Improving the patient experience and increasing efficiencies in physicians, offices, and hospitals
Recommended Book:
Best Way to Contact Jennifer:
jennifer@navimize.com
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Saul Marquez:
Welcome back to the podcast. Today I have the privilege of hosting Dr. Jennifer Meller. She is the CEO at Navimize, a digital health company aimed at improving the patient experience and increasing efficiencies in physicians, offices and hospitals. Navimize utilizes proprietary software to track patient flow calculate delays and send automated notifications to patients when physicians or virtual visits run behind schedule. They vastly reduce wait times, drastically improving the experience for patients and physicians alike. These two things are critical as we look to improve outcomes in our space. In 2018, Navimize was chosen to participate in the New York City Economic Development Corporation Health I.T. accelerator the plug and play Cleveland Clinic accelerator and studio health box program in Chicago. She’s done an outstanding job in this space to help improve outcomes for many and I’m excited to dive into her work as well as some of the results that they’ve had in their experience. True pleasure to have you here Dr. Meller, thanks for joining us.
Jennifer Meller:
Thank you. My pleasure to be here.
Saul Marquez:
Absolutely. It’s great that you’re here now that I leave anything out in the interest that you want to share with the listeners?
Jennifer Meller:
I think you got most of it in there. I’ve been practicing physician for 20 years. So I’m dating myself but really the inspiration for Navimize came from my firsthand experience engaging with patients and having this sort of pain point myself. And so the inspiration to solve this problem really came from my own real life experience. So really kind of near and dear to my heart to get this problem solved.
Saul Marquez:
Absolutely important problem that you guys are working on so let’s dive in. What is it that got you started on this?
Jennifer Meller:
So as I said I’ve been practicing for a long time and always ran behind schedule my practice. I would rearrange my schedule a million ways, a million times no matter what I did I’d always have days or I ran behind schedule just too many you know urgent business emergencies things sort of out of my control and I can see over the last really the last five or six years that things are changing in Madison. So you know years ago, patients had no choice but to wait in your office. Today they can go and schedule telemedicine visit. They can go down the block to a mini clinic. So there are other choices for them available. And we’re starting to see sort of patients not coming in as much for urgent visits and going up there. We also know that now patients if they’re upset or they’re kept waiting in a physician’s office rather than picking up a phone and calling one friend and complaining they’ll go online and write reviews. There’s studies that show that actually one negative review can keep as many as 30 patients away from your practice. So there are a lot of reasons today why physicians really have to be cognizant of fixing the wait time problem. Wait times off the planned patient satisfaction which is linked to reimbursement. So again all of this is sort of new in health care. And so I think physicians and health systems just kind of starting to wake up to the idea that we really need to start thinking about how we’re going to solve this problem. It’s one of the biggest patient complaints. A couple of years ago I went back to school and finished my MBA and I could take a lot of Ubers to get around and one day you know looking at my phone saying that Uber on my phone right in front of me even though the physical car wasn’t right there and I thought you know…
Saul Marquez:
I that that when it happens.
Jennifer Meller:
Uber. But yeah I was like I know it’s happening it’s Uber that that blocks away why can’t patients know what’s happening in my waiting room before they head to my waiting room. And so that’s kind of how the idea for Navimize came about.
Saul Marquez:
Oh yeah yeah I love that. And so very interesting. So you’re sitting there, you’re waiting for your Uber and you’re like Why can’t this happen for the patients in my waiting room. And it’s so interesting Jennifer because the consumerization of health care is it’s inevitable right? Some can stick their heads in the sand and think that it’s not happening it’s not coming but it is so great work thus far. For those curious about the company and what you do I love an opportunity for you to just kind of deep dive on it. I know you covered it at a high level. But tell us a little bit more and in that explanation maybe you could talk to us about an example of how you guys have made a difference so far.
Jennifer Meller:
Sure sure. Navimize is actually a web based application we integrate with the electronic health record and we’re currently actually first electronic health record that we’ve integrated with is Athena. So we are in a couple of Athena offices now. Now Mike has proprietary algorithm that will predict delays in the doctor’s schedule and then send automated notifications to patients to let them know when the doctor is running behind schedule. And so by eliminating really the number one patient complaint with office visits which are a long wait time, we’re helping practices and hospitals retain patients and score high on patient satisfaction surveys. And both of those things actually improve profitability for roofs as well as satisfied patient.
