Episode Four - Oscar Boldt-Christmas
In the fourth episode of the Unprescribed podcast, hosted by Jacob Haddad, Accurx CEO, we welcome Oscar Boldt-Christmas, Co-founder of Tandem Health, Europe’s largest AI-scribe and close partner to Accurx. Before founding Tandem Health, Oscar spent twenty years with McKinsey and Company leading the European Healthcare practice.
In this episode, Jacob and Oscar discuss Oscar’s insights from his 20+ year career in healthcare, his perspectives on the NHS versus the Swedish health system, the huge potential of AI in improving staff productivity and patient care, and the challenges of spreading innovation in healthcare.
Oscar’s path to leadership: from McKinsey to Tandem Health
Born in Sweden, Oscar had always planned to become a doctor. However, he ended up pursuing a (brief) career in engineering and founding a company that trades meat online, after deciding to focus purely on his passion of healthcare, spending twenty years at McKinsey. Oscar shares his most impactful projects with Jacob, as well as his leadership lessons, underscoring the importance of courage and action-oriented leadership whilst having the confidence to be vulnerable.
Compare and contrast: NHS vs. the Swedish health system
Jacob and Oscar discuss the similarities and differences between the NHS with Sweden's healthcare model. Oscar highlights the structural differences, emphasising Sweden's larger element of publicly funded private healthcare provision, with a small copay system for vulnerable patients. Oscar notes Sweden's advantage due to a healthier population and lower healthcare staff salaries, which often skew comparative assessments of system efficiency.
The role of AI in healthcare
Naturally, a significant portion of the discussion focuses on the potential of AI in healthcare. Oscar speaks passionately about AI's ability to drive productivity improvements, enhance patient outcomes, and make the working environments of healthcare staff better. He stresses the importance of implementing tech that delivers immediate value and is user-friendly, emphasising AI's applicability across specialties and its potential to alleviate staff shortages and improve early diagnosis and detection.
Challenges in spreading innovation
A topic that often emerges on this podcast, Jacob and Oscar reflect on the historic challenge of spreading innovation within health systems. They discuss the systemic issues such as the inertia of established practices, the need for scalable solutions that offer clear benefits, and the importance of involving end-users, i.e., healthcare professionals, in tech adoption and scaling. Oscar states that AI, with its multifaceted benefits, presents a unique opportunity for systems like the NHS to break this cycle, leveraging the tech to efficiently shift tasks and reduce unnecessary interventions.
Vision for the future
Jacob asks what Oscar’s priorities would be if he were at the helm of the NHS today. Oscar states he would prioritise integrating AI as a game-changing solution to boost productivity. Secondly he speaks about task shifting on the people and structural side, e.g. more asynchronous care delivery, how to shift where care is delivered from acute to community and refining the skill mix within the workforce. Finally he discusses improving service delivery by taking a serious look at how care is paid for and how costs are internalised, as well as fostering more partnerships with the private sector.