Interview with Dr. David Hanekom, Chief Medical Officer and Regional President, North America of Solve.Care. This is the second in a series of interviews with high-profile executives in the blockchain space.
Can you provide us with some details on your background, and how you became involved in Solve.Care?
I have been privileged to practice primary care in three continents over the past thirty years, and my passion for helping to build systems-of-care that empowers teams of professionals in order to deliver better care to every patient in an environment that fosters the joy of practicing medicine has not diminished with time. I have come to learn that the best interest of the patients is also the best interest of the care team, and that we all have a duty to maximize the health impact for every dollar we spend on healthcare delivery.
The journey that led me to join Solve.Care included serving in the position of Chief Medical Officer in several industry-leading healthcare companies such as SPH Analytics and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, where I supervised a spectrum of medical management activities and supported the design and implementation of highly effective technology solutions in Population Health Management. This part of my journey allowed me to understand the challenges and successes associated with financing healthcare services, and engage physicians in transforming their clinical practices through technology adoption and value-based collaborations with payers. This experience allowed me to serve and lead the Arizona Care Network, a high-performing ,value-based Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) and Accountable Care Organization (ACO) where we were able to demonstrate the value of innovation and collaboration, resulting in meeting our mission of delivering better care at a lower price while improving patient and provider satisfaction.
During my tenure as CEO at Arizona Care Network, my team and I had a very close strategic partnership with Solve.Care, resulting in the development and deployment of a blockchain-enabled care coordination platform and physician reward program that supported and accelerated our clinical and financial success as an organization.
As Chief Medical Officer, I’m responsible for setting Solve.Care’s future clinical direction and designing Care Networks that meet the company’s aim of improving the cost, quality, access, and outcomes of healthcare globally. My role as Regional President involves driving the company’s rapid expansion and addressing the growing healthcare needs of North America’s diverse populations.
Tell us about the Solve.Care team.
The Solve.Care team is made up of a group of highly-talented and dynamic individuals. The executive team is made up of people from really diverse backgrounds, enabling us to gain a variety of opinions and insights into everything that we do.
Our CEO, Pradeep Goel, has more than 25 years of healthcare experience developing groundbreaking software for the insurance industry and co-founding four healthcare IT businesses where he has served in a number of C-suite level roles.
Pradeep was previously Founder and CEO of health software firm EngagePoint, where he was deeply involved in implementing the Affordable Care Act across multiple states. He also served as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer at Noridian BlueCross BlueShield of North Dakota. Pradeep Co-founded Dakota Imaging in 1990, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer before the company was subsequently acquired by WebMD.
What does Solve.Care do? What are their primary services/products?
Solve.Care is a global healthcare company that redefines care coordination, improves access to care, empowers consumers with information, and lowers benefit administration costs to help reduce fraud and waste in healthcare around the world. We have created an ecosystem for patient-centric care based on medical conditions, economic and social needs, and other tailored eligibility criteria. Solve.Care is the first truly global company to leverage decentralized ledger technology (DLT) in the healthcare industry for value-based payments.
Solve.Care has received the Most Innovative Blockchain Project Award at the Blockchain Life 2019 Forum and the “Top 3 Innovative Blockchain Solution” and “Top 3 Outstanding Projects” at the 2019 World Blockchain Awards, among other accolades.
The Care.Wallet is one of our core products that allows users to connect to one or more Care Administration Networks (CAN) to manage their healthcare benefits and their health conditions. It simplifies tasks such as managing prescriptions, verifying benefits, making appointments, managing disease conditions and simplifying the administrative and care coordination. It allows the patient to control who they share their data with, which reduces the interoperability issues that are prevalent with traditional systems.
In what ways can Solve.Care improve the current healthcare system?
Healthcare is a major concern for every economy across the globe. Current healthcare systems are deeply flawed in terms of multiple layers of healthcare administration which create barriers to operational efficiency in terms of interoperability and resource wastage. DLT can break down the data silos formed by various healthcare providers to facilitate better communication of data between stakeholders, while also improving the security of patient data.
Solve.Care envisions a healthcare system in which patient-centered care is at the heart of service provision. In the US, current healthcare operations fail to fully inform patients with chronic health conditions as to how best manage their treatment with such conditions, as well as confidentially store patients’ data across healthcare providers. DLT can address these pain points to enhance the way that patients access, deliver, manage and pay for healthcare services and information, while also offering more secure storage of this patient data. By streamlining these processes, the burden on patients associated with accessing medical treatment can be significantly reduced and health outcomes vastly improved.
What is one strategy that has helped grow Solve.Care into the company it is today, and how?
Our approach to how we view healthcare has significantly helped us to grow Solve.Care into the company that it is today. We believe that the primary purpose of healthcare is to make sure that we meet the best interest of the patient. In contrast to the current, traditional model that is in place, our aim is to give the power back to the patient by allowing them to manage their healthcare journey. Our patient-centric approach changes the way that patients interact with the healthcare system, differentiating it from anything else of its kind on the market today.
What motivates Solve.Care to continue what they do?
The idea for Solve.Care stemmed from a number of challenging experiences that our CEO, Pradeep Goel, had with the US healthcare system. As the parent of a young child with a neurological disorder who is in need of continuous care, his experiences compelled him to change the current system as it is. Through his regular contact with healthcare practitioners, Pradeep developed a passion for quality patient care, with the goal of removing inefficiencies that are plaguing the healthcare system.
Who is Solve.Care designed for?
Solve.Care leverages DLT to remove inefficiencies, redefine care coordination and empower consumers across a variety of stakeholders in the healthcare industry including patients, healthcare providers and insurers. Looking at the administrative complexities of the healthcare system in the US, the benefits of disrupting the status quo would be both significant and widespread across these different interest groups.
Fundamentally, Solve.Care understands the importance of the practitioner-patient relationship, and because of this, our aim is to support and simplify it. We believe that healthcare delivery is a team sport – each person has a role to play and we are here to ensure that the patient is at the center of this collaboration.
What does Solve.Care want to achieve in 2020?
Our primary goal for 2020 is to continue doing meaningful work around improving patient care. In doing so, we hope to iron out more of the issues that I have discussed previously, with the aim of consistently working on our technology in order to make it the most effective and streamlined that it can be.
