Health Connect South Archives - Page 3 of 5

Intent Solutions and NFANT Labs

October 16, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Intent Solutions and NFANT Labs

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healthcare technology — Lou Malice, Sam Zamarippa, Jay Shaffer, Tommy Cunningham

Intent Solutions and NFANT Labs

We sat down with experts from two Atlanta area health technology companies, Intent Solutions and NFANT Labs. Joining us in studio were Lou Malice, Sam Zamarippa, and Tommy Cunningham. Intent Solutions is a start-up that is developing a device aimed at improving compliance with prescribed medication regimens, as well as helping to improve likelihood the intended person has access to the medicine.

In its early phase of development, Intent Solutions has positioned itself to be an effective tool for pharmaceutical research studies. In these studies, it is vital that participants adhere to the prescribed medication regimen in order to obtain the most effective and accurate test results.

The Intent Solutions device has a secure chamber that contains the pills for the particular prescription. Called “TAD” (standing for “take as directed”), the device utilizes fingerprint technology to identify the user before dispensing medication. Additionally, the TAD device is able to connect with the patient’s mobile device (and the prescribing entity) to share updates on efforts to access medication by unauthorized users, whether medication was dispensed, and it can send the patient reminders, prompting them to take their medication.

In this way, the TAD device facilitates medication research by improving compliance with the schedule the medication was intended to be taken on.

NFANT Labs has developed a device that uses sensors that can give a care giver visual feedback on a monitor regarding a NICU baby’s sucking patterns while feeding, a task that for many premies is challenging. Until now, the only way a practitioner could assess the sucking strength and patterns was to literally use a finger in the infant’s mouth.

The difficulty these young babies face is often related to a weak tongue, ineffective tongue movements, and uncoordinated swallowing timing. This predisposes them to consuming inadequate calories as well as creating the risk for aspiration pneumonia, both of which can lead to additional length of stay and even mortality.

The NFANT Labs monitor fits between the nipple and the bottle used to feed the child. It has a sensor that detects the up and down motion of the tongue, as well as negative pressure being generated by the suckling infant. It converts the data to wave forms on a monitor that the care giver can follow, allowing them to slow or pause feeding to allow the child to “catch up” with dispensed milk or to re-position them them to assess whether it leads to a more effective sucking pattern.

Special Guests:

Lou Malice, CEO of Intent Solutions and NFANT Labs

Sam Zamarippa, VP of Strategy and Business Development, Intent Solutions

Tommy Cunningham, Co-founder of NFANT Labs

Vitamin C and OBMedical Company

August 31, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Vitamin C and OBMedical Company

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Vitamin C and OBMedical Company

On this episode of Health Connect South Radio we hosted the CEO and co-founder of Vitamin C and President/CEO of OB Medical Company. These two companies are creating technology innovations that help two distinct groups, physician practices and expectant mothers in the birthing process, respectively.

Vitamin C’s Osama Hashmi realized that increasing focus on population health management measures meant a need for greater engagement with particular patient groups. In order to effectively manage chronic diseases such as diabetes or even regular wellness follow up, practices often need to interact with patients to get these visits scheduled. In many cases, patients won’t take initiative to schedule them themselves.

Hashmi and his colleagues decided to create a platform that interfaces with existing EMR’s that allows providers to ID target populations and create a variety of pre-created content for distribution to patients. In some cases, it’s a pre-recorded automated phone call that can encourage the scheduling of a follow up visit. In others, it may be an automated call that queries the patient for particular data such as vitals or blood sugars, quantity of exercise, etc.

In still others, it may be a text or email generated that goes to the patient. In this way, the providers are able to more effectively “scale” their resources to be able to reach what is often hundreds or even thousands of patients with necessary contact to facilitate follow up. The end result is better patient outcomes as well as increased revenue for the practice due to scheduling of necessary, yet high-Revenue visits (based on time/acuity).

OBMedical Company saw an opportunity to improve upon monitoring technology used in the OB delivery room. As I spoke with President/CEO, Weaver Gaines, he explained the technology for the fetal heart rate, contraction frequency/intensity, etc. have not really changed in roughly 40 years.

