Startup Physicians

Startups, Strategy, and Serendipity: Navigating Healthcare Innovation with Dr. Paige Bhansali

• Alison Curfman, M.D. • Season 1 • Episode 7

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What if you could break out of the traditional physician career path and create a role that blends clinical care with entrepreneurship and innovation? In this episode, I sit down with my friend and colleague, Dr. Paige Bhansali, a pediatrician with an incredible journey through consulting, healthcare startups, and value-based care. Paige has carved out her own unique path in medicine—balancing residency, an MBA, and a startup career—all while maintaining her passion for improving pediatric healthcare.

Dr. Paige Bhansali is the Head of Clinical Strategy and Operations at Playground Pediatrics, a fast-growing value-based pediatric practice focused on delivering the highest quality of care for children. She is a practicing pediatrician and Assistant Professor at Lurie Children’s in Chicago. Prior to medical school, she started her career in strategy consulting at the Boston Consulting Group where she worked with providers transitioning to value-based reimbursement models. She’s had the privilege to work for several value-based care organizations focused on underserved populations including the Commonwealth Care Alliance, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and Imagine Pediatrics. She has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University, medical degree from the University of Michigan, and a master of business administration from Harvard Business School. 

 

Episode Highlights:

[0:45] - Welcome to the episode! Meet Dr. Paige Bhansali and hear about her unique background in healthcare startups.

[1:39] - From childhood inspiration to pediatrics—Paige’s journey into medicine and her early exposure to healthcare.

[5:50] - How Paige took an unconventional approach during her medical training to explore startup opportunities.

[9:00] - The power of saying yes—how she turned the pandemic into an opportunity for professional growth.

[12:27] - The serendipity of networking: how one connection led Paige to her work with Imagine Pediatrics.

[14:31] - Using clinical expertise to shape early-stage startups—Paige’s role in analyzing claims data and building innovative care models.

[19:32] - Why physicians' skills in critical thinking, research, and data analysis are invaluable to healthcare companies.

[24:53] - How Paige balanced residency, an MBA, startup work, and becoming a new parent—and what she learned along the way.

[26:14] - Do you need an MBA to break into healthcare startups? Paige shares her thoughts on building business skills in different ways.

[28:27] - Exploring alternative career paths: how physicians can contribute to startups while still practicing medicine.

[30:23] - What’s next? Paige shares her current work at Playground Pediatrics and her mission to transform pediatric value-based care.

 

Resources:

📌 Connect with Dr. Paige Bhansali on LinkedIn

📌 Checkout our services at StartupPhysicians.com

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, rate, and leave a review. Don’t forget to share this episode with fellow physicians who might be interested in startups. Together, we can shape the future of healthcare! See you next time.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

There's a way that we're able to think around how you critically appraise either a study or an analysis or a clinical model. You know, as part of your medical training, you're taught to look at sample sizes and you know statistical significance, and we can bring that knowledge and expertise and look at a study that potentially an organization is looking to scale, and say, either, yes, that was an amazing study and that makes a ton of sense, or you can say, ah, actually, I think that this study was flawed for this reason. I think there's a lot of critical thinking and data analytical skills that that physicians can also bring,

Alison Curfman:

Welcome to StartUp physicians. Please Like and follow our show to join our community of physicians who are re imagining healthcare delivery. Hi everyone, and welcome back to startup physicians. I'm your host, Dr Allison kirchman, and I'm so excited to be joined today by my friend and colleague, Dr Paige. Pensali. Paige has such an interesting background, and has even early in her career, taken so many steps to work with startups and has made such an impact already. I am really excited to have you on the show today. Paige, thanks for coming. Thanks for having me, Allison, so can you share with us a little bit about your journey and how you got started in startups. And I know even all the way back to your training days you were you were already exploring ways to contribute to industry. And I would love to have you just share a little bit about your journey so far,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

