Full Transcript Introduction to Dr. Sarah Matt 0:00 You may have a great technology, but you might not have a business. 0:04 >> Today we have the amazing Dr. Sarah Matt. She's a journal surgeon turned 0:09 technology strategist. Her upcoming book, The Borderless Healthc Care 0:15 Revolution. She's teaching at Sunni State, volunteering at a charity clinic, 0:22 and playing roller derby. Technology will continue to innovate and evolve 0:27 faster than we can ever adopt it and implement it. I break down healthcare 0:32 access into five pillars: geographic, financial, cultural, digital, and trust 0:37 and knowledge. >> Welcome to Providers Edge, where 0:42 healthcare leaders and innovators learn how to scale smarter, lead stronger, and 0:48 create lasting impact. 0:53 Too many health, dental, and wellness innovators build great solutions that 0:57 never get adopted. In this episode, Dr. Sarah Matt and I unpacked why better 1:03 technology alone doesn't guarantee success. If you're a clinician, 1:07 entrepreneur, founder, or executive struggling with growth, adoption, 1:11 funding, or commercialization, you'll learn how healthcare access, user 1:15 experience, and market readiness can determine whether your innovation scales 1:20 or gets ignored. She is the force of nature dedicated to fixing healthc 1:25 care's biggest failures who's seeing the system fail patients from the inside
From Surgery to Strategy 1:32 out. Her upcoming book, drum roll, the borderless healthc care revolution, 1:39 launching in December 2025, provides a radical playbook for true 1:46 access when she is now architecting health tech strategy. She's teaching at 1:52 Sunni upstate, volunteering at a charity clinic and playing roller derby. Wow. 2:00 All right. You're very active. I mean, I hike a little bit here and there, right? 2:04 Like my thing recently has been going to all the national parks, but yeah, me 2:09 jumping out of the plane or doing anything like too extreme, not really. 2:14 >> It's a fun deal. It's a fun deal. >> So, Dr. Sarah, take us on a little 2:19 journey. What was the pivotal point in your life that you just like you know 2:24 what like medical bedside is not the same as how we can expand into the next 2:29 stage of our career and the next stage of what healthcare is needed for us to 2:34 play in especially women. >> I know right. So I think I figured this 2:38 out rather early. So during my fellowship burn fellowship it was half 2:42 research half clinical and I realized that I liked writing grants. I liked 2:47 getting money. Those are business cases. And everyone else complained. I liked 2:50 doing all this complex experimentation. That's operations and project 2:54 management. I liked writing all these crazy articles. So I knew I had 2:58 different skills and I also knew I felt rather constrained. You know, as a 3:02 general surgeon, you could probably see 20 people in a day. If you're really 3:06 bumping it up or in a heavy ED, you can maybe see 40. But how could I scale 3:11 myself? how could I help hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of people 3:16 every day? And I figured out it wasn't at the bedside. But as you know, 3:21 sometimes doctors can be the smartest dumb people you've ever met. And so I 3:26 had to go get myself retoled. And so went to UT Austin to get my MBA. And 3:30 during that process realized that I really enjoyed strategy and I really 3:35 enjoyed more the product management aspects. And I kind of dug into that on 3:39 the tech side. Yeah, I think that's the transition a lot of us start seeing, 3:43 right? We got so passionate into medicine thinking, whoa, we're going to 3:46 do a lot of great things, but we don't understand what the volume it takes to 3:51 do a lot of great things. And also that's very subjective for just like 3:55 when we apply to grad school, you have to write your personal statement, right? 3:59 Everyone somehow has this story that they wanted to tell, they wanted to 4:03 help, but it's actually very arbitrary. So we have to dive deeper into what does 4:08 that mean for us and you went to your journey with grand writing all those
Writing the Book on Healthcare Access 4:13 stuff that a startup a business need because guess what if we have no initial 4:18 capital to go anywhere you're building nothing right nobody's even able to help 4:23 you because you have to appreciate other people's work and money is the exchange 4:27 of energy right we have to see how we can collectively build this together and 4:32 getting your MBA and all those amazing things I think that's The missing 4:36 element for all of us is that similar to you right I was in that stage of like 4:41 operate more see more like cardiac we can't I can't do two three pump cases 4:46 I'll be dead by the day end of day right like like even one pump cases I'm like 4:51 Jesus I'm feeling old right I need a wearing a back brace and then my team 4:56 will be making fun of me it's like are you boxing are you doing weights I'm 5:00 like I'm protecting my body okay so it's that what is the volume that we can play 5:05 with technology with these advisory roles taking a seuite role especially 5:10 women we have 80% of workforce in healthcare are women we understand the 5:15 in and out stepping up right whether that's leading in a race being an 5:21 investor taking on these advisor role we should be the forefront of those 5:25 conversation and I love it that you put into this way and now at what point do 5:32 you start thinking hey I need a document my expertise. Let me write a book. 5:37 >> So this past year was has been very interesting for everyone. AI has gone 5:42 crazy and there's a lot of polarization across the United States. And so when I 5:47 was given the opportunity to write this book and WY came to me to do that, it 5:51 was a great time to write this story and to tell the stories of colleagues, of 5:56 other providers, of systems, of tech execs, and of patients. Because one 6:01 thing everyone can come together around is healthcare access. Everyone who's 6:05 listening to this podcast today has a terrible story about access where it 6:09 failed them, their families or their friends. And so no matter what 6:13 differences we all have, we all have an access story. 