In this episode of the Telehealth Heroes Podcast, we interview Elise Kohl-Grant, the Chief Information Officer of Innovative Management Solutions. Elise discusses her dramatic first experience with telehealth, her original methodology for selecting the best technology solutions, and the challenges of providing care to 160,000 Medicaid patients in New York City.
Episode transcript
Brandon:
In today’s episode, we have Elise Kohl-Grant, the chief information officer of innovative management solutions at least talks about our dramatic first exposure to telehealth her unique methodology for selecting the best technology solutions and the challenges of providing care to over 160,000 Medicaid patients in New York City. Let’s get started.
Brandon:
On today’s show we have Elise Kohl-Grant who is a chief information officer of innovative management solutions, Elise, welcome to the show today.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Hi, thanks Brandon. Happy to be here.
Brandon:
So Elise how did you get into health care?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Yeah, so I started my career in customer service and I was working for an online booking e-commerce platform called Booker. They were just acquired by mind, body, maybe, you know them, if you ever sign up for like a yoga class or something online, you’re prob probably powered by the mind body. And I started off as a customer service representative, worked my way up to training then implementation. And then my final job there was, I worked on the product development side where I ensure that they were incorporating our customer’s feedback, one, creating new product enhancements and adding new features to their product. And so that’s where I sort of started. And then after a few year years, I thought to myself kind of want to do something a little more meaningful, maybe something more impactful. And I ended up getting an interview at a healthcare company and they knew that I had worked to help spas salons and fitness centers transfer from paper to electronic systems or from one electronic system to the other electronic system.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And we were need, they were knee deep into helping doctors transfer from paper to electronic systems. So I accidentally ended up in healthcare, you know, which is interesting because most people don’t accidentally fall into healthcare. And I realized that I loved it cause this was my way of, you know, making a difference, being neat, having kind of a meaningful impact. And as I was working on that side of things, there was a grant for behavioral health providers to adopt, implement, and upgrade in an electronic health record system. And you know, my brother, my younger brother, Raymond, he is autistic and we were always really close growing up and he’s completely non-verbal. So I always knew I wanted to advocate for people that didn’t necessarily have a voice like my brother. And that’s what really made me fall in love in working in the behavioral health stream is I can advocate for individuals that don’t necessarily have a voice through selecting and implementing technology applications that incorporate the patient’s voice at the end of the day.
Brandon:
So tell us what does innovative management solutions do?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So innovative management solutions works with behavioral health networks. And what we do is we supply technology applications and technology products, so that behavioral health networks can really stick to what they do best, which is providing care and providing services. So the clients that need it need it the most. Now, what I mean by, you know, technology products is we help with form strategic partnerships. For instance, we work with Arcadia to develop their patient population health management tool, and we help launch that out to behavioral health networks that need it. And we also have a few other products around geo-mapping and aggregating data. So that way providers can use it for actionable insights and use it at the end of the Workday or on a monthly basis to really help them plan targeted interventions for their clients that suffer from severe mental illness.
Brandon:
So can you talk a little bit more about these behavioral health networks? Like what are, what is the job that they’re setting out to do and how are they helping patients?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Well, in New York state specifically, we’ve formed several behavioral health networks. And what that really means is right now, we’re working with two of the largest behavioral health networks in New York state, which includes about 80 community-based agencies that serve over 160,000 Medicaid clients. Now I’m talking about clients. These are the patients that suffer from severe mental illness. Patients that suffer from severe trauma has schizophrenia are the ones that are in and out of the ER system quite frequently. I think we used to call them flyers. I don’t think that word is necessarily kosher anymore, but these are the ones that are really driving up the healthcare costs. And so what these behavioral health networks do is they work with a variety of agencies within the same region. So that way they can coordinate care across the behavioral health agencies that these clients go to for services, and also coordinate that care with the medical provider.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So when clients go to, ER, they go to the ER, you know, our agencies are then called and we can send someone out there to help the client go back into their community and evolve and build themselves up within their community, instead of depending on the emergency room to kind of get them through whatever they’re dealing with at that time. And we really look at the patient, the patient as a whole to make sure that we’re providing not just physical health services or not just behavioral health services, but also community-based services like food pantries and housing for individuals that are in and out of housing support services.