of course. So to me, my journey starts in childhood. I went to an elementary school. It was a City Public School in Minneapolis that was initially designed for kids with disabilities. And my mom was a school nurse, not at our school, but she would sub at the at the school sometimes, and so I just had a lot of exposure to children with different backgrounds and different abilities, and just felt very passionate about children and pediatrics generally, which made it a very natural kind of transition into pediatrics as as an adult, and I'm a practicing pediatrician, just like you. So in terms of of my journey into into the startup world, before I went to medical school, I had the opportunity to work at the Boston Consulting Group where I was working with healthcare clients, specifically providers who were transitioning to Value Based Payment Models, where you really try to value the outcomes of patients and the quality of care that's being delivered, versus reimbursing physicians for each service that they provide on an individual basis. And I saw a lot of interesting work being done in the adult space. And I was really intrigued by that, and was interested in, how can you apply these concepts to pediatrics? How can you reimburse, and you know, value pediatricians for the work that they do, for the contributions that they provide our society. And so I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to pursue those concepts I really enjoyed at BCG, you know, working at a systems level, and I wanted to spend a little bit more time, you know, on individual problems. And so when I went into medical school, started doing research in the value based care space, and sort of felt like I kind of swung the pendulum from working at a very macro level, how you can apply these concepts to society, to a very tactical level of solving an individual problem and really trying to get the assumptions right. And then I kind of found this sweet spot in the middle where, if you work at a individual company, such as a startup, you can actually take, you know, the results of those studies and bring them to life and see how you can scale them in a financially sustainable way. And so throughout my training, I kind of worked at a few different types of organizations, trying to figure out what that sweet spot was. Do I want to work at inside the government? Did I want to work at a startup? Did I want to work for a health insurance organization? And really fell in love with the startup world, one because of the pace with which you can create change. Startups move fast, and you can, you know, design a model and and see it in action in a very short time horizon. And the other thing that I really liked about startups was the opportunity to innovate the OP. To do something different, and sort of that vision of, you know, a grander world that that we can create, and being a part of making that vision a reality. Yeah, that

Alison Curfman:

resonates so much with me, and I know that you and I have both talked a lot about all of these things that people have innovated and created in adults, and how we can bring that to the pediatric population. And just so much opportunity, you're already on a very different path than most doctors, even before you even got to medical school. So I think that little foray into BCG was an incredible opportunity for you. And then I know you did some other things even during your training that actually blew my mind. I was like, I didn't know you could do anything else during training. Do you want to talk a little bit about some of those opportunities you had while you were training?

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Yeah, definitely the type of person who you know, if you're given a path, I'm kind of like, I'm gonna figure out a way to do it my way. And so yeah, and

Alison Curfman:

most people should know that. I sometimes wonder if Paige is like a robot or a cyborg, because sometimes she's doing like so many things at once. I'm like, Do you Do you sleep? But she swears she does. So don't be intimidated if she tells you all the things she did during her residency. And you think I just, I just did residency, during residency, but tell us a little bit about those opportunities.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Well, I hope what I want the takeaway to be is that you know, you can create your own path. Whatever you know, if you think that you're you know, have to do things a specific way. You know, sometimes there's a little bit more flexibility than meets the eye. And so I hope

Alison Curfman:

that it's a very startup way to talk

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

maybe. And maybe that's why I found myself in startups. But yeah, I kind of what I what I love about medicine is that it is, you know, you always have job security. You know, you you're going to training for whatever your specialty is, and at the end of the day, that is, you know, both a knowledge set that you will carry with you for the rest of your life, but also, you know, a job that you can fall back on that a lot of other people don't necessarily have the privilege of. And so what that affords you, you can try out different types of opportunities, be it part time, be it full time, and really kind of find what your sweet spot is in terms of how you want to create value for society. So that was sort of my approach, was during my electives, or even there was a period of time where I actually went, took my residency down to half time for my last year, and spread it over the course of two years, so that way I could create space to explore different types of opportunities, specifically in the startup world. And so I kind of just, you made your own path. I yeah, I made my own path. And I think that, you know, that's what's so great about medicine, is that that you can do that.

