Health Connect South Radio Archives - Page 2 of 3

Pharmacogenomics

September 28, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Pharmacogenomics

00:00 / 01:06:00

Pharmacogenomics

This week on Health Connect South Radio we featured Bob Bean, CEO of Harmonyx, a technology company specializing in pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genes affect a person’s response to drugs. This relatively new field combines pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions) to develop effective, safe medications and doses that will be tailored to a person’s genetic makeup.

As we have learned on previous episodes of the show, taking medications correctly is vital to achieving a positive outcome. In fact, incorrectly taking a medication or taking certain combinations of medications can actually make you very sick or even kill you.

Add to that this fact–our genetic code can affect how our body responds to a given medication we’re taking. For example, 30% of people who take Plavix, the popular anti-platelet medication to prevent stroke, get no effect from taking the drug due to a particular genetic mutation. Consider the money spent by 1/3 of patients taking this medicine and it’s literally doing nothing in their body.

Harmonyx employs a non-invasive cheek swab which collects a DNA sample which is then tested for that individual’s genetically-driven response to a prescribed medication. Depending on the results, it may be possible for the pharmacist and physician to identify another medication from that particular medicine family that will have the desired effect and/or avoid possible negative responses to the original med.

The test is available at participating pharmacies and can provide useful information for patients taking statin medication, ADHD meds, pain medication, and anti-platelet medication. The test will reveal if the patient’s body will respond as expected or if they may experience adverse effects due to the way their body processes the prescribed medication.

In this way the patient is able to get medical treatment that is likely to have the desired outcome while avoiding probable negative effects and/or spending money and taking a medicine that literally does nothing for them.

On this episode I also shared the conversation I had with Ebola survivor, Dr. Ian Crozier, who was a keynote speaker at the 2015 Health Connect South event. Ian was providing care to Ebola patients in Sierra Leone when he contracted the disease. He had the good fortune of being flown to Emory Hospital in Atlanta for intense specialized care. In spite of significant damage to numerous organs including kidneys, eyes, and even his brain, Ian survived and shared his poignant story with the attendees of this year’s event.

I was very pleased to get to meet him and speak with him for a few minutes.

Special Guests:

Bob Bean, CEO of Harmonyx

Dr. Ian Crozier, Ebola Survivor

SkyTherapist

May 14, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

SkyTherapist

00:00 / 01:00:39

SkyTherapist

This week we sat down with the co-founders of SkyTherapist. Sky Therapist, Inc is a virtual platform for mental health support addressing the major complaints of patients in their course of treatment. They offer integrative solutions for intelligent patient-therapist matching, quick initial assessment, and continuity of care.

CEO, Afshan Ali, and CFO, Keith Jones, shared their story about how they decided there must be a better way to provide patients in need with access to a mental health professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Keith talked about how as a teenager, he was present when his father died, causing him to experience great anxiety and emotional pain. He was hospitalized for a few weeks but felt he did not receive very effective mental health care while he was there.

Afshan discussed how she developed an interest in neurology and mental health during her years in medical school before changing career paths. The two of them looked at the landscape of how mental health is delivered and felt there was an opportunity to create a new platform that could help people in need find the therapist best suited for them.

As they got to work on building their virtual platform that incorporates telemedicine technology, they felt that a key element that would set them apart was going to be a matching algorithm, paired with carefully-chosen intake questions for the patient-to-be. The purpose of this design is intended to make the process of linking up with a professional that is experientially suited and a fit personality-wise.

We talked about the fact that for persons in crisis, the process of trying to find that personal fit that allows them to be able to be open and get the most of their therapy can be overwhelming. Having to go through talking about what the reason is for seeking help over and over to professional after professional, trying to find a fit can often cause patients in need to give up on finding help.

SkyTherapist is able to quickly provide several professionals for the patient to talk to who are much more likely to be a good fit for the patient. The platform also provides for some communication through correspondence with their provider between sessions. It also has a component that allows provider and patient to agree upon self-care activities such as exercise or others and actually track their compliance.

The company will be focusing much of its early launch (July 2015) on providing services to businesses with Employee Assistance Programs. This will give them ability to scale more quickly while providing their client companies with much more effective and cost-efficient care to employees who need access to a mental health pro.

When you have the chance to hear how/why these experts built this healthcare platform it’s clear they are dedicated to insuring patients in need of professional mental health care, SkyTherapist is clearly providing a promising solution.