Brandon:
Gotcha. So it really is a, it’s a network of different types of care providers. And these networks make sure that whatever the patient needs, whether it’s housing or food or some type of counseling, they can get access to that.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Yep. You got it. And I could give you a bunch of acronyms, ACA codes, district PPS. IPA’s I mean, you call it, we’ll go through the alphabet, but you, you get the gist of it. Gotcha.
Brandon:
So these networks they’re out, they’re focused on providing care. They’re not necessarily technologists or tech folks, and that’s where you come in, your group comes in and helps them establish and figure out what technology to use to solve their problems is that I’m understanding that correctly.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And we, you know, take their feedback into consideration. We always ask for more feedback, we look at what their problems are and then we find applications to help solve their problems and also provide training around how their providers and folks at their agency can leverage these technology systems.
Brandon:
Gotcha. So, so with that background, you get these behavioral health networks solving problems, and then you guys are the technologists figuring out what technology is available to help them solve. How did you first get into telehealth? And when did that first come up? Was it because of COVID or was that before?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So my first experience with tele-health is it was actually pre COVID and it wasn’t me, you know, on a telehealth visit, I was actually sitting in a Dunkin donuts and it was about 11:00 PM, New York city, right across the street from port authority. And I was sitting, I was charging my phone. I think that’s why I was in Dunkin donuts. And there was an individual, a gentlemen that came up and it was pretty clear that he was homeless. He asked me what time it was. I told him the time. And then he said, oh, where’s your boyfriend. And I was like, I don’t know, I don’t have one. And he was like, oh, that’s crazy. I’m like, I know that’s pretty crazy. I think so too. And we kind of had a little laugh and then he ended up, you know, going on to a story, talking about his cousin, spoke for a couple, maybe five more minutes.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And then I went back to my phone. He sat back down a minute later, two cops came in and they tried to escort him out of the Dunkin donuts. Obviously he must’ve been there for a while. The manager probably called and the cop said, it’s time to, you know, leave Dunkin donuts. And at first he said, well, I need a ride to the shelter that I’m staying at. And the cop said, well, we can’t give you a ride, sir, you’re going to have to leave. And as the conversation went on, he started getting more and more agitated. And as he got more agitated, the police officers stiffed up a bit and, you know, became a little more, I don’t want to say aggressive, but a little more demanding in terms of, you know, forcing him to leave Dunkin donuts. And then he started yelling and said, you know, I’ve seen this before.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
My brother was dragged by you guys in the street. And he was obviously remembering a story that really cut him deeply several years ago. And you know, the police officers were starting to get a little, I don’t want to say nervous, but they, you could tell that there was going to be maybe a physical altercation that was going to happen. So one of the police officers stepped aside. He called up a provider on his cell phone and I didn’t know what he was doing at first. And as he was calling up the provider, the other officer was saying, sir, we’re going to call an ambulance and take you to the ER. And the gentleman was yelling. I don’t need to go to the ER, I just need to go to the shelter. And I just need a ride there. And you guys are forcing me to leave here.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And as they were arguing this, the second cop hands, the guy, the phone and says, talk to this person. And it was a provider on the other line. And they ended up speaking for five minutes over the phone, the gentleman calmed down, he left Dunkin donuts and I watched this whole thing unfold and thought to myself, oh my God, that just saved New York city system and minimum of a thousand dollars because what the police officers would have had to do is call an ambulance. Ambulance would have taken him to an ER, which he didn’t have to go to. And this was all, you know, this was all avoided by one simple call to a provider. And I have to imagine this was a behavioral health counselor of some sort that really talked this gentleman down. Wow.