Alison Curfman:

I don't think people think that way. Often. I think they think I am a doctor, I have a job, I have a salary, my head is down, and I'm in this like silo of a system, and this is my option. I don't have a whole lot of options. So to hear you talking about how much freedom doctors actually have, because we can create opportunities for ourselves because we have a very, very marketable skill, both to startups, but also clinically like you, you will never not be able to get a job anywhere as a doctor like that would be very, very unusual. So I think that freedom mentality is one that sometimes has to be taught to people. Most people don't automatically feel that way.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Yeah, yeah. And I hope that you know through your podcast and through your course, that people can, you know, feel that inspiration to work outside of kind of the status quo, and feel that freedom to try things out and dabble in different types of opportunities.

Alison Curfman:

So what were some of those things you did during residency? So interestingly,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

right right before I went to residency was when the pandemic hit. You know, all my vacation plans that I had worked so hard for were canceled. I was sitting at home thinking, you know, I want to do something. I want to contribute to everything that's going on, and find a way to try and help make it better. And so I just started reaching out to people and trying to connect with organizations. And at that specific time, there was a lot of need for just people who are all hands on on deck for different types of initiatives. So I worked at a regional health plan that needed help figuring out how they were going to transition a lot of their care delivery model to be virtual and so helped them think through what that strategy looked like. How did you feel confident

Alison Curfman:

as a pediatric resident to be like, I'm going to go consult? Well, I guess you had a consulting background. That's That's what people. People don't have but they it's something that's so easily learned. It's not like, as hard as medical school, right? But you saw opportunities. You're like, you know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna do, do something. I'm gonna go help this big health plan, like, figure out how to convert to virtual

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Yeah. And I think too, you know those skills. You can teach them yourselves, or you can find a mentor, finding someone you know who has gone down that path, I think can provide people with a tangible view into you know, this is how I can build these skills. And so I've been very fortunate in the sense that I've always had really amazing people teaching me along the way. And sometimes those relationships, you know, happen naturally. You know, in medical school, you're assigned mentors. And sometimes those can, you know, you can create those relationships on on your own. You know, if you see someone who's doing something interesting, you can just reach out to them on LinkedIn, or, you know, find their their contact information online. Or, I think, you know, the way even we got connected. I had worked on a research project with a physician mentor of mine, and we reconnected, maybe, like, a year later, working clinically, and I told him I was interested in innovative care delivery models for pediatrics and how you can reimburse for that in a financially sustainable way. And he was like, Oh, I know this, this woman at this other hospital, because

Alison Curfman:

I also worked on a research project with the same research mentor.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

And he was like, do you want, you know, do you want to be introduced? And I was like, yeah. I mean it probably, probably nothing will come of that, and and then it turns out that you know that person was you, and that you were building this amazing company that is creating so much amazing impact today, and that was what spurred our relationship, and all the work that that we did together. And it was completely serendipitous.

Alison Curfman:

It was amazing. Paige was a very, very early advisor for imagine pediatrics when we were still incubating it and we were still at the private equity firm. And yes, my resource, someone I had written a paper with, reached out to me. Was like, Hey, I have this resident who's, like, interested in value based care, and she's has, like, really cool background, like, I know you're building a company. Do you want to talk to her? And I was blown away when I met you. I was like, okay, she's been a consultant. You worked at CMMI. You didn't talk about that. When did you work at CMMI?

