Episode 8 - Eric Heil, RightCare Solutions, Systems Engineering, and Reducing Readmissions

Summary: Eric Heil joins the Penn HealthX Podcast to discuss his career, passion for systems engineering, and experience founding, and eventually exiting, RIghtCare Solutions. RightCare, a company focused on reducing acute care hospital readmissions, was acquired by NaviHealth. 2:45 – growing up in Iowa 4:00 – going to Penn to play basketball 5:45 – playing in the NCAA tournament 7:15 – choosing to study engineering 8:45 – what is systems engineering? 10:15 – why focus on the healthcare space? 11:45 – other jobs Eric took on after graduating from Penn 17:00 – from VC to becoming an entrepreneur 22:00 – the idea to start RightCare 24:45 – rationale for getting an MBA 27:20 – what exactly did RightCare do, and what problems did it solve? 34:45 – challenges of being the leader of a health-tech company 39:45 – exiting RightCare – being bought by NaviHealth (a Cardinal Health company) 41:45 – starting a new project – trying to make lightning strike twice with BehaveCare 44:35 – lessons learned from successfully leading BehaveCare Links: Eric’s Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/eheil/ Kathy Bowles – co-founder of RightCare https://ldi.upenn.edu/expert/kathryn-h-bowles-phd-rn-faan-facmi RightCare Solutions Exit (article) https://medcitynews.com/2015/12/rightcare-solutions-acquisition/ Domain Associates (website) https://www.domainvc.com/ BehaveCare (website) https://www.behavecare.us/about-us A Past Interview with Eric http://executiveleadersradio.com/heil-eric-4297.aspx Letters to a Young Entrepreneur by Ricardo B Levy (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Young-Entrepreneur-Succeeding-Business/dp/0996670602 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (old link) https://www.jpmorgan.com/global/healthcareconference