Brandon:
That’s amazing. So how long ago did this happen? How many years ago did it happen?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So this happened, I would say probably year and a half before the pandemic hit. Oh, wow.
Brandon:
Okay. And is this what prompted you to say, Hey, you know what, this telemedicine thing is? Something we should check this out.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Well, I thought about it. Right. But it wasn’t, it took a little while for me to get to that aha moment. And I thought, I mean, that story stuck with me until today. Right? And it still sticks with me, especially with all of that, you know, unraveled over the last few years when we really started looking at telehealth solutions was when the pandemic hit. And I’m located in New York city, which was the epicenter, right. And tragedy hit New York city. Like you couldn’t believe. And you know, we talked a lot about the hospitals being filled, but you didn’t hear a lot about how we had to transition all of the homeless out of the shelter system and into hotels. We lost a lot of folks along the way, right? In terms of tracking them and continuing, continuing their care clinics were closing down. And these are individuals that already suffered from severe depression, from severe anxiety, a soft suffered, a severe trauma.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And now their whole world is being flipped upside down. And so New York city shut down. I want to say around the first or second week of March. And that’s when we paused everything and said, okay, we have to find a tele-health solution for provider agencies, mind you, we’re working with 80 agencies. So we have over 10,000 providers. And when I say providers, I’m talking about case managers, I’m talking about the security guards at the hotels and homeless shelters that are the first face that the patients see when they’re trying to figure out where they’re going to sleep at night, I’m talking about the social workers, the therapists, the psychiatrist. And so, you know, they were at a loss of a, how do we continue care for this population? And what we did is we paused all of the projects we worked on. And we went out to look for the right tele-health solution.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And we interviewed and demoed 18 different solutions and narrowed it down to two, which doxy me and zoom, or the two finalists that we suggested out to our network. And we did some group purchasing arrangements with both vendors. And then we sent it out to our provider agencies and said, Hey, if you want to get a good rate on a telehealth solution that we feel meets your needs, based on the feedback we’ve received from you, then, you know, please take advantage of this discount, please take advantage of this code. So that way you can continue care for the patients that need it the most.
Brandon:
So when you, when you said, you know, the features that are important to them, how did you find, how did you decide what those features were that were important?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Yeah, so we had to work fast and we had to respond quick, especially since, you know, like I said, clinics were closed and programs were closing down and we needed to reach the people that are pretty, already hard to reach. So we worked on a method that was really simple to use. I call it my past method. It’s M P a S S price, accessibility system, functionality and security. These are the four categories that really are the categories that you can use to evaluate what system works best for your agency. Now, the way I kind of got there was I wrote all my questions down of what I was going to ask these vendors, because I wanted to make sure that I asked the same question to every vendor. So I could compare apples to apples. And that’s something that I think our industry doesn’t do enough of usually right.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
When you’re demoing a system is the vendor shows you all the bells and whistles and you get sidetracked and distracted. And then forget about like the key questions that you’re going to ask or that you should ask. And then at the end of the day, you’re comparing seven people’s notes and they’ve wrote down, you know, they have kind of a different memory of what they saw in the demo or what they liked and what they didn’t like. And at the end of the day, if you want to compare apples to apples, you have to have a methodical approach on how you evaluate those vendors. So these questions kind of, they started to align into these four categories. So that way we could clearly illustrate how we selected the two telehealth vendors. So that way agencies knew. And if they didn’t want to select those two vendors, they had an option of 18 other ones where we listed the price of each one. And when I say priced, I don’t mean just how much does it cost, but how much time and resources will it take to implement it? Right. When I talk about accessibility, I mean, how accessible is it? Is a patient getting a link through a text message. Do they have to download an app? Do they have to go on a URL and use a computer?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
These are the things that are important when choosing a technology, right? In terms of accessibility, if a patient has to download an app, that’s taking bandwidth and that’s taking possible units away from their plant. So you have to take that into consideration, right? When you’re moving along to system functionality, how does the workflow streamline with your current workflows that you have in place with your agency and then security, you know, does it capture consent? What are the security features? These are all important features. And if you don’t have like a simple way to evaluate different technology solutions, then you are going to have a harder time making the right decision for your agency.
