At Seed Healthcare, we’re committed to partnering with visionary leaders who are transforming patient care. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Rajiv Poduval to our Advisory Board!

As Co-Founder and CEO of Panoramic Health, and former President of Southwest Kidney Institute (SKI) and Founding CEO of Global Nephrology Solutions (GNS), Dr. Poduval has been at the forefront of expanding access, improving care coordination, and driving innovation in value-based kidney care.

In this Q&A, Dr. Poduval shares his insights on the future of nephrology, the evolving role of physicians in value-based care, and why he’s excited to join Seed Healthcare.

As the Co-Founder and CEO of Panoramic Health, you are dedicated to transforming care delivery by expanding patient access and creating value for physicians. What inspired you to take on this mission, and how has it shaped your leadership?

Over the course of my decades-long career as a Nephrologist, I have had the privilege and honor to work with several amazing providers caring for the most vulnerable patients.

Without access to robust data-analytics, and resources to support innovation, a lot of our time was spent on caring for patients with advanced kidney disease, where treatment options were mostly limited to management of complications, and ultimately, renal replacement therapy.

We recognized the growing need to focus on patients with early-stage disease where timely intervention could alter disease course and outcomes. For this, we had to invest in technology and talent, to make therapeutic innovation more accessible and available to patients. Panoramic Health was launched to help make this a reality. Our goal is to deliver the ‘future of kidney care’ today.

 

During your tenure as President of Southwest Kidney Institute (SKI), you oversaw significant growth and diversification of the organization. What were some of the key strategies you implemented to achieve this transformation? And with Global Nephrology Solutions and beyond?

I took over as SKI President soon after the Affordable Care Act was enacted. The focus shifted to integrated health care, and my conversations with Payors, Healthcare Systems and ACOs made it abundantly clear that the need of the hour was a population health solution that would address the needs of a growing group of high-risk, high-case patients.

To meet that need we had to think big, and act smart. We expanded our geographic footprint, diversified our service offerings, and invested in data-centric care models. We launched the Renal Care Organization (RCO), a national platform to bring together like-minded nephrologists from across the country, with the goal of building a  fully integrated, national Nephrology platform. Through all of this, we remained true to our mission of improving outcomes for patients, by slowing disease progression, and improving quality of life.

GNS was launched in January 2017 as the nation’s first fully integrated Nephrology platform. Through GNS we built a synergistic ecosystem to enhance and improve care delivery, thereby taking our first meaningful steps towards value-based care. We continued to invest in strategic, scalable growth initiatives. We remained committed to keeping Nephrologists independent, relevant, and at the center of care delivery. GNS was the first definitive step towards Panoramic Health!

 

Your dedication to teaching has earned you faculty appointments at prestigious institutions like the University of Arizona and Creighton University. How has your experience as an educator influenced your approach to leadership and innovation?

Teaching requires clarity of thought and expression, and an ability to distil complex topics to simple relatable concepts that resonate with our class/audience. It is the same intellectual curiosity and relatability I bring to my peers and my patients. Most importantly it has made me a better listener and a life-long student.

 

Throughout your career, you’ve taken on leadership roles in various organizations, contributing to policy and communication efforts. What have you learned from these roles about the intersection of clinical practice and advocacy?

The physician community does not have the means or resources to match the lobbying efforts of big organizations. We are so focused on providing exceptional clinical care, we seldom find time to engage in advocating for ourselves. We need to stand up for what is right for us and our patients. We need our voices to be heard. We cannot outsource advocacy, we need to be our advocates and make advocacy an integral part of our professional lives. ‘Be the change you want to see’….

 

As a physician with extensive leadership experience, how do you view the implementation of innovative technologies in healthcare from the provider’s perspective? What do you believe are the key factors for success in ensuring that these innovations benefit patients and providers?

We launched our data analytics arm over a decade ago. Today it is the nerve center that drives innovation at Panoramic Health. As healthcare shifts from Population Health to Precision Medicine, it is important to recognize the heterogeneity of the populations we serve. A fully integrated data set that overlays biological data over clinical and laboratory data will be the key to unlocking therapeutic innovations that are uniquely suited to each individual patient. In the same light, proper risk-stratification of patients will optimize the use of our providers’ time, making practice operations more efficient and focused. Finally, data gives us an opportunity to measure the quality of care we provide.

 

The mission of Seed Healthcare, with its focus on disruptive healthcare technologies and early disease detection, aligns with your dedication to transforming care delivery. What excites you most about being part of this mission?

I see several similarities between Seed Healthcare and Panoramic. I am drawn towards mission-based organizations that have both the audacity to dream big, and the humility to understand that disruptive, transformative change takes time, and is a team sport. I am excited about the impact we can have on healthcare, but most importantly, on people’s lives. Let our legacy not be defined by the opportunities in front of us, but by what we make of them!