Lisa Rometty: Leading Without a Blueprint

Show Notes

The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare

Today, on Episode 4 of the podcast, Meg speaks with Lisa Rometty, President at CVS Kidney Care. 

Meg and Lisa discuss Lisa’s realization of her deep ambition to make a positive difference in people’s lives based on a significant loss early in her life; her shift in perspective when she became a parent; the need for greater awareness of the real lives of all patients in order to enable widespread access to care; the enormous amount of innovation unfolding in healthcare thanks to AI and virtual care; the critical importance of strong customer segmentation when commercializing new technology; and more.

About Lisa Rometty:

Lisa Rometty is currently President at CVS Kidney Care.

Lisa is responsible for overseeing CVS Kidney Care as it expands and seeks to transform the industry with an innovative, personalized approach to disease identification, care management, and home-first treatment. 

Prior to that, Lisa served as president of Global Client Solutions at Syneos Health, where she led the strategy and global expansion of the company’s commercial partnerships.

Before that, Lisa was general manager, Oncology and Life Sciences, for IBM Watson’s Health Solutions organization, where she partnered with stakeholders from across the global health ecosystem to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence and advanced analytics solutions. She joined IBM in 2015 from Baxter Healthcare where she was Vice President, Global Home Therapies, and Global Franchise Head – Hospital Products, a $2.4B infusion therapy business operated in over 70 countries.

Lisa brings more than 25 years of commercial leadership experience in global business development, strategic partnerships, product development and marketing. She advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion to close racial and gender gaps in the workplace, including partnering with multiple not-for-profit boards and committees, such as the American Diabetes Association-Chicago Community Board.

She earned an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in international business from Michigan State University.

LinkedIn | Twitter: @Lisa_Rometty

Further Reading: 

CVS Health Kidney Care
Aetna
Syneos Health
IBM Watson Health
Baxter Healthcare
GE Capital
American Diabetes Association - Chicago Community Board

Episode Credits: 

The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a production of The Krinsky Company. 

Hosted by Meg Escobosa. 

Produced, edited, engineered, and mixed by Calvin Marty. 

Theme music composed and performed by Calvin Marty. 

Intro and outro voiced by John Parsons. 

©2021 The Krinsky Company

Creators & Guests

Host

Meg Escobosa

Meg Escobosa has 15 years of innovation consulting experience, focusing on the unique challenges of healthcare since 2012. For The Krinsky Company, Meg leads client engagements overseeing advisory board design, creation and management. She also leads industry research, expert recruitment and trend analysis to support corporate innovation initiatives centered on the future of healthcare. Her background in innovation and strategy consulting began at IdeaScope Associates where she was involved all aspects of strategic innovation initiatives including understanding the voice of the customer, industry research and aligning the executive team to invest in promising strategic growth opportunities. Meg received her BA in Latin American Studies from Trinity College in Hartford and her MBA in sustainable management from the pioneering Master’s degree program, Presidio Graduate School. She is also on the board of a non-profit foundation focused on researching and developing technology to support a sustainable society. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two teenage daughters.

Producer

Calvin Marty

A man of many hats, Calvin Marty is a Podcast Producer, Editor, Engineer, Voice Actor, Actor, Composer, Singer/Songwriter, Musician, and Tennis Enthusiast. Calvin produces, engineers, edits, mixes, and scores The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare. Calvin is also the creator of the 2020 podcast, irRegular People, among others. Find his music under the names Calvin Marty, Billy Dubbs, Nature Show, and The Sunken Ship. Over his long career as an actor, Calvin's has voiced many Radio and TV commercials for a wide-range of companies and products and has appeared in small on-camera roles on shows such as Chicago Fire and Empire.

What is The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare?

The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a podcast featuring exceptional women making an impact in healthcare today. We celebrate our guests’ accomplishments, setbacks, and the lessons they've learned throughout their careers. We dig into the many healthcare issues we face today and how these innovative leaders are working to solve them. Join host Meg Escobosa in conversation with some of the many brilliant, courageous women on the front lines of the future of health.



Lisa Rometty: [00:00:00] Most people spend most of their time at home, at work, in life, right. Not sitting in a doctor's office. So the connectivity that virtual and digital tools today can provide to people is immense. When it comes to chronic kidney disease or many other chronic diseases for that matter.


