As Chief Innovation Officer for UCHealth, Dr. Richard Zane is focused on the development of novel industry and venture relationships to bring innovative solutions to health care. By partnering with companies, from small start-ups to multinationals, and using the power of data science, remote monitoring and prescriptive intelligence, he is fundamentally altering and improving the way in which health care is delivered. Robert Niichel sits down with Dr. Zane for an interview on the Who Would Have Thought podcast.
After spending over a decade in Boston, Dr. Richard Zane moved to Colorado in 2012 to join UCHealth in its earliest stages of development and growth. Today, he believes that the right collaborations coupled with the power of data science, remote monitoring and prescriptive intelligence will help him and his team at UCHealth to reshape healthcare successfully. In this blog, we will dive right into the 4 exciting and significant takeaways from our recent conversation with the influential and innovative leader in the healthcare industry.
Who Would Have Thought Podcast - Episode 5 Preview - Moving Mountains of Innovative Medicine
Mass Casualty Planning Tools Proving Useful During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Along with The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Abt Associates in Boston, he has contributed to the plans for mass casualty and disaster care that have also been successfully used during Hurricane Katrina and the Boston Marathon bombing. He also said while these plans are not a one-size-fits-all, “but they have over time been incorporated into what is really the modern lexicon of emergency preparedness.” Parts of these helpful tools and resources are being used by the healthcare departments today to tackle the pandemic.
Driving Innovation for UCHealth
What he thrives on is to explore how intelligence, automation and technology can be incorporated into workflows in the healthcare sector. This includes, how to:
- Go virtual with healthcare and bring it into homes
- Monitor the health of every individual with a variety of data sources
- Improve decision making in healthcare
- Judiciously deploy technology into people’s everyday lives
The Driving Force to Keep Creating Innovative Solutions
Dr. Zane believes, “healthcare must be completely rethought. I think that the way in which healthcare has been delivered, as currently delivered, does not address the needs of patients. It really is primarily designed around the needs of healthcare and providers.” He recommends that we follow in the footsteps of Amazon and Google and prioritize the patients, their needs, strive to deliver a cost-effective service but at the same time focus on boosting the overall results along the way.
Dr. Zane’s Message for Startups in the Healthcare World
Dr. Zane underlines the importance of why every new organization should have a practical understanding of how healthcare is delivered and that it takes time and patience to succeed in this space. He says, “what I hope and what I advise startups is, to understand the problem, don't have a preconceived notion of what problem you're trying to solve, until you've seen the problem, understand it, and worked with patients and providers to understand what a possible solution would be.”
Moving Mountains of Innovative Medicine
If you want to know more about what’s next for UCHealth and Dr. Zane, vision and goals for the next decade, and what it means for Colorado as a healthcare innovation hub, you can listen to the podcast episode right here.
Connect with Dr. Richard Zane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-zane-md-9b87b5a/
UCHealth CARE Innovation Center:
https://www.uchealth.org/innovation
