(US and Canada) Rahul Goyal, Optum Senior Director of Enterprise Data and Analytics, and Yubi Health President and CEO, speaks with Ernie Ostic, Manta SVP of Products, about remote patient monitoring and ways to deal with future data challenges in analytics.

Goyal states that telehealth can be made more effective with the use of remote patient monitoring (RPM) tools as it enables gathering wider data that previously wasn’t available. 

However, he points out two key aspects needed for RPM. One is that it be opt-in, meaning data is collected with the consent of a patient or member. The second is that the data be applied to drive better outcomes for patients. 

According to Goyal, this paves the way for the application of AI to see patterns or behaviors that might have better care outcomes or pathways for a patient, and be able to guide care using the combination of RPM data. 

Speaking about his interest in healthcare startups, Goyal says that healthcare gave him a purpose. He felt the need to explore and understand chronic health issues, and focus on behavioral health in a different arrangement than traditional healthcare.

Addressing future data challenges in analytics, Goyal believes that, while there will be new challenges, there will also be better tools. The key is having a strong understanding of the business and the domain, and being able to apply the different tools from that perspective. Data cannot be separated from the business, Goyal concludes.