Brandon:
I think that’s fantastic that framework. And I would love to have you share it if it’s, if it’s available and we can make it available to the listeners as well. If you’re, if you’re open to,
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Oh, absolutely. I’ll send it along and then you can just ask yourself, does it pass?
Brandon:
Yeah, no, I love it. I think that’s fantastic. So you have a very unique patient population that you’re serving. Can you talk a little bit more about that patient population and do they have phones and how do they access the internet and, and how did the technology that you identified match up with the resources and technology that were available to your patients?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Yep. So we serve, like I said, over 160,000 Medicaid patients in New York city. And these are patients that suffer from severe mental illness. We have a high diagnosis rate of schizophrenia, of depression. These individuals are ones that, you know, are at risk for suicide. A lot of them have substance use abuse problems that they’re dealing with. And so this is a very vulnerable population that the networks that we work with serve
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And so what we did a few years ago is we actually launched a survey and we surveyed 429 Medicaid patients from the Bronx. And we asked them, what type of access do they have to technology applications? Do they even have smartphones? Do they access the internet? How would they prefer to talk to their provider? And to our surprise, we captured a lot of really interesting information. One, at least in New York, the majority of our patients have phones. I believe it came to about 78% of our patients have smartphones. And out of that, 78%, the majority of them are accessing the internet multiple times a day. And from that 68% of those patients have actually downloaded a health app. So that gave us a good baseline to say, you know what? These individuals feel somewhat comfortable with technology and they’re interested and they access the internet so they could access these applications.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Right? And you don’t in that survey, in addition to accessing, to asking them questions about their access to technology. We also ask them questions about, you know, barriers to care. What, what are the reasons why you don’t show up to your appointment? And this was probably the most shocking that I found, which is 46% of them chose that the top barrier to care was lack of transportation. Now we’re talking about New York city here where we have a pretty robust subway system and bus system. So these individuals have a lack of transportation. I can only imagine what other patients are feeling across the United States that are in more remote locations, you know, so that kind of said, well, sure, there might be a lack of motivation and readiness amongst this client population. But the fact that there’s a lack of transportation to get to the appointment, that’s a huge barrier. And in our community and the patients that we serve, the no-show rate is pretty high for appointments.
Brandon:
And what has been the experience of this patient population, as you’ve rolled out that the zoom and the, and the docs me through the three network of providers and, and said, Hey, we identified these tools. That would be great for you to access your provider. And we’ve rolled it out to them. What has been that experience like for those patients?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
We, we did a pilot and we saw that the no-show rate went down significantly. More patients were more engaged with their care because it was just easy. It was easily accessible, right. They could actually call someone, they could talk to someone when they needed it. Instead of setting an appointment two weeks from the time that they might’ve had an episode. Right. Because how does that help someone two weeks later is they need care at that particular moment. Now I do want to make notice.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So I’d like to say that we’ve been doing tele-health for quite some time. Now this is nothing new. However, what’s new are the reimbursement rates and the technology behind it. But providers were already operating, operating this way, especially, you know, dealing with our patient population. So I know this case manager, Kathy, and she told me about one of her clients, David. Now David has been out of a job for six years and he was going to his first job interview. And he was really excited. He had gotten a new suit with Kathy and he was feeling really great. But once he got to the waiting room and he saw all of the other applicants, he began to feel very nervous and started having a panic attack. And his anxiety went through the roof. He texts Kathy and said, Kathy, I can’t do this. I’m not ready. I don’t have what it takes. And Kathy said, David, listen, you have what it takes. We’ve worked together for years. You’re here now. And she had this back and forth text message with him for about 20 minutes, calmed him down. It’s been about two years now. And David is still at that same job.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
And so, you know, it just goes to show you that if you can provide care at the point that it’s needed, it can really change the course of somebody’s life. I mean, David has a job he’s making his own money. Now. That’s not something that he could say six years ago. Right. And that’s because of that, Cathy was open to communicating with David and other forms, such as over text message now with tele-health and you know, their, the pandemic, we suffered a lot of tragedies. But out of that, I have to say there became a world of opportunity around tele-health and around providing care in different ways, in different forms that really help patient patients in a way that I don’t think that we could have imagined before and now with, you know, tele-health and it becoming so popular amongst providers and amongst patients is we’re seeing the regulations start to change and the policies around that start to change. So now there’s more reimbursement rates, which incentivize providers to actually leverage the tools that we’re giving them.
