CW Hall Archives - Page 18 of 30

Rimidi

June 11, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Rimidi

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Rimidi

This week we hosted the President and CEO of Rimidi, Dr. Luci Ide. Rimidi is a healthcare technology company that is working to help patients and health providers better manage diabetes. It’s an important endeavor—roughly 24 million Americans are diabetic and as many as 86 million more are pre-diabetic (slightly elevated fasting glucose levels).

Based on current trends, 1 in 3 persons will have diabetes by 2050. And when you consider the costs associated with treating diabetes and the problems such as heart disease, stroke, and others that often come with it, as much as $.60 of every healthcare dollar are spent on this population.

The Rimidi platform is an application that allows patients to share sensor data from glucometers, fitness devices, and share nutritional data from apps such as My Fitness Pal with their providers via a portal link on the provider’s EMR.

The benefit of gathering real time health data and sharing it with the provider is that corrective measures can be taken sooner should trends show that glucose levels are not responding to the care plan as expected. In this way the patient can more consistently maintain or improve their glucose levels and avoid damaging effects of high glucose such as neuropathy, renal failure, vascular disease, and others.

The company’s platform has been live for roughly a year and they are now actively looking for healthcare partners to deploy their Diabetes+Me application.

We also had a chance to speak with a patient ambassador, Joelle, for “Lights, Camera, Take Action On MS” by Genzyme. This public awareness event/campaign is working to increase awareness about multiple sclerosis. The event is coming to The Atlanta Marriott, Alpharetta, June 27, 2015, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET.

At the event, guests will have the chance to engage with experts and hear tips on how to manage their MS. Beverly Layton, Registered Nurse, will be at each event to discuss the emotional impact of MS and techniques to help people alleviate feelings of guilt or depression. Alongside Beverly will be Certified Life Coach Caroline Craven, who lives with MS and is skilled in managing the stress that comes with the disease. Medical Exercise Specialist Monique Acton will also be at each event to share tips on how people living with MS can stay active and maintain energy.

Special Guest:

Luci Ide, MD, President and CEO of Rimidi

MD/PhD Emory University
Residency, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Magee-Womens Hospital
2014 Recipient, Ross Baird Award for Excellent, Village Capital
Former Associate, Monarch Capital Partners

Physicians Institute for Excellence in Medicine – Top Docs Radio

June 11, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Physicians Institute for Excellence in Medicine - Top Docs Radio

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Physicians Institute for Excellence in Medicine

This week I sat down with Bob Addleman, EVP of the Physicians’ Institute for Excellence in Medicine. We talked about how the organization, a subsidiary of Medical Association of Georgia, got its genesis. Bob shared how his passion for process improvement and healthcare ultimately led to him suggesting the development of an organization focused on improving the work environment as well as patient safety/outcomes.

The Physicians’ Institute for Excellence in Medicine (a nonprofit subsidiary of the Medical Association of Georgia) is a national leader in developing and managing collaborative educational projects, with a focus on outcomes-based and performance improvement activities. To date, the Physicians’ Institute has developed and managed 31 distinct initiatives representing work with over 400 organizations and more than 8000 participants located in 25 states focusing on an array of clinical areas. The Physicians’ Institute also provides leadership training and Patient-Centered Medical Home consulting to healthcare providers and organizations.

Physicians’ Institute is working with Georgia Academy of Family Physicians’ “Patient-Centered Medical Home University” (PCMHU). Now in fourth year, PCMHU has assisted more than 40 Georgia primary care practices achieve recognition from the National Council for Quality Assurance as a patient-centered medical home. Addleton is lead faculty member and practice advisor.

In June, Physicians’ Institute plans to launch new service called “Leadership in Practice,” which will provide leadership training and team development activities to medical associations, health systems, and physician organizations. Model has been adopted by thousands of organizations internationally and has over a 20-year history of application and research behind its design. Gives participants 360 degree feedback about their leadership behaviors. Addleton is a certified administrator and coach.

Physicians’ Institute is known for its collaborative grants system. For example, it awarded $1.2 million in grants to primary care organizations in five states for an ambitious project that is aimed at improving the care of patients experiencing chronic pain. Final report will be available in near future.