Special Guests:

Afshan Ali, CEO/Co-founder of SkyTherapist

BBA, Management Information Services, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business
Former Senior Consultant, Deloitt Consulting
Active Healthcare Consultant
Speaks English, Hindi, Urdu

Keith Jones, CFO/Co-founder of SkyTherapist

Managing Partner, HarCap Commercial Funding
Former Owner, Eclipse Investment Group
Multiple Successful Entrepreneurial Ventures

This show brought to you by:

Eating Disorders

April 15, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Eating Disorders

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Eating Disorders

This week we focused on eating disorders. I sat down with experts from Eating Disorders Information Network, a non-profit organization aimed at outreach to increase awareness/prevention among students in grade school to high school, and helping people identify resources for treatment. According to the National Anorexia Nervosa Association, eating disorders are a serious problem, with as many as 24 million Americans suffering with some form of disorder from anorexia, to bulemia, to binge/purge, and more.

The problem affects both men and women, children and adults, across all demographics. And according to Dr. Dina Zeckhausen, founder of EDIN, eating disorders are more deadly than other mental illness. When you consider dysfunctional eating habits such as overly-restrictive dieting, comfort eating, and others, as many as 80-90% of us are impacted at some time by potentially-problematic attitudes about food.

EDIN is working to engage young people beginning in grade school through high school to promote self-acceptance and to share information about the dangers of risky behaviors such as “clubs” that foster unhealthy choices such as eating crackers and water only for lunch with a group of peers. Their website describes their mission in this way, “The Eating Disorders Information Network (EDIN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of eating disorders through education, outreach, and action. EDIN is committed to addressing the problem of eating disorders on a societal level. We are devoted to:

Preventing eating disorders
Increasing public awareness of the personal, familial, and cultural/media influences which contribute to eating disorders
Helping those already suffering to find the therapeutic services they need

The organization strives to serve as a comprehensive resource and educational guide for those wanting to learn more about eating disorders, those seeking help, and those gathering and distributing information about available treatment options both in the Atlanta area and nationwide.”

Special Guests:

Dina Zeckhausen, PhD, Founder of Eating Disorders Information Network

PhD, Clinical-Community Psychology, University of South Carolina
Active private practice psychologist
Well-known public speaker on the topic of eating disorders
Published author and playwrite

Hallie Udelson, Eating Disorders Information Network

BA, Psychology, Emory University
2016 Candidate, Master of Public Health, Emory University
Developing curriculum for school outreach initiatives for EDIN

Sara Pannell, Incoming Director, Eating Disorders Information Network

Licensed Family and Marriage Counselor, Trillium Springs Counseling
MS, Family & Marriage Counseling, Fuller Theological Seminary
Previous Bi-lingual Clinician I, San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center

Intellimedix and Life University

April 1, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Intellimedix and Life University

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Intellimedix and Life University

This week we sat down with experts from Intellimedix and Life University. Intellimedix is an Atlanta-based company that uses high-powered computing algorithms, coupled with genetic testing to identify existing medications that could potentially be re-purposed to effectively treat illnesses other than the ones they were originally designed to treat. One of the company’s founders has a child who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. Unfortunately, there are limited treatments known to be available that will provide relief from this debilitating condition. His daughter’s story influenced the decision to focus the company’s initial efforts on uncovering existing medications that could be successfully re-purposed to help folks dealing with this type of epilepsy and other neurologic disorders.

Chief Science Officer, Jeff Skolnick shared the example of how a blood pressure medication (Viagra) was re-purposed to treat erectile dysfunction. He went on the discuss the physiology/chemistry behind why this is possible and why it makes sense to look for existing, approved medications that have the ability to improve quality of life for patients dealing with illnesses different from those the medications are initially intended to treat. This approach saves a great deal of time and money over the years-long, massively-expensive process of developing a medication from ground zero to treat a particular condition; allowing patients in need to receive access to an effective treatment sooner.

Dr. Gilles LeMarche, VP of Professional Relations at Life University came by to talk about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at their Marietta, GA-based campus. They offer a number of health, wellness, and sports-related degrees ranging from chiropractic medicine, to vitalistic nutrition, functional kinesiology, and others. He shared their approach to wellness, applying the philosphy of “vitalism” allows their graduates to help their clients/patients by helping the body to heal itself; as it is ideally capable of doing when interfering factors are removed.

