Portrait Mobile with Brandon Henak and Tom Westrick | ESAIC 2022

Top Med Talk.

Desiree Chappell: Hello and welcome to Top Med Talk. We're at Euroanaesthesia 2022 in a beautiful Milan, Italy, coming to you live from the Trade Exhibition here for the European Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care. I am your host, Desiree Chappell, and I'm joined by my partner in crime, Sol Aronson. How are you, Sol?

Sol Aronson: I'm great, Desiree. Good to be here. We're sharing stories about how we all got here with our flight, trials, and tribulations. And it really is good to have our feet on the ground in Milan, Italy. 

Desiree Chappell: It is, absolutely. Man, there is a buzz in this exhibit hall, isn't there, Sol? 

Sol Aronson: It's amazing. I mean it... people are ready to get back on the horse and, and, and ride. Um, so hopefully COVID is in our rear-view mirror or at least that which we once knew of it. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. Absolutely. Well Sol, we are so excited this year for ESA to be in the exhibit hall, uh, partnering with GE HealthCare this year.

Sol Aronson: Yes. And I must say we're sitting in a, uh, a, a sea of confetti because there was a launch of a number of cool, innovative products that we're going to have a chance to do a little bit more of a deep dive on. Um, but it's very exciting. A lot of energy, a lot of buzz. 

Desiree Chappell: A lot of energy. I love it. I know. The confetti is awesome. I thought there was like a glitter bong going on here (laughs) a little earlier. Um, but, um, Monty and Frederic Clement were able to go and uh, or had a little time to do the product launch which that is now on Top Med Talk, it's already up. So, if you missed it, please do check it out.

So, we're here for the new global product launch of Portrait Mobile. We've had an opportunity to sit down with some leadership from GE and right now, this evening, before we head out to dinner, we are able to sit down with Tom Westrick and Brandon Henak from GE HealthCare. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us.

Tom Westrick: You're welcome.

Brandon Henak: Thank you.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah, Tom, tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Tom Westrick: You bet. So first off, I love the buzz here as well. 

Desiree Chappell: (laughs)

Tom Westrick: The power of human interaction is, is not undersold and not oversold, I should say. This is nice to see people face to face and shake hands and uh, just get by together again in a, in a real way. So, I've been at GE for 19 years on the presidency of our Life Care Solution Business, which includes patient monitoring, anesthesia machines, ventilators, um, maternal infant care business, which is incubators and warmers, and our diagnostic cardiology business which is EKG carts. Uh, extremely excited to be here. We have been in this role for two years, running this business. Uh, exciting set of businesses in a very, very exciting space in the healthcare industry and acute care. We have a lot of great things to talk about.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah, great. And Brandon, tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Brandon Henak: Yeah, uh, thanks, thanks for having me. Um, I've, uh, been with GE Healthcare for 16 years. Uh, had a chance to work in a number of different areas from technical product management, some of our digital solutions, uh, to uh, marketing for our anesthesia and respiratory care business and, and most recently as the marketing director for monitoring solutions. So uh, really excited. Been to a few, uh, ESAIC. It's good to be back in, uh, uh, in real life, right? In, in, uh, in 3D. Uh, so, so happy to be here and excited to talk to you.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. Absolutely. Well let's just kind of dive right into. We've been talking a lot about patient safety, patient care, the overall experience that patients have, and clinicians have as well. What is GE doing right now to improve patient safety and, and that experience of healthcare? 

Tom Westrick: Yeah. I think the, the first thing we do, Desiree, is we listen a lot to our, our customers and our... and, and their patients. I mean the, the way care is provided today globally is tough. I mean there's a shortage of, of people. There's a shortage of, of, uh, all aspects of the healthcare system, whether is equivalent to, to nurses, to doctors, to the amount of data that people have to use is usually, usually too much and not useful. And it, it leads to difficulty in providing care and poor patient experience, poor clinician experience and just uh, ultimately, uh, uh, usually a, a negative patient, could be a negative patient outcome as well as a top financial situation as well.

