Lean Principles, are increasingly being applied in healthcare to improve efficiency and patient outcomes. By eliminating waste and optimizing processes, healthcare organizations can deliver higher quality care more effectively.
Kelley [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to Caring Without a Care. This is going to be such an exciting conversation that we have here today, and we’re talking all about the long-term care industry. I’m here with Anand Chaturvedi. Anand, welcome. I know you have so much expertise and experience in this field, and I know you’re ready to share such a wealth of knowledge with our listeners today.
Anand [00:00:24]:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Kelley [00:00:26]:
Yes. Now, Anand, I know you’re an accomplished health technology strategist, and you’re really passionate about empowering Medicaid entrepreneurs with hands-on strategic transformation so that they can grow their business and, overall, just make a bigger impact. Right? You’re the CEO of CaryFy AI, and if I’m not mistaken, in CaryFy, you really focus on providing solutions that leverage AI to help people expand access to long-term care, grow their businesses, and provide better support. I’d love to start off by asking you, what have you been seeing within the industry? You’ve been in the industry for quite some time. What have you been seeing in terms of signs and evidence that this is a growing and expanding industry?
Anand [00:01:22]:
Well, Kelley, thanks for the good introduction, and I appreciate that. Just as a background, before I started CaryFy, I spent nearly a decade working at a company called Bobcat, where we take pride in introducing the concept of entrepreneurship around the world. So I have been working with entrepreneurs of all stripes around the world for nearly two decades now. The first ten years were in a different industry, the construction industry, and the last ten years I’ve been working with healthcare entrepreneurs, primarily in the long-term care industry. In long-term care, in the past five years, especially after the COVID era, we are finding a lot of people availing long-term care through Medicaid. Now, as the economy is growing, unfortunately, the benefits are not well spread out.
Anand [00:02:13]:
So, you also have some people who are needing more financial assistance, and as people are aging, the need for long-term care for the vulnerable population is also increasing day by day.
Kelley [00:02:27]:
And so, what do you think the challenges are? I know you speak to just there’s a lot of different types of people that are coming into long-term care, people using their nursing backgrounds, coming into this kind of business. We’ve got a lot of family-owned businesses that have been in the long-term care industry for quite some time, and maybe they’re ready to grow and scale. What would you say, across the board, are some of the challenges that people in the industry who are trying to grow a business face today?
Anand [00:03:02]:
That’s a great question. As you said in the beginning of your question, there are a lot of people who are coming from the nursing background because they have valid intentions. They also want to become entrepreneurs, have the financial independence to pursue their dreams. But there are several structural problems. The first one is that although long-term care is a frontier of health care, they often don’t get recognition as a care provider in this particular vertical. The second challenge is related to compliance and regulatory things because this is an industry that is heavily regulated, being reimbursed by Medicaid and CFMs, and not many providers are aware of those. Then you have some structural issues that are related not only to the long-term care industry for Medicaid but around everybody, every payer, which are lack of knowledge. We have most of the providers who are staff.
Anand [00:03:57]:
Their growth is actually restricted by not being able to find the right CNAs or PCAs. And, of course, there are always financial challenges because the reimbursement rates for long-term care are not what you would expect for the amount of services that these providers are providing.
Kelley [00:04:17]:
Now, you mentioned a word there that kind of caught my attention, right? And that word was “being an entrepreneur.” And so it sounds like, within this industry, right, there are a lot of industry-related challenges that people are facing. You mentioned not being recognized as a healthcare provider. You mentioned issues with compliance and regulations that I would imagine are probably challenging to stay on top of, right?
Kelley [00:04:44]:
With all of the changes and things like that, you mentioned a lack of staffing. And I know, and you know, as an entrepreneur, those are some of the industry-related challenges. But just being an entrepreneur comes with its own challenges, right? How do you run a business? How do you get clients? All of those things that we know go into entrepreneurship can also be very challenging. So it sounds like there are a lot of things that people are faced with when it comes to growing their business—simple business growth strategies and issues, and then industry-specific regulations and policies that they need to be aware of.