Special Guests:

Steven Hickson, CFO, Intellimedix

MBA, Global Executive MBA Program, IESE Business School, Barcelona Spain
BA Accounting, NC State University
Previous Senior Auditor, Turner Broadcasting System
Former SVP, New Media & Premium Channels, Fox International Channels- Asia

Jeff Skolnick, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Intellimedix

Director, Center for Study of Systems Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology
PhD, Chemistry, Yale University
Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in Computational Systems Biology
Associate Director, Integrated Biosystems Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology

Gilles Lamarche, DCM, VP, Professional Relations, Life University

Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Certified Six Advisors Coach, 6 Advisors Coaching Academy
Former Vice President, Parker College of Chiropractic
Fluent in French

Some backing music provided by: www.pacdv.com/sounds/

Liv2BGirl

March 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Liv2BGirl

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Liv2BGirl

We’ve all heard the news stories about young people who have been victims of cyberbullying through social media. In some cases, kids have even gone so far as attempting or committing suicide over the experience. This week we sat down with Cindy Abel and Tosha Marks, co-founders of Liv2BGirl. It’s a social media environment they’re building as a mobile app that will give girls a social media environment exclusive to them. The site will be free from cyberbullying and negative, attacking/abusive behaviors—these being clearly prohibited when a user sets up their profile.

A recent article by Cindy and Tosha published on Momeomagazine.com states these statistics cited from dosomething.org:

Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online
68% of teens agree that cyberbullying is a serious problem
81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person
90% of teens who have seen cyberbullying ignored it
Girls are twice as likely as boys to be victims of cyberbullying
Only 1 in 10 victims tell there parent or trusted adult of the abuse.

In this short clip, Tosha Marks shares why they are building the Liv2BGirl app:

The concept proved to have traction with girls when they launched their beta website to evaluate interest and content offerings, gaining roughly 700 users who tested the site. Cindy and Tosha quickly found that the idea of a social media space free from hurtful, hateful behaviors is appealing to girls—enough so that average time per visit was ~30 mins.

We talked about some of the troubling statistics around cyberbullying as well as negative experiences Cindy and Tosha saw their own daughters face in various social media platforms. We also discussed the resources they need to bring their app to full realization and how folks can get involved to get this source of positive peer pressure and encouragement for our daughters into their hands.

Special Guests:

Tosha Marks, Co-founder, Liv2BGirl

BS, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Middle Tennessee State University
Previous Sole Proprietor, The Silver Sak
Former Sales Representative, Dixie Packing and Seal Company

Cindy Abel, Co-founder, Liv2BGirl

BS in Management Information Systems, University of Dayton
Co-President, North Springs Charter High School
Member, Advisory Board, Hands On Atlanta
Co-founder/Owner, Abel Solutions
7 years as information technology consultant, Accenture

This program made possible by ShareWIK Media Group

Telemedicine

March 12, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Telemedicine

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Telemedicine

This week I sat down with the founder of MedZed, a hybrid telemedicine platform that enables parents with sick children to receive care for their child with an in-home RN who establishes a remote link with a physician. Today, there are a growing number of urgent care centers available, along with after-hours pediatric care centers. These care centers are typically better options than being seen in an emergency room where wait times and exposure to very ill patients are a concern.

However, urgent care centers also frequently come with a long wait and exposure to numerous sick persons in the waiting room as well. Telemedicine is a health care delivery model where patients interface with a provider via phone and/or face-to-face video conferencing platform that allows patient and doctor to see each other. This week’s guests joined us to talk about how they are innovating with this technology to deliver quality health care in a patient’s home.

With the MedZed platform (and soon a mobile app) parents with sick children can request an in-home examination of their children. After a phone triage conversation, a registered nurse or nurse specialist is dispatched to the home to conduct the exam. The in-home clinician links up with the patient’s physician (when that practice is a MedZed participant) or a thoroughly-vetted, experienced pediatrician on the MedZed medical staff (when the patient’s physician office is NOT a MedZed participant).

Once in the home the nurse establishes an internet connection using either the family’s connection if available or by cellular wi-fi if in-home internet is absent or inadequate. Via the communications link, the physician is able to view the results of otoscopic exams, listen to their stethoscope, and see vitals all in real time. This portal also gives the patient and family the ability to also see what is being visualized by the exam, offering educational opportunities and a decreased measure of anxiety.