So, anything that we can do that serves to improve patient experience, improve clinic- clinician experience, and ultimately the provider's, uh, system is we are front and center to. So most of our solutions have in addition to the technical, clinical applicably- applicability that you, you, you know us for, in terms of technical parameters and things on our monitors, or just the clarity of our EKG, um, machines as well, it's what can we do to improve work flow. What can we do to make everything around the device easier to use, easier to interpret. Um, how is the data coming off the device better, uh, better for the clinician to make more efficient workflow after the, after the uh, you know, the... looking at the monitor et cetera.

So um, I would say we are extending significantly beyond the, the device itself into what the workflow looks like around it in the acute care space. And it's directly consistent with what our customers tell us. They expect and they deserve, and they know us for our technical [inaudible 00:04:59] around our device themselves and they're looking for more. They're looking for more from, from anyone and obviously us to help them in their day-to-day beyond the, the technical aspects. So that's where our most product innovation is today. 

Sol Aronson: Tom, one of the things that struck me about, um, you know, the launch and the, the, um, exhibit, if you will, that I now had a chance to, to appreciate, um, in, in understanding these new products and tools. It's not, if, if I may, it's not just the workflow to utilize the tool, but it's, it's to enhance the utilization of what one does because they use the tool. 

Tom Westrick: Yeah, yeah.

Sol Aronson: And so, workflow in the existential sense of the word, as well as enhanced. 

Tom Westrick: Yeah. Sol, it's a great, it's a great [inaudible 00:05:46]. I kind of look at it as like phase one phase two. Phase one of, of the data that tells you how the device operated. Did you use it efficiently? Did you use too much anesthesia, not enough, et cetera? Did you... now how is the efficiency around the actual use of our machines. That, that's, that's good but to get to what you're, you're getting at is, like how, how actually does the workflow after you used the information from the device changed and what can we do to take that to provide information that clinicians can then use to change their next steps in a more meaningful way, more precise way, ultimately leading to more efficient way.

Sol Aronson: Exactly.

Tom Westrick:  So, it's... we- we're, we're solving things that are well beyond what we have before and it's around, again, around the inefficiency of the system that's been amplified because of COVID. And COVID, what, which brought the lack of resources and the, you know, the turn- the churn in the healthcare system that they just, just the day-to-day protocols of what it takes to provide care is challenged. And, you know, what can we do that provides that information that's more precise, timelier, um, that can be used in a way that actually changed, changes what, uh, what those who use it do in a more efficient way.

So, it's, again, I, I think it was the phase one the phase two. The phase one is around just the device itself. But the phase two is where, really where you can have some of the unmet clinical needs. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. And the, uh, Brandon, we were talking about this, uh, off air. But you're telling me about the Life Care Solutions. There's a suite of technology and, and solutions and all those different things. Um, how are you really addressing innovation and going forward? You know, and utilizing all those different, different technologies?

Brandon Henak:  Yeah, absolutely. Uh, you know, we anchor it in first the, the voice of customers, what we hear from clinicians, right? Like what Tom was talking about. We have, we have a broad set of solutions in Life, in Life Care Solutions that allow us to work with a lot of different clinicians at different points in the care pathway, right? So, we have everything from diagnostics and diagnostic cardiology, uh, to uh, therapy devices in anesthesia and respiratory care, and our monitoring solutions as well. So, we can understand what our clinicians are looking for from a patient stand- standpoint, what challenges are they trying to address.

And the biggest ones we hear, right? Staff shortages, the need for flexibility, both driven by COVID 19 but for the need for flexibility, both driven by COVID-19, but for resilience in a hospital system, to be able to flex to, to what's needed and individualized patient care. Um, so once we anchor the, that in the customer challenges, uh, then we can start to address it in unique ways, right? So, uh, things like what you see with, with Portrait Mobile and the booth, and the other products that we launched today having flexible, uh, you know, patient monitoring solutions that at the bedside allow a clinician to use the parameters that that need at any given time and adjust care for that patient. Same thing with the therapy devices that they're using at the same time, to understand how is that anesthetic developing, right? Is my patient deteriorating? Uh, you know, do I, do, what's the risk of an awareness event, these types of things. So, it's a combination of cutting edge, uh, tools and technologies that are part of the solution itself, and the da- the digital tools that help drive, drive change, like Tom was talking about, right?