Brandon:
What were some of the challenges that you face as you were rolling out telemedicine either among providers or among patients
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So I think we were able to eliminate some major challenges by leveraging the past method, because we were able to select two technologies that met the needs for most of the agencies, which I think was helpful because that way you don’t have to go through all of like the workload and implementation issues. Now I will say one of the major challenges, which is still true today is their bandwidth issues. Meaning a lot of our patients do not have an unlimited monthly plan. They have more of a minute plan. So it’s, if they have to download an app, it takes away from their data plan. Right. And you know, some folks don’t have access to wireless internet, right? Ed. So I think those are really, some of the major challenges is getting folks access to internet. And I think they saw this happen when schools opened up virtually, right, is now if you have five kids at home, all five kids are using your wireless and someone zoom shuts down, or, you know, there’s not enough iPads to go around. So I would say that’s probably been the biggest challenge in terms of making sure that internet is accessible to those and making sure that those that have a limited data plan can still access their provider through whatever technology application they’re using.
Brandon:
Great. Yeah. We see the same thing as well. Some of the, the, the biggest complaints that we get are related to, oh, I’ve got, you know, choppy video or something was like, wow, that’s kind of your video. That’s your bandwidth. It’s not much that we can do about it. Just get a better connection in it. It gets better. So now with regards to the, the segment of the patients that do not have a smartphone, have you guys talked about how to, to solve that aspect of the patient population?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
It’s hard because patients that don’t have a smartphone probably don’t have a computer at home. Right. And they have to go somewhere where they can use a computer. Now I am a big fan of text messaging, which I’m hoping that that will also be continued to be reimbursable or even having a phone call without the video element, because we know that the video element does take up a lot of bandwidth. And so I think I know in New York you are able to just have a voice call and providers could get reimbursed. I don’t know what that’s going to look like in the future. I truly hope that it stays because I think it puts people at an unfair advantage. And I think that it’ll create more disparities across our populations. If providers can only get reimbursed for a video conference call, as opposed to a voice call, I would love to see text messaging come into the equation because let’s be honest, everybody texts messages. So why can’t we incorporate that into the care that we provide, right.
Brandon:
It really helps get the job done and it’s pretty effective too.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
It does. And it doesn’t, it also is not, it doesn’t impose on people either. Right? And again, you’re talking with individuals who may or may not be older, but who are a little paranoid perhaps right. Or who have high anxiety. So some might feel more comfortable just text messaging because it’s more at their leisure as opposed to having to pick up the phone because I’m sure you and me probably text message all the time. Right. And don’t think about it. And cause we rather not deal with a phone call. Well, I’m sure that, you know, David appreciated that text message more than, you know, a phone call because he simply wouldn’t be able to take that phone call in a waiting room at the office of his employment. Right.
