Ep 30 – Finding Inner Purpose to Lead a Digital Transformation, with Edward W. Marx

What this episode covers

The health care industry is experiencing a digital transformation that has been decades in the making. In this era of COVID-19 disruption and heightened consumer expectations for care delivery, the industry needs trusted leaders like Ed Marx. As one of the leading experts on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other disruptive technology innovations in healthcare, Ed Marx is the trusted advisor that healthcare organizations seek for advice on successfully navigating this digital transformation journey.   Our guest this week, Edward W. Marx, is Chief Digital Officer for Tech Mahindra Health and Life Sciences. As CDO, he oversees digital strategy and execution for providers, payors, pharma and bio-tech. Ed has had a phenomenal CIO career in leading the development and execution of digital strategies that have positioned his organizations for success and long-term relevance, including Cleveland Clinic, NYC Health & Hospital, Texas Health Resources, and more. Ed is a Fellow of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. He has won numerous awards, including HIMSS/CHIME 2013 CIO of the Year, and has been recognized by CIO and Computer World as one of the “Top 100 Leaders.” Becker’s named Marx as the 2015 “Top Healthcare IT Executive” and the 2016 “17 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” Edward also races for Team USA Duathlon, is an Ironman Triathlete, has climbed some of the tallest mountains in the world, and is a cancer survivor. In this episode, we speak with Ed about his most recent of 5 books, the new 2020 healthcare bestseller “Healthcare Digital Transformation: How Consumerism, Technology and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future.” Join us as we consider consumer-centric, data-driven care delivery -- enabled by technology innovation – as a blueprint for the digital transformation that will lead to success in this race to value! Episode Bookmarks: 01:45 Introduction to Ed Marx and his new book “Healthcare Digital Transformation: How Consumerism, Technology and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future” 04:30 Eric’s chance encounter with Ed at SXSW 05:20 “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Ed’s passion to live life to the fullest) 06:00 Ed’s philosophy to “Risk Boldly and Often” during our short time on Earth 08:10 Experiencing the deaths of two young girls in Saint Petersburg, reflections on his own mortality, and finding inner peace with dying 09:30 Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and creating a medical clinic in Tanzania 09:55 Fighting cancer and using his inner purpose (with the help of great clinicians) to heal 10:45 “When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters -- one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity." 13:00 Ed reflects on the opportunity for healthcare digital transformation in the pandemic crisis 13:40 “We have to completely reengineer and reimagine the financial aspects of healthcare today and move swiftly into value-based care.” 15:20 How the velocity of change and disruption from new entrants and non-traditional players will impact current healthcare providers 17:00 The introduction of retail giants (CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart) into the healthcare arena and their “digital first” approach to patient engagement 17:30 The decline of virtual ambulatory care visits from the peak of COVID telehealth deployment and how that retreat is a bad signal for digital transformation 18:30 Payers reaping record profits during the pandemic; how payers will leverage capital reserves to aggregate providers and deliver care directly to patients 19:55 “Care is going to be directed more and more by new entrants (e.g. retail,