Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the getting down with digital health podcasts, sponsored by Mend. We hope to inform and inspiring you on a wide variety of healthcare topics. We're grateful you're joining us today and now on with the show.
[Brandon Worley] 00:00:20 What up everybody? My name is Brandon Worley. I am co-founder of Mend and I am your host for getting down with digital health. Uh, today we are going to be talking to my friend, fellow co-founder and CEO of men, Matt McBride, Matt, how are you doing today?
[Matt McBride] 00:00:35 Um, I'm doing awesome, man. This is going to be fun, excited to be here.
[Brandon Worley] 00:00:39 And today we are going to be covering lots of different topics. We're going to be talking about not only how do you set up a great, uh, an effective tele-health program, but we're also going to be discussing the new ebook and webinar, uh, that mend is going to be putting out. And we also have an interesting contest, uh, that Matt has challenged me to, uh, that I'll have to undertake. So, uh, hopefully that goes smoothly. Uh, and then we're going to close it out. So, uh, without further ado, let's get into this. So Matt speaking about setting up a productive tele-health program who is appropriate for virtual care visits and when are they appropriate?
[Matt McBride] 00:01:18 So I think the most important thing is you want telemedicine to be safe. And so what we've put up on the slide here are common reasons that we see customers use for their tele-health protocols. I think probably the easiest way to think about it is do we have to physically lay hands on a patient, right? Is there something where we need them in person physically to be able to do something, um, that obviously wouldn't be a good, good use case for, for a telemedicine yet? So I think what we tend to see is, is customers will look for, uh, visit types where maybe there's high no-show or cancel rates. Maybe there's certain types of visits or programs or therapies where they see compliance drop off. Instead of having folks reach a positive outcome at the end of a of therapy or treatment. Um, obviously, you know, there's a pandemic going on.
[Matt McBride] 00:02:21 So infectious disease concerns or, you know, there may be patients or populations with certain barriers to care, uh, that, uh, you know, would be well-served through, through a virtual visit. So I think those are some of the broader areas. And then we see from customers, um, in terms of the types of visits and medication management, follow up lab results, chronic care management, and the list kind of goes on, excuse me. But, um, you can kind of see that they're all types of visits that may not require that patient to be physically, uh, present, but having that protocol, uh, having something documented and having something that's safe that, that everybody agrees on is definitely going to be important to running a successful telemedicine program.
[Brandon Worley] 00:03:12 Uh, since COVID hit the whole landscape for digital health has really exploded and it's changing very dramatically, uh, in talking with our customers. Um, and as soon as COVID hit, a lot of people just jumped to whatever they could, you know, whatever they could stand up very quickly so that they could care for their patients. Um, and so essentially the majority of the virtual care solutions on the market today, they only allow for video connections, which leaves out many of the important tasks required in a traditional in-person visit, like getting forms, filled out, collecting payments and other types of workloads that are customary when a patient goes into the provider's office. So how does Mend solve these workflow issues for healthcare professionals today?
[Matt McBride] 00:03:54 W we wanted to do here is expand everybody's mind as to what could a telemedicine program look like, right? It doesn't just have to be send a link to somebody right now and, and they connect and we do a video conference. If you want to mimic in-person flows in a virtual setting, you can do that with a robust telemedicine program. And we have all the other workflows that you might need. You don't have to pick just one. So if you do want to just send a link and start a visit with somebody right away, you can do that. But the majority of the time, especially if you have scheduled encounters, um, you know, this is what it could potentially look like. So let's say that, uh, staff could be scheduling. You might have some patients self scheduling that through Mendez. Well, we can have all of that integrated and flowing back and forth.
