Maximizing adaptive intelligence to provide solutions that can help keep the healthcare system healthy
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Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play
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Creating a Framework for Meaningful Innovation with Hans Notenboom, Global Head of Digital at Philips Healthcare was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best way to convert your audio to text in 2019.
Saul Marquez:
Hey, everybody Saul Marquez here with the Outcomes Rocket. Are you going to HLTH? It’s the largest and most important conference for health innovation. HLTH pronounced health is one of a kind of ecosystem event for the health industry. And they’re on a mission to bring together 5000 plus senior leaders to solve the most pressing problems facing health care today and actualize the most promising opportunities to improve health. They bring together senior leaders from across payers, providers, employers, investors, fast growing startups, pharma, policymakers and innovation centers to ask one question: how do we create the future of health? I’ll be there. And I hope to see you there, too. If you use outcomesrocketpodcast150 as the promo code that’s outcomesrocketpodcast150, you’ll get $150 off your ticket. Looking forward to seeing you there. Go to hlth.com to sign up. That’s hlth.com. Use that promo code outcomesrocketpodcast150. And I am excited to see you there. I’ll even have a booth recording some podcast live at the event. The MGM in Las Vegas. So, so excited to see you there. Don’t be afraid to say hi and we’re gonna learn a lot there. So hlth.com.
Saul Marquez:
Today I have the privilege of hosting Hans Notenboom. He’s the global head of Solution Marketing at Philips Group Marketing and e-commerce. As the Head of Marketing for the group organization at Philips, he serves the function of providing solutions that make outreach to patients, customers and physicians in a great way. He’s been with Philips for many years in various digital roles, including healthcare, where he led digital transformation and in the health care informatics business looking after digital health and marketing. He started Philips, his work at Philips 10 years ago and the group digital team responsible for CRM, analytics and commerce. Later, he became Global Head of Digital for Healthcare, managing a team of worldwide supporting businesses and markets with all digital activities. And in the years at Philips, he’s focused on making new technologies meaningful and addressing the big challenges in health care. He’s passionate about the digitization and innovation in health care. And with this bright introduction, I want to give Hans a very warm, warm welcome onto the Outcomes Rocket. We’re excited to dive into your thoughts, Hans.
Hans Notenboom:
Thanks for having me, Saul.
Saul Marquez:
So anything else you’d like to add to the intro Hans that I may have missed?
Hans Notenboom:
No. Thanks for introducing me to such a nice way. I think one of the things that I feel are I’m privileged to do is in that space between digital and marketing and innovation. I’ve been there in a long time and I found that this profile is also a bit special in the healthcare world. So that’s why I’m I’m glad I can bring something extra to the healthcare space. And in this case, to to Philips as a health tech company.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, it’s really fascinating Hans to actually have that role where intersect with all of these, the digital, the marketing and the entire, you know, outcomes improvement process. What would you say got you into health care to begin with?
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah, it’s interesting because I know a lot of people in the health care industry go into that space because of passion and their commitment and their beliefs. I must admit, I got into it accidentally. I had the opportunity to contribute to this digital transformation that was going on at Philips. And I love Philips because I’m Dutch and that’s a beautiful Dutch company. And at the same time, I started working for Philips and working on the digital transformation. Actually, the company itself transformed and focused totally on health technology. And that’s what I liked a lot because the digitization that I’m keen on is a fascinating element also of that transformation in healthcare, adult digitization and healthcare. So I got into healthcare by accident almost but I love it.
Saul Marquez:
Wow, what a great accident to have happened and Philips as one of those companies that is just now well-known in the space for for innovation and the forward thinking that’s being done. Different divisions focused on technology, population health, etcetera. What do you think? Hons is a hot topic that needs to be on health leaders agenda and how are you thinking about it?