Physicians’ Institute has also been national leader in the FDA-mandated effort to promote Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) education for extended-release and long acting opioids as a member of CO*RE (Collaboration for REMS Education). Has worked with 15 state medical societies, including MAG, through a grant that was awarded to the MAG Foundation. To date, more than 3,000 physicians have participated in these efforts.

Addleton is the vice president (and president-elect) of the leading international organization is this field – the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEHP). He will become ACEHP’s president in January 2016.

Special Guest:

Bob Addleton, EVP, Physicians’ Institute for Excellence in Medicine

Doctorate in Educational Leadership, University of Alabama
Certified in Continuing Professional Development
Fellow and President-Elect, of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions
Certified as a Quality Team Facilitator, Six Sigma Green Belt, and Lean Green Belt
Trainer for The Leadership Challenge©.
Faculty Member, Georgia Academy of Family Physicians’ “Patient Centered Medical Home University”, and is the Dean of the Georgia Physicians Leadership Academy.

Logistics Experts

June 9, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Logistics Experts

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Logistics Experts

A few weeks ago, I hosted Jannine Miller, Director, Center of Innovation for Logistics at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. We talked about what the state of Georgia is doing to facilitate an effective, innovative infrastructure to support logistics needs for regional businesses.

On this week’s show I sat down with friend of the show, Bo Wilkins, of Sound River Advisors and three logistics experts who represent workforce management, third party logistics (3PL), and the legal needs for the vertical.

Page Siplon is the CEO of Team One Logistics. He was actually Jannine Miller’s predecessor at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Team One Logistics is a workforce management company that supplies an outsourced option for logistics companies that want to achieve greater profitability and reduced risk. One of the largest (if not the largest) costs for a business comes from their SG&A which includes employee-related expense such as salaries, taxes, and worker’s comp.

Team One Logistics takes over (or provides) and manages the workforce for logistics companies and logistics divisions within enterprises. By allowing Team One to “own” and provide the employees such as truck drivers, forklift operators, etc., their clients give up the exposure to risk that comes with worker’s compensation, health benefits, and other employee-related costs. These expenses are often one of the largest if not the largest costs for a company.

Because their focus is exclusively on the human component necessary to make a logistics operation work, Team One is able to take advantage of their large workforce to get good benefits rates for their workers. They’re also able to manage worker’s comp risks effectively through focused education and policies for their workers that reduce risk for accidents.

Vector Global Logistics is an asset free, third party logistics company / NVOCC that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for their clients. Their unique results-only culture brings a fresh and new approach to logistics.

Vector Global Logistics Managing Director, Enrique Alvarez, came on and talked about how they use a consultative approach with their customers to maximize efficiency and cost savings for their client companies. Rather than focusing on simply leasing out available cargo space, the company continually seeks to learn more about the businesses they serve in an effort to identify ways that transport routes and modes provide the fastest possible shipping for the lowest possible cost.

Enrique shared a story about a client for whom they were able to save $2 million annually by changing the primary route an international company was utilizing. They were able to save another major manufacturer millions by addressing the shipping option being used which meant inventory arrived as much as 2 weeks sooner than had been experienced previously.

Michael Golden is a partner with Arnall, Golden, & Gregory. They’re an Atlanta-based law firm that provides a variety of corporate legal expertise, one of which being logistics. Michael explained how important it is for the businesses operating within the logistics arena to have a relationship with a law firm with logistics experts on their team. He gave several examples of common missteps logistics companies make in their operations that can result in significant financial loss. One of those relates to companies listing what the law would consider “employees” as 1099 Independent Contractors.

We also talked about the impact that the Affordable Care Act will have on these companies as the employer mandate rolls into effect in the coming year. Without the right legal expert, these businesses can be exposed to major costs and penalties if they don’t handle their approach to employee benefits requirements correctly.

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

Page Siplon, CEO of Team One Logistics

MS, Computer & Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Previous Program Director, Center for Innovation in Logistics, Georgia Department of Economic Development
2015 Top-100 Most Influential Georgians, Georgia Trend Magazine
2014 Industry Pro-to-Know, Supply and Demand Chain Magazine

Enrique Alvarez, Managing Director of Vector Global Logistics. LLC

MBA, Finance and Management, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Managing Director, OA Ventures
Former Consultant, Boston Consulting Group
Fluent in Spanish and German

Michael Golden, Parter at Arnall, Golden, & Gregory

Juris Doctor, Duke University School of Law
Previous Law Clerk for Judge Ernest Tidwell, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Georgia Super Lawyers, 2012-13
Represented a global freight forwarder in its acquisitions
Represented an interstate trucking company in acquisition of regional refrigerated trucking company

Elder Care

June 6, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Elder Care

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Elder Care

This week we hosted experts whose companies address the care needs of our elderly population. We hosted Maria de la Guardia, of Assisted Living Locators, Chris Foster, of LivHome, and Blaine Warketine, of Vimty.