[Matt McBride] 00:04:56 Um, we can send out the reminders and the links handle about digital forms, payments, tech, support, all the other needs that, that you might have or any other additional information that needs to be collected. Super easy patented process to join a visit patient gets an email or text with a link they put in their date of birth. They can act on any device, that's it. From there you can really start to mimic in office flows, right? If you want it to have somebody from the front office, connect with that person on video, maybe just get any other information, um, answer any questions. What have you, you could do that. You can then transfer it to a specific person or hand that visit off to a queue where maybe a nurse I ma it could pick up from there. They've got everything, the charts, all prepped, ready to go for the provider. Now they transfer it to the provider in our system. Once the provider is done, they could then set it to ready for checkout. And so you could really have any step you want, but you could run the patient through the same exact flow, a lot of the same exact processes that you have today. Um, if you, you know, you want it to set up that type of workflow for your telemedicine.
[Brandon Worley] 00:06:18 So in talking with our customers to get the best adoption is to try to give them workflows that they're already accustomed to that whether it's the receptionist all the way back to the provider, to the checkout person, a workflow that is familiar with, to them. Uh, and, and there's no doubt that that has been resonating with, with customers. So now we've been talking a little bit about the workflow once a patient is already in and engaging with the, with the healthcare staff, but let's talk about one of the biggest bottlenecks of healthcare, which has always been scheduling and rescheduling appointments. Um, the reason that is most health, most healthcare organizations, they still rely on a patient needing to make a phone call to the practice. And, you know, oftentimes they have to leave them a voicemail. They're waiting for somebody to call them back. So trying to sync up with somebody one-to-one during a busy Workday, uh, can be challenging. And of course, you also have to do all of this within the normal business hours. So talk to me about what mend is doing, uh, to help solve this issue of, uh, scheduling for patients.
[Matt McBride] 00:07:21 So in our platform, we definitely have points before the visit, where we set expectations around, you know, tips for a successful connection. We've got different tips and what to expect in the pointer, reminders that are going out. But if you're scheduling somebody over the phone, this is also an opportunity, I think, a to make sure that you get that email and mobile number or phone number, um, you know, the over 90% of phone numbers these days are going to be mobile numbers. So making sure that you have a good method to contact the person so we can get them a link, we still see maybe, you know, one or 2% of the time. We're not getting any contact information at all. Well, that visit is not going to happen. So we want to make sure that we get that. Maybe making sure that they have a good device recommend they be in a quiet location, let them know that there's going to be a couple of consents.
[Matt McBride] 00:08:19 If it's their first visit, how are they going to connect to the visit? Right? You get a link put in your date of birth, and then maybe you want to give them tips to have a successful visit, right? You want to have a strong connection, close other programs, running a headset might work better, probably want to have the device plugged in just in case. You know, there could be a short wait time. I think any of those things could be important to just set expectations, be proactive. I don't think it's a whole lot different than if you were going to get a procedure done, right? If you are going to show up and get a procedure done, you might get a packet of information or sort of a checklist of different things to say, you know, don't eat, do this. Don't don't do this. Right. I think, um, you know, this could be the same sort of thought process could be used for telemedicine when that patient is first booking the appointment. So we can set expectations and really set them up to have a successful visit, which is what at the end of the day, that's what everybody wants.
[Brandon Worley] 00:09:21 Well, like I said, telehealth has been around for a long time and, uh, you know, for most it's, it's not a new thing in concept, but it's new in terms of the, uh, the applications that it has in practice today. So my question to you is what does a tele-health healthcare provider need to know to be able to establish a great and compliant telemedicine offering in their practice today?
[Matt McBride] 00:09:43 You know, the, the provider side is the most important side, which is why we're, you know, sort of putting it into this, this format and putting this information out there on it. Because I think it's easy to just think about, oh, well, you know, they, they have a device, they have a camera, it should be good to go, right. But we've got folks working remotely. Now, remote work is very popular. So now, you know, folks may not be in your physical location on your network. That's controlled, it's optimized. What have you, they may be at home where maybe they, you know, the equipment hasn't been it's three years old, four or five years old, haven't been restarted and is, is not, uh, you know, working as well as it could be. So I think these are all things we w we want to think about an account for when setting up a telemedicine program, because again, if the providers connection has trouble, that could impact every single visit, right?