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah, I have to pick one that’s not easy in the space. There’s many things ongoing. Typically, I would pick the digitization because I’m very keen on that. But I would actually say artificial intelligence is a really hot topic. And the potential I think, for for health care is massive. But on the other hand, also the risks are great. If we do it wrong, that’s why actually we don’t like to talk about artificial intelligence too much, but more talk about adaptive intelligence, because I think sometimes people think that artificial intelligence is going to take over the world and it’s going to replace the clinicians. And I don’t think that’s going to happen that way. I firmly believe that artificial intelligence is a great tool to assist clinicians and doctors support them in their work with smart algorithms. Everything can make it easier and faster so that as a clinician, you have more time for complex topics and for the patient. But it’s not going to take over the world. Hopefully it isn’t a topic with a lot of potential and a lot of impact potentially on the way we work and the way we do our diagnosis and make our treatment plans and take care of patients. So I think that’s going to accelerate massively over the coming years and the impact of artificial intelligence on healthcare.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, Hans, you know, it’s definitely made its debut with imaging. It’s being used in really a lot of a lot of applications and detection of eye retinopathy. I mean, the list is long. You know, what comes to mind is like and maybe this is kind of like a weird question, but what do you think? I mean, why is Elon Musk so worried about A.I.? He’s always making these posts about how how?
Hans Notenboom:
Well, I think it’s a little bit the Terminator type of feeling. You know, the movie that’s artificial intelligence is going to spiral out of control and we cannot control it anymore. It might be a risk in the future. I find it very difficult to predict the future for the short term. I think the risk is not that great yet. We’re not there yet. And I think at the moment we can only benefit from adapting.. applying artificial intelligence on some of the more complex topics and get help from it. But I don’t see a full integrated artificial intelligence lifeform existing yet that’s going to take over the world. But I do agree with Elon that we should be careful and we should know what we’re doing and keep a close eye on which direction we’re going.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, that’s interesting. I wanted to hear your take on it since you sort of at the center of it and get your feel. I feel the same way. I mean, I feel like today we’re making great use of it. So as you call that adaptive intelligence to kind of tame it down a little bit and not scare people. It’s making a difference. And we’re getting to a point in healthcare where things aren’t as scalable with the people. You can’t just throw people at problems. You got to think smarter. Give us an example Hans of what the folks at Philips have done as an organization to create results by doing things differently.
Hans Notenboom:
I think one of the big shifts that we’re trying to make is to think beyond the products. We are in business for 128 years and we always create innovative products that we realize it’s not only about technology anymore, we can help the medical world to make patients healthy, but we actually have to provide solutions to the medical industry that can help keep the healthcare system itself healthy. That’s, I think, another important element to take into account. And that’s why we not only bring hardware to the world, but also combine hardware and software and services together so that we can make an impact on the performance. So France’s health care organization and I think it’s up to us to do Philips to to show that this actually can have an impact. Does it have an impact not just on the clinical outcomes was also on the business performance and operational processes? I think that’s the big shift that we’re trying to make to think beyond the product and provide solutions that actually can have an impact on the business.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah. And, you know, I think that’s a very wise, wise thing to say and a philosophy that Philips has taken. You know, it’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about, actually had a guest. Come on. Not too long ago. About a month ago. And he was talking to me about Jim Collins’s book, Built to last. Have you read that one?
Hans Notenboom:
Yes, I read it a while back, but I read it.
Saul Marquez:
And, you know, and I’ve kind of been consumed by this topic of, wow, you know, like for a long time, Hans, I was thinking up. If you have a product, you have a company, but then you get to a company like Philips that’s been around for more than a century. Your company is more than a product, you know your mission. And how can you achieve that mission? So you have any examples that you want to share about maybe something that Philips is doing that that’s made a difference?
Hans Notenboom:
It’s hard to pick one example, but I think if you, for instance, look in the way we do patient monitoring and we’ve been delivering patient monitoring devices for quite a while and we realize that it’s not just about the monitoring devices anymore. It needs to be integrated with the hospital system, with the workflow. It’s not only the hardware, it’s the way the software integrates with all the other systems and how you can monitor patients in transport, how you can predict what’s going on. And that’s where the adaptive intelligence comes in. Again, using smart algorithms to see things coming a prompt and so that the staff can can take action early. I think that’s an area where combining all these things together can really make a big difference. Beyond what you can do with pure hardware.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, I’ve heard about. I think I read a couple articles about the early warning signs, intelligence that you guys have put in and seems to be making a big difference.
