gig for a mental health clinician that could evolve

• Founding CBT Therapist

Community members get first access to these jobs, non listed jobs, interview support, and warm intros to hiring managers as applicable among many other benefits such as office hours, resources, and peer support.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi friend, how are you?

Thanks for making space in your inbox for me today! A reminder that you matter. Keep showing up.

📣 This newsletter is sponsored by Consonant Consulting

Consonant Consulting provides consulting and advising services for early to mid-stage digital health companies including start-up strategy, leadership, and team building advisement, diligence, and subject matter advising. Get expert guidance from a health tech consultant who helped build a $7B company. Bring your big ideas to life, without losing sight of the mission that started it all.

Are you a clinician creator and want to sponsor this newsletter for more eyes on your product or services? Complete your creator database application to be considered. It’s free to be listed with other options to be amplified.

There’s a long-standing debate between leadership being innate vs learned. What is your take? From my perspective, I think some traits can make someone more prone to leadership, but I think it can be learned with the right mindset, effort, desire, and guidance.

That’s why it is my core belief that it’s not the title that makes the leader. It’s the person behind the title that does.

This is true everywhere, but especially in healthcare. In healthcare, we all have to be leaders even if we don’t have the title. We have to lead our patients well. We have to work collaboratively in a team well. We have to lead ourselves well.

Yet, there is still little preparation for what it takes to be a leader. Leadership doesn’t often come with a handbook, yet some of us are thrust into leadership positions or find ourselves climbing the ladder of leadership wondering how we got there. Others work for leaders to only learn what they will not do when they find themselves in a position of leadership.

Leadership is not theoretical. It’s an action — what you do backed up by what you say backed up by how you show up. Leadership often requires duality — having a presence that is quiet enough to hear and bold enough to share. And it’s hard — hard to balance humility and confidence, charisma and character, vulnerability and courage, boldness and kindness.

Clinicians are now finding more opportunities to use their clinical experiences in sought-after leadership positions outside of clinical medicine — in tech, industry, and beyond. So is this a prime time for clinicians to shine? I think so, and yet, there still isn’t a great support system to help clinicians shine.

Today, I am gifting you a few words from someone who shines here and walks the walk: Dr. Tzvi Doron (who also happens to be a founding member of the Humans in Healthcare community!).

Dr. Doron didn’t climb his way to leadership — rather, he learned his way through leadership, starting as employee #3 in a fast-growing health tech startup to eventually become their Chief Clinical Officer, holding functions in both the corporate and clinical teams.

Below, he offers some wisdom from lessons learned through actively leading people and teams. Please also take our quick survey at the end and tell us if you’re interested in joining a clinician leadership conversation to help prepare you to become the leader you can be in healthcare and beyond.

📖 Today’s chapter: Leadership isn’t theory, it’s action

with Dr. Tzvi Doron

The leadership transition

One of the greatest challenges to rising clinician leaders in startups and industry is the transition from individual contributor (IC) to manager. As practicing clinicians, we are judged by our own work. This may be antibiotic stewardship, door-to-balloon time, readmissions, or polyp detection rate, etc. Even when we lead other clinicians, our jobs often depend to a large degree on supporting those goals for other clinicians for a percentage of our work while we continue to practice our craft. 

Working in tech or industry is different. As an IC, you are judged—and judge yourself—by your own output. How many policies have I created that are being used? How many sales have I made? What products, devices, drugs, or clinical journeys have I created that are helping patients and pushing forward company objectives? 

However, as you transition to a manager, your output and success are based primarily on what your team produces. Your job is to bring out the best in your team by coaching them and helping them solve problems as well as providing moral leadership and inspiration. This can be a difficult change. 

One of the most important things you must learn how to do is to give away your legos. You will no longer have the time to be in the weeds on every little task or project, including ones for which you used to hold primary responsibility. Your job now is to build and/or maintain a team with the right people in different functions. You must bring out the best in those people through empowering them with the support they need to succeed. You must know enough to maintain alignment and prevent things from going too far off the rails and be ready to dive into the weeds from time to time as necessary. But how do you give people autonomy and trust while not allowing the ship to sail into the wind?

Trust, Empowerment, and Alignment

There is a delicate balance rising leaders must strive for. It is a balance between autonomy, empowerment, alignment, and preventing serious damage to team or company goals. Don’t worry. This balance is not an exact point but more like a zone. Just as there is no exact normal value for potassium or hemoglobin, there is no exact point for this. You might be fine with a potassium level of 4.0 or 4.5 but not treating a level of 7.0 would be medical malpractice. Similarly, you must empower your teams and reports to have autonomy and solve many problems themselves, but you cannot allow for catastrophic mistakes or mistakes that undermine company goals or values. 

There are several factors here that will contribute to this balance. The first is establishing rapport. Leaders must genuinely care for their teams’ and reports’ personal and professional well-being. Faking it will not do. People will know if you are not for real. This does not require a deep personal relationship, but it also means knowing something about people’s personal lives. It is necessary to be able to help them be the best at their jobs. It is also the right thing to do because our lives do not have neat compartments, much as we pretend they do. 

