Cheryl Martin (Host): Welcome to the Healthcare Executive Podcast, providing you with insightful commentary and developments in the world of healthcare leadership. To learn more, visit ache.org. I'm your host today, Cheryl Martin. And in this podcast episode, we are joined by Dr. Myriam Curet, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical at Intuitive. Intuitive is one of ACHE's premier corporate partners. Our premier corporate partners support ACHE's vision and mission to advance healthcare leadership excellence. Dr. Curet, so glad to have you on to discuss equitable access to care.

Myriam Curet, MD: Thank you, Cheryl. It's an honor to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

Host: First, what is Intuitive's story, the mission and goals of the organization?

Myriam Curet, MD: Our mission is really about envisioning a future of care that is less invasive and significantly better than what the current state is, where we can identify diseases earlier and we can treat diseases more quickly so patients can get back to what matters most. Most specifically, we have developed a device and instruments that allows more patients to undergo minimally invasive care as opposed to open surgical care, which results in quicker recoveries and less complications for patients, so better outcomes.

Host: That's great. Now, as you know, the Quintuple Aim is a guiding light for many healthcare organizations. How does it help healthcare leaders overcome some of the challenges they face?

Myriam Curet, MD: I think the movement from the Quadruple Aim to the Quintuple Aim has been a really excellent situation for patients. It is allowing us as a healthcare organization to focus more on patients who, right now, aren't getting any care or aren't getting the level of care they need. So, in terms of improving outcomes for patients, this is what the Quintuple Aim really focuses on. So, it's patients that currently aren't served or aren't served well by the healthcare community. And it allows leaders in healthcare to be able to treat a group of patients that they currently don't and, in that way, significantly improve patient outcomes and significantly contribute positively to society through that.

Host: Now, we know that equitable access to care was recently added as the fifth aim, and it's well-known and a documented issue that social factors such as income, ZIP code, and housing directly affect access to surgery and surgical outcomes. How can we improve access to the best forms of care?

Myriam Curet, MD: I think the first step to doing that is understanding what the problem is and where it is. And just like you said, that ZIP codes have variation in access to care. So, identifying those regions where there's less access and identifying what are the gaps. Is it education? Is it actually getting there? Is it cost? You know, what are the barriers? And then, setting up solutions that target those barriers.

I'll give you an example. We find that patients who come into the emergency room for emergent or acute urgent surgical care very often end up getting open surgery, which is the highest rate of complications and the longest recovery. So, if we can get them access to a medical device that allows those patients to have minimally invasive surgery, they will get out of the hospital sooner, they will get back to their normal daily lives sooner, and there will be less need for resources of the healthcare environment. So, how you address it is different given what you're targeting and where the problems are, but this is just one example of how enabling minimally invasive surgery can really help improve that access.

Host: You mentioned medical devices. Tell us more about the latest innovations in automation and healthcare delivery, such as in surgery, that we may see in the next 5 to 10 years.

Myriam Curet, MD: I think that we're really focused right now on collecting the data that you need in order to make automation possible. So, there's so many data streams, for example, with our device, not only is the data stream of the medical health record, but there's also the data stream from our da Vinci system itself. And so, how can you use that information to therefore automate things whether it's for patients or for the surgeon or for service that then allows for less variation of care and better outcomes.

So, I think what we're going to see over the next five to 10 years is that there's little pieces of the patient's journey that will get automated as we develop that data information and then develop ways to augment what the patient currently has in terms of treatment so that you'll start to see more and more automation throughout that patient journey.

Host: Tell us why you are optimistic about the future of healthcare.

Myriam Curet, MD: I think that there are a lot of very intelligent and very committed people in healthcare. And I think that that appeal of being able to make a difference in someone's life is a very powerful motivator. I've been a surgeon now for over 20 years and just the advances that I've seen in that period of time is unbelievable. And I think that we are continuing to have many people who, like I said, are bright and committed and passionate looking at the gaps and looking at the problems. And I think we have the technology and the brain power to solve many of those problems.

Host: Well, clearly, your optimism is evident. What also just keeps you inspired day in and day out? What drives you?

You know,

Myriam Curet, MD: I was very lucky to have had an enormous impact on many patients' lives when I was practicing full time as a general surgeon. I only practice about 15% time now. But even though I now work for Intuitive, I still feel like I'm able to make a difference in patients' lives. It's at a different level. It's not, you know, taking out somebody's appendix or taking out their gallbladder and seeing them get better and go home the next day. But it is at a level where the things I'm doing are enabling more patients to have minimally invasive surgery. So, getting out of the hospital sooner, having less complications, recovering faster. And that's really, really important to me, the fact that I can make a difference in people's lives.

Host: Thank you so much for sharing that. And I know personally the advantage of minimal invasive surgery that was an option for my mother recently. And it has made a big, big difference. She said it wasn't like she was in the hospital but on vacation. So, thank you for all of your efforts and your passion on this topic.

Myriam Curet, MD: My pleasure. I'm glad that she had a good experience and a good outcome. That's why we're here.

Host: Dr. Myriam Curet, thank you for coming on and sharing Intuitive's perspective on equitable access to care. Much continued success.

Myriam Curet, MD: Thank you so much.

Host: To learn more, visit ache.org/intuitive. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for other topics of interest to you. This is Healthcare Executive Podcast from the American College of Healthcare Executives. Thanks for listening.