6:17 >> Oh yes. Right. Like all of us, even for us working health care, like all of us 6:22 have that story of I'm supposed to have a ma minor procedure. I end up with a 6:28 $30,000 bill, right? There's the hospital bill, there's the surgeon bill 6:32 and a seesale bill. And then you're just like, whoa, why did it become so 6:36 expensive? How come my health insurance doesn't really cover anything? We have 6:40 to negotiate pre-existing conditions. What does all this mean? Right? I mean, 6:44 can you imagine it's a lot. And even for those of us who are in medicine, we're 6:49 just like, don't ask me about building insurance patient, there's that 6:54 department, right? And then same thing when we have to go through, I'm just 6:57 like, wow. Can you imagine all of our patients who are aging, senior, they are 7:05 taking care of their family and they're working and they have to make all those 7:09 phone call who have time for all that and then we're not on the call waiting 7:14 for hours rerouting into all the wrong department to get to anything. Right. So 7:20 tell us a little bit more about what's in the book and what are the best 7:24 readers for this book and who we enjoy the most. So I aim this book at two
Five Pillars of Access 7:29 audiences. First leaders in healthcare delivery, but I don't mean just seuite 7:33 and I don't just mean people with big titles. I mean everyone from the board 7:37 all the way down to community health workers, lead nurse on a floor. And I 7:42 think that's the biggest piece here is that we've all read so many books that 7:45 don't really have any actionable insights. This is actionable in every 7:49 single chapter for people that are living in a delivery system right now 7:53 regardless of the setting and every single person at every single layer of 7:56 that system can actually do something about healthcare access today. The other 8:00 audience is builders. I've spent my entire career building product 8:04 management development and strategy teams all over the world. And so if I go 8:09 to another pitch session where I see a pitch deck that says they have a 8:14 wonderful AI company and it doesn't actually solve a real pervasive and 8:17 urgent problem or it doesn't actually take into mind the fact that real humans 8:21 need to utilize this technology. I'm going to scream. So it's really built 8:25 for builders too. So, how can we build access in from the beginning and not 8:29 just because it's a nice to have, but because it's actually going to improve 8:34 your business, help you get funded and actually begin the commercialization 8:38 process early. So, the book itself Oh, yes. Go ahead. 8:42 >> Oh, I was just wanted to add in and what I'm hearing you is it's helping the 8:46 builder to see there's a continuation of a customer journey that people have to 8:51 build, not just this flashy I'm so good. I'm using AI. Look at how much we are 8:57 building, how quote unquote improving and then we're like what are you 9:01 actually improving? Have you talked to all the end user to create this entire 9:06 experience and you understand the psychology and the tactic of all the end 9:11 user from the admin side, clinical side, patient side. So you can actually 9:15 demonstrate a user case to say this is working right and not just throwing the 9:20 words of AI technology integration, better workflow, right? I like it. This 9:25 is where >> Exactly. And I think for me and what I 9:30 kind of put through this book too is that the technology is there and it's 9:33 the easy part. Yes, I said it's the easy part. And technology will continue to 9:37 innovate and evolve faster than we can ever adopt it and implement it. And so I 9:42 break down healthcare access into five pillars. Geographic, financial, 9:46 cultural, digital, and trust and knowledge. And if we focus on those five 9:51 pillars, no matter what technology we're creating, no matter what solution or 9:56 what problem we're solving, this is the path to proper commercialization, proper 10:00 scaling, and ultimately properly solving the real problem as opposed to the easy 10:06 problem. >> Yes. And I think the real problem is 10:10 also what I believe in is the social capital pillar, right? is that how can 10:16 you understand your ICP so well then you know the geographical location then you 10:22 know how they believe in what culture means for that geographical location 10:27 right because culture is not just like where Asian white Hispanic right that's 10:33 not it it's about the community of where you belong to physically spiritually 10:39 psychologically right how are you creating the web of connections and to 10:44 build who you believe you are, right? And then so there's a multiple facet of 10:48 that. So you're start layering and having people to have more of a deeper