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

I had a period during my first year where we had sort of a health equity block, where we had blocked off time to work on a project, and similar kind of story, you know, was just open to conversations with people at different organizations. I knew CMMI was working on their first pediatric model,

Alison Curfman:

and that's the Center for Medicaid and Medicare innovation. Yep, exactly. So government. You worked in government,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

yep, it was just sort of serendipitous, and all of those experiences sort of built on each other. Like, to your point, yes, I worked in consulting. I got a little bit of skills, but I wasn't there for a super long time. It was all the other projects that I worked on that helped continue to build that up to where I am today. And again, that all came back to serendipitous being open to conversations and then also being willing to be mentored, to be taught, to learn those skills through hands on experiences. Now

Alison Curfman:

i i say serendipity a lot too, because there's like, my career has been bizarre, and there's just been these things that popped up and it but you also create opportunities for yourself. So like, there's a element that's like, yes, this very fortunate connection happened, but it's also like these connections may be all around us, and certain ones of us may be more open to them and more more pursuing them. I do think there is some some luck in serendipity involved, but also a ton of like, creating your own pathway, which you're an amazing example of. And when we first started working to I met Paige, and I was like, Oh my God, I need her help, like, right now, because we were incubating, we only had three people at the company, and we had different skill sets, but Paige had a very, very unique skill set, and so one of the things that she and I worked on initially was working through claims data and creating a selection algorithm for the company. And it was such fun work. And I'm curious to know your perspective about like, how it felt to be working with such an early stage company, and what you liked about it, and kind of your thoughts on that time period.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Well, it was such a fun time. One just working with you and being with someone who, again, provided such awesome mentorship. But what I in addition to that, what I liked about that time was feeling the value that you can bring as a physician when you think about claims data. You can cut the data so many different ways. You can have health economist look at it, but it really requires a clinician to kind of. Bring that to life, and how you kind of cohort patients. So, for example, you know, we were talking about transplant patients, and do we include them in the model, or do we not include them in the model? And we had bucketed, you know, the health economist had bucketed all the transplant patients into one category, and you and I were able to sit there and say, Actually, different types of transplant patients would have different pathways. And so, you know, maybe there are certain types that do make sense to include in the model, and being able to provide that context, I think, is really invaluable to early stage companies. And

Alison Curfman:

I think any physician could tell you that the clinical outcome and pathway and Life after transplant. For a child with a corneal transplant is very different than a cardiac transplant. So those are the sorts of things that we as physicians, or we went through 10,000 ICD 10 codes on multiple times, and we're still doing that, but it was clinical knowledge, right? So I have had this conversation with doctors of multiple different specialties, and I've pretended like, Oh, if I'm a company that you know has a bunch of investment bankers and a bunch of like, economists, and I were to give you a list of ICD 10 codes in your specialty, could you tell me what they mean? And they're like, Well, yeah, like, yeah, I could tell you what a corneal transplant is like. Guess what? They they don't necessarily know those things. And so I think that's such a good example of using knowledge that we consider like common knowledge. As doctors, it is, it is not common knowledge. It is specialized knowledge. And I think what we created together, it became the core of the company. It became a very, very important part of how we deliver care to kids. And that was really fun time working together. And I, I really appreciated all of your perspective. And even as a physician with a similar clinical background to you, like we had different we, we came together and had very different perspectives on certain things, and sometimes it's the the melding of the minds that is really needed to create something amazing.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

I totally agree. And one other piece, you know, just thinking about what physicians can can add to organizations, it's the clinical context. And I also think there's a way that we're able to think kind of around how you critically appraise either a study or an analysis or a clinical model. You know, as part of your medical training, you're taught to look at sample sizes and you know statistical significance, and we can bring that knowledge and expertise and look at something, look at a study that potentially an organization is looking to scale, and say, either, yes, that was an amazing study, and that makes a ton of sense, or you can say, actually, you know, I think that this study was flawed for this reason, and I think there's a lot of critical thinking and data analytical skills that that physicians can also bring Absolutely

