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Saul Marquez:
Hey everybody! Saul Marquez with the HLTH Matters podcast, recorded straight from the HLTH event this year in Las Vegas. If you’re coming back to listen to us thank you, and if you haven’t, I want to welcome you and also invite you to hit the subscribe button because we are having some amazing conversations with the most bright healthcare leaders straight from the HLTH conference. And today I’ve got the pleasure of sharing an interview we did with Omar Nagji. He’s the chief commercial officer at Memora Health, the leading technology platform for virtual care delivery and complex care management. Prior to joining the Memora team, Omar helped co-found the healthcare team at Lyft, where he was responsible for developing and executing on the strategy that took Lyft Healthcare from its infancy to an industry and thought leader in non-emergent medical transportation space. Prior to Lyft, Omar spent more than 15 years across multiple verticals within the healthcare ecosystem, beginning at Stock AMP, now here on consulting, where he implemented patient throughput strategies at UPenn, Baylor, Scott White, and UC Health. He went on to build successful enterprise initiatives across revenue cycle digital pharmacy and reputation management spaces at companies like MedeAnalytics, VisiQuaite, Alta Pharmacy, and Podium. And so with that, I want to welcome you to the podcast, Omar.
Omar Nagji:
Thanks for having me, very excited.
Saul Marquez:
It’s a pleasure. So before we kick it off on the really groundbreaking work that you guys are doing in helping providers deliver better care to patients, I’d love to know more about what inspires your work in healthcare.
Omar Nagji:
Yeah, so I’m one of the crazy ones that actually studied healthcare, not to be a doctor, but actually to be in health policy administration, fell in love with it, went into healthcare consulting, and really started to see a dozen patient throughput consulting and started to see a lot of the breaks, specifically around communication with care teams, case managers, physicians, etc. In a consulting world, it’s fun, right? You get to see a lot of the issues, but you only have like 6 to 9 months to actually act on those, and then you move to another system, another project. You don’t get to see things through and through, and one of the things that I really wanted to do more of is impact a broader, subset of a broader entire pool of patients in this case, which is why I ended up going into more of the startup world and to the rev cycle, then went into more of like patient work hours putting into service type consulting, and ultimately found myself at Lyft, which is really where I could truly see the impact that digital health could have on just an incredible number of members, of patients, of caretakers, etc. And so as I think about why I joined Memora and why I continue to strive in the digital health world is, it’s truly trying to think about how do we disrupt and how do we use our collective brains, how do we use our collective opportunities to continue to move that needle forward.
Saul Marquez:
I love that. And there’s a huge opportunity that we have at hand here to stitch this care journey together, and you guys are doing a fantastic job of it. I’ve had the pleasure of working with you guys in the past with Manav and the Care Delivery podcast on the Outcomes Rocket side of things.
Omar Nagji:
It is gaining a ton of traction.
Saul Marquez:
It is, man, it is. It’s, a ton of you guys haven’t heard it, little plug for the Care Delivery podcast with Manav, the CEO. Omar, what is it that the business is doing to add value to the ecosystem?
Omar Nagji:
Yeah, well, first and foremost, I think we’ve done a really good job of listening. And so if you think about the main challenges that we’re solving for, it’s not piecemeal or it’s not siloed, which a lot of solutions do and a lot of solutions do well, there’s nothing wrong with that. But as we think about adding value to the entire ecosystem, we look at it across both the engagement lens, but ultimately the care team lens as well. So kind of going back to even my previous history and working with care teams, and bringing both of those together in a very cohesive and collaborative way where not only can we improve the engagement, but have that infrastructure so that as we’re looking at care teams as we’re working with hospitals or plans, they’re not having to staff up to deal with a lot of the responses, how do we combine both of those so that ultimately we can remove both of those challenges and move on to other things, staff shortages, etc.? Which is also things that we can assist with there as well.
Saul Marquez:
That’s great. So it’d be good to think about some of these things together. So when people think of a digital health solution in healthcare, their mind probably goes to an app or a portal of some kind, but Memora takes primarily a text-based approach. Why is that?
Omar Nagji:
A couple of reasons. So first, I think a lot of the statistics and I’m saying top of my head, so feel free to fact-check if you know them, but I think the statistics are there’s around like a 20% read rate for emails is like a 30 to 40% use rate on mobile apps, right? Which is where a lot of digital health companies fall into, whether it’s email or app. And so as we think about truly trying to impact not only the engagement but the care team side and like improve those adherence rates to care plans, we have to meet members, we have to meet patients, we have to meet people where they are. And if you look at your phone right now, so just take a look at it while we’re here, how many red dots do you have on the number of apps that you have on your phone? Give me a ballpark.