Building for the Whole Healthcare System 10:53 dive of their research of who they are on identifying that. And I think that's 10:58 so critical because most people will come right. We say they're so good at 11:03 demonstrating their intellectual capital and then we dive deeper into do people 11:09 actually need this tech, right? like this yes whatever you build yes we do 11:14 need to have the tech experts to understand the integration the IP yes 11:19 yes right we will do that but beyond that it's actually very critical on what 11:24 you're talking about this social capital side of the understanding the exact 11:28 output the people the experience that's can be built right and then the other 11:34 pillar I also believe in is the human capital side who are the leader behind 11:38 that company are the drivers are they having friction? How are they solving 11:42 the friction? How can they have the right people to actually deliver what 11:47 they're promised on that intellectual property side? Right? So that's I guess 11:52 the ultimate thing is healthcare is difficult because sometimes we're so 11:55 siloed into just looking at this just looking at that and for you is to start 12:00 putting the puzzle pieces making the dots and the connection together to help 12:05 them see both the builder side. You need to think that way. But also executive, 12:09 we also need to think that way, right? It's not just this one department's 12:13 role, their job description. It's more than that. You have the sensibility to 12:18 create to be a pillar of the neuro web, right? Like my neuroscience brain is 12:25 always like you're one of the neurons that's firing, but you need a fire to 12:30 someone, right? To receive those. >> I would agree. I think too, you know, 12:34 when we're building and you're in a startup or whatever kind of area you are 12:39 in your maturation, a lot of times doctors get put into one box. Oh, we're 12:44 serving providers. And we talked about this a little earlier. If I am going to 12:49 have a solution that's going to hit some sort of cardiac issue for patients, 12:53 providers, etc. If I'm aiming that at cardiologists, that's a lot different 12:58 than cardiothoracic surgeons. Those are very different groups of people with 13:03 different incentives with different knowledge bases and different kinds of 13:07 patients that they take care of. And oftentimes they're in very different 13:10 settings. And so instead of putting them into one bucket, we have to remember 13:15 that not all doctors are the same just as no two patients are the same in a lot 13:20 of ways too. So, I think this is one of those big fallacies, especially from the 13:24 beginning, that first pitch deck, because there are lots of companies that 13:28 are trying to stand on their own two feet without enough provider 13:32 information, research, and advisory because ultimately, unless you're in 13:38 this, you don't understand it all the way. And so I think that's a great 13:42 opportunity for providers who are moving into the tech space, moving into 13:46 investment, into the startup space to really take all the knowledge they have 13:50 and utilize it for ways that can assist in building these companies to scale. 13:55 >> Exactly. It's also when they do these pitch deck, I don't want to just say, 14:00 oh, we have one famous doctor, right? I wanted to see you have 10, 20 people 14:05 backing you who are also domain experts. One person doesn't count for power. It 14:12 count for one validation. And then we love it that you at least have one 14:17 clinician on your board, right? But you also needed to demonstrate how is that 14:22 person already contributing to believing in you or is that person started with 14:28 the customer journey that helping you to build this or do you have a led pilot by 14:33 this type of people? So then we can believe in that creation or co-creation 14:39 what clinicians really add and contribute to that factor right and then 14:43 we also know it's not just clinicians need to be your champion all your admin
Commercialization and Market Readiness 14:47 people need to be champion because they're actually handling all those work 14:51 right so don't ignore the office managers don't ignore the systemwise 14:57 leaders that are actually half the time making the buyer decision the clinician 15:01 is the forefront of adoption but you needed to make everyone happy. So, be 15:05 able to have that clearly demonstrated and gave us a user scenario that's beats 15:12 all the 10-minute talk on how special your technology, your molecular 15:17 differences for biotech is different from someone else into the experience of 15:23 you now going to amazing talks, book tours, all the fun stuff. What really 15:29 you believe is next for you? what's something that you really want to 15:33 focusing on as you go forward? >> So, healthcare access is not going away. 15:37 There's lots of work to be done and there's lots of folks who don't even 15:40 know that it's actually a really great segment to go into because again, huge 15:45 pervasive and urgent problems. So, for me, first it's about messaging and 15:50 starting this conversation. And what I love about going all over the United 15:53 States and beyond is