Alison Curfman:

you and I are both like, kind of research nerds. We met through our research mentor, and both of us have published a lot, and I think that that that is a huge skill, even if people are like, Oh, I'm academic, it's like, well, then you probably know a lot about research, and a lot of these companies are trying to prove something they have an idea, and then they have to make the idea make sense on paper and make sense on a written financial model business plan, and they have to have some proof of concept. And sometimes the proof of concept comes from like pulling in other studies and seeing what other like for us. A lot of what we looked at was like other models in adults, and which pieces of that actually could apply in kids and but, but you use that as supporting evidence. So like even doing literature reviews, you did a ton of lit reviews for us, and pulling concepts together the way you would for a research study, and then helping companies understand, okay, if you do get runway to do a pilot or a beta testing or some sort of phase one of your product or service, what are the most critical things to measure? Like, we had a whole metrics framework about like, what we needed to measure to be able to get the second contract. And I think that was incredibly valuable to an early company too, because we thought of a lot of clinical things that maybe wouldn't have been top of mind for people with a background in private equity, 100%

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

and I think too, particularly when you're working in a space that you know there isn't a ton of evidence, such as pediatrics, because it's been overlooked a lot in developing these types of innovative models, being able to say, you know, these are the proof points that that you would need, I think, is critical in order to build up that evidence. Yeah,

Alison Curfman:

and then we got a ton of traction. I'm pretty sure we tried to get you to quit, right? Residency, I can't remember, but we might have one thing that I've learned from you is about really fostering your network and your connections. You're you're like, one of the most connected people I've ever met. Every time I talk to you, you're like, oh, I should introduce you to so and so. And this is such a common practice in this world. It's like, it's very like, mutually uplifting, like, we have these connections that are like, they're just really valuable relationships. I value your unbelievable perspective on things I love to help you with things I love that you help me with things I don't think I've ever talked to you without you saying, like, Hey, let me introduce you to someone. And it's such a you know, positive part of working in this world.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Yeah, I totally agree. I think I personally just love getting to know people. Love learning, you know, their stories, what they're interested in, not that dissimilar to getting to know patients and understanding what their problems are, and thinking through, you know, how you can work together to solve them. And when I think about networking and connecting people, I often try to think about, you know, how can both of those people help each other? You know? So if I'm going to introduce you to someone, ideally, it's a situation where you would benefit from that introduction, and that other person would but would also benefit from that introduction. And I feel that paying it forward, because I've been so privileged to have people being so willing to introduce me to people, you know, as we already discussed, how I got introduced to you, that's how interesting. You know, things are built when, when people from different backgrounds, or, you know, trying to find someone who has the missing skill set that that you don't have. I think, I think it's super important. And most conversations don't go anywhere. But, you know, you learn something, and they do,

Alison Curfman:

you, you you create a connection. I mean, there's people that I have a call with just because you know someone like you had said, like, Hey, you guys should know each other. And then maybe I see them again at a conference, like, a year later, and it's like, oh, how are things going with what you're building? And maybe there's new need, and maybe there's new connection I can make for them. And it's funny, because it's like networking. It it makes you think of like going into a reception with a name tag and, like, right? Like, it feels like, when you call it networking, it's like, kind of feels like a, like a forced thing, but yeah, truly, it is all about knowing what you stand for and knowing what's important to you and knowing what your story is, and, like, just having a lot of connection with people. And that's what I teach doctors initially, is to figure out your story. Because everyone has their own set of expertise. They have their own background. Maybe you've done Qi, maybe you've done a lot of research, maybe you've built a small like I was, I built a small program at a non profit healthcare system. But we all have a story. We all have something that, like, gets us going. I recently gave a talk to some doctors, and I said, like, raise your hand if you can think of a problem in health care that affects your patients. Obviously, everyone raised their hand. I said, we'll raise your keep it up if you can think of any possible solution to that problem. And said, you're all thinking of a different problem, and you all have a perspective on how to change it, that, frankly, the industry probably does not have someone with your perspective working on this. And so I think that you know, like you said, with networking, and it's so much of it is so organic. It's about having your own story, knowing what motivates you, like you talked about being motivated by pediatrics and finding innovative ways to bring models that have been created for adults into the peds population. Very similar for me, but we all have a story, and I think that some people haven't even started at that point, and they're maybe caught in the idea that their story is that they're an overworked doctor at a hospital or a clinic forced to, you know, chart at night and produce all these rbus And I think it starts with creating your new your story. Yeah,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