Saul Marquez:
Woah, oh, okay. Well, I’ll show you. I mean, a lot. This one has 231.
Omar Nagji:
Okay, great. Now, how many red dots or how many messages do you have that are on read?
Saul Marquez:
Let me see.
Omar Nagji:
Just text messages.
Saul Marquez:
Oh, text message is not, they’re all read.
Omar Nagji:
There you go, case in point.
Saul Marquez:
Even on my watch, sometimes my watch lags a little bit.
Omar Nagji:
Well, there you go. So the statistics.
Saul Marquez:
Those are all right.
Omar Nagji:
Yes, exactly right, so the statistic is about 98% of text messages are read. In addition to that, 90% of those are read within the first 3 minutes. So not only are we be able to meet patients, members, etc., where they are, but we’re able to get that engagement and that interaction and that conversation going in a means that actually works with them without the need for an iPhone and smartphone, any kind of wi-fi. It’s all through that text so that even from a health equity lens, we’re really able to meet all patients, not just those that are fortunate to have a phone.
Saul Marquez:
That’s fantastic. And a big part of what we’ve been discussing at this conference is health equity. And so as we think about solutions that scale in an equitable way, spot on.
Omar Nagji:
Absolutely.
Saul Marquez:
That’s awesome. Thank you, Omar. Could you share any success stories or positive outcomes from patients using Memora’s programs?
Omar Nagji:
Yeah, so we actually have a couple of new ones. I was just writing them down here, so just are looking at my phone. But some of the ones that stand out, right? Think about the engagement side, right? So like a 91% activation rate, we really look at sustained engagement rates. So not just that initial or the first 30 days, but really the 60-plus days in engagement, and we’re in the mid-seventies, I think 74%. And then the care plan adherence, that’s a pretty big one as well, so 62% increase as a result of a lot of that sustained engagement. But then as you think about, on the clinical side and the outcomes, Saul, about a 15% reduction in 30-day readmissions. We think about call deflection, so really helping to take a lot of that time off of the care teams, or about a 30 to 32% call deflection rate. And then ultimately, when we think about those EHR in basket reductions for EPIC as an example, trending at about a 40% reduction in those in vascular rates.
Saul Marquez:
Interesting, those numbers speak for themselves for sure.
Omar Nagji:
Yeah, and again, looking at it across both sides and how do we combine those to really move the needle on some of these challenges that we’re seeing?
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, thank you, Omar. And so what are you and your team at Memora working on right now that’s particularly exciting for you?
Omar Nagji:
What are we not working on that’s particularly exciting? Really, everything. So the team has done a really good job of understanding how we can solve a lot of these problems, and as a result, we’re seeing a ton of traction in the market. So some of the press releases recently, right, with whether it’s large organizations like Premiere from a GPO standpoint into individual health systems like Mayo, Edward Elmhurst, Ascension Children’s, and plenty of others that will likely be announced here over the next anywhere between four weeks to four months, so I have a nice little drum beat, so please stay tuned there. But even going into the digital health world with reimagined care, others again, which will likely be announced here over the next couple of weeks and into the payer world as well. And so I think kind of seeing that traction inside in our organization, but then able to bring that out to the public side as well is, it’s pretty cool to see.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, I would agree. So folks, Memora is definitely a company that you want to keep your eye on whether as an investor or, hey, as a healthcare provider. You certainly want to keep your eye on them as they have some really interesting solutions that could help you and your clinicians deliver better care. Omar, share one closing thought and where listeners could get in touch with you.
Omar Nagji:
So closing thoughts, I think you summed it up, Saul, like it’s a pretty big problem right now when it comes to staff shortages, and a lot of the nurses and even care teams and people think about workforce challenge as primarily case managers and physicians, but being able to have a solution that impacts and can positively affect all care team members, nurses included, especially when it comes to these shortages, is very much so top of mind, and it’s something that we are continuing to strive for and will continue to help with. So visit our website at MemoraHealth.com and please feel free to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and we’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Saul Marquez:
Hey, thank you so much, Omar. Such a pleasure and thanks for sharing all the things that you guys are doing. And folks, please remember to check the show notes. In the show notes, you’ll see all the links to Memora’s social media as well as their website and all the things that Omar shared with us. An incredible opportunity to engage with them, please take action. That’s what it’s all about. Omar, thank you for being with us.
Omar Nagji:
No, thanks for hosting me, this was fun.
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