There’s no single pill to cure all of healthcare’s problems. It’s a vast and incredibly complex organism with a long list of infirmities, each requiring a treatment plan that is simultaneously highly specialized and interoperable with the many other moving parts. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pursuit of value-based care. 

 Fortunately, there’s a growing market for organizations focused on one problem for the betterment of the whole. In this week’s High Stakes podcast, we spoke with Robin Shah. He is the co-founder and CEO at Thyme Care, a dedicated team of nurses and care experts backed by tech-enabled care coordination and analytics tools. The result? Making value-based care attainable in the oncology space, and helping patients navigate each difficult phase of their cancer battle. Key Points 

Pursuing value-based care means refining the processes and relationships between payers, providers and patients. In the context of specialized care, many health plans are not set up to cover its high costs — creating a need for subspecialty companies to make it possible. Nashville is home to an increasing number of start-ups and organizations doing this work.  

In any specialty, if the patient is engaged and supported during the decision-making process, they’re going to have a better experience. Generally, they’re going to have better outcomes at a lower cost. In Shah’s words: “It's a simple principle: If you engage a person through the journey, everything should be better.” 

With data playing such a vital role in value-based care, the implementation of AI is a foregone conclusion. However, Shah echoed a common word of warning. Human intervention cannot be bypassed, especially for prognosis. AI can be used to educate patients on their diagnoses, but not without human treatment, interaction and translation. 

Most providers are operating in a perfect storm of exorbitant administrative expenses, increasing care costs and, perhaps worst of all, cost inefficiencies. This is a moment for new ideas that aim to disrupt the status quo by creating new structures, workflows and processes that generate better connectivity and efficiency.  

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