Ascension’s Amar Vira, MD, FACEP on Creating a More Efficient Patient Experience with Ultrasound

In the first episode of the Healthcare Disruptors podcast, Ohad speaks with Amar Vira, MD, FACEP, Director of Ultrasound Education, Emergency Medicine Residency Program, at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, and Medical Director at Ascension. They discuss how Amar was drawn to the different skillsets and facets of emergency medicine, and how he sees ultrasound as a way to improve the patient experience with quick diagnosis — not "just another step." They also talk about how ultrasound learning hurdles are lowering with its introduction in med school, how medical technology needs to serve multiple purposes, and why healthcare needs to add value, not drive up costs.

 

Topics discussed:

• How Amar got into emergency medicine, how he's shaping the future of healthcare through education, and how he's expanded into the administrative space.
• Why ultrasound shouldn't be seen as "just another step" but as a way to improve the patient experience.
• How the barriers to learning ultrasound are decreasing with its introduction in med school.
• How healthcare is challenged by increasing costs and why new technologies have to serve multiple purposes to justify usage.
• How AI has the potential to make workflows more efficient.
• When it comes to billing, how healthcare professionals should think about adding value, not driving up costs.
• What healthcare can do to catalyze change, and why it involves more care at the bedside.