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah, I think it’s key that we start combining the different information sources. We have two different metrics we have on a patient and using that we can make smarter algorithms to see things coming. As you know, health care is in the end a very personalized area. Patients. Every patient is different and having more data is in principle good. But it’s also almost impossible for a doctor or a nurse to see all of that data and quickly make a judgment call on what it means and how it all connects together. I think that’s where adaptive intelligence can help and do predictive scoring. In the end, it’s the clinician or the nurse that needs to take action and each to treat the patient. But we can definitely help with smarter algorithms and using data more smarter.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, for sure. And so you you’re working out a lot of different projects now. Hands. There’s obviously projects that don’t work sometimes and we learn most from those failures and those setbacks. Is there any one of those that you want to share with us and some of the things that you learned that have made you better?
Hans Notenboom:
Well, I had obviously many, many moments when I learned in fields and so my mistakes. Maybe one example is I like that one because it’s a cool thing. And that’s happened to a couple of years ago when I was in a room in Philips presenting to a group of colleagues. And I was talking about healthcare and how the digitization of healthcare will change us as a company. And at that time, you might recall Google Glass was just introduced. Yes. So it is a couple of years back and I was teasing the group a little bit and I said, well, wouldn’t it be great if we are the first company in the world to connect a medical device to Google Glass? And actually in that group of people that we had and there were a number of people that all had a little piece of the puzzle. So we got together and we took a challenge. And in a couple of weeks we had it up and running while we actually connected a patient monitoring device to G+ so that you could life see the vital signs of the patients at the inside of the glass. And we built a great scenario with that for an anesthesiologist that’s getting life data from the vital science together with patient information from the EMR to get it with some workflow information. It’s actually exciting to see that.
Saul Marquez:
That is exciting.
Hans Notenboom:
But then I started realizing that technology isn’t nice, is great. Everybody excited. But it doesn’t really solve the real challenge because the real challenge is how could you get that ever working in a real hospital situation? How can you get connect all the systems together that are needed to make this scenario a reality? And how can you show that the solution would actually have an impact on things like patient outcomes, on staff experience? On the cost, there’s a lot more to it than just doing a pilot with a nice piece of technology and creating the real solutions that really are of benefits to hospitals around the world. That is the true challenge. And that’s not easy. That doesn’t take a couple of weeks. It’s hard work. So that was my my learning never go just for the technology and the nice and shiny stuff, but really to build that and go for sustainable solutions.
Saul Marquez:
Man, it’s such a great message. Hans. I feel like a lot of the people and I’m guilty of this, too, and a lot of companies are guilty of this. You know, you find a cool way of doing it or something neat. And there ends up being a large supply of solutions trying to find a problem to solve. And it’s not not what we need. So that’s pretty neat and say. So part of what you do is also involved in R&D and product development. Or is that in your previous life?
Hans Notenboom:
It’s a bit in my previous life, but also because marketing and detail and innovation are very close together. So I’m not one of the really smart enough to say we have in the company, but I’m close to it and I see my role to take these innovations and help them bring bring them to market.
Saul Marquez:
That’s amazing. Good for you. You know, I think it’s energizing to be, you know, in a room full of people that care deeply about the space and are thinking creatively to to make it better. I’m a firm believer that you’re the average of your five closest peers and you’ve got to be surrounded by great people. Sounds like you are.
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah. And then this situation was amazing to see that we all have so much knowledge. But if you bring it together, you can do amazing things.
Saul Marquez:
So let’s let’s talk about the other side of the coin for this Hans. Well, what’s one of your proudest experiences at Phillips?