Once rapport has been established (this is not sequential but rapport is necessary for everything else), bidirectional trust is a must. Your reports and those on other teams must know that you will be truthful and that your feedback is never meant to hurt or punish even though it may sting at times. Once again, the only way to earn trust is to truly earn it. Most people have decent bullshit detectors. They will know if you are lying, and there will be downstream repercussions. Trust is the basis of all human relationships, and leading is a form of service. If you are not interested in serving others, you will never be the best leader you can be. 

Along with rapport and trust, you must strive to maintain alignment with your team. This is not something you can establish and put on autopilot. It is more akin to steering a car. It requires ongoing communication to make sure each individual understands company and team objectives and you understand what people are doing is laddering up to those objectives. It is much easier to reestablish alignment early in the process than later. This is like a ship that has gone off the route 5 degrees for only a few minutes. At that point, getting back on course takes no time at all. However, if the same 5 degree deviation is maintained for a month, the problem is much larger. This is what regular one-on-ones and other impromptu communication is for. You must use this time to continually realign with your people. 

Good rapport, trust, and alignment are what give you the confidence to empower your teams with autonomous decision-making and problem-solving. Alignment provides you with confidence that they know what they should be working on, and trust and rapport mean they are not afraid to come to you if they need help and you can also be sure that they will come to you if there’s a problem before it’s too late. This may all seem too simple, but it isn’t. Sure, there are many fine points you will learn with time and may vary by team and context, but these basics form the bedrock of solid leadership.

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Thanks for reading and thanks to Dr. Doron for sharing his lessons learned. More to come!

In humanity,

Amy

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Hi friend, how are you?

Thanks for being here with me and allowing me to take up space in your inbox. I appreciate you.

If you’d like to listen rather than read today’s chapter, you can do so by clicking the link below. Enjoy!

📣 This newsletter is sponsored by Career Cliniq

Are you mid career healthcare professional trying to figure out a path that harmonizes your personal values, evolving identity, and professional aspirations? Take Career Cliniq’s free 10 minute interest profiling tool for health professionals to help you identify possibilities within and beyond clinical practice.

*Coming soon from Career Cliniq: a step-by-step decision-making guide to help you rediscover and articulate your professional value and gain clarity about what to do next with your career as a health professional.

*Special pricing access to this guide is a Humans in Healthcare community member benefit perk!

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📖 Today’s chapter: Collaboration is it better than competition?

A few times per week, I take a high-intensity yoga class.

Yeah, you read that right. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and yoga. Think Burpees meet Vinyasa and Down Dog.

Oh, and it’s heated. In peak Arizona heat, too 🫠

Aren’t yoga and HIIT the opposite of each other, you might ask? Yes and no. One is calm, slow, and focused on breathing and grounding. The other is intense, cardio-centric, and high-energy. Both focus on strength.

Duality can co-exist together. Both can be true at the same time. (Side note — this perfectly mirrors the duality of my personality. Anyone else?)

There are no scheduled breaks in the class as the instructors tell us to listen to our bodies and take what we need. Some people push to their max which might look like rest to others. My burpee numbers might be more than my neighbors. We all modify when we need to. Yet, we’re all in it together, as a community. Sometimes we fuel and feed off each other’s energy or we turn inward and leave everything on the mat.

We end every class as a community — turned toward each other to breathe together. Once for ourselves and a second time for those who cannot.

I walk away with a sense of wholeness and belonging every time.

What does this have to do with the Humans in Healthcare newsletter?

The best way I can describe the experience of the HIIT yoga class is this: we collaborate and cheer each other on as a community but are only competitive with our own selves.

I think that mindset is challenging for many of us in healthcare, especially when we are on a journey unique to our own time and place, yet are finding that others are in a similar space. Especially as some of us begin to use our skills creatively or become creators ourselves.

This is not always the case, but the culture of medicine can breed toxic competition and promote a territorial nature. This is in part due to our siloed identities and the way we engage in fragmented care and part because as clinicians, we’re taught to be the best — often perfection — so when it comes to working on things outside of patient care, it’s common for us to want to be the best there, too.

This mentality can carry over to the creator space. A ‘clinician creator’ is still a relatively nascent concept, so in some ways, we think we must be the first, best, or last standing if we want to succeed. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it becomes detrimental when competition means I’m only succeeding if you’re not, and vice versa. This is called a zero-sum mentality. Adopting this mentality can come at the expense of our inner peace especially if we get stuck in the comparison trap and see others succeeding while we’re struggling. I see this play out on social media. While it can be beneficial in some aspects, social media breeds unhealthy and toxic comparison and competition as well.

Coming from healthcare where I’ve often been met with a zero-sum mentality to the creator world one step outside of it has been interesting, but I’m thankful for my nonclinical experience which embraced a more positive-sum mindset— and they are a big reason why the core ethos of the Humans in Healthcare community is focused on collaboration over competition — where we can celebrate the successes of others while rooting for ourselves, too.