We talked about the fact that as more diagnostic equipment such as radiographic devices become more mobile, the scope of care that will be able to be delivered in the home will expand dramatically. This will serve to reduce use of ER and urgent care for more acute, complex complaints. The service is offered as fee-for-service—patients pay using credit cards when the care is delivered. In some cases third party insurors will reimburse for part or all of the visit, depending on plan.

Special Guests:

Scott Schnell, CEO, Co-founder of MedZed

BGS, Accounting & History, University of Michigan
Former CPA
Previous SVP/ CFO of Simply Floored
Previous Chairman/CEO of Pike Family Nursing

Tiffany Holland, RN at MedZed

Katarina Quinterno, Parent, MedZed client

Population Health Management

March 4, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Population Health Management

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Population Health Management

The notion of working to improve a population’s awareness of wellness and disease is not new. For decades we have sought to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including reduced smoking rates, early detection for cancers, and decrease obesity (not to mention containing healthcare costs) But with improving data capabilities, interoperability between EMR’s and data systems, changing laws, and an over-arching goal of improving the general health and wellness of our population we are beginning to see ever-greater emphasis on population health management as a strategy to both contain costs and improve outcomes. Check out this week’s episode to learn more about how your company can save long-term costs while at the same time improving quality- and length of life to their employees.

As a health strategy, population health management focuses heavily on preventive care measures, coupled with making such care delivery as convenient as possible for the population involved. Additionally, procedures around work place injuries are assessed and if needed, modified to include triage that can prevent the use of ER to initiate care when such injuries/exposures occur.

We talked about how Dekalb Medical restructured their approach to their own employees’ wellness and work place injuries, successfully reducing their spend on high cost claims, ER visits, and work place injuries. They are now collaborating with businesses in the community to collaborate with them to improve the wellness/safety of their respective employees and helping them achieve the same sort of cost savings on health/risk in their enterprises. These efforts are steadily improving the aggregate health of the Dekalb Medical catchment area patients through more consistent, integrated delivery of preventive/wellness-focused care.

Dekalb Medical, a long-standing pillar of the Atlanta health systems, serving the eastern half of the metro, has proven to be an innovator and thought leaders in the concept of population health management. After a multi-year effort to reduce cost and improve outcomes for their own ~4000 employees, including decreasing work-place accidents and ER visits, they have an impressive list of successes to talk about.

And as a well-established health system with the full complement of services from acute to tertiary, diagnostic and procedural services available, Dekalb Medical is uniquely positioned to exert positive effects on the health of the large metropolitan population they serve.

About DeKalb Medical

Founded in 1961, DeKalb Regional Health System, Inc., known as DeKalb Medical, is comprised of more than 800 doctors skilled in 55 medical specialties across three campuses. The 627-bed system includes DeKalb Medical at North Decatur (451 beds), DeKalb Medical Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur (77 beds), DeKalb Medical at Hillandale (100 beds), DeKalb Medical Physicians Group and the DeKalb Medical Foundation.

This week Diana Keough and I sat down with Dr. Shealynn Buck and Jim Forstner from the health system. We talked about population health management as a concept and how it was put to work as a strategy to the benefit of both its employees and the bottom line of the organization.

Dekalb Medical is now providing similar population health management services to employers within their catchment area around the east perimeter of Atlanta and beyond. They are engaging employers’ employees through gameficiation, on-site services, consulting regarding workplace safety, narrow network benefits that save costs and improve outcomes, and more. We talked about how the notion of population health management is a move from transactional, disease-focused care to a relational, wellness-focused model and how that can save both money and improve lives of employees. We also discussed some positive unintended consequences that can come through offering such a health initiative to an employee population.

The not-for-profit health care system is a HealthGrades® Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack in 2013 and Five-Star Recipient for Peripheral Vascular Bypass in 2012, and earned the Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart/American Stroke Association. Their Maternity Center was selected as a participant in the Best Fed Beginnings project as part of UNICEF/WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. The Dekalb Medical Cancer Center received the Outstanding Achievement Award and is granted three-year approval by The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons as a community hospital comprehensive oncology program. Their Joint Solutions Center is a metro Atlanta leader in joint replacement.

In addition, The Dekalb Medical LTAC earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for acquired brain injury, wound care and respiratory failure services. Their WorksWell® program is dedicated to supporting employers with solutions to maximize the health, safety and well-being of their employees while improving performance and the bottom line.