starting that discussion, hearing new thoughts on that 15:58 and talking to different kinds of leaders. An example is I was just 16:01 speaking at a conference this past week with marketing executives from 16:05 healthcare and life science systems and to hear their perspective on access and 16:10 how they're moving messages to their customers was very exciting and 16:14 interesting and so I really love kind of getting outside of the normal box of 16:19 delivery and even just startup tech to consider alternatives so we can solve 16:23 these problems better. >> Yes. And what are you hearing so far 16:27 that intrigues you as the pivots happening in the market now? So my 16:32 secret sauce is go to market and commercialization and that's where I 16:34 usually help startups the most and where I have the most energy and excitement 16:38 and it's nice to also validate some of the thought process that I have been 16:42 pounding the drum on for a long time and a lot of that is the message matters and 16:47 so that first pitch deck a lot of subject matter expert founders in 16:51 particular or doctor founders they don't understand that I don't care about your 16:56 tech I care that it works and it's going to evolve but I care about the people 17:00 are going to lead this organization well and is this problem something that's 17:04 going to have a real market and make a business? And so it's nice to see the 17:09 ability to move that messaging and commercialization thought process back 17:13 to the pitch deck, back to the business case, because if you don't have those 17:17 things in your mind, how you're going to get reimbursed, who you're going to sell 17:20 to, how you're going to sell to them, where you're going to sell to them, then 17:23 you may have a great technology, but you might not have a business. 17:26 >> Correct. I I think that's the technical founder dilemma, right? like they have 17:31 the bluring >> of the MITs right the Harvards and all 17:36 that but then when I ask them a question it's like so how people get to know you 17:41 they're like but we are the first where we are the leader of these research and 17:45 then I'm goes that's amazing but this is the first time I know you so 17:50 >> never heard of you >> never heard of you right like it's 17:53 nothing saying you're not good enough but you are a best hidden secret if 17:59 you're in that way if you don't know how to really represent yourself on the 18:04 public front to get people to know you building those and having a solid sound 18:09 plan that makes sense for us that there is a marketable place then just because 18:14 you tell me this is a 10 billion dollar market it doesn't really matter to us 18:19 right it does if >> it doesn't make sense right you have to 18:22 almost like talk to us like a sixth grader makes so much sense I was just 18:27 like okay I got you let's help you got somewhere, right? 18:31 >> I think the other thing too is that for those of us like you and I who have been 18:34 executives in tech, investment, VC, etc. for a long time, there's nothing worse 18:39 than underestimating a doctor because we cannot be under estimated, at least not 18:44 to our face. And so when we walk into the room and you think we're just a
Why Great Technology Still Needs a Business 18:48 clinical voice, be aware because there's many of us who have been building 18:53 businesses larger than yours for a long time. 18:55 >> Yes. And be able to put that appreciation. Right. So usually for me 19:00 it's like stop just asking them to do a introduction you want to ask the right 19:05 question to engage with them right and especially when there are so many 19:11 startups there's so many dealful that we see all the time we also have a 19:16 different evaluation system right you don't actually know what people want 19:21 until you have that dialogue with them until you ask those high questions uh 19:25 stop jumping in any meetings start doing your own introduction 19:29 You want to allow other people to share so then you can align what they want, 19:34 what they're good at, what their desire zones are to what you can do, right? 19:39 Otherwise, how do you make sure that even you invite someone to be on your 19:43 board that they are truly there to be able to contribute in the way that you 19:48 can appreciate them the most, right? So, a lot of us love to help a startup, but 19:54 I think we got burned by having a lot of conversation. people are not moving, 19:58 they cannot conceptualize it and then it's a waste, right? And so we don't 20:04 want that to ever happen to either side, right? We want all the conversation 20:08 energy and what you mention access. Access is not just about the number of 20:14 connections, >> right? Access is actually about how do 20:18 you create connection with the right people, right? Right organization, the 20:22 right solution. So you're not in this perpetual way of just exploring. 20:29 >> I'd agree. I'd agree. >> What would be the most helpful next step 20:33 for everybody else out there for both the builders and the executive to be 20:39 connected with you? >> So thank you for asking. My main page is 20:43 dr saramat.com. You can follow me on LinkedIn. I have all sorts of fun ways 20:48 that I engage with that community every week. And then go buy my book. It's 20:53 something that's actionable. It's something that might change your mind 20:56 about a couple things and it'll start that conversation. It's on pre-order 21:00 right now and I'd love you to be part of that discussion. 