Assisted Living Locators is a company that provides a free service for families in search of an assisted living facility for their loved one. The company forms relationships with facilities around the community, getting to know them, the services they provide, costs, etc. They then get to know the families who connect with them seeking help through an interview process to be better able to recommend a facility based on location, type of services available, living environment, cost, etc.

We talked about the fact that many online services focus mainly on a few facilities with which they have financial arrangements, leaving out many options in the area that could potentially be a better fit for a given patient. Once they have contact information for the family it is shared with other services who then assail the family with calls and emails trying to sell them on centers they represent. Maria shared some questions families should ask when they contact an online service that purports to be the facility they think they’re contacting.

LivHome is a company that helps seniors be able to live their lives in their own home or their family’s home with the care support and equipment needed to do so. The company conducts an in-depth assessment of the needs of the patient(s) in need of supportive care/equipment through interviews with their nursing staff. From there, they can make recommendations and provide the supportive care providers necessary.

Chris shared his story about having been disappointed in the experience with home care for loved ones in the past and that he wanted to provide a high-quality service for the patients who want to be able to live in their own home. We talked about the fact that it’s actually possible to have an elderly patient live in their own or a family member’s home for less than or similar costs to an assisted living center or nursing facility.

Blaine Warketine shared some impressive statistics about how much of overall healthcare spend each year comes from providing high-acuity care in the last days of life, often for patients who didn’t actually want to have aggressive measures. Vimty is a platform that allows patients to conduct video interviews with counselors and family members wherein they are able to state their wishes for end of life care measures, along with context for why they feel the way they do.

We talked about the fact that this record has much more weight and is much more likely to prevent much of the family drama that can occur with the typical written advanced directive document (or worse, in the cases of NO document). Through the Vimty platform, patients have a permanent record that is part of their EMR that can be referenced when end-of-life measures become necessary.

Special Guests:

Maria de la Guardia, of Assisted Living Locators

MBA International Business, George Washington University
Professional Development in Gerontology, Kennesaw State University
Previous Strategy & Policy Development/Industry Analyst
Board of Directors, Strength of Nature

Chris Foster, of LivHome

Certified Senior Advisor, Society of Certified Senior Advisors
Former Member, Board of Directors, March of Dimes of Georgia
President/CEO, SportsCom, Inc.

Blaine Warketine, of Vimty

Doctor of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
Residency, Orthopedics, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Fellowship, Orthopedic Knee Conditions, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
MBA, Entrepreneurship, University of Utah David Eccles School of Business

Dr. Scott Kelly – Top Docs Radio

June 3, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Dr. Scott Kelly - Top Docs Radio

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Dr. Scott Kelly

I sat down with practicing orthopedic physician and author of the book, “What I’ve Learned From You: The Lessons Of Life Taught To A Doctor By His Patients“. He shared the story of how this moving and inspirational book came together. He described how the book was drawn from journaling he did during his medical training over the course of several years.

He has always had a passion for writing and uses the medium as a way to process things that are important to him or that make an impression on him in his daily life. Dr. Kelly talked about how he was going through some things in the attic and came across the journal several years after putting it away and how emotional it was to go back and read his thoughts and experiences from that time in his life.

He thought the interesting experiences and life lessons he picked up through numerous patient encounters would be great for his children to hear about and decided to put it into book for basically for them. He decided to submit the manuscript to publishers and was surprised by the enthusiastic positive response he received.

You’ll enjoy listening to him tell his story and you can readily hear how big of an impact those life experiences had on him that he carries with him today. Check this great interview and learn more at his website.

Dr. Scott Kelly, MD, of Resurgens Spine Center

IRC Wealth

June 2, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

IRC Wealth

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IRC Wealth

This week I sat down with financial experts, David Ragland and Joe Schum, of IRC Wealth. David shared his story about how he has spent his career helping businesses and individuals navigate their financial decisions and planning. We talked about how he gained valuable experience as a consultant with Ernst & Young then as a CFO of a troubled company that helped him bring a high level of strategic advice to companies as an outsourced CFO.