Sol Aronson: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: They allow you to see exactly what's going on, and has gone on, with an aggregate set of patients, and then address the changes in care that need to take place in an institution to help improve care, right? So, clinicians can get together and say, "Look, this is what's happened with our set of patients. This is what we need to do to improve care and drive outcomes." And if we can give you that high fidelity data that you need to drive-

Sol Aronson: Yeah.

Brandon Henak:  ... those outcomes, and this, the tools and capabilities on the devices that you're using to provide care, uh, those two things can come together in really innovative ways. And I think we saw that in some of the launches today.

Sol Aronson: Help, help me, uh, with the journey, if you will. Obviously, we all got hit in the gut with COVID, and it accentuated, um, our need, it exaggerated that need that had been, I would argue, insidious even before COVID, to stretch and, and, you know, get more juice out of the squeeze. So, so walk us through the journey, if you will, of the genesis of the idea, um, for these new tools and, and the new brand, if you will, the approach to delivering, you know, um, healthcare, um, um, you know, devices, tools, monitoring to, to help us be more efficient and, and provide safer care more efficiently. Tom Westrick:  I, I could start here, Brandon, you could jump in. I, I think it's a, uh, it, it's not, uh, you're right, it hasn't just come up in, since the pandemic. It's been going for years. And I think the, the, it's, as we watch technology in our entire lives, outside the healthcare space, it's about better use of information, data, in our case, virtualization of care. You d- you need to be where you were 20 years ago when you were working in the industry. The answer is no. If there's, there's, so, you look at the technology that we have available to us today, and then you look at how that has been fit into the healthcare system over the last 25 years. And I think most would argue that it was, the healthcare system is generally behind. We need a mostly more paper based

Sol Aronson: Hold on one second.

Tom Westrick: (laughs)

Brandon Henak:  Sounds like water.

Sol Aronson: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: Yeah. Sorry.

Sol Aronson: That's okay.

Brandon Henak: She we keep going?

Sol Aronson: Um, yeah, go ahead.  We´ll be able to filter that out. I just want to make sure that it wasn't [inaudible 00:11:09]. 

Brandon Henak: Okay.

Sol Aronson: (laughs)

Tom Westrick: So, so the healthcare system, you know, net compared to others, generally more manual, paper based, um, inefficient. It's, it's a difficult system by any comparison. So, you know, that's, but that is just sort of a cloud bank that's been around us for quite a while. I've been in the industry for almost 30 years. Then comes COVID that says, you know, the time to get on board in a much more efficient way is now absolutely yesterday, given the di- given the desire and the needs from our customers. So, I think it probably started a decade or so again with the electronic medical record, how to digitize healthcare. And now through the, the last 10 years, and I think the next 10 years beyond this, it's, it's all about the, reacting to the current struggle with the lack of labor and the proliferation of data that's being trained to be used to provide care at the bedside as well as virtually, and taking that and just extending it.

And extending it in, you know, the, the short term is there, clearly, given the s- the desi- the needs of the system are, are higher than the capacity to provide it. But most would tell you that this is just an amplification of what should have been happening the last 20 years. And it's, a lot of it is just using the technology with have today. You know, a, a good example is a, is a, is the product that we, we launched, uh, here today, the Portrait Mobile. Portrait Mobile, which is our ward monitoring product, which we talk about, um, and I can just go there now if you'd like.

Sol Aronson: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: The, uh, uh, you think about the, when you're in a, when you're in the, in the, just a typically hospital, you're, you're heavily monitored when you're in the, you know, ER if you need to be, the OR, and obviously the ICU. Um, and most telemetric patients as well. But then you go to the general ward and then that's the typical a spot monitor comes in every four to six hours and takes your vitals, and that's, that's, you know, between those, between those periods of time when you have a spot monitor, you're on your own. And so, you know, unless you got a physical deterioration and someone notices, it could go on for a long time. And y- you think about what we have in our own personal world today with, with Apple Watches and other things you could monitor continuously outside the hospital, why would you not have monitoring inside the hospital where you could?