21:03 >> Yay. Everyone, go check out Dr. Sarat's website, her book, connect with her on 21:10 LinkedIn. And we're so excited to potentially have her in house advisor as 21:14 one of the adviserss investors to help even more startups that we truly believe 21:19 in. We want you guys to be successful, right? It's never going to be, hey, get 21:25 some fund raise and then go for it, right? There's a systematic way to 21:30 launch. Otherwise, we've seen too many valley of death people that cannot get 21:35 out of there, right? It's never just about having a good idea. It's always 21:39 about connection of the good idea with the good social connection, the 21:43 messaging and the doing and the good people that can get you there and build 21:48 it and trust and have the resilience to keep going. So appreciate everyone for 21:53 being here wherever you're listening watching this please let us know what is 21:58 something that you're building that you're so passionate about especially 22:01 giving more better access leveraging technology in the healthcare space and 22:06 perhaps send Dr. Sarah or myself a message so we can continue the
Advice for Founders and Investors 22:10 conversation. Many healthcare innovations never reach their true 22:15 potential because adoption isn't built into the strategy from the start. In 22:21 this conversation, we explore what separates a promising solution from a 22:26 sustainable business and why understanding access using behaviors, 22:32 workflow, and market reality matters just as much. the technology itself. The 22:38 founders who succeed aren't just building products. They're creating 22:42 solution that stakeholders trust, fun, implement, and use consistently. Now, 22:49 here are the key founder learning points. Number one, commercializing 22:53 starts before you build. Many founders believe commercialization begins after 22:59 the product is finished. In reality, the strongest companies start by deeply 23:04 understanding the problem, the people experiencing it, and how solutions fit 23:09 into existing workflow. Technology creates possibility, but 23:14 commercialization is what turns innovation into adoption. Number two, 23:20 sell the outcome, not the technology. Founders often spend too much time 23:26 explaining how their technology works instead of why it matters. Investors and 23:31 customers are looking for solutions that solve meaningful urgent problem and 23:38 create measurable value. The clearer your communicates their outcome, the 23:45 easier it becomes to earn trust, funding and adaption. Number three, design for 23:51 entire health care system. Healthcare solution don't succeed because one user 23:56 loves it. They succeed because every stakeholder can use them effectively 24:02 from clinicians and administrators to patients and operational team. Each 24:08 group influence adoption. The company that scales are the ones that design 24:14 around the complete customer journey, not just a single end user. Number four, 24:20 turn clinical expertise into a competitive advantage. Clinical advisors 24:27 should be more than names on a slide. When clinicians helps shape product 24:33 strategy, customer discovery, workflow design, and commercialization from the 24:38 beginning, they become a true competitive advantage. Founders who 24:43 build alongside of clinical expertise create solutions that fit the reality of 24:50 healthcare. Number five, investors back businesses, not just breakthrough. A 24:56 strong technology is only part of the investor story. Investors also evaluate
Where Healthcare Access Goes Next 25:03 whether founders understand their market, communicate a clear vision, and 25:08 have a realistic path to growth. The most compelling pitches don't overwhelm 25:14 with technology details. They clearly explain the problem, the opportunity, 25:19 and why this team is positioned to win. Number six, better healthcare access 25:25 starts with better system design. Improved access isn't simply about 25:31 adding more technology. It's about removing friction throughout the patient 25:37 and providers experience. From confusing workflow and disconnected system to 25:43 unnecessary administrative burdens, the companies that create lasting impact 25:49 focus on making health care easier for everyone involved. If this conversation 25:55 got you thinking about what happens after a diagnostic solution reaches the 25:59 health care system, I have another episode for you. Check out how 26:04 diagnostics plus payers speed treatment with Dr. Dr. Julie Schultz, a physician 26:09 executive and product leader. In this feature, we explore how diagnostics 26:13 companies, clinicians, and payers can work together to reduce treatment delays 26:18 by better aligning workflows, incentives, communication, and 26:23 responsibility. You'll find the link in the show notes below. Thank you for 26:28 listening. Remember, the positive change we're seeking starts right here with me 26:33 and you. If you're a fan of the show or if you are just having struggles or 26:39 success that you're either experienced in the past or are experiencing now in 26:45 the healthcare industry, these matter to all of us. I want to hear from you. 26:51 Visit sabrinaarach.com/connect 26:56 and send me a direct message. Talk soon.
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