[Matt McBride] 00:10:48 So, um, for the most part, there shouldn't be much configuration. Uh, there shouldn't be a lot of issues, but you know, if you've got hundreds of providers and, you know, there's a handful of 'em with issues, that's a lot of patients that, you know, aren't going to be satisfied. A lot of providers won't be satisfied. So I think really running through, um, making sure that providers have everything that they need. We do have a provider or provider success team that will go through provider by provider, check all their equipment, check their connection, make sure everything is good to go, um, so that they can have successful visits. Um, I think also, you know, what does the, the providers know what to do when there is a problem, right? What if the computer you're logged out of here, your computer for the day he can't get in, uh, you have some issue, do they, do they know what to do?
[Matt McBride] 00:11:51 Is there a backup device? Is there a backup plan, a plan B, um, providers are usually going from one visit to the next, so they're not sitting waiting, waiting around. Right. So if something were to go wrong, they need something immediate that they can go to. Right. So we have, you know, tech support that's available within seconds, but, you know, making sure maybe that they have a backup device as well, if they're doing a lot of telemedicine visits, but just sort of keeping that in mind, like the physical or the providers, physical space is almost like their equipment and their setup. That's almost like, you know, somebody showing up to there was a problem and somebody showed up to a physical location. That door is locked and we can't get the door open. Right. If you can't get anybody in the building, you can't, you can't help anybody. Right. So I think it's, it's really important to, um, you know, make sure that that every provider has optimal equipment connectivity and knows what to do. If something were to go wrong.
[Brandon Worley] 00:12:53 I appreciate you sharing all that because, you know, we started this business in 2014, and we've been very fortunate, um, that we've learned a lot, uh, over time, you know, as a software vendor, you know, supplying these services to our, to our customers. But can you talk about what we're doing at Mend to help educate other healthcare providers, uh, about the resources that are available to them and how to build a good practice? I know we have a new ebook, um, that we're just releasing. And I know we have, uh, you know, new webinars that are coming out and we have series of webinars. So, uh, Matt, can you talk a little bit about, uh, what we're doing, uh, to help educate?
[Matt McBride] 00:13:31 So we have 19 different learnings, I think different key areas, whether we're talking about operations, whether we're talking about in the visit itself, um, you know, we've got 19 key learnings that, that we want to share with everybody. So we have a live webinar on February the 23rd at 1:00 PM, and then we have an ebook as well, uh, covering all 19 topics. It'll be available for anybody to download. Um, if you just go to, uh, men.com, uh, right here at the top, you can register for the webinar. And then if you click on resources, we've got, um, lots of great blog articles, the eBooks, the webinars, um, and more, uh, content that's available. So men.com everything is, is right up here at the top. If you want to register for that webinar or dive into the resources that we have adult,
[Brandon Worley] 00:14:28 Now my heart's beating because now things start getting a little interesting for me. So I understand next up is a contest.
[Matt McBride] 00:14:34 Yeah. So I think, you know, wanted to have a little bit of fun on each episode. And I think the first, uh, contest will be, uh, interesting because anybody that's watching can also participate in it. So let's see, let me get it pulled up. So I found, um, this photo actually went viral because there's some controversy over the right answer. And so I found it in the New York times and it was, it was published in some other places. So I will put the photo up. You take, you take about, you know, 20, you know, 20, 30 seconds or so. And you let me know when you're confident you have the answer.
[Brandon Worley] 00:15:26 Let's see if I embarrass myself,
[Matt McBride] 00:15:28 You ready to share? You're ready.
[Brandon Worley] 00:15:29 I'm sweating.
[Matt McBride] 00:15:31 All right, here you go. Clock has started.
[Brandon Worley] 00:15:34 Geez.
