You know how in JAMA recently it said that 25% or more of health care spending is frittered away wastefully? Some of that wasteful spending comes from unnecessary care. And some of that unnecessary care happens when a patient is misdiagnosed and then, based on that misdiagnosis, gets care for the wrong thing. And “wrong thing” care obviously isn’t going to fix the actual problem because its intention is to fix something else.
How do some of these misdiagnoses occur? Considering all of the diagnoses that begin with an MRI or a CT scan or an ultrasound or some other kind of imaging, it’s not hard to gin up thought that if a radiology report or radiology veers into the “not exactly correct” zone, then you have a treatment plan immediately zipping off on a poor-quality and likely wasteful trajectory.
That’s what I speak with Ron Vianu about in this health care podcast. Ron, by the way, is the founder and CEO over at Covera Health. We don’t have time (Ron and I) to get into the AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning in radiology aspect, but (spoiler alert) a follow-up on that is forthcoming.
You can learn more at coverahealth.com.
Ron Vianu is the CEO and co-founder of Covera Health and a serial entrepreneur and problem solver by nature. He has spent the last 20+ years founding ventures in the health care, technology, and insurance spaces. Ron studied chemistry and philosophy at NYU.
Prior to Covera Health, Ron founded Spreemo in 2010. Under his leadership, Spreemo became the fastest-growing referral management platform in the occupational medicine space, growing from 6 employees to a team of over 200 across offices in New York City and Dallas, and earning the company Deloitte’s Fast 500 award two years in a row for the fastest-growing technology businesses. Spreemo, which received venture funding from a multi-billion-dollar institutional investor, successfully exited to a strategic acquirer in 2017.
As the CEO of Covera Health, he and his company are dedicated to developing the most rigorous, quantitatively based solutions to improve health care quality, diagnostic accuracy, and patient outcomes. As a leading clinical analytics company, they are pioneering quality-based solutions for payers and providers that enable the measurement and delivery of high-quality care. The company builds programs for employers, health plans, and strategic partners to reduce misdiagnoses, improve patient outcomes, and reduce medical costs. Covera Health’s first solution, its innovative Radiology Centers of Excellence Program, operates in all 50 states.
01:53 Why radiology is so relative to health care outcomes and outcomes costs.
02:23 Why very few people are talking about radiology, and why they should be.
03:41 Shopping for value vs price and quality in radiology.
04:18 “The real problem is that there’s no visibility.”
04:37 “What is the likelihood of that patient walking out of either imaging center with an accurate diagnosis?”
04:55 The importance of the radiologist in the health outcomes of the patient.
09:45 Working toward yielding an accurate diagnosis in radiology by striking down misconceptions.
12:15 Deriving evidence-based medicine.
16:14 “What relationships exist amongst certain … providers?”
17:56 The data that Covera Health can access and use.
19:51 The incentive for accurately viewing and diagnosing in radiology.
22:24 “There is no metric to measure quality today.”