Hans Notenboom:
If I pick one, we we actually have a dedicated cloud platform for healthcare. Oh, not sure if you’re aware. But
Saul Marquez:
No, I wasn’t. That’s pretty neat.
Hans Notenboom:
And if you talk about cloud platform and health care, it’s many people say, oh, that’s a sensitive topic. Storing your health data in the cloud. Are you crazy? It’s very sensitive. But I use elaborated on in my direction. I have been in this digital space for a while. Twenty years ago, there was a small company that launched this tool to store your customer data in the cloud, and everybody else thought it was crazy. If your company, why would you take your your most important asset to your customer data and stored it in the cloud? But now we’re 20 years later and Salesforce.com is as a well-known company and nobody questions that anymore. That concept of storing your customer data on the cloud. And I believe that that will also happen in healthcare. Maybe we’re not there yet, but we will go there for sure. And it will be the case for medical information as well. And I say that because I do believe of these enormous benefits that can have to bring it all in one place.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, that’s interesting. And so what’s the play there? I mean, you’ve got folks like you, I think at Amazon, right., they built the business. They needed technology to support their business model. And then from that sprung AWS, right. I mean, is is Philips looking to become like the cloud for health care or is this just more something that you guys are doing for yourselves?
Hans Notenboom:
It’s not just doing it for ourselves. It’s definitely a part of the direction that we need to go and want to go. And if we want to connect healthcare together, it’s a needed component. But we also take that platform and make it more open to customers and to others. And I think that’s that’s when I like this moment in time when we start introducing it. And we started to organize hackathons on that platform.
Saul Marquez:
You did?
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah. I’m not sure if your readers know the term hackathons, but it’s a nice concept where you bring teams together and then one weekend or so you create these solutions on based on the functionality of the platform. And I found that magical to see. It’s really true inspiration. And for me, did the leadership part of that is that you can actually bring people together and get that momentum and get it going and get people excited and show real results in a short period of time. On the other hand, I get back to what I said earlier, it’s not all easy. You have to keep in mind that innovations don’t happen in a weekend. It’s hard work. You need to really put in a lot of effort to get a proper solution.
Saul Marquez:
Hans. So, you know, and on that point, you know, thinking about innovation and how large of a company Philips is and the fact that you guys still continue innovating. What would you say is a big characteristic of that innovation success that Philips has had?
Hans Notenboom:
What I’ve seen is I think that’s that’s an important thing, is we need to always start understanding what the real challenge is. We need to look beyond that clinical outcome. And we’ve done that for a long period of time, look at the clinical outcomes and improving our products. But we also need to look at what does it actually mean for the staff or for in the hospital, for the nurses, to the doctors. What does it mean for the patient and the patient experience? What does it mean for the operation in the hospital? What does it mean for the balance sheet? And that’s why we are now more and more designing solutions that not only address all of these challenges, but are also flexible enough to operate in specific situations and not every healthcare systems the same. We’re a global company, so we need to adapt to all these different situations. Not every hospital is the same. So I would say for us it’s important to spend 95% of the time in understanding the problem of the customer and then 5 percent in creating the solution. If I quote Einstein on this, and it’s important to start with understanding the challenge and that’s I think for us a key to success to survive for another 128 years.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, that’s a really insightful and something that we all need to be thinking about. So, you know, you’re driving a car working out right now. Think about it. What’s the problem you’re solving? Take a note from hands and take your innovation to a deeper, broader level. So what would you say is the most exciting project you’re working on today?
Hans Notenboom:
And there are many. But recently we launched a new experience center. And basically we use that to show our different innovations and how the solutions come together. I think the big change that we’re doing there is that we typically always started to tell the story about our product and we dive into our features and we tried to convince people that we make great stuff. In this case, we turned it around and we started from actually. What does it mean for the patient? What are they struggling with? What does it mean for the health care professional? And then we’ve tried to make the link on where we can our solutions can actually help make a difference.
Saul Marquez:
So where is the experience center located?
