The Power of Partnership in Healthcare

If you are a regular reader of the xPRESS, you’ll likely have picked up on the fact that I recently became a new parent. Many of you reading are likely parents as well, and so what I am about to say may come off resulting in a “well, no duh, dummy” response, but here goes anyway: parenting is frickin’ hard.?

And it is hard in a way that is fundamentally different than all my previous “hards.” Organic chemistry? That was hard. Bench pressing 225 pounds, that’s hard. Burying a loved one? Tremendously hard. Navigating the healthcare space as both a career and as a consumer? Well, if you are reading this, you know how hard that challenge is….

But parenting (at least, so far, four-ish months in) has been hard in a way that is so unique, so encompassing of all different types of “hards” – intellectually, physically, emotionally, etc – that one can imagine.

Let’s just say, I could not possibly parent without my wife. There’s just no way. If marriage is the ultimate partnership, then there is no greater test of marriage tensile strength than parenting, and there is no greater testament to the power of partnership than two young first-time parents. Needless to say, I have no idea how single parents do it.

This whole parenting thing, and the magnifying glass that’s been held up against my marriage, (communication, selflessness, empathy, patience – these all have to be locked in) has me rethinking the power of partnership elsewhere.

Think about a really challenging medical case. It may begin with a primary care provider, may require emergency room and/or hospitalists at some point, various specialists and sub-specialists. Think about even not just an exceptionally rare or challenging case, but a typical breast cancer patient journey. If you look at the NPI numbers associated with her journey, you’ve likely got many or all of the following: a PCP, an OB/GYN, surgery, radiology, pathology, medical oncology, PAs, and nurses – plus a whole smattering of administrators (not to mention any other physicians the patient may be seeing for unrelated medical needs, such as a cardiologist or endocrinologist). And all these individuals accept that, in no uncertain terms, they need to work with some semblance of partnership to yield the maximal results for this patient.

Whether they realize it or not, the only way to maximize the results for this patient, and all patients, is through partnership. It is exceedingly rare that one physician can do this all themselves. Even the smallest PCP practice likely has a nurse and an administrator.

Whether they like it or not, or even realize it or not, all physicians must understand the power of partnership that is critical to maximize the results for each patient.

But partnership in healthcare isn’t just vital at the physician level. It’s critical across the healthcare continuum, and those that are embracing the power of partnership are doing so for symbiotic reasons, and as they say, rising tides raise all ships; these partnerships are designed to not only drive each organization involved forward, but they do so in the betterment of patients.

I think, broadly, health technology companies – especially startups – are quickly embracing the power of partnership. They are quick to recognize what the market requires, where their specific deficiencies are, and identify ideal partners to generate the trite but apt 1+1=3 scenario. We see this frequently, with some data organizations who are strong in clinical data partnering with genomics companies to create more robust datasets, or genomics companies partnering with claims data organizations for similar reasons.?

We also see technology companies recognizing the value of partner networks, where, depending on customer need, these networks are leveraged to deliver a tailored solution. We see this often, for instance, in the clinical trial recruitment space.

I do think we have a long way to go, however, as healthcare is still waiting for many major players in the ecosystem to buy-in to the power of partnership.

To me, it seems that the larger the organization, the more hesitant they are for partnership. And ultimately, this bogs down the entire health delivery process, resulting in higher spend and worse outcomes.

For example, large EMR vendors putting in infinitum hurdles that make it difficult for seamless data interoperability, or large commercial payers being selective about their contracting with specific health systems and drug/device manufacturers, resulting in discombobulating out-of-pocket spend for some patients, but not others.

Now of course these are broad stroke declarations with little nuance, and, if given more space than this humble blog would allow, we could deep dive on these matters (and maybe we will!), such as why the Epic/Particle battle (just Google it) may or may not lead to better data interoperability, or why prices are so inflated for “out-of-network” coverage when it really shouldn’t matter who my insurer is and which hospital I happen to have an event in front of.

But it just seems to me that the larger the organization, the more difficult they are to work with, and these behemoths convolute what we, ostensibly, all went into the healthcare space in the first place for, which is to improve outcomes and extend quality of life for all.

As hard as parenting is, having a rock-solid partner by my side has made it that much more rewarding, and you know who benefits the most from the partnership between me and my wife? My kid.

Healthcare is multi-modally hard, and like parenting, I think best outcome for the patient is successful partnerships.

At xCures we have built, and continue to build, a robust partner network to deliver the optimal results for our clients. More on our unique partnerships to come…

Check us out at xCures.com