John Parsons (ANNCR): You're listening to The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare, a podcast celebrating perseverance, creativity and vision [00:00:30] in the pursuit of healthcare innovation. Join host Meg Escobosa in conversation with some of the most inspiring and forward-thinking women working in healthcare today. Meg goes behind the scenes to uncover previously untold stories of struggle and success in a notoriously complex and highly regulated industry.


As the worlds of healthcare and technology continue to converge, and as women take on increasingly [00:01:00] more important roles in both, these are timely tales that deserve to be told. And now here's your host, Meg Escobosa.


Meg Escobosa: Welcome to The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare. I'm your host Meg Escobosa. I'm excited to be talking to Lisa Rometty today. 

Lisa is currently the president of CVS kidney care, where she is responsible for expanding the business as it brings innovative, personalized approach to disease [00:01:30] identification care managers. And home first treatment previously, Lisa served as president of global client solutions at Cineos health, where she led the strategy and global expansion of the company's commercial partnerships, creating new and innovative growth models.


Prior to that, Lisa was the general manager of oncology and life sciences for IBM Watson. Where she partnered with stakeholders from across the global health ecosystem to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence and advanced analytics solutions. She [00:02:00] joined IBM in 2015 from Baxter healthcare, where she had been vice-president global home. 

Lisa brings more than 25 years of commercial leadership experience in global business development, strategic partnerships, product development, and marketing. She advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion with a track record of establishing and cultivating resource groups and business. To close racial and gender gaps in the workplace. 


She also partnered with multiple not-for-profit boards and committees, including American [00:02:30] diabetes association and Chicago community board. She earned an MBA from the university of Notre Dame and a BA in international business from Michigan state university. Welcome Lisa. We're so thrilled to have you here.


Lisa Rometty: Thank you so much, Meg. 


Meg Escobosa: How would you like to introduce yourself if you would? I don't know if you have anything else you want to add to what we shared or replace potentially what we shared. 


Lisa Rometty: No, you did a great summary professionally. I'd love just to tell a little bit about my whole [00:03:00] self. My most important role is: I am the wife of Chuck. 

I am the mother of Chaz and grace. I'm really fortunate. I've been married 30 years. We just had our anniversary. I married my college sweeter. And, um, I always like to say that there was an amazing plan set out for my husband and I, we have a 23 year old, almost 23 year old son. Now he's a senior at the university of Arizona and I have an 11 year old princess of [00:03:30] that is behind him. 

So they both keep us quiet.


Meg Escobosa: Oh, that’s amazing. That's quite a gap you're in the adolescent years and getting off the ground in your twenties, those are both very rich, intense times in a person's life. Fun to parent that I'm sure all at the same time. 


Lisa Rometty: Yes. Well, and you know, it's, it's quite exciting being a working mom. 

So you know, all the things that you said about me, uh, professionally. But I think our life is very blessed because, um, I [00:04:00] get a lot of intellectual stimulation and then I can get a lot of social stimulation and other problem solving challenges, having both a, uh, a tweener and a, and a young adult, but I can't complain. 

It's been great.


Meg Escobosa: That's great. Um, congratulations on your anniversary too. That's a wonderful accomplishment. 


Lisa Rometty: Thank you. I'm really lucky. And you know, I'm sure a lot of listeners might be in the same boat as me, which is, you know, I married quite young and I feel very blessed because I think, uh, to have [00:04:30] a successful career, it's a, it has to be a partnership. 

And you know, who knew at 23? Um, I had picked the right man, but, uh, I did. So, um, it's been an incredible ride. Our careers have Abdin flowed between the two of us. My husband was a restaurant tour for about a decade. So that actually was interesting for me because I had to support him with a more rigorous schedule. 

Now I've got the more rigorous schedule and he's been really, really supportive. So I highly [00:05:00] recommend that we all have to remember that it takes a, it takes a partner. That's wonderful.


Meg Escobosa: I feel like that's the time we're in right now, too. I think the next generation, the younger folks just see that more. 

They recognize that there needs to be a shared responsibility in the home. And just in terms of the family and one can really be going big while the other kind of balances it out at home. Doesn't always have to be everybody on all the time. Great. You guys were sort of the, sounds like the head of the game, uh, setting the tone for that. 


Lisa Rometty: Yeah. No, it's life [00:05:30] integration, right? 