He, along with his team, including Joe, continues to help people develop an effective, simple plan to achieve their financial goals. That may be getting a business on a track that will allow the owners to eventually sell it or transition it to heirs, depending on their particular plan. Or, it may be helping an individual get their family out of craft an effective budget, eliminate debt, develop cash reserves, and even know what they need to do to actually retire safely one day.

We talked about how Dave had experienced a period where he let his fitness decline, ultimately becoming ~75 pounds overweight. He decided to address that by training for an Ironman triathlon, when he had previously been doing little to no physical training. He set a goal to complete a full Ironman in 18 months. By setting a defined time goal, he was able to develop a training strategy that allowed him to evaluate his progress and keep himself on a schedule that continually moved him closer to his goal.

He realized that there are parallels between the way one must approach training for such an event and developing a plan and timeline for achieving financial freedom. He decided to write a book in which he could talk about those analogies to help readers understand they CAN achieve financial freedom, even though it initially seems impossible—much like it can seem impossible to go from not being physically active to completing a full-length Ironman triathlon.

I had the opportunity to read the book, “Wealth Made Simple (Yes, Really)”. It’s a quick read and the comparisons between a training regimen and the mindset needed to achieve an athletic goal and getting out of debt/becoming financially free are easy to understand. He provides several tools to give the reader the chance to develop an understanding of where they are now along with some measure of what to expect over time, given their goals.

After reading the book and meeting these two experts I can say I would easily recommend speaking to them to see how they can help you or your business develop an effective, simple to implement plan to achieve a strong financial position.

Special Guests:

David Ragland, CEO, IRC Wealth

Joe Schum

Healthgrades

May 27, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Healthgrades

00:00 / 01:00:37

Healthgrades

This week, Diana and I sat down with Dr. Brad Bowman and Nickey Scarborough, of Healthgrades. They’re a healthcare IT company that provides several valuable services to the community at large as well as to the healthcare industry. One of Healthgrades’ core offerings relates to transparency and healthcare consumerism. When you need to find a physician to address a particular health need from primary care to a specialist, the company’s website allows the patient and/or their family to conduct a search of their database.

The Healthgrades platform utilizes a number of available data sources to compile a match score that gives a measure of confidence a particular physician has sufficient experience and positive outcomes to be considered as a viable option for providing your care. You can search by provider name, specialty, condition, or procedure, along with location/radius.

Your results will give a list of possible providers, each with a rank for volume of this given procedure they’ve performed, along with a report of any sanctions or board actions that have been taken. Similarly, Healthgrades provides prospective patients with access to outcomes and patient satisfaction data across the gamut of service lines and procedures they offer. Patients can review a given hospital’s rank and compare it to the national average for that procedure.

But, these useful services are only scratching the surface for what Healthgrades is able to do for health systems and hospitals. The company is able to use a wide array of readily-available health and consumer data for patients in a given service area to give valuable predictive insights around outcomes for a given health problem. Things such as number of rooms in your home, whether it’s rented or mortgaged, how financially stable a family is, along with buying habits combined with numerous other data points can give surprisingly accurate pictures of what a given population’s tendency toward ER re-admissions or poor outcomes/compliance with care.

Through an engagement with Healthgrades, using their population analytics, a health system can be very strategic in their marketing efforts to help make that revenue spend be far more likely to help the system achieve its goals and deliver a higher level of care/outcomes.

Special Guests:

Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, of Healthgrades

Nickey Scarborough, VP of Digital Editorial, Healthgrades

MHA, Health Administration, Xavier University
Former Director, Client Delivery Services, WebMD
Previous Content Director, PERFECT SENSE digital, LLC
Former Senior Consultant, Deloitte & Touche

This show brought to you by:

Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists – Top Docs Radio

May 22, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 00:44:06

Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists

This week I featured 3 of the physicians from Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists. They are known for providing expert care for patients in need of reconstructive surgery after cancer treatment or trauma as well as for those who are seeking aesthetic procedures.

Dr. Donald Nunn is a triple-boarded surgeon and unique in the fact that he completed residencies and board certification in 3 specialties, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Ear, Nose, & Throat, and Plastic surgery. He is able to bring this range of training and experience to bear for his patients who need facial surgery as well as the full scope of plastic surgery procedures.

