Episode 147 - Changing Healthcare Experiences with Kate Katz

It is that time of year again when employees have to make a selection of their benefits package, which includes your healthcare plan. I just got the announcement from HR that the enrollment period is now for that uniquely American thing that we call “employer-based healthcare.” It is fascinating that a healthcare program that is unlike any other developed country is taken so for granted as “that’s just how it is” because that is how we have come to know it and we are used to it. For the most part, this is how people think healthcare is supposed to work.

But beyond that, what do we know about how it works or how it can or should work? 

I’ve done some research in healthcare, primarily around the creation and use of medical records. While that might seem to be a trivial topic, let me assure you that everything in healthcare happens around the record. That’s because of how our billing systems works, how coding factors into it, how things like case mix indices and severity of illness indicators function, and all the other assorted features that rely on paper to make happen. When you see how healthcare in the United States actually functions, it can be pretty eye opening.

With the government shutdown, there has been more discussion of healthcare and how it is provided in a way that is accessible and affordable. In politics, healthcare is an evergreen topic in that it is always present and you can rely on it to stir strong reactions. Despite all the chatter, we still can use help in better understanding just what is happening and how we might think about possibilities related to it.

This is why we are lucky to have Kate Katz as my guest today on Experience by Design. Kate comes from the UK, where you might have heard they have a different healthcare system than in the United States. While in the UK, Kate worked with healthcare organization to help them improve the delivery of services. Kate now works with hospitals in the US to help them improve the delivery of their medical services. As a result, she is in a great position to help us understand healthcare experiences from a variety of angles and perspectives.

We talk about the challenges of implementing change in healthcare systems, and how it is not just about the rules and regulations, but about bringing people along for the changes. We discuss service-oriented versus profit-oriented approaches in healthcare, as well as efficiency and making use of existing resources matters in both.

Since everything seems to be about AI, we also explore AI implementation challenges in healthcare, and why hospitals are good at piloting but not terribly good at scaling. Part of this is because there are so many other elements tied into healthcare, leading to the need of a systems orientation when thinking about behavioral changes.

Finally we talk about visible versus invisible conditions and diagnoses. Kate shares her own story about how just because something is not visible doesn’t make it less impactful. Even though we may not see the factors impacting people, we need to be constantly aware and empathetic from a personal and organizational perspective. This extends not just to those who are being treated in healthcare, but those who are working in it as well.

Kate Katz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekatz/

Episode Intro Music - The Tall Pines - “The Key”

Episode Ending Music - Ketsa - ”Dreaming Days”