Meg Escobosa: So can you share how you got into health care? We want to hear a little bit about why renal care and why healthcare in general. Is there some background in your life and what you studied in school or anything about your personal life that made you want to get.


Lisa Rometty: Yeah. Well, you know, I think a lot of us might say that looking back, I'm not sure if there was a grand plan and that I, I expected to be working at CVS at this exact moment, but one thing that did pan out I've had [00:06:00] from an early age, an interest in. Global cultures. And in global business, you know, I was a international business major and I actually feel very lucky, although I didn't start my career in international.


When I joined Baxter, I entered into a global role and have been in global roles, really most of my career up until recently. So I guess that one did go according to plan. What I would say to you though, is when I started my career, I was actually in financial services. Which is a wonderful industry, [00:06:30] but you know, my story is, I remember I was at a dinner party and I was in my early thirties and someone asked me at the dinner party, well, what do you do for a living? 


And I proudly said, well, You know, work at GE capital and, uh, I'm in financial services. And I described my business to them and they very succinctly repeated back to me. Oh, I get it. You put people in debt for a living. And I know that they didn't mean it to be, you know, [00:07:00] a bit Curt, but, uh, but you know, it really stuck with me, you know, and I was at a point in my life where I had also just had my first child and. 

I think perhaps all of us, at some point in our career, start to think, how do I really want to spend my time? And especially for me as a new mother, I really reflected how do I want to spend my time away from my child and long story short? Um, I decided that I had far more ambitious mission goals [00:07:30] for myself, particularly because, you know, when I was five, my mother died unexpectedly and I was too young to appreciate it at the time.


What I've learned since is she had something wrong with her that perhaps could have been diagnosed. Had she had awareness of it. And I decided that I wanted to enter into healthcare because I really wanted to help people. And I wanted to help make health systems [00:08:00] better and particularly more proactive in how. 


Patient care was handled. I'm forever grateful for Baxter. You know, I brought my commercial. And leadership skills to them and they helped me grow and incredible lifelong passion for healthcare. And CVS is helping me continue that journey. So it's an incredible field as you know, Meg, and there is more activity going on now in health care than ever before. 


[00:08:30] So it's a great time to be a healthcare professional. 


Meg Escobosa: It's true. And I thank you so much for sharing about your own loss and sounds really difficult. And I can understand how you are fueled to get into this work and to do good things and help people get diagnosed that may have been missed. Thinking about some of the accomplishments in your life. 


What are you most proud of? What innovation or health impact in health care are you most excited about?


Lisa Rometty: [00:09:00] So many, you know, I would say some of the bigger ones, Meg, I was very fortunate when I was at Baxter to contribute to reimbursement changes that were centered around patient choice. Around modality in kidney care. 


And so prior to the reimbursement changes, there was more reimbursement being allocated to in center, hemo dialysis, which of course, anyone who knows about kidney disease [00:09:30] knows that. There are other options for patients and frankly, more cost-effective options and home dialysis provides patients with an ability to live their lives, the way that they want to. 


It allows them to work. And be with their families. And, um, also clinically provides options that will help patients actually feel better because they can receive more frequent dialysis. And so that has to be one of [00:10:00] the top ones that I am very thankful to have been. You know, I would also say that when I was at IBM, having the privilege of launching Watson health is one of my most proudest things that I've been able to do. 


I know we'll, I'm sure talk about it here, but launching new to world software is always difficult, but particularly launching new AI solutions in healthcare is particularly difficult. And I love the challenge and I have. Incredible people to work with. We [00:10:30] accomplished so much in oncology and life sciences and, and, and frankly, in all of the other areas that, that we had been working on for providers and payers alike. 


So that one is right up there. I would say also on the smaller side, it, uh, it has just been increasing. To meet so many phenomenal people along the way. And I think that I've been really fortunate and of course, CVS is quickly becoming my number one choice, but I haven't been there long enough yet to say that. 

So I'm hopeful. 


Meg Escobosa: that's terrific. Those are [00:11:00] great examples in both certainly the renal care reimbursement challenges and patient choice, and even launching Watson health. I'm curious if you can speak a little bit about. What do you think enabled you to make those things happen? What was going on behind the scenes or any stories or insights that you take away looking back on how you made it happen? 

Are there any common themes around what enabled you to do those efforts about whether the makeup of the [00:11:30] team or the conditions, or how did you get those things to come to life?


