CW Hall Archives - Page 16 of 30

Ketan Patel DPM – Top Docs Radio

August 8, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Ketan Patel DPM - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 00:48:59

Ketan Patel DPM

For 33 years Ankle & Foot Centers of Georgia has served the Atlanta community. Their nationally-renowned group of doctors specialize in the full spectrum of care for the lower extremity at 22 area locations across Metro Atlanta. As members of The Piedmont Clinic the group is noted for excellence in patient care while constantly providing the cutting edge treatment for all conditions of the Foot, Ankle, and Lower Leg.

I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with several of the specialists from Ankle & Foot Centers of Georgia. And we have collaborated with the practice on numerous occasions as members of the multi-specialty team working to preserve lower extremities in diabetic ulcer patients.

I know first-hand they provide a high measure of expertise and put their patients’ outcomes first. This week I hosted Ketan Patel, DPM, who practices in the Buckhead office of Ankle & Foot Centers of Georgia.

He shared why he chose podiatry as his career, having known most of his young life he wanted to be a healthcare provider. He shared some great information about new technologies he is able to provide access to for his patients, in many cases allowing the patients to resolve their problems without surgery.

We spoke of ways individuals can prevent many of the overuse injuries he frequently sees in his office when we decide to start training, running, or engaging in athletic activities with too much intensity/volume too soon.

It is clear in speaking with Ketan he has a passion for his work and enjoys the positive, collegial culture found across the Ankle & Foot Centers of Georgia practice. I look forward to meeting additional members of the group on the show.

Special Guest:

Ketan Patel, DPM, of Ankle & Foot Centers of Georgia

BS, Microbiology, University of Georgia
Doctor of Podiatric Medicine, Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine
Previous Chief Resident, Podiatric Medicine, Bon Secours Health System
Speaks Hindi, Gujarati, English

Loving Arms Cancer Outreach – Top Docs Radio

August 8, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Loving Arms Cancer Outreach - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 00:37:28

Loving Arms Cancer Outreach

Over the past year we’ve talked about cancer on several occasions. We have hosted physician panels, sharing how to prevent cancers and how they’re diagnosed, and treatment options patients have to choose from.

We’ve also spoken with cancer survivors who have come on the share their stories about being diagnosed, and their experiences during treatment and beyond, as survivors.

This week I hosted cancer survivor, Angel DeJesus, office manager for Loving Arms Cancer Outreach. This non-profit cancer support organization was started by two practicing oncology nurses. They had seen how many patients deplete their financial resources paying for their cancer care.

This leaves them with with limited ability to pay for obligations of daily life such as rent/mortgage, utilities, gas to get them to treatment, and more. They started Loving Arms Cancer Outreach to provide some measure of assistance with these needs along with support group services, education, opportunities to volunteer, and others.

Angel shared his poignant story about experiencing a cancer that ultimately cost him is right eye and how he, too, lost his home, job, and savings paying for his cancer care. He explained how Loving Arms Cancer Outreach provided him with their support services and even were able to provide rides to his treatment when he was a patient.

The financial expense and logistics of providing rides to cancer patients was too great for the organization to continue that service. But they continue to offer financial assistance and support group services and others. We are hopeful listeners will help with donations, time, or share this message with folks who may be able to do so.

Special Guest

Angel DeJesus, Office Manager, Loving Arms Cancer Outreach

IRC Wealth 1

August 4, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

IRC Wealth 1

00:00 / 01:01:50

IRC Wealth and 3 Female Entrepreneurs

This week marked the first of a monthly series we’re running with the folks from IRC Wealth. Vice President of Business Development, Joe Schum, co-hosted the show with me. He introduced us to three highly-successful female entrepreneurs from the Atlanta area who, while accomplished in their own rights, are also clients of IRC Wealth.

Jodi Hersh founded Orange Star Design, a firm specializing in graphic and web design and social media content creation. For over 20 years, Jodi has worked with small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, indie artists, and even rock stars, helping them craft and improve their brands. Jodi has been providing her services to the IRC Wealth team for a number of years.

Sarah Huie Coleman, an Atlanta native, founded Huie Design, Inc. in 1996 after completing design and implementation of the “Look Of The Games” for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Centennial Games for Copeland Hirthler / Iconologic.

Huie Design has been working with municipalities, architects, developers, and owners on public spaces to create entire signage and wayfinding systems that function effectively, entice interaction, and inspire joy. Feeling lost or confused when navigating is frustrating and stressful. Their work achieves project goals, puts patrons and visitors at ease, and makes a lasting impression. In fact, their quality of work and attention to customer service and detail has allowed the firm to grow, heavily through referral and repeat business.

