Conversations with Orbita Podcast, Episode 8: The Role of Healthcare Technology in Supporting Underserved Populations
During this episode, host and Orbita COO Nate Treloar sits down with Ascension Wisconsin Chief Marketing Officer Brian McKaig and INPOWER Co-Founder Aziz Abdullah to discuss engaging underserved populations with virtual assistants.
Automation with Empathy™
Conversations with Orbita is a podcast sharing insights and innovations revolutionizing healthcare and life sciences with HIPAA-secure chat and voice-powered experiences empowered by conversational AI.
Introducing this episode's
guest, Dr. Brian McKaig
As Chief Marketing Officer of Ascension, Brian has experience in marketing and communications with storytelling, content marketing, change management, crisis communications, corporate social responsibility, event management, and broadcast journalism. He holds an MSJ in Journalism from Northwestern University and BS in Political Science and American Studies from Brown University.
At Ascension, Brian works to deliver patient care to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. In recent efforts, they have worked alongside InPower to provide patient care and engagement regarding encouraging vaccinations amongst these communities.
"Frankly we knew Black and Brown patients were being left behind and everyone saw the problem and it was all hands on deck. How can we solve this?" -Brian McKaig
Aziz is a pioneer who creates movements and individual impacts in urban Milwaukee through marketing and media centered on cross-cultural and intergenerational approaches. As co-founder of digital marketing agency InPower, Aziz leads patient outreach and increases engagement alongside Ascension Wisconsin for their neighborhood health efforts. In addition, Aziz is a passionate business owner of Root Media Company, located in the heart of Milwaukee.
& Aziz Abdullah
"Healthcare has really focused on a personalized approach but how do you do that when you don’t have a trust within the system as much as you may have in a voice (person)?" -Aziz Abdullah
"Virtual assistive technology became not just a how can we create more efficiencies in the business but how do we actually reach patients who can’t come into the physical facility, so it became almost life and death." -Nate Treloar
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Episode Recap
Welcome back to Conversations with Orbita! In this episode, our host Nate Treloar and our guests Brian McKaig and Aziz Abdullah explore the barriers to medication access and adherence for underserved populations. These may include patients from rural areas, impoverished urban sectors, low socioeconomic status, the uninsured, from various disadvantaged backgrounds, and more. These social determinants of health produce significant care gaps and exacerbate health inequity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened these disparities as underserved populations are disproportionately impacted by the economic consequences of this pandemic (unemployment, loss of ESI, food instability, etc.).
Listen in to learn how healthcare systems can introduce digital tools to engage directly with these underserved populations and provide clinical decision support for healthcare providers. While access isn’t perfect, these digital health solutions offer continuous communication channels for patients and HCPs regarding drug information and support to mitigate some of these barriers to care.
As you listen to this podcast episode, you'll gain insights on the following and more on:
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- How pharmaceutical companies can introduce digital tools to not only engage directly with underserved populations but also provide clinical decision support for healthcare providers
- Alternative communication channels for patients and HCPs regarding drug information
- Defining factors regarding groups of people categorized as underserved, at-risk, or vulnerable
- The work public health specialists are doing to encourage vaccines in focused zip codes and neighborhoods
Related resources from Orbita
Strengthening Healthcare Conversational Experiences with Multilingual Capabilities
Bill Cava discusses the impact of language barriers in the healthcare experience and the power of conversational AI to support diverse patient populations with multilingual capabilities.
Podcast, Episode 7: Effectively Engaging Patients Through a Multi-Modal Outreach Strategy
Host Nate Treloar takes a deep dive into the adaptation/acceleration of voice with voice tech expert and enthusiast Teri Fisher.
How to Facilitate Appointment Scheduling Using Digital Tools
President Bill Rogers discusses the benefits automation can bring to the appt. scheduling experience for patients and healthcare providers, too.