Lisa Rometty: That's a great question. I would say what both of those examples have in common is certainly you have to start with. Focusing on the patient need both were centered in either providing patients better options to help treat their disease or in the case of IBM, it was really trying to solve the problem.


I can think of the oncology example where [00:12:00] there is so much going on in oncology right now. So much information. It is virtually impossible for an oncologist to stay. Aware of everything that is going on around them, we develop solutions that could augment the oncologist to help them be able to focus more time on their patients. 


Versus spending time or burning out, spending time off hours, trying to digest and modify how they thought about treatment for their patients. So always [00:12:30] start with an unmet need and the patient. And I think that you'll be able to do amazing things in healthcare. I do think having the right people around you as well, I've led both mature businesses and make market businesses and new product launches. 

I find the ladder far interesting for me just personally, cause I like the challenge of launching new things and creating new things. But when you're doing that, there's a lot of change management that goes into that. Cause even good change is difficult, especially in [00:13:00] healthcare. Of course. People are, are very mindful that we're dealing with human lives.


And so they don't take change lightly. So I think to be successful in driving change in healthcare, you have to have the right people around you. And I think too, you have to have a little luck and you have to have a lot of passion because the road is not easy, but the road is, is certainly rewarding. 


Meg Escobosa: You've been at several companies, both large and small. Who've made big bets on health technology over the. [00:13:30] What are some of the lessons that you've learned from the challenge of developing AI to help advance health outcome? 


Lisa Rometty: You know, I think, uh, a couple of things come to mind again. I think you have to start with the patient and have an unmet need that you need to solve. 


Often. I have seen application of technology to very broad concepts. Going back to user adoption. It's really difficult to get people to adopt software if it's not [00:14:00] really providing value and a tangible value. So I would stress that, you know, I also think to scale technologies, a lot of technology, startups and companies will really focus on. 


The tech itself, which is certainly important, but yeah, the commercialization of that technology is Uber important. And when, I mean commercialization, I mean, you know, productizing that product. So it can actually scale across not [00:14:30] only one or two or three customers, but hundreds or thousands of customers. 


Right? The market entry plan is super important. Picking customer number one. And number two is. Incredibly important. I remember, you know, when we were thinking about launching products at Baxter course, Baxter was in every country in the world, but not all countries in the world are created equal depending on what the payment system was, depending on what the physician networks look like. 

You could either have a [00:15:00] successful launch or a very difficult launch. That's why I'm actually excited too, about my current role with CVS, because, you know, as you stated, we're launching a brand new business for CVS. The good thing for hopefully my team, they can appreciate that. I've got a lot of scars on my back from things worked well and that worked well. 


So we're going to be able to try to learn from all of my experience and others' experiences on my team to really launch this business in an amazing way. 


Meg Escobosa: That's great. And just the point that you were making around choosing customer one customer [00:15:30] two wisely is that really 'cause customer one and customer two can dramatically define the product and how it’s shaped because it's so early in the launch that they actually, their needs are unique, customized set of issues can impact what ultimately it gets.


Lisa Rometty: Yeah, thank you for calling that out. What I mean by the importance of customer one and two, and probably like the first, at least three to five customers, but one and two is [00:16:00] important because first of all, not everyone can handle early product.


Some customers want everything really baked, right. And they just want to buy it off the shelf and they don't want. You know, they don't want to have any, uh, they don't want to provide any feedback. They want to just have like a no-nonsense plug and play. So I always encourage my sellers and my product owners to really think about in segment the market and to really think about. 


What [00:16:30] it is that they are looking for in the characteristic of customer number one and two, you need to find customers with aligned values because you know, those customers, there's a lot of sausage making to your point. You know, you can imagine what an implementation, as an example might look like for a piece of software or a medical device, but until you get on that ground and you really start understanding what the environment is like and what the people and what the workflow particularly is, especially with software and devices. 


[00:17:00] Understanding your customer's workflow and the patient flow through that workflow is incredibly important to the adoption. So again, you have to find customers like you're saying who really want to, and I could name tons of customer success stories where, um, it's been beautiful. It's been just harmony and everything goes really, really smoothly. 


And then I could give you stories where on day one, they're saying, well, why isn't this, this, this, and this and your product. And I look over at my sales lead to say, ah, we better go back to our segmentation. This is not sounding like an [00:17:30] early adopter.


Meg Escobosa: Do they know that their customer too? Exactly. 