And as the data would show you, the, the, the chances of a serious adverse event or even death outside of the, the OR the ICU, in the general ward, was like 1000 times higher. So, you've got this obvious need of okay, we serially, we clearly see there's adverse events that happen in the general ward. And with the current, the legacy practice of spot monitoring has not, you know, we could and should be better than that, and we have the technology to do that. So, our, our, our Portrait Mobile product is exactly that, is to take, uh, uh, not monitor everything you would if you were in the OR-

Sol Aronson: No.

Tom Westrick:  ... or the ICU, but what are the critical attributes, respiratory rate, SPO2 as an example to start, it look, that g- that generates the early warning indicators that something's up, and something's wrong, and, and it, to, to obviously prevent a more significant adverse event, and/or prevent a readmission back into the ICU. So, we're, we're extremely excited about this. I mean, it, the, it provides an enterprise-wide monitoring platform. You walk into a hospital, you walk out, you're continuously monitored in a cost-effective efficient manager, manner that identifies the most significant leading indicators when you're in the ward that could, could give rise to, uh, uh, an issue that can be prevented. So, that's really the, the concept o- of Portrait Mobile.

Sol Aronson: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: I, uh, I think that, you know, that's a great example of a loud need that we were hearing from clinicians around

Sol Aronson: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: ... patient deterioration, right? They said, "Look, we need a solution for patient deterioration, and fast," right? Across the portfolio, what we've heard is, you know, both from clinicians but also from the leaders of institutions is, uh, you know, I need A, a way to, uh, provide the best outcomes for patients, right, but I also have efficiency needs, right, to drive efficiency in my healthcare system. So how can you help me prepare for the future, right? And when COVID-19 hit, it, it only made it even, you know, uh, exponentially, uh, more of a need, right? How you help future-proof my set of solutions so that I can individualize care for any given patient, right?

So, across our, our set of solutions, whether it's in, you know, diagnostics or in monitoring or, or anesthesia, we're trying to say, "How can we do that with a, with flexible systems," right? Systems that allow digital flexibility, right, that give you more data and give you the, the flexibility to update care and individualize it for patients. Uh, or e- even like the, the actual parameters and things that you actually use to monitor patients in real life. How do you make sure I can flex that when I need to? Whether it's COVID-19 or a mass trauma event, or something new that comes around the corner, we were hearing from institutions, "I need my, you know, my set of medical solutions that are at the point of care with the patient."

You know, my set of medical solutions that are at the point of care with the patient, to be able to change as those needs change. So, we've invested heavily in solutions that can do that, and then help them drive care change when there's new clinical practices, right? 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: There's an Institute for Healthcare Improvement study that says it takes like

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: ... 17 years to drive clinical change, right? I think we saw an exponential

Tom Westrick: Hmm, yeah.

Brandon Henak: ... change in that.

Tom Westrick: You have 17 minutes now. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah (laughing).

Sol Aronson: Yeah, necessity drives, uh... Yeah. 

Desiree Chappell: (laughs). Yeah, I know what you mean. 

Tom Westrick: You know, I think another- another point, Brandon, to bring up on the- the data, uh, point

Desiree Chappell: That's what I was just going to ask about. Cause

Tom Westrick: Go ahead, Desiree.

Desiree Chappell: ... we hear this a lot, right? We hear the, "Oh, we're going to have all this data and do wonderful things with this data," and we live in a bit of a data vacuum right now.

Tom Westrick: We do. (laughs).

Desiree Chappell: We have a billion data points, billions and billions of data points, but-

Sol Aronson: But how do you convert data to information? 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: To- to insights, to changes, right? And that, and I- I... It's a great question, and- and it's- it's extremely interesting conversations with our customers. And, you know, you can- you can quickly get into the euphoria of artificial intelligence, machine learning. 