Dr. Bahair Ghazi shared how he benefited from spending several months training in Belgiam, learning some subtle differences in approach that he’s able to apply in his work when it can enhance the final outcome of his surgeries. It’s clear talking with Dr. Ghazi he is passionate about plastic surgery and how it can have such a positive impact on quality of life for the patients he sees. He shared some great information on the tummy tuck and pandectomy procedures for patients who have lost significant amounts of weight or that are wanting to become more active but excess body fat inhibits doing so.

Dr. Susann Bedford talked about how she feels a special relationship with the women she’s treating with breast surgery, whether reconstructive after cancer treatment, or aesthetic for women wanting to change their look for improved body image. She shared how she was able to spend time during her training with some of the world’s highly-regarded specialists in breast and plastic surgery, helping her provide some of the best techniques available to achieve the best aesthetic result possible for a given case.

Special Guests:

Dr. Donald Nunn, MD, of Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists

Doctor of Dental Surgery, Medical College of Virginia
Residency, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, University of North Carolina
American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Doctor of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia
Residency, Neck and Head Surgery, Medical College of Virginia
Residency, Plastic Surgery, University of California
American Board of Plastic Surgery
American Board of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery

Dr. Bahair Ghazi, MD, of Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists

Surgical Training
Emory University Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Emory University General Surgery
West Virginia University, M.D.
Externships
Cosmetic Surgery Sint Martens Latem, Belgium
Cosmetic & Breast Reconstruction Brussels, Belgium
Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction Ghent, Belgium
Board Certifications
American Board of Plastic Surgery
American Board of Surgery

Dr. Susann Beford, MD, of Atlanta Plastic & Reconstructive Specialists

Doctor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
Residency, Plastic Surgery, Barnes-Jewish Hospital of Washington University Hospital
Fellowship, Breast & Aesthetic Surgery, Georgetown University
American Board of Surgery
American Board of Plastic Surgery

Hospital Acquired Conditions

May 22, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Hospital Acquired Conditions

00:00 /

Hospital Acquired Conditions

According to CDC, there were over 700,000 hospital acquired conditions in 2011 (in this case, infections). When you add those numbers to other preventable situations such as falls, wrong drug/dose/patient, and others, it’s clear that hospitals can be potentially-dangerous places. This week, Diana and I sat down with two experts from companies that are tackling this problem from different directions.

HanGenix, an Atlanta-based start-up is developing an innovative technology that employs ultrasound transmitters/receivers on soap dispensers, on the clinicians’ badges, and in the patients’ rooms with the goal of increasing compliance with hand-washing standards. CEO, Jeff Kline, talked about how each patient bed is “guarded” by an ultrasonic receiver that communicates with the clinician’s badge and soap dispenser in the room or nearby.

The system starts a clock that will alert the health worker that they need to re-wash their hands if too much time elapses between washing their hands and touching the patient. The bed’s zone receiver also prompts an audible alert on the worker’s badge if they approach the patient’s bed without having registered a hand-washing event detected by the system.

Early returns from health systems that are participating in the testing of the prototype have shown that hand washing compliance is as low as 40% before implementing the technology and rises rapidly once it is deployed. This is significant, as hand-washing has been identified as one of the most effective means to prevent spread of infections from patient-to-patient in a healthcare environment.

Synensis’s Chief Innovation Officer, Rick Stone, joined the conversation to talk about how their company works with their healthcare clients to assess the organization’s internal culture relating to behaviors that reduce hospital acquired conditions such as falls, infections, and other sentinel events. Through an in-depth assessment at the outset of their engagement, Synensis’s team formulates a picture of how an organization prioritizes policies/procedures that can reduce/prevent those sentinel events.

The company then begins to interface with all levels of leadership and front-line providers to raise awareness and put in place actions such as debriefings after untoward events occur so that better team work can result. Synensis also helps hospitals identify areas of their organization that have particularly low rates of sentinel events to draw from their localized culture/approach to prevention to the betterment of the organization as a whole. As Rick stated, “Hospitals have teams of experts. But, few have expert teams,” pointing out that in many industries, healthcare included, poor communication and/or teamwork is the primary culprit in accidents.

Special Guests:

Jeff Kline, CEO/Co-founder, HanGenix