Lisa Rometty: They should be customer 20. 


Meg Escobosa: Right? Right. That's. So, can you share some advantages or disadvantages from being in a big company or a startup with venture capital backing? Is there any distinct you?


Lisa Rometty: Yes, I would. I've been on both sides and, you know, here's what I would say. I, I think that startups bring an [00:18:00] incredible amount of energy and innovation they're smaller so they can have speed to market.


Often startups also are very narrowly focused. On a particular problem, which allows them to really go deep and to really, really innovate. And I love the fact that more money now is flowing into healthcare innovation than ever before. But the other side of the coin is what they don't have is national channels. 

Right. They don't have access [00:18:30] to health plans and. Hospitals systems and physicians, and that's where larger companies have that. You know, when I was at IBM or Baxter and now CVS, particularly CVS, I mean, we are an every neighborhood in the United States. We have over 100 million people that we touch through our PBM, 39 million people who benefit from our health plan, Aetna. 


[00:19:00] Yes. It's going to be true and I'm not going to sugar coat things mean we, we at CVS don't move as fast as. 100 person startup, but I think the more that healthcare can reduce silos and appreciate the different players within healthcare. I think that is how innovation is going to accelerate. So to me, you need both, I don't think that one is better than the other, both have strengths, large companies, small companies, both have [00:19:30] weaknesses.


And I think working together in harmony is the, is the ticket.


Meg Escobosa: Yeah, you've really painted a nice picture of the symbiosis. They need each other. The big companies need the small players to innovate, and maybe that's an opportunity to go into new space and the small startups need the big companies to get access to the key members of the ecosystem. 


Lisa Rometty: Absolutely. And that's why I'm excited about what we're doing with our business, because I was just talking to someone this morning, [00:20:00] I'm doing a lot of recruiting megs. So I'm going to shamelessly say if anyone wants a new opportunity. Please, no, please come look us up. But I was just talking to a potential candidate and, you know, I was telling her our story and she said, oh, well, you guys are kind of a startup inside of a big company. 


So that's the best of both worlds. And I said, exactly. That's exactly what we are. So, but yes, that's great. Both. 


Meg Escobosa: Uh, you've had the opportunity to work with a number of dynamic female leaders in health tech, including Karen Lynch, who just nabbed the [00:20:30] top spot at Fortune's most powerful women. What have you learned?


Or what unique perspectives have they shared that are particularly meaningful to you?


Lisa Rometty: Great question. I've been very fortunate. I have a lot of women who I look up to Karen is definitely one of those women, but I also had the pleasure of working very closely with Ginni Rometty, who was also a top member on the list and other women like Michelle Peluso as well, who is our chief customer [00:21:00] officer for the company. 


And it's interesting to me that all of them have some things in. Incredible passion, vision and all extremely mission driven. And I would also say all of them have courage and I'll use Karen as an example. She entered into her CEO tenure in the middle of COVID and just showed incredible courage and focus on every American who needed our help.


I [00:21:30] think to date, we have administered something like over 34 million COVID 19 vaccines, I think on a. 32 million plus tests to date that have been conducted. And what I admire about her is she had a choice to either become overwhelmed or just lean in. And she leaned in with passion and courage and was incredibly disciplined. 


Which would be another thing that I've really learned. I do a lot of mentoring and I [00:22:00] often encourage women to just be decisive. I think sometimes as women, we often try to be perfectionist and we want to make sure we've got all the information that we need. And I think the most successful leaders in general, but particularly for women is, um, is really just to be decisive and. 


The final thing, I would say that I think all of them share and particularly Karen is unapologetically really, really just focused on [00:22:30] meeting the needs of our healthcare consumers. I think it goes back to some of the earlier things that you were asking me about is how do you scale? And it, it just keeps going back. 


Put the patient or your customer at the heart of what you're doing and wonderful magic things will happen. But I think, I think Karen exemplifies it and I know that we're all a thousand percent behind her and we can't wait to see where she's going to take us. 


Meg Escobosa: She is a remarkable woman. That's wonderful to hear. 


What are some of [00:23:00] the lessons that you would want to share with the next generation? What advice might you have? 


Lisa Rometty: I think first and foremost, be confident in yourself. You know, as an example, I know when I turned. 40 a lot of my girlfriends. Um, and I were turning 40 at the same age and they were all like upset and depressed and look, I mean, of course I want to keep my youth as well, but I guess for me, Meg, I found myself by 40. 


