Health Technology Company

Nuance reimagines patient care with AI-powered solutions for physicians, radiologists, and hospitals to interact better with their patients.

They offer medical documentation solutions that enhance quality of care and the patient experience, increase provider efficiency and satisfaction, and improve financial outcomes. The Dragon Ambient eXperience (Nuance DAX), an ambient clinical intelligence solution that documents patient encounters accurately and efficiently at the point of care, has already been instrumental in reducing physician workload.

Healthy Health Systems

Under the leadership of Senior Vice President Dr. Eric Wei, NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health system in the United States, established the peer-support program “Helping Healers Heal” in 2018. Since that time, the program has had over 34,000 wellness encounters, and most recently, has been instrumental in supporting staff during the peak of the COVID-19 surge in NYC.

Nurse Leader of the Year

Lindsay Huse, MPH, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC, is passionate about finding new ways to give public health nurses the tools and resources they need to take care of our communities. In her work as Public Health Nursing State Supervisor at the Wyoming Department of Health, Dr. Huse empowers public health nurses to prevent illness and injury and improve overall health, particularly in communities that struggle with healthcare access and equity.

Board Choice

Ayman Mukerji Househam, MS MSW is an innovator and a healer. In 2000, to cope with the stress of a traumatic personal experience, she started meditating. Things started changing for her - she found she was generally happier and less stressed out. Her career on Wall Street also flourished. She became the youngest Managing Director of the company.

Househam is the founder of Jivika, a program which teaches mindfulness-based micro-habit programs for frontline caregivers (i.e., residents, faculty, students, physicians, nurses, therapists, administrative staff, etc.) at more than 25 hospitals. Her goal is to offer these dedicated providers stress management techniques without the time commitment of meditation.

Health Equity Leader

Sachin Jain, MD, MBA is a pioneer of living the values of equity and inclusivity. He leads SCAN Health Plan as the CEO, and focuses on Diversity and Equity. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a contributor for Forbes Magazine.

Dr. Jain has demonstrably been a leader in health equity, both by sharing his personal experiences as a minority working in medicine, and by making business plans with a focus on ensuring better patient and leadership equity. In 2021, Scan Health plan also launched Healthcare in Action to provide charity care for patients experiencing homelessness.

Jain also led efforts in improving medication disparities, and SCAN has tied executive compensation to reducing those disparities.

Innovator

Rush University System for Health (RUSH) and Leidos’ team-developed emergency department command center application offers real-time patient flow mapping and logic-based recommendations. These functions will enable lean process improvement and support improved patient outcomes.

Paul Casey, MD, Chief Medical Officer of RUSH, worked with Leidos to improve operations, using technology advancements first utilized in Leidos’ decades-long support of military command centers. Their new ER command center is an application that reduces bottlenecks, improves decision-making, and treats patients in a more timely fashion.

Mental Health Advocate

Jack Turban, MD, MHS, is a chief fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he researches the mental health of transgender youth. His research has been cited in the United Nations Independent Expert Report on Conversion Therapy, as well as in legislative debates and court cases regarding the mental health of transgender youth around the country and internationally. He is also a frequent op-ed writer with pieces in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other major publications.

Dr. Turban’s work is aimed at increasing the public’s understanding of LGBTQ youth. He is active on Twitter (@jack_turban), where he works to combat misinformation about child and adolescent mental health, while increasing public knowledge about how to support the mental health of young people.

Physician Wellbeing Leader

Bridget Duffy, MD, has been disrupting the status quo in healthcare for more than 25 years as a physician in the trenches, the nation’s first healthcare chief experience officer, a San Francisco business owner, and a chief medical officer of a Silicon Valley technology company. Throughout her unique and distinguished career, Dr. Duffy has been unrelenting in her mission to bring awareness about burnout among clinicians, find solutions for this growing epidemic, and humanize the healthcare experience for all.

In early 2021, after witnessing nurses, physicians, and other colleagues and frontline healthcare workers suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Duffy co-founded the CEO Coalition. She inspired 10 health system CEOs across the country to work together to tackle the burnout epidemic, sparking a national movement, and driving new policies that promote the physical safety, emotional wellbeing, and just treatment of all who work in healthcare

Media Leadership

Jessica “Jessi” Gold, MD, MS, consistently bridges the gap with popular and academic writing, and makes mental health simple to understand. She received many nominations, and was our 2020 winner for her advocacy work. This year her article “I'm A Psychiatrist Who Treats Health Workers. A Year Into The Pandemic, We're All Suffering From Burnout” provided powerful insight into how COVID-19 has impacted the mental health of all healthcare workers.

Dr. Gold is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, specializing in college mental health, medical education, and physician wellness. She writes regularly for the popular press about mental health, stigma, and medical training.

Creating a Legacy

2021 was a year full of need, and change. The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation is creating a community of support for Clinicians and their Families.

“The Foundation’s mission is to reduce burnout of health care professionals and safeguard their well-being and job satisfaction. We envision a world where seeking mental health services is universally viewed as a sign of strength for health care professionals”

Not only did they introduce legislation, they passed the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act. #LornaBreenLaw

This category was new this year. It is important to recognize the huge changes being made to improve mental health.

Health Tech Company 2021 Semifinalists

Healthcare technology doesn’t always bring joy—but these ones do. These technology companies were nominated by physicians for making their lives, and their work, that much easier. All of these companies contribute to improving technology.