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Tom Westrick: Look at all the things that we're going to be able to predict. And look, it's... I- I, look, it's exciting and changing probably health outcomes for my kids' kids’ generations of what we're going to do with this, but most conversations start there and then they go right back, "Can you just provide me some information I need?"

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Sol Aronson: (laughs).

Tom Westrick: Right now, with this specific patient. 

Desiree Chappell: And accurate (laughing). 

Tom Westrick: So that it's timely that I can change care right now. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: And it- it- it's a, it's... You know, I- I, we, that's, we call it business intelligence.

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Tom Westrick: I mean, before we get to artificial intelligence, let's just get the business intelligence where

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Brandon Henak: (laughs).

Tom Westrick: ... where you've got information that's available, it's as simple as that. I mean, you've- you've summarized down what you need to know, and it's current. And a lot of the data that's available now is not current. I mean, it's- it's in the record, okay, and it's

Brandon Henak: Hmm.

Tom Westrick: ... it's information that's useful, but if you're- if you're doing rounds and you want to know what's happening now, you- you- you have to go back. You have to go back and keep- keep checking the- the information, the data. So, what can we provide that's coming off of our devices that's timely, real-time, that explains exactly what's happening, how do I get that to the right person as they're doing their job and they can look at it seamlessly. And- and not when I say look at it, look at what they need to see.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: Not just- not just a pile of information that they have to sift through because they don't have time and they don't, you know, it just- it just isn't working. So it's, s- some of our solutions, you know, we have- we have a product called Mural that is- is, it's a powerful product that simply just puts the right information in front of the labor and delivery nurse and clinician so they can make a d- decision based on what they see is not happening. And as simple as that sounds, it's a very powerful tool, but it- it saves- it saves time.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: It saves workflow, it saves- it saves somebody going back and trying to figure out what happened so they can then act.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. I love-

Brandon Henak: Yeah.

Desiree Chappell: ... Portrait Mobile, it's a, to me it really is, encompasses what you guys are promoting. 

Brandon Henak: We- we- we like names.

Desiree Chappell:  Yeah. (laughs).

Brandon Henak:  We like names around here. 

Desiree Chappell: No, it's good. It's good, it's accurate. 

Brandon Henak: It's the- the art and science of

Desiree Chappell:  That's right (laughing). 

Tom Westrick: Oh nice, [inaudible 00:19:00]. 

Brandon Henak: ... of, uh, of delivering patient care. 

Tom Westrick: Nicely done.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah, absolutely.

Brandon Henak:  Um, but the only thing I wanted to add to- to what Tom was saying too about real-time data and- and getting-

Tom Westrick:  Yeah.

Brandon Henak: ... it in a higher fidelity, right? W- we think about it like clinical fidelity data, right? So, this isn't a historical record, like Tom was talking about, but it's 350 data points every patient breath coming from the anesthesia machine, right, another 400 from the patient monitor. Now, you could easily get overwhelmed by that kind of data, which is also why we've invested heavily in a- a platform for managing and processing that data to give you insights. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: All based on discussions with clinicians, right? To understand what are the key areas you need insights, and then let's help process that data together, right?

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: Because a lot of the clinicians we talk to, they say, "Hey, I've got all kinds of data, but I can't get access to it," right? To Tom's point, like I'm- I'm, you know, bathing in data, but I wait

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Brandon Henak: ... I wait in line for six months to try to get it, get a report on it, right?

Desiree Chappell:  Yeah.

Brandon Henak: So we're trying to give you that- that clinical data to make clinical decisions on the fly, uh, and so we invest in how you, in- in devices that produce data in, uh, in formats that are needed, right, then we invest in the networking and the- the- the critical, mission critical networks, like what we have in Portrait Mobile on- on our Edison platform.

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: Uh, and then in the actual processing of that data and in the insights, like our Carestation Insights platform over here that helps look at things like lung protective ventilation, uh, or agent usage for environmental impact.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah, neuromonitoring. Uh, y- yeah. 