I really. Embraced, you know, the maturity that [00:23:30] I gained and the wisdom that I gained and I became a much better leader because I quit worrying about what everyone else thought I should do, and really just took the advice of people around me and leveraged my past experience and really just started making really. 


Sound decisions by having confidence in myself and in my teams that are around me. So I think number one is, um, just be confident in yourself and be you. I think, [00:24:00] secondly, I would say don't underestimate the power of networks. No the first half of my career, I, uh, I think I really kept my head down and I worked really hard and I learned so much, but I would tell you that my career really started to accelerate both in depth and breath when I really took advantage of so many of the people that I had met along the way, and, and really sought out to me.


And the thing is for those of you listening, um, I haven't had one [00:24:30] person when I've asked for help, or I've asked to have coffee to share perspective. Now one person has ever said no to me. I think that's a super powerful thing to remember. And, you know, I guess find really, I would just say, um, you know, just to have courage, you know, especially when people are young in their career, Meg, I, uh, I know. 

I could tell you stories about myself, but the bottom line is, especially when people are in jobs that require managing ambiguous. I think the [00:25:00] best thing. And there's a lot of ambiguity right now, of course, in the world. We're all living in a new world with no more virtual work and, and COVID having to be more of, of a prevalent consideration in everything that we do. 


You know, there is no blueprint, right? What we did even five years ago, or two years ago, isn't applicable. So a lot of ambiguity, I would just encourage women to lead. And I think that they might be surprised about how successful it becomes for them. 


Meg Escobosa: Brilliant advice. And I completely concur both [00:25:30] around turning 40 and just sort of… 


Lisa Rometty: I’m a lot older, by the way, by now. 


Meg Escobosa: …haha, right, and the next decade. 


Um, but I also personally want to just acknowledge too, like for me personally, stepping into the microphone and doing this podcast was, uh, uh, stepping into the ambiguity and something new. That was a risk and a challenge. Yeah. Once now we've gotten through that first hurdle. It's an amazing growth experience. 


And I I'm sort of looking back going, why didn't we [00:26:00] do this sooner? Oh my gosh. I wish I'd been braver to take on something bigger for myself. So I completely concur and appreciate your wise thoughts on that. Maybe we could turn the table again a little bit back towards more of this kidney care focus of your work today, and just perhaps comment a little bit more on. 


The research that suggests women are more at risk for kidney disease than men. And, you know, what are some of the unique and different problems that they may face and [00:26:30] how health, how technology can maybe enable healthcare to better serve women in this unique they're unique needs. 

Lisa Rometty: Yeah, no, it's a great question. 


And it's, it's definitely true. Women are at slightly more risk. Of chronic kidney disease than men. And you know, what I would say in general is, and I alluded to it earlier is one a to me, the biggest travesties is, is most of those women won't even know that they have the disease and neither will the men, [00:27:00] by the way. 


I mean, it's just in general for me. I think the biggest thing that we are trying to address in our mission for my business is one bringing that awareness. Two men and women, and really helping them to understand how they can live their life in the best way possible while managing and proactively managing that disease. 


And I think technology [00:27:30] has front and center role in the past. A lot of care management, as an example has been either telephonic or just, you know, in the doctor's office, which of course we know that most people spend most of their time. At home at work in life, right. Not sitting in a doctor's office. So the connectivity that, you know, virtual and digital tools today can provide to people is immense when it comes to chronic kidney disease or many other chronic diseases for [00:28:00] that matter. 

And I would also say that one of the other things that we are really trying to lean into is, you know, the health equity. Piece that you referenced earlier as well. COVID has really amplified the digital divide death. There are many underserved populations that do not have access to, you know, iPhones or iPads. 

So think about it, you know, during the pandemic, when people couldn't go into the doctor's office, these people had nothing. And so I can tell [00:28:30] you that I am personally passionate to eradicate this disparity, and I think technology. And how we can think about creatively deploying that technology is going to be the answer. 


As an example, you know, there is a CVS pharmacy within a couple of miles of every American. And one of the is that we are thinking about is, is how can we help provide access to primary care in side of our [00:29:00] CVS? Facilities and inside of our health hubs. So hopefully too, as women have busy schedules, they could use that if they don't have wifi. 