Kelley [00:05:25]:
So, in your expertise and with your knowledge, would you say that there’s one key piece that people should either pay attention to, learn, or understand when it comes to building their businesses that maybe would encompass a lot of these challenges that you’re speaking about?
Anand [00:05:44]:
I have good news, Kelley. Yes, there is. There is a new concept of lean care management that would be very useful for providers in this situation. Now, just to put this in context, many years ago, this was first introduced in the manufacturing sector because people had the same issues some decades ago. They were not able to find the right employees, and manufacturing productivity was dipping, and so on and so forth. Lean was introduced in that context. Now, several years later, this is the time for us to reinvent the principles of lean and apply them in this industry. And I have seen this work.
Anand [00:06:25]:
I have some good case studies, and you and I can talk about that in our conversations.
Kelley [00:06:32]:
So, when it comes to lean care management, right, and I imagine – correct me if I’m wrong – I imagine there are a lot of people out there in the industry who maybe haven’t even heard about this concept of lean care management. Would you say that’s accurate?
Anand [00:06:48]:
I think that would be very accurate.
Kelley [00:06:50]:
Okay, so let’s just start off by asking, why do people want to listen to this conversation? Right? We’ve already addressed some business-related challenges, industry-related challenges that a lot of people in long-term care are probably experiencing. So, how can this concept of lean care management solve some of those problems?
Anand [00:07:12]:
Well, it’s very simple, Kelley, because as a provider – and this speaks to the question you need to ask yourself – you cannot solve the world’s problems. You cannot solve the structural problems that are beyond your control. But what every provider can do in her business is to change her process, her approach, her training of her employees, and manage her business from a financial and marketing standpoint. And that is what lean is all about. Lean is not about trying to change things that you have no control over, but trying to understand and improve on the things that you do have control over. And that’s a one-sentence definition of lean care management.
Kelley [00:07:55]:
And it sounds like – I feel like that would be a really refreshing concept – because in a world where there are probably, like you said, a lot of things that are evolving and ever-changing that you don’t have control of… Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like one of the biggest pain points for people in this business is trying to decide where to focus, right? Is that true?
Anand [00:08:20]:
I think it’s very true. And Kelley, you are an entrepreneur, and you have worked with so many entrepreneurs. You know that every time the single piece of advice, the first piece of advice, is to find your biggest pain point and understand why the pain point exists – what is causing this pain? And if you start to understand the pain, then, of course, you can find ways to address it. Lean care management has four components: people, process, technology, and training. Very simply, you have to identify whether you have the right people in the jobs that you want them to be in. Do you give them processes that they can adhere to? Do they have the tools and technology that can help them in doing their job and not bother them, not confuse them? And the last piece is, do we have continuous training not only for our employees but also for us as entrepreneurs? Because the world is changing around us. Every single day you hear about so many different technological things.
Anand [00:09:22]:
The new technology comes in your phones and so on. It’s very hard to stay focused. It’s very easy to get distracted. Lean care management is all about looking at your business from these four perspectives: people, process, technology, and training. You will find that your business is going to have a positive impact very, very quickly.
Kelley [00:09:50]:
Well, thank you so much. Thank you for introducing that concept of lean care management to us. Again, I know we said that there’s probably a lot of people listening in where this is the first time that they’re hearing about it. I would imagine that they’re feeling very happy, as you said, or relieved, right, to know that there is a concept out there that’s going to allow them to focus on some of those pain points in their business so that they can see growth and ultimately generate a greater impact on their clients.
Anand [00:10:21]:
Yes, and I would be very excited to share whatever I know. And of course, we’ll also invite our listeners and viewers to share their stories, send their questions, and Kelly, let’s continue this conversation.
Kelley [00:10:34]:
Yes, thank you so much. And there we have it, everybody, right? Our introduction to lean care management, a concept that potentially is going to solve a lot of the pain points that you may currently be feeling in your business. We’re here with Anand Chaturvedi, and we really want you to be able to follow our podcast and subscribe. If you know other people in this industry, make sure that you share because, as Anand said, this is the first of many conversations. Thanks for joining in.