100% creating your story and hearing other people's stories, I find that hearing the different stories of different paths that people have taken to be super inspiring, and helps me kind of contextualize my own story in the sense that I can draw parallels or see, oh, this person, you know, you had similar motivations to me, and this is what, what you did with those things that you were inspired by, is that something that I could Do, it kind of allows you to see just what the breadth of opportunities really are, and just allows you to think a little bit bigger than just kind of the one track mindset. Yeah, absolutely.

Alison Curfman:

So continuing to follow your career journey, you then entered a phase where I don't even know if I can say all. This. You were working you were we employed you at? Imagine pediatrics. You're finishing your residency. You were in the Harvard MBA program, and you had a baby, right? Did I get all that right? Like,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

yeah, yep. That was a busy time. That was a busy time for sure. Thankfully, the baby happened at the end of all of that, and

Alison Curfman:

he's adorable. He's the best part of this entire podcast. Yes,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

he is perfect. I love him so much. But yeah, that was, that was when I realized that over commitment is possible. But no, it

Alison Curfman:

takes a lot for Paige to feel over committed. So don't again. Don't feel intimidated by Paige, because she's like a cyborg, but she's an inspiring robot.

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

No, not, not at all. Um, it's, it's hard, because once you know, once you start seeking out those opportunities you know, and start saying yes to things, just that tends to fire hydrant into more opportunities. And then, and then it comes a time where you have to learn to start saying no, which is, which is really hard, especially when you know you're so excited about the things that that you're working on. But yes, that that was sort of a next phase of my career. Where do

Alison Curfman:

you think? Do you think people need an MBA to do this work? I

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

don't think so. You know, there's a lot of different ways that you can gain skills. So you can gain them through a specific program, like through an MBA, or through experience such as, you know, doing consulting or advising. You know, working at a specific consulting firm like BCG. You can take a class similar to yours, you can find mentors who can teach you. I think there's a lot of different ways that you can build skills, and it's really more about what fits into your life and your schedule and your career path that you wanted to take. For me, the MBA was great because it allowed me to slow down residency a little bit. You know, obviously residency can feel all consuming, and I wanted a little bit more space to work on this type of work and continue my work at imagine. And I also thought it would be a great way to build my network for the long run. And since I was training in Boston, I wanted to build up my network there, and it was a great opportunity, and I'm hopeful that will continue to be fruitful. But I think there's a lot of different ways that that you can build skills and build a network. For me, it was the right time and right opportunity, but it's not something that people have to do. Yeah,

Alison Curfman:

and I really try and encourage physicians, first off, with this podcast, hearing other people's stories, and I definitely am interviewing other physicians who are not as like full speed ahead in startups the way you are, there's others who maybe are mainly clinical practice, and then have done some advisory work, and have learned a lot about what to say yes to and what to say no to, because you don't want to put your name behind just any company. Like, we have to have a way to vet it. But there's so many opportunities. I mean, some people may have, like, limited belief that, like, oh, there's already someone doing that. Like, what do I have to offer? I want people to understand there's other pathways where you can be almost fully, like an academic or clinical physician and still be involved in a creative way a little bit. What do you think about that?