Founded in 1999, Giant Studios offered filmmakers capabilities that simply cant be done anywhere else, from Gollum in Lord of the Rings to Avatar. With a home office in Atlanta, state-of-the art studio facilities in Los Angeles, and To Go capabilities around the world, Giant was the recognized leader in motion capture and virtual environments for even the most demanding film requirements.

Candice Algers joined us to talk about the genesis of Giant Studios and how they leveraged innovative technology to become a sought-after partner in some of the film and gaming industries’ most highly-acclaimed productions.

In 2014, Giant Studios, Inc. sold the rights to its performance capture technology for entertainment applications to Lightstorm Entertainment. The Giant R&D team will continue developing the software under the Lightstorm umbrella. Lightstorm will continue developing and leveraging the technology during the production of the next three Avatar sequels.

Giant was able to demonstrate the robustness of the technology over the past fifteen years on numerous films including, but not limited to: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Polar Express, The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, Iron Man, Real Steel, Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Unicorn, and Jack the Giant Slayer. Video Game credits include many highly acclaimed titles such as Halo 4, Call of Duty 3, Devil May Cry, Fable II, and Jade Empire.

Special Guests:

Joe Schum, VP of Business Development, IRC Wealth

BS, Economics/Commerce, Niagara University
Founder, The Niagara Group
Board of Advisors, Safe Haven Museum and Education Center
Board Member, Visions Anew Institute

Jodi Hersh, Founder, Orange Star Design

BFA, Graphic Design & Photography, University of Michigan
Previous Graphic Designer, Tom Graboski & Associates
Former Art Director, Dynamic Press

Sarah Huie Coleman, Founder, Huie Design

BA, Graphic Design/Packaging, Art Center College of Design
BA, Psychology, Sweet Briar College
Previous Managing Director of Environmental Design, Iconologic
Former Senior Graphics Designer/Manager, RTKL

Candice Algers, CEO, Giant Studios

ABJ, Journalism/Minor in Marketing, University of Georgia
Previous Executive Vice President, Crawford Communications

Sleep Technology

August 3, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Sleep Technology

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Sleep Technology

This week we focused on sleep and sleep technology. Lloyd Sommers, General Manager for ReST Performance came by to talk about how their company is addressing what is essentially an epidemic of poor sleep across our population.

The Better Sleep Council cites CDC data on the quality of our sleep, stating that poor sleep contributes to depression, weight gain, more disagreements with partners, and more.

ReST has developed what they call the world’s first smart bed, that uses technology to enable adaptation to the user. The bed is made with a high-tech fabric that is able to detect where there is pressure, how much pressure it is, movement, and temperature. The bed also connects with a mobile device to provide data regarding sleep quantity and quality, allowing users to track their progress toward improved sleep.

The ReST bed uses multiple air cells within the mattress powered by ultra-quiet pneumatic pumps. When a person lays on the mattress, it senses where there is pressure and adds or removes pressure in the various cells, allowing the mattress to minimize pressure. This means the user will be less inclined to need to change position frequently, allowing for longer periods of deep sleep.

Additionally, the ReST bed can interface with smart thermostats such as the Google Nest. So, when the bed senses rising temperature, it can signal the thermostat to decrease the room temperature.

We were amazed by the technology of the materials in this bed as well as the variety of tech features it employs to facilitate more effective sleep patterns. The ReST bed will be coming to retailers across the country over the coming months.

Special Guest:

Lloyd Sommers, General Manager, ReST Performance

MBA, Marketing, Management, & Organizations, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
Former Analyst, CBIC World Markets
Previous Marketing Manager, Titanium Technologies–North America, DuPont
Former President, TERRECON

Engineering Integrity and Secret Shoppers

August 1, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Engineering Integrity and Secret Shoppers

00:00 / 01:05:10

Morgan Consultants — Lara Hodgson and Traci Morgan talk Engineering Integrity

Lisa van Kesteren of Mystery Researchers

Engineering Integrity and Secret Shoppers

This week I was joined by guest co-host, Lara Hodgson, CEO of NOWaccount. She introduced us to Traci Morgan, founder of Morgan Consulting, Inc., and Lisa van Kesteren, CEO/founder of Mystery Researchers. Morgan Consulting focuses their expertise on the food and beverage processing and manufacturing industries.