And so, part of what I’m building into the community elements of Humans in Healthcare is a safe space to meet other creators outside of the unhealthy comparison and competition of the creator space of social media.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get feedback from a built-in audience and potential user base who share similar values instead of putting your art out into the world and leaving it to the chance of social media algorithms, highlight reels, and zero-sum thinking? I sure think so.

Here are some tangible outcomes of the Humans in Healthcare community-driven collaboration already 👇️ 

• Two of the founding Humans in Healthcare community members (who did not know each other prior) discovered a mutual interest within a week of connecting in the community and a month later co-authored an article in the Psychiatric Times.

•  A clinician is getting certified in coaching and asked for early testers on practicing coaching methodology. Within minutes of their request, 4 people stepped up to help out. Some are getting their own coaching certification or exploring their methods so it has become a great value exchange

• The sponsor for this newsletter! The creator of the Career Cliniq is a member of the Humans in Healthcare community. We share so many similar interests and at the heart of what we are both trying to do is help humans find their sense of belonging in what they are doing in their careers. So I’m helping spread the word of her fabulous creation and she’s generously showing up in the community.

All happening behind the scenes in the ideate, build, test, iterate space ✨ 

Ideate, build, test, iterate | Humans in Healthcare

Explore Ideate, build, test, iterate space in Humans in Healthcare

Just like my HIIT-yoga class, I am trying to bring people together so that we can celebrate others and what others are creating while pushing ourselves to the limits of our own creations. Both can be true at the same time. We don’t need to be the best at something, just the best at one thing — being ourselves.

Each person has their own pace, their own race, their own journey. We can support each other without taking away from what we are building. We can shine bright so others can shine even brighter. We can show up for someone who is vulnerably putting their art into the world and invite them into our world so we can share art together.

I see so many of my clinician colleagues working toward change in healthcare while also seeking joy outside of it: in arts, writing, podcasting, building, community, coaching, consulting, founding, and investing, among many other things. It's inspiring. I hope to always create space for you. Let’s not see each other as invading space, rather, let’s create space for each other.

If you are stepping into the creative space and are met with toxic competition — remember this:

If you need a space to see the weight and significance of your story and art, join us.

In humanity,

Amy

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Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.
 

Are you a clinician looking for community, creativity, and humanity?

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?

Hi, friend, how are you?

Week two of the new year. How are those goals or resolutions coming 🫣 Too soon? Yeah, for me too. We’ll get through it together. What’s on your heart and in your story for this year? Reply and tell me. I’d love to hear.

📣 Today’s newsletter chapter is sponsored by: The Humans in Healthcare Community

Humans in Healthcare is a space for clinicians to find community, creativity, and humanity. Here, you are more than a credential --- you are a human who is allowed to grow, change, and evolve. This is a space for:

• clinicians in transitions

• clinician creators

• clinicians needing support and empowerment

As a member, you’ll receive support from the collective lived experience of the community as you transition in and out of the clinic, in leadership, and beyond, experience the transformative power of community-driven learning, access a growing resource library, build, test, iterate, and amplify each other’s creative work, and find extra special connections you may never have made otherwise. And most of all, humanize our experiences together.

50% of this community consists of clinicians who have successfully pivoted or developed creative career portfolios and are ready and willing to share their experience. If you’re in a transition, you’ll get 1:1 and 1:many support. Did I mention that I made two warm intros for community members for opportunities on the job board and they are already moving toward interviews? It works. Join us.

Are you a clinician creator and want to sponsor this newsletter for more eyes on your product or services? Complete your creator database application to be considered. It’s free to be listed with other options to be amplified.

📖 And now for the feature chapter

Today, I am sharing a chilling, yet impactful story written by Elena Herrera, Psy.D. Dr. Herrera is a bilingual, licensed psychologist who will take us through her experience working in crisis care. She sheds light on what can happen when systems are built for efficiency and productivity and not designed to honor and care for the people who care for people. I admire her courage for sharing it and for reminding us of our humanity as healthcare professionals. We are not machines and cannot simply move on when a patient has an undesired outcome. We deserve dignity and space to process and heal.

✍️ Elena writes:

Thank you, Elena, for sharing your story and helping remind us of our shared humanity. Be sure to connect with her and explore her services. She is open to writing and consulting opportunities as she, like many of us, aims to use her clinical skills creatively.

If you are a healthcare professional who has or is experiencing professional grief and needs a supportive space to share your story, join the Humans in Healthcare community where we will be dedicating space to healing circles around professional grief called Grief Rounds. We can heal in community.

In humanity,

Amy

Are you a clinician looking for a new role or a hiring manager or recruiter hiring a clinician? Consider posting to an incredible and talented network of seasoned clinical tech operators and leaders, content experts and SMEs, pharma educators and researchers, product and project managers, frontline clinicians, and more.

Are you a healthcare professional, patient, or caregiver and want to share your story?