Saul Marquez:
Absolutely. Just incredible work here thus far and I loved the initiative that you’ve taken here. Dr. Meller on this. Give us an example of something that didn’t work out a setback that you had early on and how that made you guys better.
Jennifer Meller:
Yes. So one of the things that comes along to be an entrepreneur is pitching to investors to invest in your company and help getting capital to move you along. So we are pitching that event over the summer. There was a new investor group that had asked that we pitched them and we had a whole bunch of meetings with them, screening meetings when a part of their larger committee were invited to begin the deal with them. We spent like a really long time getting our paperwork together, agonizing over writing up detailed responses to their questions and then we flew out to their office and with the kind of within a very short time be at their headquarters we realized that since they were new group they hadn’t really solidified their investment thesis yet and that we were just simply too early stage for them. And so but that kind of caught us in terms of meeting to thrive and build as a company is that you know at an early stage company your instinct is kind of jump whenever someone presents what seems like a shiny opportunity whether it’s an investor or an advisor or a potential partner. And we really learned that really be careful about choosing who to engage with your most precious commodity as a startup is your time. So with every potential opportunity you have to evaluate is it worth my time. Should I be focusing on something else and am I really achieving my strategic goals which at the end of the day when you’re in health care and you’re trying to get a product out there it really should come down to physicians and the patients. So really taught us an important lesson there.
Saul Marquez:
And I think that’s brilliant. And so you guys have learned from that. You’ve raised money. You’ve gotten out. You’ve done pounding the pavement. Now you’ve got some customers. What’s one of the proudest leadership experiences that you’ve had to date?
Jennifer Meller:
So I’ve got a lot of you know I’ve been fortunate in that I spent 20 years as a practicing physician so I would say over those years kind of my proudest moments were in the little things. So when I would get little holiday cards or birthday cards from my patients expressing their gratitude I think that was really always gets me every time. And I kind of think about that in my daily work as the CEO of Navimize that again when it comes to the business of healthcare you know the doctor is my customer. I need to you know stay on top of that. But I also need to stay focused on the needs of the patients because ultimately that’ll drive doctors to appreciate and adopt our product.
Saul Marquez:
That’s so cool. Yeah and it always comes down to the basics and those little reminders that you’re appreciated. And you know oftentimes I think we lose track of that. And it’s important to reinforce as leaders in our organization but also to our own physicians. So if you’re listening send your doctor a thank you note. That’s a good reminder that Jennifer leave with us here. So tell us about an exciting project you’re working on within Navimize now.
Jennifer Meller:
Yeah sure. So scheduling in doctor’s offices is really a bit of a broken system. So there are all these companies like DocDoc all these great companies that have moved scheduling from pen and paper to online which I think is a great great step in the right direction. But ultimately physicians and hospitals are still using outdated techniques to schedule patients and schedules remain under full the times that overbooked the other time. And what we’re doing is sort of next step after kind of putting the Band-Aid on the wait time problem it’s working on a new platform that will really reimagine scheduling and create a frictionless and highly efficient experience for both patients and providers.
Saul Marquez:
Interesting. So tell me if I’m going to visit a clinic that’s using your your program. I can see on my phone there’s an app. How many people on the wait room and maybe I should go get a Starbucks coffee before I go visit you?
Jennifer Meller:
Judge it kind of takes a little more than that. So we didn’t want patients to all have to download an app in order to see what’s happening. So we, from the physician side once we’re integrated with the H.R. and we have certain scheduling data and other information and I can pull from the H.R.. What’s going on during the course of the day what’s happening in the office. Our system then predicts delays and then pushes text messages out to patients. So if you have a three o’clock appointment you might get a message at 15 or to 30 that says hey Dr. Meller is running 30 minutes behind instead of coming out in at 3 o’clock on a 330. Then you can stay at your desk or if you’re already on your way you can say Oh I’ll go run an errand. I’ll get a cup of coffee and you just know what to expect. One of the things that patients say is that sitting in that waiting room and having no idea what’s happening or when they’re getting calls it the tension just builds up.