Hans Notenboom:
We have experience centers in the different places around the globe. The one I’m sitting in now is in the Netherlands, in a place called Best, where we have a factory and a campus, so yeah, it’s it’s exciting to see all this different things come to light.
Saul Marquez:
That is exciting. And in the US, where is the experience center?
Hans Notenboom:
We’re actually having a campus in Cambridge. OK. That’s also where part of our innovation takes place. And another place in the world.
Saul Marquez:
Lovely. So, Hans, getting close to the end of the interview here. This has been a ton of fun. This is where we do the lightning round. I’ve got a couple questions for you. Followed by a book that you’d recommend to the listeners. You ready?
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah. Go ahead.
Saul Marquez:
What is the best way to improve health care outcomes?
Hans Notenboom:
Yeah, I think it’s starting with total set of outcomes. Sometimes we called it the quadruple aim. It’s about making solutions that have clinical outcome, business improvements and also take into account the staff and the patient experience, as I mentioned.
Saul Marquez:
What would you say is the biggest mistake or a pitfall to avoid?
Hans Notenboom:
Creating solutions in isolation. We have already too many silos in healthcare. We have to fit the solution into a bigger ecosystem. Data. Connectivity. Interoperability. Connecting workflows. I think that’s key.
Saul Marquez:
I’m going to give you amen of that one. How do you stay relevant as an organization despite constant change?
Hans Notenboom:
We’ve tried to stay focused on making our customer successful.
Saul Marquez:
Love that. And what would you say is an area that drives Philips?
Hans Notenboom:
I would go for collaboration. We try to work closely with our customers, with the partners in the industry. The challenges in healthcare, we believe, are too massive to fix on our own. We always need to collaborate and we need to be a partner.
Saul Marquez:
That’s beautiful. And so these next two hands are more on a personal note for the listeners to get to know you. What is your number one health habit?
Hans Notenboom:
Whew, that’s a good one. I didn’t see that one coming. My number one health habit is taking a rest and a reflection at the right moment. So it’s not so much a physical exercise, but more the mental recharging.
Saul Marquez:
That’s nice. And what is your number one success habit?
Hans Notenboom:
Building a good team. I think it all starts with building a good team, getting the people around you that are smarter than yourself and then inspiring them to do great things.
Saul Marquez:
I love that. So during your mental rest periods, do you do writing or do you just kind of meditate and think?
Hans Notenboom:
Meditate and think. I love to see myself on the Italian terrorists overseeing the ocean. That’s the best way to do this.
Saul Marquez:
I love it. So this has been awesome, Hans. Oh, what book would you recommend to the listeners?
Hans Notenboom:
Might be a bit of a surprising one. It’s a book by Mahan Khalsa is a leader in sales. Actually, in his book is called Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play. And it’s about transforming the buyer seller relationship. It’s a sales book. And sometimes sales is a bit of a naughty work in healthcare. But I work for a commercial company. But this book actually shows how you can go away from that pure commercial relationship and really start becoming more a trusted partner and help your customers and then have shared results.
Saul Marquez:
What a great recommendation, folks. You could get an entire transcript of our conversation with Hans and also links to Philips and the work that they’re doing. Links to their innovation center. Experience Center excuse me. Good outcometrocket.health. And in the search bar type in Philips or type in Hans and you’ll find all of that there. Hans, really appreciate your time. I love if you could just leave us with a closing thought. And then the best place for the listeners to get in touch with you or continue the conversation.
Hans Notenboom:
Closing thought. Let’s all keep in mind that in the end we are all going for the same goal and making life better for everyone.
Saul Marquez:
Love that. And so if the folks want to learn more or follow you, where would they check you out?
Hans Notenboom:
Linkedin, Twitter. You can find me there and then I’ll even leave my email address on your website.
Saul Marquez:
Outstanding. Appreciate you doing that. Then again, just want to say thanks for channeling in from the Netherlands. I know it’s a little bit later there today, but you dedications inspiring and really appreciate all the work you’ve done.
Hans Notenboom:
Thanks, Saul. It was great being here and thank you for the opportunity.
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