Brandon Henak: And neuromonitoring with

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: ... with, uh, adequacy of anesthesia, right? 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: So.

Sol Aronson: The- the- the topic of data, we could spend weeks on.

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Sol Aronson: And it's complex and fascinating and important. Um, and- and where we are and where we want to go, and where it could go, um, awesome. Uh, ac- actually awesome. 

Brandon Henak: Mm-hmm.

Sol Aronson: Like intimidating awesome. 

Brandon Henak: Yeah.

Sol Aronson: (laughs). Um

Brandon Henak:  Can change our lives.

Desiree Chappell:  Yeah.

Sol Aronson: But to- to- to bring it home, if I may, um, the point about the data and fidelity, as you spoke to, through the lens of, uh, patient specificity and it being safe, and then enhancing quality, but also in the context of we now are much, much more sensitized to it also having to enhance value.

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: Mm-hmm.

Sol Aronson: Um, and- and I think it's really important that those are always tethered as- as we deal with, you know, the- the challenge of healthcare today and going forward. And- and I, and I'm going to ask you to sort of speak to that in that swim lane. 

Tom Westrick: Hmm, sure. I'll- I'll- I'll take that. I mean, I- I... The- the solutions that we speak to and discuss, um, with our customers are, we almost always start with what's the patient experience change?

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Tom Westrick: So patient experience, does it improve? You know, does it improve our ability to provide better outcomes for our patients? Then it's clinician- clinician experience, so b- back to your point on the data. So? So, what if it's data? What does that data do? Does it- does it provide a better patient outcome; does it provide a better clinician experience? And eventually in that line down there is what's the financial ROI on that spend or that time that someone's using that data?

And it- it's kind of that simple. I mean, and in- in- in most of our discussions with our bigger customers, they look at it like that, and they, and if it's... They don't have infinite time to trial and error things, so it- it- it has to be pretty compelling. Because when you get into changing clinician care or getting into changing workflows, it- it's- it's a, y- you need to be sure that what you're doing is- is...

Because it is pervasive, is it going to result in those three or four things that- that- that come out of it?

So yeah, the- the- the trial-and-error data for data, that doesn't work. I mean, you- you've got to have a really, you need to really demonstrate that there's a- there's a viable clinical, patient, clinician, and financial benefit that comes as a result of it. 

Brandon Henak: And- and in healthcare economics, we- we hear value-based care, right? 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: In a lot of different ins... Like markets, uh, across the globe. 

Desiree Chappell: Oh yeah, we talk about it all the time (laughing) in the space of anesthesia and perioperative medicine. Sure.

Brandon Henak: Right, and- and what we hear, and you can certainly add to this, right, is, "Oh, well, I need to weigh the many good outcomes

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: ... that- that are really indicative of patient experience and clinician experience that I can measure, right? Then I- then I need the ability to measure those outcomes." Right? 

Tom Westrick:  Yeah.

Brandon Henak: And a lot of times, clinicians struggle with that, to say, "How do I- how do I get that data?" And, uh, you know, the- the C-suite in a hospital, right? Like we want to

Desiree Chappell: Oh yeah.

Brandon Henak: We want to be able to provide care, and then we need- we need n- new business models to partner between, you know, industry and the- the healthcare institutions to be able to drive care and- and have new ways of interacting around that value that's being created, right? So, we've got to measure it, we've got to drive it, right, with the tools

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Brandon Henak: ... and- and solutions that we've got, uh, and then we have to really interact with each other and collaborate. And we're- we're looking at many ways to do that, um, and, but it starts with how we make sure that we're measuring the right things.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Brandon Henak: And that you have the ability to get that visibility to how we're changing that, right? So, whether it's, uh, you know, reducing negative hemodynamic events in, uh, you know, during anesthesia, or reducing the number of, uh, y- you know, pat- patient deterioration events

Desiree Chappell:  Yeah.

