We found this interesting video titled “Physician to Entrepreneur, An Evolutionary Journal” about Thomas Tsang, MD, CEO of Valera Health, on the InternetCoast website Startup Health Video Series.
In the interview, Dr. Thomas Tsang, CEO and co-founder of Valera Health, talks about his life-transforming work going from a practicing internist to writing legislation for the Affordable Care Act, his decision to become an entrepreneur and the camaraderie found as a Healthcare Transformer.
Topics covered during the interview:
Writing Policy Legislation; A Life-Transforming Opportunity
The Decision to Become an Entrepreneur
Educating, Convincing and Selling: The Early Adopters
Here are a few highlights from the interview:
- [01:34] Dr. Tsang: I went from practicing medicine where I ran a residency program, ran a public clinic for immigrants and the uninsured here right here in Chinatown. Then I ended up working for the Ways and Means Committee as a congressional staffer working on the Affordable Care Act and HIGHTECH Act. After that was signed by the President I got recruited by the administration to be medical director for the agency that basically rolled out the standards for how health information technology should be used by doctors and hospitals.
The Decision to Become an Entrepreneur - [05:58] Dr. Tsang: When I was working at Merck I did a lot of work with the organization that invested. — GHI invested in digital innovations — and being in that space and advising and identifying the assets and in understanding the value that they bring to the table. That was when I thought, well maybe I can do this myself.
- [06:41] Dr. Tsang: Having gone through understanding technology and payment reform and delivery system redesign I was thinking about one area of focus that needed a lot of change and that was mental health and behavior health. That was one area that no one was touching but yet we have huge unmet needs.
InternetCoast was founded in 1999 as a non-partisan, not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Their mission
is “to cultivate innovation communities and networks – to bring together innovators, public sector, private sector, academia, and non-profits to stimulate collaboration and ignite innovation.” Their strategy is “to foster an environment where ideas and technologies may be grown to achieve their full potential.”
To see the entire interview and learn more about InternetCoast, please visit their website.
