Keeping Patients at the Center of Healthcare Change

Before Alti Rahman was helping shape strategy and innovation in cancer care, he was working directly with people navigating another complex part of the healthcare system. As a mental health case worker in Dallas, Rahman helped clients transition from inpatient to outpatient care. The work often extended well beyond connecting someone with treatment. He saw firsthand how access to transportation, nutritious food and stable housing could influence whether someone was able to successfully move forward.

The experience changed the direction of his career. Rahman had been pursuing a master's degree in professional counseling, but his work exposed him to the administrative complexities surrounding care. He began thinking about where he could have the greatest impact: delivering care within the existing system or helping address some of the policies and processes that shaped how that care was delivered.

"If I want to make true change," Rahman recalled thinking, "can I influence administrative policies that create restrictions and obstructions in care processes?"

He changed course, returned to Houston and began researching healthcare administration programs. That search brought him to the University of Houston-Clear Lake, where he was able to connect his interest in population health and the social factors affecting patients with a deeper understanding of healthcare administration.

Finding a Path into Oncology
At UHCL, an internship opportunity would help shape the next chapter of Rahman's career. Through a connection facilitated by the Healthcare Administration program, he secured an internship with Oncology Consultants, a Houston-area community oncology practice. His first assignment was hardly theoretical: A major health insurer had placed the practice out of network, and Rahman was tasked with helping analyze the data and understand why.

The project offered an early introduction to the intersection of patient care, payment systems and healthcare operations. "That gave me all the confidence that not only did I like the private practice space, but I loved the complexity of oncology," he said. The internship became the beginning of nearly 15 years with Oncology Consultants.

Cancer care appealed to Rahman in part because of that complexity. A patient's journey can involve physicians, hospitals, surgeons, insurers and other providers while also being influenced by behavioral, social, environmental and genetic factors. Improving care requires those different pieces to work together. Yet behind all that complexity, Rahman said, is something deeply personal.

Decisions That Reach the Patient
For healthcare administrators, discussions about operations, costs, treatment options and organizational strategy can involve systems and numbers. For patients and their families, those decisions can affect some of the most important moments of their lives.

"Many times the cancer patient is thinking through their journey from a perspective of key milestones," Rahman said. A patient may be hoping to reach a child's next birthday, see a grandchild graduate from kindergarten or attend a child's wedding. Advances in cancer treatment are creating more opportunities for patients to reach those milestones, he said, while the growth of precision medicine is increasingly allowing treatment decisions to account for the unique characteristics of an individual patient and their cancer.

That patient-centered perspective has remained important as Rahman's responsibilities have expanded. Today, as chief strategy and innovation officer for American Oncology Network, Rahman helps establish strategic priorities and monitor their execution. The role has also expanded the scale at which he can think about cancer care. After spending much of his career focused on a practice in Texas, he now works within a network with a presence across much of the country.

"It's truly a privilege," he said, "to understand and perhaps create some influence across almost half the states in the country in terms of cancer patient experience."

Preparing for What's Next
Rahman sees significant change ahead for healthcare, particularly as the industry confronts workforce shortages while caring for a growing population of patients. Technology, including artificial intelligence, could be part of the response by helping clinicians navigate the enormous amount of information involved in modern medicine while reducing some of the administrative complexity that can take time and attention away from patient care.

In oncology, where treatments are increasingly tailored to the individual characteristics of a patient's cancer, that ability could become increasingly important. But for all the technology reshaping the field, Rahman believes one fundamental element of healthcare remains unchanged. " Despite advances in technology, healthcare will always be a people- and relationship-oriented industry," he said.

It is a lesson that also connects back to his experience at UHCL. Rahman said the Healthcare Administration program helped him understand healthcare payment models and operations while reinforcing the importance of continuing to learn in an industry that can change dramatically in a short period of time. Going to class, completing projects and finishing an internship are only a beginning; healthcare professionals have to continue learning throughout their careers.

That message was among those Rahman brought back to UHCL when he recently returned to speak with current Healthcare Administration students. Walking a different campus than the one he remembered and reconnecting with former professors, he found that students today have tools that barely existed when he was beginning his career. They can follow industry leaders, encounter new ideas and build professional networks online, but Rahman reminded them that digital connections cannot entirely replace something he learned early in his career.

"You don't want to lose the importance of human connectivity and networking," he said.

That principle stretches from the classroom to the executive suite and, ultimately, back to the patient. Healthcare will continue to change as technology advances, new treatments emerge and organizations adapt, but for Rahman, the reason for navigating all that complexity remains consistent: creating a healthcare system that works better for the individual person depending on it.