Brandon Henak:  ... in the general ward, there's a lot of areas that we're looking, but that has to ladder up those h- higher level value-based care metrics, and then we have to together work to figure out how we can drive those metrics and then we have to together work to figure out how we can drive those. 

Desiree Chappell:  Oh, amen. (laughs).

Sol Aronson: Ca- case in point, just to sort of bring home an example that we just shared with each other, the spot check.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Sol Aronson: Q3, 4, six hours on the ward. 

Desiree Chappell:  Eight (laughs).

Sol Aronson: However, you allocate based on your- your resources, um, we all know that it's better to know those predictors sooner with greater sensitivity, but we're limited by our resources of personnel.

Tom Westrick: That's correct.

Sol Aronson: Which is the diminutive reality today. And it costs a lot to fill those holes and those gaps. And so, the value proposition becomes just consistent with the discussion of quality.

Tom Westrick: Yes.

Sol Aronson: And they're one and the same, and they're parallel. 

Desiree Chappell:  Yeah.

Tom Westrick:  Well, how do you balance your resources to provide quality of care? 

Desiree Chappell: Of course.

Tom Westrick: But then you can't- you can't hire your way into quality of care anymore. I mean, there's- you probably never could, but you certainly can't now. 

Desiree Chappell: (laughs).

Tom Westrick: You can't just add more people because they're not available. So, what- what's the- what's the tool, what's the solution that allows you to provide increasing level of care it- with- with a- with a fixed number of labor resources? 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah, absolutely. Gentlemen, I want to thank you guys so much for joining us on Top Med Talk

Tom Westrick: You're welcome.

Desiree Chappell: To have a- a- really an interesting conversation. Now, I know that there's some big news for GE HealthCare, uh, and you all's customers, and there's been a lot of talk about a spinoff. So ...

Tom Westrick: Yeah.

Desiree Chappell: What is happening here? 

Tom Westrick: So, it- it's a w- well, uh, well publicized, so that ... We've been with GE HealthCare has been at GE for over 120 years (laughs). So, we’ve been around for a while. 

Desiree Chappell: Yep.

Tom Westrick:  Um, in the health care industry. And, uh, in November of 2021, our CEO, Larry Culp, CEO of GE, announced intention to create three separate businesses within General Electric. So, it's the power businesses, the aviation businesses, and then the current business that I'm in, the GE HealthCare business. So, we've been a separate segment for GE- separate and portable segment for GE for a long time. Uh, the- and really the- the reason to do this is you're r- very well said and summarized is the value we would create as three separates we think is greater than as one. 

Desiree Chappell:  Mm-hmm.

Tom Westrick:  Y- you have more flexibility, more, um, specific, um, investments, innovation, flexibility, speed that we can serve our customers that are v- very much pointed directly in the health care space, uh, versus being a part of a bigger organization. I mean, I think it's pretty obvious that we'll be a nimbler organization as a result of this. Uh, we're clearly different than any other two businesses that are being spun out as separate companies as well, and the, uh, um, we're excited about it. And our customers look at us as GE, but they first looked at this is GE health care, and

Desiree Chappell:  Okay.

Tom Westrick: And, you know, being focused specifically on this space, um, everyone's excited about it. And the timing is, you know, is, as you stated, is early 2023. Lots of effort going in by a few people to get ready to do that, but I can say most, not- 99% of my time is focused on the- running my set of businesses, and serving customers, and there's a few people that are working on how to create a separate, standalone company, uh, that will both- that will go forward in early next year.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah.

Tom Westrick: So very excited.

Desiree Chappell: Looking forward to it. Um, last big question here. What do you think is the biggest mark that GE's going to have on the health care system in the next- you know, in the future? Next five to 10 years.

Tom Westrick: Wow. Um, there's a ... That's a good one. Uh (laughs). That's a good last one. 

Desiree Chappell: That's a good last one. 

Tom Westrick: This, uh ... So, the, uh ...

Desiree Chappell: End with a bang (laughs).

Tom Westrick: Yeah. I- I won't go on for hours, but I could. But I won't. The, uh ... Yeah, I- I would love us to be the one that consolidates a lot of the issues that our customers face with under our roof.