Saul Marquez:
It does.
Jennifer Meller:
just sort of it does and just sort of reaching out and letting the patients know you’re thinking about them and telling them what’s happening make just all the difference in the world.
Saul Marquez:
I love it. Well I just got goosebumps because I just feel what you’re saying and the impact.
Jennifer Meller:
Yeah. Yeah we’ve seen really great response again certainly from the patients but also from the physicians who are buying our product. They really see the difference in terms of the patients coming in. You know it lightens up their day. The patients are happy. They’re retaining patients. The patients are writing positive reviews online they’re telling their friends to come to this practice. So we’re really seeing the positive impact from both sides. Just great.
Saul Marquez:
You know currently I just think about what does that for me now? And I think about like GrubHub or some of these like food delivery services on the app and if they’re running from the beginning they tell you Hey it’s gonna be there in 45 minutes. If for some reason there’s a delay they send you a message “hey you know your GrubHub is running late but it’ll be there at this time”. And I love it because I know what to expect.
Jennifer Meller:
Yeah exactly. Exactly. I think that makes all the difference in the world.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah. And why shouldn’t that be the case with our physician? So you’re totally onto something here, Dr. Meller and with the 20 years of experience as a physician I think you know a little bit something there. So this part of the podcast is The Lightning Round. I’ve got a couple of questions for you. Quick answers and then we’ll follow that with a book that you recommend to the listeners. You ready?
Jennifer Meller:
Sure. I’m ready.
Saul Marquez:
All right. What’s the best way to improve health care outcomes?
Jennifer Meller:
So I definitely think it’s engaging patients to work as a team with providers to achieve meaningful changes.
Saul Marquez:
What’s the biggest mistake or pitfall to avoid?
Jennifer Meller:
Completely replacing human interaction with machines.
Saul Marquez:
How do you stay relevant as an organization despite constant change?
Jennifer Meller:
I think the only way to do that is to just keep changing along with the constant changes whatever they may be.
Saul Marquez:
What’s one area of focus that drives everything in your company?
Jennifer Meller:
So again it goes back to that dedication to really improving the experience for all of the stakeholders for physicians and patients alike.
Saul Marquez:
And these next two are a little more on a personal note. What is your number one health habit?
Jennifer Meller:
It has to be just eating healthy which are really hard to keep my diet healthy keep it balanced. I don’t never do indulge but really try to moderate and eat as healthy as possible.
Saul Marquez:
Love it. And what is your number one success habit.
Jennifer Meller:
So I would have to say it be really careful with the people that I work with. Making a point of checking in on a regular basis and talking about whether people you know how people are feeling, how they’re you know how things are going. Making sure we air any concerns that people have. Making sure that everyone is heard and that everyone continues an open dialogue all the time.
Saul Marquez:
Outstanding. Some great shares there. And what book would you recommend to the listeners?
Jennifer Meller:
Yes. So one of the books I read in the last couple of years that I really enjoyed it was a book called Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer and it’s about how Israel became the startup nation that this tiny little country despite kind of all against all odds and because of their location and their geography and being such a small country and surrounded by hostile neighbors how they had to be entrepreneurial really from the get go and how they took those kind of lessons learned from out of necessity and parlay that into becoming this unbelievably successful innovation hub of technology.
Saul Marquez:
Great recommendation folks. You could find this book as well as all other resources and points that we’ve covered on today’s podcast with Dr. Meller. Just go to outcomesrocket.health in the search bar type in Jennifer Meller That’s M E L L E R or type in N A V I M I Z E and so with that Dr. Miller I love if you could just leave us with a closing thought and then the best place for the listeners could get in touch or follow your work.
Jennifer Meller:
So listeners can email me directly. I’m jennifer@navimize.com. And in closing I just wanted to say thanks for having me on your podcast. Thanks to everyone out there who actually listened to me chat away and everybody should just stay tuned for some exciting new products coming down the pipeline from Navimize.
Thanks for listening to the Outcomes Rocket podcast. Be sure to visit us on the web at www.outcomesrocket.com for the show notes, resources, inspiration and so much more.
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