health radio Archives - Page 2 of 9

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

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.

Elder Care

June 6, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Elder Care

00:00 / 01:00:43

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

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

MBA, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Previous Manager, Deloitte Consulting
Former Director of Marketing, BARD Urology Division
Previous VP Marketing, Genesis Biosciences

Rick Stone, Chief Innovation Officer, Synensis

MS Clinical Psychology, Vanderbilt University
Former President, StoryWork Institute
Previous StoryAnalytics Master, IDEAS
Fluent in Spanish

This program made possible by:

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:

Cholesterol Isn’t The Bad Guy In Heart Disease – Top Docs Radio

May 11, 2015 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Cholesterol Isn't The Bad Guy In Heart Disease - Top Docs Radio

00:00 / 0:55:00

Cholesterol Isn’t The Bad Guy In Heart Disease

I recently read an article by a former heart surgeon that talked about the fact that cholesterol isn’t the bad guy in heart disease. Instead, he argued that inflammation of the lining of the blood vessels caused by sugars and even the “healthy” oils we eat such as corn, canola (Omega-6 oils) is the real cause of what is still the #1 cause of death in America today.

I sat down with Dr. Ellie Campbell of Campbell Family Medicine in Cumming, GA to talk about the article and she was eager to discuss it. She completely agrees with the premise of the article and shared how the ratio of Omega-3 oils to Omega-6 oils has grown from ~1:1 or 1:2 to as much as 25:1 Omega-6 to Omega-3.

She also talked about the fact that higher levels of cholesterol in the blood don’t necessarily equate to plaque and heart disease/stroke. It’s when cholesterol molecules are oxidized and corrupted by inflammatory substances we eat that they become “sticky” and attach to the irritated walls of the blood vessels.

Dr. Campbell shared numerous suggestions for basic changes we can make that will not only serve to reduce our risk for heart disease but in some cases can actually reverse damage already done.

I also brought back Leana Kart, a chiropractor whose practice, Northwest Chiropractic and a member of the Georgia Chiropractic Association to talk about the fact that May is National Posture Awareness Month. She shared several tips on how to avoid “tech neck”, damage to the spine and neck caused by long periods of chin-down angles to look at a device in our lap. She also talked about why good posture contributes to keeping us healthy.

Special Guests:

Special Guests:

Dr. Ellie Campbell, DO, Family Practice & Integrative Medicine at Campbell Family Medicine