Special Guests:

Dr. Shealynn Buck, MD, Executive Director, Dekalb Medical WorksWell and Medical Director of Dekalb Medical Wellness Center

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Residency, Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine
Fellow, Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapies
Former Assistant Medical Director, American Red Cross

Jim Forstner, SVP & Senior Strategy Officer of Dekalb Medical

>10 years service on Dekalb Medical executive team
Previous Executive Director for Contracting, Physician and Ambulatory Ventures, Dekalb Medical
Previous Director, Patient Financial Services, Dekalb Medical

National Parkinson Foundation

February 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

National Parkinson Foundation

00:00 / 01:00:07

National Parkinson Foundation

This week we sat down with the President and CEO of National Parkinson Foundation, Joyce Oberdorf and Larry Kahn, CEO/Founder of PD Gladiators, a man who develoed early-onset Parkinson disease. Approximately 1 Million people are living with Parkinson disease in the US today. The National Parkinson Foundation’s website describes Parkinson disease this way, “Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms.

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.”

Joyce came by to talk about research the National Parkinson Foundation is supporting that is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients living with the disease today. They seek to share best practices that show promise among providers, with regard to the pace of progression and/or severity of symptoms so these persons can enjoy life more fully, longer.

She brought Larry Kahn, founder of PD Gladiators, a boxing gym exclusively for PD patients that was launched after Larry learned about and experienced the benefits of vigorous exercise on his symptoms. He shared his poignant story about learning he has PD (after having had it missed over a year earlier by his initial doctor), how he and his wife approached the diagnosis, and how/why he started PD Gladiators. Larry and Joyce talked about research that has shown the benefits of vigorous exercise on cognitive function among ALL of us, including PD patients. They endeavor to share that information widely so that more PD patients can receive the reparative benefits themselves.

We talked about the resources needed by the National Parkinson Foundation and Larry that will enable them to further advance awareness and quality of life among Parkinson disease patients. We hope you share this podcast, as the information they shared will very likely help someone you care about who’s suffering with Parkinson today.

Special Guests:

Joyce Oberdorf, President and CEO, National Parkinson Foundation

Larry Kahn, Founder, CEO, PD Gladiators

Innovations in Heart Health

February 4, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Innovations in Heart Health

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Innovations in Heart Health

This week, for Week 5, we focused on innovations in heart health. Emory physician, researcher, and professor, Dr. Omar Lattouf came by to share about research he’s been working on developing new techniques for some challenging heart disorders, and an exciting project he’s working on that is aimed at reducing the number of patients who die from cardiometabolic syndrome. Dr. Lattouf’s work on how conduction problems are treated by insertion of pace makers using a minimally-invasive approach has helped improved outcomes for countless critically-ill patients. Dr. Lattouf talked about their soon-to-launch study on an application designed to help patients with, or at risk for, cardiometabolic syndrome. The application will empower patients to track key vital signs and other health information and make decisions that will improve key factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and more. As Dr. Lattouf shared his personal story about his own family’s experience with heart disease, his passion for helping fight heart disease, which in large part is preventable, was obvious.

Robert Arkin, CEO and Founder of Sensiotec joined us to talk about the way they are using technology and health data to provide clinicians the ability to monitor key vital signs and patient movement patterns in a hands-off way. He talked about how he has long held a desire to help his community on a large scale that he knew that being involved in developing healthcare innovations provides the best way to do that. Robert described how their device uses a special radar technology that is able to measure body movements and even internal organ function, providing real-time vital signs and patient movement patterns. Their technology’s algorithms enable providers to get a degree of predictive information that could potentially help avoid patient falls/injury, or even detect troublesome trends in vital signs that could enable proactive care decisions that could prevent a serious cardiovascular event.

These two health innovators discussed the additional resources they need that could facilitate the acceleration of their respective work with regard to making their solutions available to patients on a larger scale. We are pleased to support their work by helping them tell their story.

Special Guests:

Dr. Omar Lattouf, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
Performed Georgia’s first domino heart transplant
He and a colleague implanted the state’s first Abiomed biventricular assist system to support the failing heart of a patient suffering from post-cardiotomy shock

Robert Arkin, CEO of Sensiotec

Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
Recipient, 2012 Atlanta Business Chronicle Healthcare Heroes Award for Healthcare Innovation
Fomer CEO, Chairman, Modavox, Inc.
Former Member, Board of Directors, Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation