ShareWIK.com Archives - Business RadioX ®

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

April 9, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

This week we sat down with internationally-known expert on the subject of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Dr. Helen Gelly. This treatment modality has been available to patients with poorly-healing wounds, thermal injuries, decompression sickness, late effects of radiation, and several other problems for decades. And while there is a quality body of evidence supporting the use of this treatment for clinically-appropriate patients, many of the patients who could benefit from access to it never get to know it’s available.

This is due in large part to the fact that of ~159 US medical colleges, only ~30 offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy and wound resolution as taught specialties. That means that approximately 85% of graduating physicians have had very little (if any) exposure to academic information about the modality. The result is that they often miss opportunities to add the treatment to the patient’s care plan, which in turn delays (or even prevents) these problem wounds from healing.

Dr. Gelly shared information about the history of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and we talked about the physiology of what’s happening during the course of therapy. We discussed a couple of major groups of patients whose clinical outcomes tend to be significantly improved with access to hyperbaric medicine, diabetic ulcer patients and patients experiencing persistent late effects of radiation. The aim is to get credible information to the public so that both physicians and patients in need can educate themselves about it. Atlanta is unique in that both inside the city and in numerous suburbs, patients can receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy in hospital-based or UHMS accredited free-standing programs. It’s also paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance companies for these evidence-based indications.

Special Guest:

Dr. Helen Gelly, MD of HyperbaRXs

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Internship/Residency: Pediatrics/Emergency Medicine at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals
Board Certified in Emergency Medicine
Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians
Fellow of the American College of Certified Wound Specialists
Subspecialty Certified Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine

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/

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

National Parkinson Foundation

February 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

National Parkinson Foundation

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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

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

January 21, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

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Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

According to the CDC, as many as 28 million Americans have diabetes. And as many as 1:4 of them do not realize they have it. That means today, potentially almost 10% of the US population are dealing with this chronic disease that puts them at risk for a myriad of health problems (many of them deadly), including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, limb loss due to amputation, poor healing after surgery, greater risk for infections, and more. It’s clearly a serious problem. And, with an ever-growing number of obese persons in the country, including a concerning number of young people, these statistics are likely to grow. In light of these sobering facts, a number of key players within the community from government agencies to health care providers, and innovative companies are beginning to put significant effort into preventing diabetes. In Atlanta, the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is a group of forward-thinking executives, health experts, and political officers who are joining together to do just that.

This week we were joined in studio by Dr. Luci Ide, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes, and Karl Smith, PhD, Project Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP). Rimidi Diabetes is a health technology company that has developed and launched an application that enables diabetes patients to track and share key health-related data points with the clinicians guiding their care. With this information, the patients and providers are able to better monitor glucose levels and other indicators and determine how behavioral and medical treatment changes are impacting the patient’s condition. Luci is one of the team members for the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team and she talked about how increasing awareness of the disease and how it can be prevented are important facets of combating diabetes. She used the analogy of a bath tub, where how quickly it fills is determined by how much water flows out of the drain (patients dying as a result of the disease) versus how much is flowing in from the faucet (new diabetes patients). She went on to discuss the fact that today, more patients are living longer and managing their diabetes better than in the past. Our next challenge is to begin to decrease the number of new patients developing diabetes in populations where it can be prevented.

Karl Smith, also a member of the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team, shared how GCAPP is working to engage faith-based organizations in Atlanta communities that have populations that are at a high genetic risk for developing diabetes in an effort to educate young people who live there on how and why they can reduce their risk. He talked about how these communities tend to be “gymnasium deserts”, having few if any facilities that would allow kids to be physically active in a safe place. He went on to share how these communities also tend to have limited availability of quality whole foods that are healthy choices that decrease risk of obesity and are more heart-/diabetes-friendly.

Our discussion focused on how the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is working to pull more resources together to help reduce the rate of new diabetes patients in our communities. We talked about how public service announcements are being put together by the county government, and how their team needs access to funding to support web development, additional PSA information, and more manpower to help handle some of the work necessary to grow the network of support/collaboration. We hope our listeners share this information so that we can have a significant impact on this disease that is costly in its effect on our community’s health as well as financially.

Special Guests:

Dr. Luci Ide, MD, PhD, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes

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

Mark Smith, PhD, Program Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential

Doctor of Health Education, A.T.Still University of Health Sciences
MS, Exercise Science and Health Promotion, California University of Pennsylvania
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Exercise Is Medicine Specialist, American College of Sports Medicine

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

January 8, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

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American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

A Note From the Host: Thank you! for listening to our inaugural show with Health Connect South. We are excited to provide a media outlet to supplement the efforts of the organization to move healthcare outcomes forward in our community. We were pleased to bring these experts together for what turned out to be an excellent discussion on efforts to improve outcomes for cancer patients. I was disappointed to learn in post-production that there was a technical problem that created a level of feedback over the recording of the broadcast. We are not satisfied with anything less than excellent sound quality for our content. That said, please forgive the presence of static that found its way into the recording and take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about what these important experts are working to achieve, and what resources would help them achieve larger success sooner. And be sure to tune in next week for what will be a great live show and subsequent podcast (sans technology gremlins). ~CW Hall

According to statistics from cancer.org, cancer is currently the #2 cause of death in the US. We know that cancer occurrence is greatest among persons over 40 years of age. As the proportion of persons over 40 grows more rapidly, cancer will become the #1 cause of death statistically, surpassing heart disease. While these facts are concerning, there are reasons to feel encouraged. Since 1991, the overall death rate due to cancer has decreased by 22%, translating to over 1.5 million lives saved. Recent statistics show this trend is continuing. But we obviously have work to do.

