Building a Balanced Model for Healthcare
Dr. Rasu Shrestha on Creating a Perfect Mix of Innovation and Empathy at UPMC
Dr. Rasu Shrestha on Creating a Perfect Mix of Innovation and Empathy at UPMC
“UPMC is a large payor/provider system. 3.5 million lives that we cover on the payor side. On the provider side, upwards of 30 plus hospitals, over 4,000 physicians, with 8,000 employees. 16 billion dollars in annual revenue,” explained Rasu Shrestha, MD, Chief Innovation Officer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). “But what’s even more significant than those numbers, is the fact that we’re really integrated. This yin and yang of the payor/provider, I believe really, is a model, a template, for the future of healthcare.”
At the recent Health 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, California, Rasu and I took some time to discuss the innovation strategies at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and how these new technologies and capabilities are creating a newer and improved model for healthcare.
“We’re not just talking about, let’s say, value-based healthcare. We’re living and breathing it on a day in, day out basis.” said Rasu. “And what better place than that to use as a living lab for us to create the types of innovations and companies that we would use, not just at UPMC, but would then be able to take out to market with the right types of entrepreneurs and startups and companies as well.”
The work that is being done at UPMC enterprises around investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship, is unrivaled. Engaging end users, clinicians and patients in it’s design strategies, UPMC is creating a new template for payor/provider systems to emulate; one that is creating and perfecting best practices for value-based healthcare.
As Shrestha says, “There’s this old adage, software is eating the world. If software is eating the world, then Pittsburgh’s the kitchen. Where we’re putting all these ingredients together into this delectable entree, because it’s just perfect the way that we’re mixing it together, in terms of the passion that we have as a payor/provider system. We are really trying to push that forward, really trying to perfect that stew, perfect that mix, and make sure that were able to bring the best out of these innovations.”