Brandon:
So what do you think would have happened if this technology wasn’t available during this pandemic, what would have happened to your behavioral health network and to the patients and what would the world look like if it wasn’t available?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Oh man, I think it would be really depressing. Honestly. I, I think it would be really depressing and really devastating because I already think about the folks that fell through the cracks when we were kind of transitioning, closing down the clinics and transitioning folks out of the shelters and into hotels. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we did not have tele-health and we could not reach the people that needed it the most. I mean, my friends who are successful and very mentally capable, suffered from depression. Right. So imagine someone who has had some traumatic life experiences that already suffers from depression, being isolated and not knowing where they’re going to sleep the next day. I mean, imagine what would happen to them if they didn’t have a lifeline like tele-health
Brandon:
Oh yeah, absolutely. So what is the future of the beaver health networks in relation to telehealth? How does telehealth going to be involved in the future?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So I believe that tele-health is here to stay. I think that I’ve heard many, many people say that now it’s just the, the policies have to be updated. The policies are a little falling, you know, lagging behind, I guess, as usual, but tele-health is here to stay. I think telehealth has been a lifeline to our patients and our lifeline to our providers. It’s just, the regulations have to catch up to where we are today, right. And providers need to be reimbursed for the telehealth services that they’re providing, because if not, they can’t sustain ourselves. They can’t sustain themselves. I mean, we’re talking about again, behavioral health, community based organizations that do not have the same financial resources and support as hospitals do or as primary care providers do. So we’re already operating off very little leeway here, and I’m just hoping that our state government and our federal governments are really pushing forward to seeing that tele-health is really helping, not just bring awareness to mental health, but really solving some of the key issues and meeting patients where they’re at. And as long as providers are incentivized to continue tele-health I think that it will really change the landscape of healthcare. And I think that we are transforming the way that we are providing care and it’s going to continue to go down that road.
Brandon:
So let’s talk about that a little more let’s assume that those regulations are, and those issues are resolved and, and providers are reimbursed for providing care through whatever means is most effective. And if they telehealth and great, how will care be changed because of this and what will care look like in the future with tele-health?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
I think let’s see, I have so many different answers for that. You know, I think it’s people will be able to live in establish themselves in the communities that they live in. And I think they know that it’s just a phone call and a text message away from getting support. And, you know, I would hope that our patients are not as dependent out on the emergency room. Right, right now that’s the only place they know where to get immediate care despite what they’re going through. And so I really think that it’s going to be more of like a community based model and getting care at the time that they need it as opposed to going to these big, major establishment, waiting for hours on hours to see someone, but having, you know, the ability to talk to someone right away. Now that being said, I also think that when talking to someone doesn’t mean just a like licensed nurse or a licensed social worker, I’m talking about, you know, talking to a peer, talking to a therapist, talking to, I don’t, I don’t know, even a security guard right now.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
That means that I don’t want to put too much emphasis on the provider, whoever that may be. So there needs to be a little balancing act of who’s providing the care. When are they accessible? How many hours a day are they going to be? You know, the ones that need to be on the other line on the other helpline. But I do think that it’s going to open the communication. I think it’s going to open up more jobs for individuals to provide care to patients. And I think that it means that patients could also possibly see themselves helping other patients and having that peer to peer model, which we’ve seen has become more popular in over the last few years.
Brandon:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So if you were to go back and, and you, I think you did a lot of great things throughout this transition and kudos to you for putting together paths and, and creating such a big push for so many patients, really what you did had has had such a huge impact in so many people, but going back, what would you have done different?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So what would I have done different? I would say, and I don’t want to put this just on tele-health. I mean, in general, what I’ve learned is not to oversell technology. And I think that the technology industry, I think that we failed in the way that we explain ourselves and describe ourselves as solutions. And you hear all the time, right by my solution. My solution is number one, this is the solution. And we, we almost deceive our audience by saying, if you buy this one product, it’s going to be the solution to all of your problems, which is not the case solutions take, it takes two to tango, right? It takes the resources wrapped around the technology product to really make it possible. Technology is not the solution. People are technologies or the tools we use to build the solutions we need. And we can’t build those solutions without the people involved.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So as a CIO, I try to make it very clear. What types of resources have to be involved in the implementation of a technology application in order to make it successful. And in order to create that solution to your problem, it’s not just the technology, it’s the people behind the technology that really makes it actionable. I mean, if you could have an abundance amount of data, but if you’re not doing anything with it, it doesn’t mean anything. Right. And the only way you’re going to know what to do with it is by the people on the other end telling you what they need. So that’s what I kind of say is it takes two to tango and, you know, I’ve learned to really make it clear to providers and to people in my internal organization, as well as externally, that solutions really involve people. It’s not just the technology, it’s the people behind those solutions that make it work.
