How can product leaders drive innovation in healthcare? In this episode hosted by Cognizant Product Director Chenny Solaiyappan, SmartRise Health CEO Vanessa Guzman discusses her journey in healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. She shares how personal experiences motivated her to pursue solutions focused on social determinants of health, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Vanessa also touches on launching Ella Es Health to close gaps in women’s healthcare through coaching and navigation services. She emphasizes the importance of adapting to market trends and leveraging accreditation to improve outcomes.
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Show Notes
- Vanessa Guzman’s motivation to pursue a career in healthcare leadership stemmed from a desire to help systematically and make a broader impact.
- Her experiences growing up in poverty and as an immigrant shaped her drive to help others.
- Personal experiences managing her parents’ healthcare led her to pursue solutions focused on social determinants of health.
- SmartRise Health helps organizations improve quality of care, reduce costs, and increase efficiency through strategic planning and data analytics.
- Vanessa’s miscarriages sparked the idea for Ace Health to close gaps in women’s health care globally.
- Data integrity and governance are critical for responsible AI development in healthcare.
- Inclusive product design is needed to ensure equity and accessibility.
- Community integration, system integration and user perspectives guide innovation processes.
- Adapting to market trends is important for organizational agility and relevance.
- Leveraging accreditation can improve health outcomes.
- Entrepreneurial mindset involves empathy and understanding personal journeys.
- Problem-solution fit and product-market fit are important stages of business model engineering.
- Healthcare entrepreneurs should understand target audiences and problems.
- Revenue sources should align with advocacy for better health system performance.
- Inclusive recruitment and stakeholder engagement foster diverse perspectives.
- Health equity lenses ensure solutions are inclusive and benefits all groups.
- Digital literacy and differential impacts must be considered.
- Execution is key to realizing strategies for growth and impact.
- Aspiring innovators should be intentional, agile, and disruptive.
About the speaker
Understands how product and solutions addresses needs of consumer Able to cross function and collaborate across subject matter experts and teams Communicates with authenticity and simplicity to understands needs, design with user's voice in mind and lead with quality, scalability and adoptability in mind
About the host
Chenny Solaiyappan is the Director of Product Management for Cognizant Trizetto's Government and Quality Solutions, and a founding member of the ClaimSphere suite of products, encompassing quality, HEDIS ®, CMS Stars, and clinical solutions. An accomplished Intrapreneur and Lean Startup Practitioner, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the overall product strategy and serves as the HL7 DaVinci Business Co-chair. With a notable track record, Chenny has provided consultancy to over 30 health plans across the nation, consistently raising Quality and Star ratings in Medicaid, Medicare, Federal Employees Health Plan, and Commercial health plan sectors, collectively supporting 30 million lives. His outstanding leadership and innovative contributions have earned him prestigious awards, including the 2023 Top 20 Global Product Manager Award by Products That Count, as well as the 2021 and 2019 Product of the Year awards by Cognizant Trizetto.