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Yeah, I think there's a lot of different ways that you can get involved, and I think that kind of goes back to our earlier conversation around the flexibility that being a physician affords, similar to how people approach a research career while being a physician. Do you want to be 80% research and 20% clinical? You know, what percent clinical Do you want to be like that? To me, that's kind of how I first think about that question is, what? What's the split for you? And for some people, that's, you know, all in on startups and, you know, more of the administrative and management side of healthcare, but for other people, it's more of just dabbling that they like, you know, maybe doing 80% clinical and just something that they do on the side. And so your role will look different depending on what breakdown you want to do, because we all only have so much time in the day. And so you know you can be if you're doing a more part time role, and might look like advising or doing consulting or doing a fractional role, and that can be perfect if, if that's what you want to do, especially if you want to continue to heavy clinical practice. And you could that can also change over time, which is, again, what I love about the flexibility of being a physician. You know, if it's a time in your life where practicing clinical medicine really fits well with your schedule, then then you can do that. But if an opportunity comes up that you're really excited about, you can dial down that. If. If you want. And so I think it, it really just depends on what a person wants to do. And you're in the driver's seat, you can decide exactly how you want to spend your time. And at the end of the day, you are a physician and have this skill set, and it's, it's a huge, huge privilege, absolutely.

Alison Curfman:

So tell me a little bit about what you're working on now. Yeah, so

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

I work at an organization called playground pediatrics, and we partner with independent practices that are interested in transitioning to value based care models, and so we bring them technology and services to help them improve their quality scores, as well as attempt to reduce the total cost of care for kids, in the sense that, you know, if we can provide better coordination, better access, that we can keep kids healthier and out of the hospital. And so it's really about creating an experience that is better for providers, better for patients, better for payers, and really kind of trying to align the incentives in the same way that, you know, a lot of startups have been successful in the adult world, but thinking through how we can bring that to the pediatric world,

Alison Curfman:

that's amazing. And it's sounds like you jumped right in at the very, very beginning, just like, just like I'd imagine. So I'm sure you've been looking at claims data, yes,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

yes, we have which is super fun, and again, a great place that physicians can plug into, and then thinking through, yeah, how we can build out our clinical model, what types of programs or services can we provide that can really address all of children's medical, behavioral and social needs, so that way they can be healthier, better taken care of, and hopefully live a much longer, higher quality of life by investing in preventive primary care from the day that you're born,

Alison Curfman:

I feel like The day that the world recognizes the value of investing in young humans while they are still healthy is going to be excellent. Like, we're dealing with so many like sick adults that it's it's hard for the industry to shift and be like, well, let's, let's, let's really focus on prevention. And obviously the struggle is also that, like, people that pay for healthcare like they won't be accountable for that patient when they're 65 they're accountable for them right now, and they're doing just fine most of the time. But yeah, I think the work that you're doing, the work that I do, the work that other folks in pediatrics do, it's inspiring, and I it makes a ton of sense, and we have so many examples. And even if you're not in peds, like, I will probably skew towards pediatrics on this podcast, because I actually know a lot of pediatricians. But even if you're in another field, there's also this translatable ability to say, like, Okay, well, somebody created this great model in cardiology, like, Could I actually use some of those concepts to solve a problem in, you know, women's health or something like that. So I think seeing those parallels is is a great way to, like, start pursuing new ideas too,

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

totally. It doesn't have to be something that is completely from scratch. It's maybe, you know, for me, seeing inspiration by all the awesome, innovative work that's been done in the adult world, and thinking through a little bit, maybe it's a little bit aspirational, but to your point, you know, if we can invest in children and keep our citizens healthier from the start, that's going to have the largest ROI. That's not exactly the way our healthcare system is structured, but that's the vision and the inspiration, and how can we then take that and do something tactically in the direction of that? That's really what inspires me every day and and that's why I do the work that I do.

Alison Curfman:

Well, that's amazing. I have loved hearing I'm always inspired talking to you, and I really appreciate you coming on and chatting with us. I think your perspective is so valuable. How can people find you if they want to connect with you?

Dr. Paige Bhansali:

Oh, great question. Think I shared my LinkedIn so they can. People can LinkedIn me. I will respond to messages there. Awesome.

Alison Curfman:

That's great. We'll put that in the show notes. So thank you everyone for joining today, I hope you were all as inspired as I was talking to Paige, and I will look forward to talking to you all soon. Thank you for listening to startup physicians. Don't forget to like, follow and share. You.