Brandon:
I’m going to put that on a poster and put it on my wall because I believe in it a hundred percent,
Elise Kohl-Grant:
I would like I’m giving myself a pat on the back. That’s my favorite quote is technology is not the solution. People are, technologies are the tools we use to build the solutions we need. And I strongly agree with that. Okay,
Brandon:
Awesome. Oh, I love it. So you kind of hit on it, but what is the key to success today?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
The key to success today is so I started off my career in technology, in customer support. I didn’t start off, you know, building apps or writing codes. I started off being other person on the phone, listening to the customer’s problems and trying to figure out how to solve it. And I would say the key to success is incorporating all stakeholders feedback and what I mean, all stakeholders, feedback. I mean, incorporating your customer’s feedback, incorporating your CEO’s feedback and incorporating all of your staff members feedback. And I think a lot of times we, we see startups, we see eight out of about 10 startups fail. And I think that’s because they don’t incorporate all stakeholders feedback when they’re ready to launch out into the mainstream market. And don’t underestimate a customer, a client, a patient’s feedback, because that wa that’s what will make the difference in your application and make it much more solutions oriented.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Then the next application, you know, I, I always think back to Airbnb or when they first started is they took time and they went to every client in person pre pandemic and ask them, Hey, why did you use our service? What could we have done better? What did you like about it? How did you use it? Walk me through your workflow. And they took time to do that. And they’re a pretty successful company, right? And so I think that a lot of times we skip that step and I think it’s a very important step if we want, if we want to be solutions oriented, if we want applications to meet people where they are. And if we want people to invest in our ideas and people to stand behind technology applications, like a tele-health platform to really make it work.
Brandon:
Awesome. How has your perspective of healthcare changed throughout this experience?
Elise Kohl-Grant:
So my, my perspective of health care has changed. And let me talk from the mental health side of things is when I first entered into healthcare, it was about 10 or 12 years ago, and nobody was talking about mental health. This is pretty, this is kind of a new buzz word, and this is just started happening in the last three years or so. And we can think like influencers. And I mean, if you’re watching the Olympics right, is a live athletes have brought awareness to mental health. And it’s an exciting time because it creates a lot of opportunities for the, my industry. And especially it creates a lot of awareness surrounding mental health issues and individuals suffering from mental health.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
I think the industry in change is changing in the fact that people are putting more importance on integrating physical health and behavioral health and mental health to make sure that were putting that under the label of healthcare to no longer just medical care it’s someone’s wellbeing, it’s the full patient view and looking at their history, their social economics, their education, their housing situation, right. And that has just started happening. We’ve been talking about it for a long time, but you know, we haven’t seen financial incentives go towards mental health until recently we haven’t seen policies change or evolve around mental health until really until now. And people are kind of catching up and jumping on this train, which is exciting because we’re seeing a lot more opportunity in the mental health space to really meet individuals where they’re at.
Brandon:
Right? So they’re, they’re starting to realize that, Hey, you know what, the mental component is a key aspect of health and the social determinants of health also are key to health outcomes. And I agree. I think it’s fantastic that, that the industry is really starting to wake up to, to mental health care at this point.
Brandon:
That’s awesome. Elise Kohl-Grant. Thank you so much for your time.
Elise Kohl-Grant:
Thank you so much. This was really great. Glad to be invited here.
Brandon:
Great.
