TDP 201: Fairview Health Service’s Dr. Sameer Badlani: Creating New Platforms for Healthcare Delivery, Bringing Retail-Quality Experiences to Healthcare, and Proven Frameworks for Evaluating Tech Value

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On this episode of The Digital Patient, Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO of SeamlessMD, and colleague, Alan Sardana, chat with Dr. Sameer Badlani, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Digital Officer at Fairview Health Services, about "Creating New Platforms for Healthcare Delivery, Bringing Retail-Quality Consumer Experiences to Healthcare, Proven Frameworks for Evaluating Tech Value, and more..." Click the play button to listen or read the show notes below.
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Audio:

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Guest(s):

• Dr. Sameer Badlani, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Digital Officer at Fairview Health Services
• Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 201 - Show Notes:

[00:00:07] Episode preview

[00:05:24] How childhood hospital visits in New Delhi inspired Dr. Badlani’s early fascination with healthcare.

[00:07:20] Realizing the potential of technology after manually managing lab results and missing a medication toxicity case.

[00:08:46] Discovering biomedical informatics at the University of Utah and joining one of the earliest CPOE development teams.

[00:10:10] Transitioning from academia to becoming the first CMIO at the University of Chicago as the U.S. digitization wave began.

[00:12:28] How being “extremely practical” shapes his philosophy of frugal innovation and focus on real patient and provider outcomes.

[00:13:22] Introducing his five-part framework for technology value: trust, quality, engagement, cost reduction, and new revenue streams.

[00:18:30] How Fairview’s specialty pharmacy and lab businesses became diversified revenue platforms reinvested into care.

[00:20:23] Exploring retail-inspired healthcare delivery in physical therapy, imaging, and perimenopausal health to improve access and experience.

[00:23:40] Why digital care is not a full replacement for in-person care—and how hybrid models mirror airline check-in flexibility.

[00:26:58] The importance of learning from consumer industries and partnering with experts to design healthcare experiences people want.

[00:28:33] Preparing Fairview for a future where patient education shifts from written materials to short-form video and social media.

[00:31:01] Teaching the next generation to use AI for repetitive tasks—“knowledge workers must learn to work with AI to stay relevant.”

[00:32:55] Transforming a closed hospital into a community health hub addressing food access, vaccinations, and social determinants of health.

[00:36:39] What separates great from good digital health leaders: obsessing over the problem, not the solution.

[00:39:46] Lessons from surveying parents of pediatric patients—convenience and coordinated care matter more than flashy digital apps.

[00:43:59] Launching “Q-Rounds,” an app that predicts rounding times so families can plan their day and join virtually.

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Fast 5 Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das
2. If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?
   "How not to procrastinate"
3. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   "Some variation of super speed—so I could get things done quickly and read or sleep for the rest of the day."
4. What is something in healthcare you believe that others might find insane?
   “How much of healthcare is built around waiting"
5. What is the last movie or TV show you saw?
   “The Diplomat”

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