[Matt McBride] 00:15:35 So you've got to count the number of forces in the photo.
[Brandon Worley] 00:15:41 Okay. I see five horses. I see five horse heads. So I'm assuming that's five horses, final answer,
[Matt McBride] 00:15:56 Final answer, five horses,
[Brandon Worley] 00:15:59 Five horses.
[Matt McBride] 00:16:01 Now, apparently these are like, you know, shape-shifting horses or something that just blend right in with their, where their natural surroundings. I'm not sure what kind of species that is, but, um, well supposedly the correct answer is seven, but I don't necessarily disagree with you that there's five. Cause you can definitely see either one head here, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then I was even counting legs. Right? There's a set of legs there. 2, 3, 4, 5. So you know, might be right. Brain left brain type of tricks. Supposedly they're seven, but, uh, you know, if somebody can see seven definitely, uh, point them out in the comments To help us out.
[Brandon Worley] 00:17:05 We always want to try to make sure that we're leaving the audience with some helpful tips. So Matt, I know you, and I've talked to, you know, we're very interested in health, um, uh, for ourselves. Uh, so why don't you talk a little bit about the health tip, uh, that you're bringing to the table today,
[Matt McBride] 00:17:21 You ever noticed that let's say you're learning something new, you're learning, you know, a new movement in the gym or a new sport or something like that. And, and, and, and I don't know if you've ever kind of experienced this or, you know, maybe you were, uh, you know, working on a problem or whatever, and you, uh, you know, you just can't, you know, it feels awkward or like you're just not able to quite get to the solution that you're, you're looking at. You, uh, take a break, you approach it fresh the next day. And then have you ever noticed that something has gotten easier
[Brandon Worley] 00:18:07 Happens to me? I feel like every day,
[Matt McBride] 00:18:08 Uh, this one is, uh, from the sleep diplomat, who's on the Joe Rogan show. It's, uh, it's, uh, you have to go back into the end of the archives for this one, but it was an interesting one just on all the different, um, intricacies of sleep and, and what's going on there. So, uh, and, uh, I, I listened to his book too, cause there was just some fascinating, uh, information, um, that I never knew about sleep. So apparently when you're in REM sleep deep sleep and your, your brain is, you know, starting to process and do things, um, apparently it will sort of fill in the gaps and sort of smooth out these maybe a new movement that you're learning. Right. And it just feels really awkward the first day. And then the next day, it just, everything kind of clicked. So your brain will kind of go through all of that and just kind of smooth it all out for you or filling any little bits and pieces. So I thought that was, uh, obviously, you know, sleep is, uh, is an important thing. We'll probably talk about it again in this, in this segment, but, um, uh, there's, there's lots of cool
stuff. If you want to check out the, the, the sleep diplomat, lots of cool things. So,
[Brandon Worley] 00:19:35 So the key there is if there's a problem I'm trying to solve or something like that, and I'm having a hard time, I should remember when in doubt sleep it out.
[Matt McBride] 00:19:42 Exactly. Exactly. All
[Brandon Worley] 00:19:44 Right. Well, Hey Matt, thank you so much for coming on. This has been, um, a really cool experience, obviously you're my partner, but you know, for us, it's important to give back and try to help as many people, uh, understand the current digital health environment, uh, the best they can. Uh, and we really want to be there to be a resource for them. So we created this format to do that. So, uh, for all of you listening, uh, we're going to provide links to everything that was discussed in the show notes today. Uh, please feel free to hit us up with any questions or comments that you have. We want to constantly get better, uh, at this, uh, in the next episode, we're going to be talking about tactics and hacks to see more patients via telehealth, make sure you like and subscribe to this channel. We greatly appreciate it. And we want to sincerely thank all of you for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of
Speaker 1 00:20:35 Thank you for watching today's episode from the getting down with digital health podcast, to learn more about Mend or to access more content, please visit mend.com.