And I'm very proud that we are, um, trying to plow the way in addressing challenges like this. 


Meg Escobosa: It's awesome. Really, to try something new, to experiment, to get more, create more access. The fact that you guys are in every neighborhood. It's such an asset to address that need and make people it's walkable. 


There is no bus fare. [00:29:30] It's incredible. So I wish you the best with that endeavor. That's an exciting vision and opportunity. 


Lisa Rometty: Well, thank you. 


Meg Escobosa: What is the next big problem that you'd like to tackle? In your career, or I guess this one that you're currently working on is pretty big in ambition that you've got. 


Lisa Rometty: Yeah. You read my mind. I, if my boss is listening, he might say to you, she's got to finish the one that she's working on first, but, um, [00:30:00] you know, in all seriousness, I mean, I, um, here's what I would answer. Cause I think what I'm doing in kidney is in service of this. But you know, for me, especially given the. 


Phenomenal global experience that I've had. I have visited countries with very mature health systems and very immature health systems. When I went to countries like India and other places where the basic human right of [00:30:30] just. Healthcare is not prevalent. It used to really make me frustrated and sad and motivated, right. 


To try to help these people. But as I've now see beings back at CVS, when I joined CVS being back more in a domestic only role, I've been really diving in, as I've mentioned into what's happening in this country. And the reality is, is that we have some segments of the population that have equally. 


Difficult access to good care. [00:31:00] And so I would say to you that I'm on my, my next journey and my journey is in this country, I want to have every American to have access to care in the home. I think that that is, you know, what people want. They, you know, I know that Mayo just published, um, some information that said that I think it was something like 75% of their Medicare. 


Want to age in place and they don't want to be in a nursing home. They [00:31:30] want to be close to their families and we can't make that happen today as a country. So my team and I are relentlessly focused on how can we realize that? And that takes understanding of the disease. Like we talked about understanding. 


Um, in access to information, it, it means providing the right infrastructure in the home. So if someone chooses home that they have a device that is uniquely designed, like what we [00:32:00] are creating for dialysis, it means having virtual care like CVS is creating, which some of my colleagues are, are creating and it's going to be phenomenal. 


And it really means having a community. Presence, because again, home means different things to different people and some people, by the way, don't even really have a traditional home. So we need to provide access points to them, which is why, you know, you may have heard that our CEO, Karen [00:32:30] is talking a lot about our community presence with our pharmacies and our. 


Next generation of clinics. And so that's the passion today, Meg. So I appreciate you asking .


Meg Escobosa: Here, here, honestly, I appreciate you also just pointing out, you know, the challenges we have here at home and even the issue of people don't even have a home, you know, that is an audience that needs help and needs access and just your awareness and thinking about that. 

So, um, can [00:33:00] you speak a little bit more about some of these, your efforts or ideas around. Increasing diversity equity and inclusion either in the leadership in healthcare or in creating more access.


Lisa Rometty: Yes. That could be a whole other podcast, Meg, cause I know on and on about that, but I'll um, I'll, I'll, I'll try to be as brief and control my passion to the best of my ability. 


You know, so I'll, I'll keep going on the, on the, on the healthcare disparity comment, [00:33:30] you know, I, um, I recently had the pleasure of talking to the CEO. City block and many other companies who are thinking about health equity. And here's what I would say. I think the themes, as I talked to folks like her and others is we have to meet people where they are. 


And we really have to understand not only the clinical aspect of a person, because of course that's a very small portion of what a person really is. [00:34:00] We have to understand really the social. Determinants of a person's health, whether it's like I've mentioned their access to wifi, do they have transportation? 

Do they have food shelter? What their personal situation? Do they have a job? I think that when we, as healthcare leaders, which by the way, I think that more people are talking about health equity today than I have ever heard in 30 years. So I am very hopeful, but, um, we have to think about healthcare going forward [00:34:30] is not only the clinical aspect of someone, but really the social and personal side of them and really tailor care plans to. 


That person. I think the personalization of care is really how we're going to democratize access to care. As far as diversity in, in healthcare leadership, you know, that's another passion of mine. And, you know, I would just say that we as leaders just have to make a personal decision to understand that it is our [00:35:00] responsibility. 


You know, a great example is I, um, I have phenomenal leaders of my team and one of my leaders came to me and said, you know, Lisa, we need to really rethink. What the in home technic technicians look like when we start to install our medical devices, but healthcare is about trust. And we need to make sure that again, we have diversity on our teams because our patients are diverse and they have different experiences and different needs. 