Today, mothers are tethered to a monitor by wires leading to sensors that are held in place by elastic velcro straps that encircle the mother’s abdomen. They are challenging to keep in position and can provide limited accuracy in cases where the mother is particularly obese.

OBMedical Company has designed a monitoring device that uses wireless electrodes that measure electrical current through the patient’s skin rather than having to rely on skin tension. This allows the mother to be able to ambulate in the room during labor while continuing to be monitored. Additionally, it allows for greater accuracy when the mother is obese.

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

Weaver Gaines, President/CEO of OBMedical Company

Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
Director and Treasurer, Dance Alive National Ballet
Chairman, Board of Directors, Florida Research Consortium
Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia School of Law

Center for Health Transformation

August 26, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Center for Health Transformation

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Center for Health Transformation

I hosted Steve Fraime, Director of WellStar’s Center for Health Transformation on this episode. WellStar is rather unique in its investment in an internal center for health innovation—that’s a department typically seen at academic medical centers. The WellStar health system engages with their providers to uncover ideas for opportunities to innovate that will improve patient outcomes and patient experience, as well as ideas that will improve work environment for the system.

Steve explained how the Center for Health Transformation initially got its start as a think tank designed to pull together leaders from 20 health systems to identify best practices and facilitate innovation among them. As the initiative got going, it became evident that often, participants were reticent to share information that was perceived to give a particular organization some measure of market advantage.

Ultimately, WellStar decided they would pull the concept within their borders to focus on internal innovations that will improve their overall performance. From there, the organization worked to regularly interface with physicians within the system, along with folks in leadership roles to get suggestions for processes that could be improved upon.

Steve talked about two projects that were suggested by providers. One project that was brought by orthopedic surgeons was to explore the possibility of developing a more reliable means of producing a cast for fractured extremities. Another was to address the challenge for patients to navigate the large, multi-site, multi-building campuses that constitute the WellStar health system.

The Center for Health Innovation chose to collaborate with the Georgia Tech Capstone project.

Special Guest:

Steve Fraime, BSN, Director of WellStar Center for Health Transformation

Previous Assistant Manager, Emergency & Trauma Services, WellStar Paulding
MBA, Georgia State University J Mack Robinson School of Business
Masters of Healthcare Administration, Georgia State University
BSN, Georgia State University

Innovative Health Technology

August 17, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Innovative Health Technology

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Bailey Ernstes, Jake Kazlow, and Jim Sullivan talk innovative health technologies

Innovative Health Technology

On this episode of Health Connect South Radio we featured two Atlanta companies developing innovative health technology. We hosted Monitor Med Solutions and HealPros to learn about the respective problems their solutions solve.

Monitor Med Solutions was founded by several Georgia Tech students to create a device that would use bluetooth technology to give hydrocephalus patients real-time monitoring data regarding their intracranial pressure via their mobile devices. Bailey Ernstes and Jake Kazlow, two of the co-founders, joined us to talk about their project.

As Bailey shared, as many as 1:500 babies are born with hydrocephalus, an abnormally-high intracranial pressure caused by a disruption in the normal flow of cerebral spinal fluid. These patients require that a shunt be implanted that will facilitate modulation of the intracranial pressure and prevent the numerous neurological problems and even death that can occur when pressure rises or falls beyond certain limits.

The challenge for these patients and their families is that the shunt technology itself has not evolved much since its inception. And, the shunts fail at a rate of roughly 40% of the time, typically due to occlusion. In most cases, the only way the patients discover there is a problem is when they begin to show symptoms of increased pressure.

Monitor Med Solutions, an Atlanta-based start-up has developed a device that interfaces with the intracranial shunt and contains a bluetooth transmitter. This enables the user to get pressure readings via an app on their mobile device, potentially allowing them to seek care before neurologic symptoms occur and/or preventing unnecessary ER admissions to seek care.

Jim Sullivan is CEO of HealPros. This company saw a need for closing the gap in preventive care for patients with diabetes. The diabetic population is at risk for blindness due to retinal damage that is caused by chronically-elevated glucose levels. It can take years of asymptomatic progression of the retinal damage for visual changes to occur. Because of this, many patients do not bother to seek out the recommended annual exams that could identify problematic changes early enough to do something about it.