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Tom Westrick: You know, when I think of the workflow issues and the- the a- the ability to get the data we're talking about the whole time here, the ability to get data, the ability to use the data to provide the insights, like, that's not being solved by any one company today. It's a disparate number of lots of different companies are trying to get in this space because of lots of reasons. I mean, there's a big need. There's, um, there's tons of value that we can provide. I think we, with our incredibly loyal brand, 100 years in the business, can and should be the company that brings it together, that- that in addition to being that technical device provider, um, and everything that goes with that clinically, we should be the ones that help pull together the rest of the workflow issues in and around the acute care space primarily. And that's how ... I look at LCS as we should be the one that pulls the solutions together that helps the entire space, not just where we have historically been.

And- and I think our customers are looking for somebody to that. I mean, versus working with 100s, can you find one provider that can pull this together for you? Of course, there's going to be multiple vendors. I'm not suggesting there's one. But, you know, there's need- I think there's a need for someone to kind of grab the- grab the reins here and help, uh, help drive workflow improvement. And we c- we can be that one. 

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. I love it.

Tom Westrick: Brandon?

Brandon Henak: Yeah, I- the only thing I would add to that, I think it's a great, great summary of it, but- but if ... There's a huge transformation that's going on right now in health care, right? 

Desiree Chappell: Mm-hmm.

Brandon Henak: And it's- it's- it's been accelerated by COVID-19, and- and a lot of the dynamics that are going on. And to Tom's point, I- I feel like there's a lot of the clinicians and care teams that are overwhelmed by the amount of data and information, the different sources that they've got. If we can leave a mark on helping with that transition, simplifying workflows, giving clinical insights that help them im- improve care in a unique way, um, you know, I think that we've accomplished something and have really helped, uh, you know, drive that change, drive that transformation.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. Amazing. Gentlemen, thank you so much. I know it's the end of the day (laughs). We've all been traveling. A little weary from the US. Please enjoy the rest of Euro Anesthesia 2022. I'm- it's exciting to be here on the booth. Thank you guys so much. 

Tom Westrick: We- we most definitely will and appreciate your questions. Thanks, Tim.

Desiree Chappell: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, you know you can find us at topmedtalk.com, on your favorite social media platform, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, we are there. We're going to have other fabulous conversations from the ESAIC, Euro- European Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care.

Sol Aronson: It's a mouthful.

Desiree Chappell: At Euro Anesthesia 2022. Don't miss it. Cheers. 

Sol Aronson: Ciao.

 

Top Med Talk.

Desiree Chappell:  Desiree Chapel with Top Med Talk. It has been an exciting year, and there is so much more to come. Now, I'm joined here with Monty Mythen. Monty, what is coming up? 

Monty Mythen: Well, next on Top Med Talk, we're going to be coming to you live from the European Society of Anesthesiology from Milan in Italy. You'll find us on the GE booth in the trade exhibition. We were there in [inaudible 00:30:49], and we'll probably pop up in a few other places. So, I'm there with Desiree, and Sol Aronson is coming in, and Henry Hill. And after that, Desiree, where do we go? 

Desiree Chappell: It is time for the 25th anniversary World Congress of Perioperative Medicine in London, right? Live. 

Monty Mythen: From the UCL campus to celebrate our 25th anniversary, so that's really exciting. And then I think we've got the next one in August with your- your organization in America?

Desiree Chappell: It is. It's in Chicago. It's the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Monty and I are going to pop up there, have some great conversations, and then it's onto ...

Monty Mythen: Dingle. So that takes us into the autumn and winter season. More about that to follow. 

Desiree Chappell: And then of course we're going to be rounding out the year with the American Society of Anesthesiologists in New Orleans for their annual congress. So super excited about all the events for the year. Don't miss us. Be sure to check us out on topmedtalk.com, and on your favorite pod-catcher. We are there with late breaking anesthesia and perioperative news, right, Monty? 

Monty Mythen: Absolutely. See you soon.

Desiree Chappell: Cheers.