And so [00:35:30] I think we as healthcare leaders, again, I go back to, if we really think about the people that we say that we serve. We need to infuse that thinking and everything that we do, including the people that we hire, the products that we design and the programs that we set up for our patients. 


Meg Escobosa: Terrific. 

I've heard that expression a lot: You can't be what you can't see. And so the customer relating to the service provider is really, really important. So I appreciate that we have three final [00:36:00] questions that we're asking all of our guests to respond to. What does innovation mean to you?


Lisa Rometty: You know, innovation means to me actually, imagining what you think is not possible and having the courage to follow through, um, whatever it is that you imagine. 


Meg Escobosa: Nice. Um, what is one of the most exciting innovations in the healthcare industry, from your perspective? 


Lisa Rometty: What I am really excited about and IBM opened my [00:36:30] eyes to this and CVS is helping me realize now my passion, but I think one of the best innovations right now that is happening is the liberation of insights by liberating data. 


And, you know, the. Kinds of analytics and AI that are coming and incubating are going to, I really believe changed the face of healthcare change, access to healthcare and be able to change [00:37:00] the health profile of people. I think that is also going to contribute to personalized care. And I really think that that is the answer. 


And when you look at where, as an example, the genomics interesting industry is going. Population genomics. And we're a therapeutics are going with the intersection of pharma and device and what data is actually being able to eliminate. So, and I [00:37:30] frankly think that the pace of innovation for these kinds of analytics and these kinds of innovations, particularly genomics is going to. 


Outpaced what's what's going to happen in the next 10 years is going to outpace by far what happened the last 10 years. It's, uh, it's really quite an exciting time. Yeah. 


Meg Escobosa: You're creating a lot of hope and that's wonderful. What do you believe are the most essential ingredients to healthcare innovation?


Lisa Rometty: Well, I, I do think it's collaboration first and foremost, [00:38:00] because like I said before, our healthcare system is in silos. Data is in silos. The workflow is in silos. How we talk to patients are in silos. So how we treat the patient is in silos. I mean, I can go on and on. So we have to collaborate. We have to break down silos. 


I think that's first and foremost, I think, secondly, we have to have the courage to imagine and innovate. Like you mentioned, I get frustrated because a lot of people [00:38:30] in health. Are hesitant to change. And as I mentioned earlier, there is some good reason to not just jump in and start changing things. But we also can't use that as an excuse. 


So I want to challenge all of us that I think anything can be done with enough energy and investment and courage. And I guess that would be the last ingredient I think we all have to have is. We have to have courage. Um, I think to trust in ourselves, trust [00:39:00] in technology and trust in patients being able to adopt. 


Especially the elderly. I just want to plug that I've had more people recently try to convince me that the elderly can't embrace technology and healthcare. And I reject that. I think technology today is, uh, designed for my 23 year old son. I don't think it's designed for my seven. Eight year old father. 

And so I would encourage all of us to think about that, but I think we have to give our aging population [00:39:30] more credit. 


Meg Escobosa: Good for you for pointing that out. Cause it's true. When, when you put a designer to think about that audience, of course they will design something that, that the older age group can use effectively. 


It's that's a sign of good. That's history work we have to do so. Thank you. That's wonderful. Well, uh, Lisa, we're just privileged to get this chance to chat with you and learn all about the work you're doing and your experience. Thank you for carving out time to be part of the game, changing women [00:40:00] of healthcare. 


Lisa Rometty: Well, thank you so much for having me. Thank you, CVS for sponsoring me and I, um, I just want to say to anyone listening, just good luck in your journey and, um, thank you again.


Meg Escobosa: And thank you to our listeners for joining us today. If you enjoy our show, please consider leaving a rating and review wherever you listen. 


It helps us reach new listeners. And if you know other folks who might enjoy it, please spread the word. To find out more about the Krinsky company, check out our website. [00:40:30] See you next time.


John Parsons (ANNCR): Thank you for listening to The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare. This podcast was produced, engineered, edited, and scored by Calvin Marty. Please take a moment to subscribe via your favorite streaming service. [00:41:00] The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a production of the Krinsky Company, a growth strategy and healthcare innovation consultancy. 

Visit us on the web at: www.thekrinskyco.com.