HealPros utilizes teleimaging capabilities coupled with on-site technologists who can do exams in a physician’s office or even a patient’s home. The company partners with health plans and physician offices to coordinate visits with patients and conduct the necessary eye exam.

They then communicate results to patient, doctor, and health plan company and can help facilitate getting access to appropriate advanced care if an abnormality is found.

Special Guests

Bailey Ernstes, CEO of Monitor Med Solutions

BS Biomedical/Medical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
National Merit Scholar
Campoamor Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient
Previous Research Assistant, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Jake Kaslow, Co-founder and CTO of Monitor Med Solutions

BS Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Jim Sullivan, CEO of HealPros

BA, MA, Economics & Finance, State University of New York at Binghamton
Business Professionals Course, Linguistics and Business Philosophy, The Aji Network
Former Analyst, Goldman Sachs
Previous Owner, Medical Imaging Specialists

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

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

Alii Healthcare

July 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Alii Healthcare

00:00 / 01:06:22

Alii Healthcare

On this week’s show we hosted experts from the telehealth platform, Alii Healthcare. Dr. Sylvan Waller, Founder/CEO of Alii Healthcare, Dr. Reginald Nesbitt, Christie Sherman, RN, and Alii client, Jennifer Smith joined us to talk about how the technology solution works. They have created a mobile app called, “Bond”, which uses a mobile device’s camera to allow a patient to engage face-to-face with an ER physician to determine best course of action with minor, but time-sensitive complaints.

Sylvan shared how today, the average wait time for patients to be seen by a doctor from time of request for appointment is as much as 18 days. We also talked about the fact that it is not uncommon for less acute complaints such as respiratory infections, minor cuts, sprains, etc, to wait in an ER for 2-4 hours (or more).

Having been an ER physician for a number of years, he saw first hand how these patients can become dissatisfied with their experience due to the fact that they’ve had to wait so long before being seen. He felt there must be a better way.

He and his partners set out to take advantage of telehealth technology to create an application that uses a mobile device’s camera to allow a patient to request to speak with a physician, and within seconds or a few minutes at most, they can “Facetime” with a qualified ER physician. Using the mobile device’s camera, the doctor can view a patient’s throat, swollen ankle, minor cut, etc. From there he/she can make recommendations for medical prescriptions or treatments, or recommend the patient is seen in an urgent care or ER.

The team brought with them, Alii Healthcare client, Jennifer Smith. She talked about her experiences using the Bond app to get diagnosis and prescriptions for minor injuries suffered while running and a respiratory infection.

Jennifer talked about how intuitive the application’s interface is and how quickly she was able to speak directly with a physician without having to leave her home.

Special guests:

Dr. Sylvan Waller, MD, CEO/Founder of Alii Healthcare

Doctor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Residency, Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Former Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine
Previous Entrepreneur-in-Residence, ATDC

Dr. Reginald Nesbitt, MD, President, Bond House

Doctor of Medicine, University of Texas, Galvaston
Residency, ER, University of Chicago Hospitals
Board Certified, Emergency Medicine

Christie Sherman, RN, Director of Physician Engagement, Alii Healthcare

RN Diploma, George Brown College
BSN, University of Phoenix
MSN, Nursing Science, University of Phoenix
Previous VP of Client Operations, Schumacher Group

Jennifer Smith, Alii Healthcare client

Juris Doctor, Georgia State University College of Law
Previous Director of Reimbursement, Resurgens Orthopedics
Senior Associate, Ken David & Associates LLP

Fighting Infections

July 6, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Fighting Infections

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GeoVax — Debora Carrier, Michael Hellerstein, Jay Schafer

Fighting Infections

This week we hosted two experts whose companies are fighting infections from different directions. Michael Hellerstein is the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems for GeoVax. They’re a biotechnology company that’s developing vaccines for Ebola and HIV.

Debora Carrier combined her experience as a fashion model and a healthcare provider to think of a better-looking scrub uniform that is both better looking and resistant to spreading infections. She founded Twice As Nice Uniforms to give health workers and physicians a more visually appealing choice while at the same time helping reduce the alarming rate of infections acquired in health delivery environments.