Traci Morgan is a senior process engineer who has been in consulting engineering for over 30 years, with 25 years being focused on Food, Beverage, and related Consumer Products industries. Ms. Morgan’s industry experience includes beverage, dairy, brewery, biscuit, bread, and snack baking, meat and poultry, sauces and dressings, fresh cut produce, consumer household products, personal care products, tobacco, and injectable pharmaceuticals. She holds a BS of Chemical Engineering from Ohio University.

In addition to experience as a design engineer, Ms Morgan has expertise in the plant operations environment, as well as in product and process development. She has a high level of experience in operations management, production, maintenance, sanitation, quality assurance, and regulatory requirements, and a working knowledge of the Product Development process. Ms Morgan has the ability to bring people together from a wide variety of roles and backgrounds and develop proactive and synergistic teams.

Traci spent the early part of her career working for large consulting engineering firms. As a field engineer in large food manufacturing operations, she developed an appreciation for the importance of digging into more than just the engineering aspects of an operation. Through her comprehensive approach to projects, Ms Morgan has demonstrated the ability to fully integrate all aspects of manufacturing from concept development through the delivery of consumer products to the shelf.

She saw an opportunity to develop a more hands-on, practical, and relationship-based approach to consulting. And Ms Morgan recognized a niche for bringing together experts with the ability to address every facet of product manufacturing. Most importantly, she emphasizes the importance of understanding the client’s culture and fully developing the customer/supplier relationship.

Traci’s aspirations of finding a more effective way to serve manufacturing clients were realized with the inception of Morgan Consultants, Inc in 1997. Morgan Consultants, Inc provides specialized engineering, management, and consulting services to manufacturing companies. Morgan Consultants, Inc has the ability to assist clients and help shape their business direction by 1. Working upstream in the areas of product, process, and equipment development, 2. Executing traditional design, build, and startup projects, and 3. Analyzing and recommending improvements to current operations.

Morgan Consultants, Inc leverages their impressive group of industry experts to drive operational excellence and bring innovation to their clients in a cost-effective manner. Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients include PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, Famous Brands and Mrs Fields, Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s, Clorox, Sara Lee, Pinnacle Foods, Chiquita Brands and Fresh Express, Anheuser-Busch, Beam Global Spirits, RJ Reynolds, Coca-Cola, General Mills, McCormick, ConAgra, Kroger, Energizer, Unilever, Monsanto, Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, and HJ Heinz.

Owner and operator of Mystery Researchers, Lisa van Kesteren, has more than 25 years of experience in the mystery shopping industry. She began her career in the early 90’s and over the course of the next 15 years established mystery shopping divisions for two large global corporations. During this time, Lisa was one of the founding members of the industry association, Mystery Shopping Providers Association, which was created in 1997. She served as the Chairperson of the Professionalism and Ethics Committee, and in this role she was responsible for the creation of the original Code of Ethics for the industry. In addition, she earned an MBA from Kennesaw State University.

In 2008, Lisa decided to go out on her own and so established her own mystery shopping company, Mystery Researchers. Since that time Mystery Researchers has grown rapidly, nearly doubling in revenues each year. In 2014, Lisa was able to raise the capital necessary to make two acquisitions, both also in the mystery shopping industry. Her company is now one of the largest privately held companies in the industry.

Special Guests:

Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation

MBA Harvard Business School
Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Owner, Insomnia Group
Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
Second Language–Japanese

Traci Morgan, Principal, Morgan Consultants, Inc.

BS, Chemical Engineering, Ohio University
Former Lead Engineer, Lockwood Greene
Previous Senior Project Leader, Cadence Technologies

Lisa van Kesteren, CEO/Founder, Mystery Researchers

MBA, Business, Kennesaw State University, Michael J. Coles College of Business
Previous Vice President, Field Research Division, Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations
Former SVP, Mystery Shopping Division, TNS US Custom

Health IT and Accelerating Innovation – Top Docs Radio

July 29, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Health IT and Accelerating Innovation - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 01:02:23

Health IT and Accelerating Innovation

This week I sat down with experts from the healthcare IT sector. John Mamon is the CEO of mPoweredIT, an outsourced IT company that devotes expertise to the small to mid-sized medical practice, helping them manage their computer hardware, infrastructure, and software needs for far less than it typically costs to employ someone dedicated to these functions within the practice.

John talked about how often, in an effort to save money, small practices place responsibility for managing these facets on a practice manager, a clinician within the office, or even the doctors themselves. Clearly this can take away from the core function of the office—taking care of more patients.

He shared a number of important concerns that can expose these offices to risk such as HIPAA requirements, downtime of equipment, ACA compliance, and others. Each of these can create significant cost or loss of productivity when small offices attempt to handle things on their own.

mPoweredIT is able to scale their services to the needs of the practice, providing the full suite of IT management or taking over particular elements on behalf of the practice. The company also partners with several other health experts who can provide additional support in areas such as billing/revenue cycle management, EMR selection, and others, to allow their clients to maximize productivity and profitability at the same time.

John introduced us to Harvey Shuster, of Emergence, a Georgia Medical Accelerator. Harvey, a multiple-time entrepreneur, was one of the founders of Peachtree Software among others. He and his team work with emerging healthcare technology companies, helping them to commercialize and bring to market their devices/technologies more quickly.

Harvey brought along Osama Hashmi, CEO/Founder of VitaminC. This company adds an additional layer of automation and engagement to EMR systems. Their software allows providers to contact patients and encourage follow-up visits where appropriate to facilitate care/outcomes while at the same time helping the practice to maximize its potential for seeing patients in need.

VitaminC integrates well with numerous EMR systems and has proven valuable to primary care doctors and specialists such as dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and others.

Special Guests:

John Mamon, CEO/Founder, mPoweredIT

Associates Degree, Information Technology, Bryant and Stratton College
Previous VP, Professional Services, BMC Solutions
Former Executive VP, CDI Managed Services

Harvey Shuster, COO, of Emergence Georgia Medical Accelerator

MBA, Finance, Drexell University LeBow College of Business
Bronze Star Recipient, US Army
Published Author
Co-founder, Southeast Medical Device Association

Osama Hashmi, CEO/Chief Product Officer, of VitaminC

Doctor of Medicine, College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University
Master of Public Health, University of Georgia
Previous Policy Director, Roosevelt Institute, University of Georgia
Former Research Assistant, Stanford University

Romanoff Renovations and Solution Road

July 24, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Romanoff Renovations and Solution Road

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Romanoff Renovations and Solution Road

This week I was joined in studio by guest co-host, Bo Wilkins, of Sound River Advisors. Sound River Advisors is a collection of experts who help privately-held businesses create compensation packages designed to retain key high-value executives. Their compensation plans help preserve the owners’ equity in their business while rewarding the leaders who have helped build the business.

We sat down with Doug Romanoff, founder of Romanoff Renovations, a flooring installation company he started in 1974. Doug described how, as a young man recently out of college, he decided he wanted to start his own company after working for another company for a while. He shared how at the time, he had only $300 in his bank account. So, he would buy some discontinued carpeting nearby, go into the city and market it to apartment complexes that were renovating, selling them the product he’d bought and installing it for them.

Over the ensuing 40 years he became one of Home Depot’s largest contractors, installing their flooring at over 400 of their locations around the country. His business has grown from that one man start-up to a business with over 2000 installers, billing over $100 million per year.

We also talked about how he established a charitable foundation through the company called The Romanoff Foundation, focused on helping individuals and families in the community who are struggling.

Solution Road is a not-for-profit whose mission is to help organizations in need of fundraising. Sarah Smith and her colleague, Charlie Craig, came by to talk about how they put their skills at relationship-building to work for the organizations they serve to help them achieve their goals.

This new company’s first client is GeoVax, an Atlanta-based organization that is in the later stages of testing the vaccine they have developed to prevent HIV. GeoVax is also now actively working to develop a vaccine that will successfully prevent Ebola as well.

Sarah and Charlie explained how rewarding it is for them to be helping an organization with such far-reaching impact if they are successful in their efforts. We were pleased to help them tell their story!

Special Guests:

Bo Wilkins, Partner, SoundRiver Advisors

Former Executive Managing Director, Wealth Management, Reliance Trust Company
Former Partner, Nease, Lagana, Eden, & Culley
BA, History & German, Hampden-Sydney College
CLU – Chartered Life Underwriter; ChFC – Chartered Financial Consultant; CAP – Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy

Doug Romanoff, CEO/Founder, of Romanoff Renovations

Sarah K. Smith, CEO/Founder, of Solution Road

Masters Degree, English, University of Essex
Previous Director, Corporate Marketing, Emory University
Former Vice President, The Emmy Awards Foundation
Previous Director, Special Projects, TEDx Peachtree

Charlie Craig, COO of Solution Road

Master of Arts, Bioethics, Emory University
Master’s Degree, Journalism, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Previous Author and Editor, Global Technology Report, Ernst & Young
Former President, Georgia Bio

Prescription Medications

July 24, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Prescription Medications

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Prescription Medications

We talked about prescription medications on this week’s show. It’s true, prescription medications are an important part of the care we need for a number of health-related issues. It’s also true that many of these medications can be very expensive, particularly those that are not yet available as generic options.

There are also some worrisome statistics related to prescription medications that are worth noting:

As much as 27% of ER visits are related to medication-related problems
Up to 69% of all hospital admissions are related to medication-related problems
~11% of hospital re-admissions are related to medication-related problems
~ $140 billion in hospitalization costs are related to medication-related problems
~ 10% of all healthcare insurance expenditures are related to prescription medications

This week’s guests are using technology to address both the cost of these meds as well as working to reduce the amount of problems that can come from ineffective management of the medicines patients are taking.

Charles Stephenson is the founder of AuthentaScripts. AuthentaScripts is a web-based platform that works much like travel bidding sites such as Priceline. The user logs in, enters the name-brand medication they’ve been prescribedc, and, based on where they are geographically, the system displays the expected cost for that med at pharmacies within a 15 mile radius.

The patient has the ability to tell the system how much they’re willing to pay for the medicine and it will display places where it’s possible to find that price.

Dr. Sheila Woodhouse is a practicing Emory cardiologist and creator of DoxMed. DoxMed is a technology platform that becomes a complete database of a patient’s medications, why they’re taking them, how much, etc. The system allows patients to better understand what/why they’re taking what they are and better comply with the recommended regimen.

DoxMed also enables physicians to see the full gamut of meds a patient is taking and why, and make better decisions about what additions/changes should be made to avoid drug interactions, toxicity, etc., when prescribing for them.

Special Guests:

Dr. Sheila Woodhouse, MD, CEO/Founder of DoxMed

Doctor of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine
MBA, Business Administration and Management, Georgia State University J. Mack Robinsons College of Business
Board Certified, Cardiology
CEO/Founder, Sentikon Technologies & Consulting

Charles Stephenson, CEO/Founder of AuthentaScripts

BA, Management, University of Phoenix
Former Phase Team Leader, US Army
Founder, RescuePigeon
Previous Field Engineer, Lockheed Martin

Jimmy Godwin, Pharmacy Intern at Publix

Doctor of Pharmacy, Mercer University
Member, Georgia Pharmacy Association

GA SB 158 – Top Docs Radio

July 18, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

GA SB 158 - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 00:58:01

GA SB 158

This week we continue our monthly series with Medical Association of Georgia. I hosted MAG CEO/Executive Director, Donald J. Palmisano, Jr., and Cindy Zeldin, Executive Director for Georgians for a Healthy Future. We talked about the challenges Georgians face regarding the lack of information available to them about how inclusive health plans are regarding what physicians, hospitals, etc., are included in the plans.

Donald talked about how on the healthcare exchanges, patients must review every plan one at a time, checking the physician directories for each one to see if the physician(s) they need are there. In many cases, this means going through as many as 30-80 unique plans.

This is complicated by the fact that in many cases, the listed physician directories are incorrect, or change frequently, leading patients to make their choices based on outdated/inaccurate information.

In the Georgia legislature, the senate is considering SB 158, aimed at addressing the issue of transparency in the health insurance space so patients and physicians can make sense out of this important part of how we access healthcare today.

Cindy joined Donald to talk about how Georgians for a Healthy Future has been advocating on behalf of the state’s citizens to help them get signed up for the newly-available health plans on the exchange. She shared how last year, over 500,000 people gained access to new health plans.

We discussed the need for these patients to get educated about how to

Special Guestsplan for the financial obligations they will face regarding co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, etc. Folks need to learn what each of these are and have a plan for how to handle them. One such strategy is having a health savings account, which allows them to pay for their healthcare costs with pre-tax dollars out of an account that will grow over time.

We also talked about how important it is for physicians and citizens to engage with their state legislators to talk about how these issues affect them in their daily lives. SB 158 is still in the early stages, with decisions being made on it coming next spring.

Special Guests:

Donald Palmisano, CEO, Executive Director of Medical Association of Georgia

JD Law, Loyola School of Law
Board of Directors, Physician Advocacy Institute
Medical Payment Subcommitte Member, State Board of Workers’ Compensation
Treasurer, Board of Directors, Physicians’ Institute for Excellence in Medicine
Former Director, Government Relations/General Counsel/Director, GAMPAC

Cindy Zeldin, Executive Director, Georgians for a Healthy Future

Master of Arts, Public Policy with focus on Women’s Studies, The George Washington University
Master of Public Health, Public Policy, Emory University
Previous Principal Management Analyst, Healthcare Div., Dept. of Audits, State of Georgia
Former Senior Program Associate, Health Policy Program, New America Foundation