HIMSS17 Social Media Ambassador Mandi Bishop says Andy Slavitt is one of her health IT heroes
Mandi Bishop, aka @MandiBPro, is a veteran HIMSS Social Media Ambassador, and as the co-founder of Aloha Health she’s on a mission to prove that healthcare organizations can earn an ROI from treating patients as people.
Healthcare IT News asked Bishop what the most important issues are to her social media followers, what her pet peeve is and something that most people are unlikely to know about here.
Q: What issues do you think are top-of-mind for your social media followers?
A: Clearly, what’s top of mind for me is human concern for those most likely at risk due to proposed regulatory changes, across the spectrum, from healthcare policy to the EPA and public school education. Additionally, Meaningful Use Stage 3 exemption and ACA provision repeals, or lack of regulatory enforcement, will pose significant health IT industry challenges, as well as creating substantial opportunity for innovation beyond teaching-to-the-test. Because I’ve somewhat narrowed my focus over the past year or so to zoom in on social and complex needs (Social Determinants of Health), as well as the mental and behavioral health conditions that accompany them, I now tend to notice those conversations amongst my followers more than any others. Finally, AI and its implications, for precision medicine and clinical decision support, in particular, is another key topic area I see expanding its online audience.
Q: Who's your favorite healthcare hero? Why?
A: Gosh, there are so many. Can I give you a few, representing different industry areas?
Andy Slavitt. Beyond the stellar job he’s done as CMS Administrator, his candid, earnest, and downright funny engagements with Twitter users represented the very best of open government and transparency, making policy accessible to everyone. He read and responded to personal stories from patients, caregivers, and citizens, and never blew smoke or aggrandized his ability to resolve the problems. His public service has been greatly appreciated by many millions who will never know his name or understand what he did for them, simply because he felt called to serve.
Jitin Asnaani. As CEO of CommonWell, he worked with clients and partners to “free the data” and make the electronic medical records that pass through their pipes available to the patients. That’s simply it. He wanted to do the right thing for the people healthcare serves, and he did it. I cannot say enough positive things about Jitin and his compassionate leadership.
Anas al-Basha, the Clown of Aleppo. Although he was not a clinician, his persistence in the face of insurmountable odds to bring moments of joy and a semblance of childhood wonder to counter the stress and devastation of a war-torn world make him an extraordinary social worker, if not a “medicine man”. He was a non-profit director who dressed as a clown, every day, to entertain the 100,000 children trapped in Aleppo, until he was killed in an air strike in December.
All the clinicians who’ve volunteered to go to, or remain in, Aleppo, such as surgeon David Nott. They are heroes, each and every one. They are not seeking reimbursement. They are not seeking glory. They are imperiling themselves to try their best to save one person at a time from hell on Earth. They are losing, and they know it, and yet they persist. They should be honored.
Q: What's your pet peeve? (Either on- or off-line?)
A: I get beyond frustrated when I’m “into” something (be it a book, movie, work product, or even a song on the radio that is my JAM) and someone interrupts my train of thought/listening/stanza-singing. My daughter’s learned how to tell when I’m in that zone where I’ll be explosive if I’m distracted from it; my poor husband has not.
Q: What is something your social media followers do not know about you?
A: I’m pretty open online, so this is a tough one. I don’t know that I’ve ever found a reason to work my equestrienne years into public conversation. Growing up, I trained and showed hunter-jumpers, giving my first riding lesson at 14 and culminating in a job in grad school as a barn manager for a 57-stall farm in Tallahassee, FL. I was in the top 10 in the nation in several youth events on the National Quarter Horse circuit when I was in high school. I LOVE horses, but I haven’t owned one since high school, and I’m grateful that my daughter didn’t fall in love with them in the same way. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how much of my parents’ lives (and income!) revolved around my horse activities.
Q: Since last year you co-founded a new company. What is Aloha Health all about?
A: I’m glad you asked! I once had a large hospital system CFO ask me if I could tell him why his CHF patients were “non-compliant” with their treatment plan. I asked him if he’d ever asked his patients; not surprisingly, the answer was “no.” So, we set out to answer the “why” behind what motivates, or inhibits, a person to manage their health – using a data-driven approach. Aloha Health is about making the life context that influences each individual’s health visible and actionable to healthcare. It’s not enough to say, “geography is a vital sign,” and acknowledge that social determinants matter. It’s about aligning clinical relevance to social and complex needs in order to more effectively treat, engage, and educate patients, communities, and caregivers. It’s about recognizing that circumstances matter, and recommending ways to tailor care and communications accordingly – without placing additional time or data collection burden on clinicians, patients, or caregivers. We’re out to show the healthcare industry that there is an ROI for viewing, and treating, patients as people.
Q: What are you most looking forward to at HIMSS17?
A: This year, I’m most interested to see how speakers and sponsors incorporate the changing policy climate into their language and offerings. We’ve been talking about interoperability, population health, and patient engagement for years; if we don’t effectively use those concepts NOW, we run the risk of harming the literally tens of millions of people whose healthcare access may be compromised in the months and years to come. I want to see who’s not just thinking about those impacts, but is actively planning to address them in their solutions.
On the cheekier side, I’d absolutely love it if an enterprise vendor paid for the space but chose not to set up a massive homage to their product line, and instead created a pop-up clinic to provide free services to those in need throughout the show. What better way to demonstrate industry value than to help heal people on the spot?
HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center.
This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.