Michael talked about how GeoVax has been fighting infections through innovative approaches to vaccine development, utilizing vaccine-like particles to tackle HIV and more recently, Ebola. He shared how prevalent HIV remains today and that more work is being focused on treating the disease versus developing vaccines to prevent it.

He shared how technology has evolved that allows biotech companies to identify genetic components to viruses, which enables them to incorporate pieces of this material and instill it into a harmless organism. Then, as the organism reproduces, it produces a copy of itself that has some characteristics of the pathogen the vaccine is designed to fight. This “recombinant” vaccine doesn’t make the body sick but it does prompt an immune response from the body against the pathogenic virus, providing protection against infection.

GeoVax is able to create particles that are safer to use than vaccines that contain live pathogen, allowing people who may have some immune compromise to get some protection as well in some cases.

The company has used this technology to get a vaccine that is showing some promise for preventing HIV infection. Michael talked about how the clinical trials are progressing and how long it takes to get a vaccine approved for use in people versus the time it takes to develop a medication to treat disease.

Debora talked about her story as a healthcare provider for over 20 years led her to think of a scrub design that looks much better than the bulky, wrinkle-prone scrubs the health community has been using for decades. She talked about how frequently the environment is very cool, prompting workers to wear long sleeves and/or jackets while delivering care.

We discussed how long sleeves prevent washing the lower arms as is recommended and how the fabric can readily carry bacteria and viral material from one patient to another. Debora investigated various athletic materials that can help regulate body temperature in various climes, while at the same time possessing antimicrobial properties.

Twice As Nice Uniforms utilize an American-made material that controls moisture and uses a scrub design that incorporates a removable liner that allows the worker to be comfortable when the rooms are very cool.

In looking at the design of the garments, it’s clear she brought her experience in modeling to bear in the style/cut of the uniforms they’re creating.

Special Guests:

Debora Carrier, CEO/Founder of Twice As Nice Uniforms

AS, Dental Hygiene, William Rainey Harper College
Professional Fashion Model
Registered Dental Hygienist
Founder, CPR Sisters

Michael Hellerstein, Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems

AB, Biology, Harvard University
Previous Assistant Scientist, Pfizer
Co-Founder, BlueSky Biotech
President, Hellerstein Consulting

Brought to you in part by:

Mobiquity

June 26, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Mobiquity

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Nirav Desai, Principal Health Strategist for Mobiquity

Mobiquity

On this week’s show, Diana and I sat down with health technology strategist, Nirav Desai, of Mobiquity. Mobiquity is a professional services firm trusted by hundreds of companies to be their mobile engagement provider. On a global scale, the trends, strategy, users, platforms, technology, development, organizational issues of mobile are complicated. Mobiquity eliminates the complexity.

We talked about how important the Mobile component is for all enterprises today, including healthcare. The ACA has created requirements for providing patients with access to portals where they can connect with their health providers and get access to their health data. Mobiquity helps health enterprises create more effective applications and platforms for handling this requirement as well as better outcomes for population health management.

Nirav shared some troubling statistics (~125,000 people/year die due to incorrectly taking their medications). We discussed how mobile technology and applications can promote better adherence to prescribed care by notifying providers if patients are taking meds as directed as well as giving providers access to real time patient data remotely.

Additionally, technology platforms can facilitate making decisions about care plans by showing aggregate data across a practice’s patient population as a whole. In this way, trends may be identified that allow more proactive approaches with the care plan.

We talked about the way mHealth and teleHealth are overlapping now. Previously, telehealth was mainly a way to deliver care to a patient, particularly in mental health. Now, with mobile health, more data can flow from patient to provider and the patient can take a greater part in achieving positive outcomes through engaging with a mobile platform. These mobile platforms can push educational information and reminders to help facilitate care plan compliance. Some telehealth platforms now have mobile components to them that enhance the patient encounter and have more robust data.

Mobiquity is also making available a behavior change platform called Delta IQ, aimed at helping to change patient behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and other health behaviors. The platform “learns” as the user engages with the information, adapting what is displayed to the user to better facilitate effectiveness of suggested interventions.

Special Guest:

Nirav Desai, Principal Healthcare Strategist, Mobiquity