For our first episode Diana Keough of ShareWIK Media Group and I sat down with experts from American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente to talk about efforts to reduce cancer rates of occurrence and improve outcomes for those who become cancer patients. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld is Deputy Chief Medical Director for American Cancer Society. He shared information about the over-arching goals of American Cancer Society and key areas of focus. We also talked about some areas of need that if bolstered, could advance cancer awareness and outcomes. Dr. Lichtenfeld spoke about the fact that an area that could help improve cancer outcomes is in continued improvements in awareness of (and use of) screening measures, particularly among at-risk women and areas with limited access to care to facilitate earlier detection and intervention.

Nancy Paris shared how GeorgiaCORE is focused on amplifying national efforts with a state-level focus to curb cancer rates and improve outcomes for cancer patients and quality of life for survivors in Georgia. This unique health initiative is a public-private partnership that provides a collecting point for information regarding available care resources for active cancer patients and survivors. The organization also provides a listing of ongoing clinical trials that a patient may be able to participate in to fight their cancer while advancing science for new evidence-based treatment approaches. When the organization began to look into available clinical trials they identified 82. That number has grown to over 650. Nancy said, “The number of trials isn’t the whole measure of their value. But cancer is a multifaceted disease, in fact more than one disease. . .So we have to have a number of trials to reach different types of cancers, different age groups. . .That means a patient may be eligible for a new treatment.” She talked about how GeorgiaCORE supports active research in the state and helps link patients with trials that could potentially help them.

Dr. Bindu Lingam is an oncologist with Southeast Permanente Medical Group who has a passion for clinical research in the field of oncology in addition to providing high quality care to patients. She shared information about Kaiser Permanente, including the fact that they currently care for over 9 million members across the country. Dr. Lingam talked about how physicians guide the care of patients and how health and research data is able to be shared across their network to improve outcomes for all due to a system-wide electronic medical record. She described how the organization is able to facilitate best practices and research efforts across their network by sharing data from locations around the country. “We have a rich network of information to draw from. And we feel like we draw that network here to Georgia and Atlanta to capitalize on that.”

Special Guests:

Dr. Len Licthenfeld, MD, MACP, Deputy Chief Medical Director of American Cancer Society

Doctorate of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Member, Alpha Omega Alpha, Honor Medical Society
Board Certified, Oncology
Over 4 decades of involvement in cancer care

Nancy Paris, President of GeorgiaCORE

Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Georgia Health Foundation
Former Vice President, Georgia Cancer Coalition
Former Vice President, Georgia Baptist Health Care System
MS, Health Policy and Administration, Mercer University

Dr. Bindu Lingam, MD, of Southeast Permanente Medical Group

Doctorate of Medicine, Meharry Medical College
Fellowship, Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine
Recipient, 2014 Community Benefit Award, Kaiser Permanente Georgia Region
Recipient, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award- NIH Training Grant

Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

December 16, 2014 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

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Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

This week I got to sit down with Three Fantastic Entrepreneurs from the Atlanta area. Diana Keough, CEO and founder of ShareWIK Media Group (Share What I Know), LeeAnn Maxwell, Co-Founder of Vixen Vodka, and Lara Hodgson, multiple-time successful entrepreneur and CEO/Founder of NOWaccount. We talked about some of the challenges they faced as women launching their own businesses, hear what they believe helped them succeed as entrepreneurs, and advice they offer for women contemplating starting a business of their own. For the longest time most of us would envision a man when thinking “CEO” or “Doctor”, or even “Entrepreneur”. And, as our guests shared, many times they’re the only female CEO/Entrepreneur in a room full of men. Times are slowly but surely changing. And today many women are launching successful brands and businesses, some of which are now global brands.

ShareWIK Media Group is a licensed content-generating group, producing high quality, interesting content across all media types for use in population health management efforts, inbound marketing/branding, testimonial content, and pertinent health optimization content. Diana talked about her transition from a journalist for the Plains Dealer newspaper to a Chief Executive Officer in a leadership role. She says, “If you are not surrounding yourself with people who are better than you and open to the fact that you might be wrong; or they might have a better idea on how to do things, then you’re not going to grow.” Over the weeks since I met Diana I’ve had the opportunity to meet several of the folks who make up the team at ShareWIK and seen some of their work. I can tell you: if your organization or agency needs to move an initiative or your business forward and you rely heavily on engaging your target audience to drive awareness you MUST include ShareWIK Media Group on your shortlist of content providers. At their core, the people at ShareWIK Media Group are journalists with expertise across all media types. On top of journalistic skills they bring knowledge and expertise within the healthcare journalism space as well.

Vixen Vodka is an EXCELLENT vodka that was born out of a trip to St. Simons Island, GA where two friends, drinking cocktails by the pool, decided they should launch their own vodka, branded and tailored for women. As LeeAnn says, “We came home, sobered up, and remembered it was a great idea.” “A dream without action is merely a fantasy.” It took them 2 years from beach to shelf. She shared how she and her good friend (also a woman) broke into the spirits business, starting with ZERO knowledge of how to make vodka much less how to bring one to market. After being told her idea was fantastic by a business consultant he turned around and told them, “I’ll never work. The spirits industry is a Good Ol’ Boys network. Those men will chew you up and spit you out!” That was several years ago and now the brand is adding more states to the seven states where they’re currently sold.

NOWaccount got started as a solution to a problem Lara Hodgson encountered as an entrepreneur with an earlier business, the impact of not having access to cash that is tied up holding unpaid invoices, particularly when they aged for several weeks (or more). She firmly believes that a successful business needs to have people behind them who are providing the product/service to solve a particular problem for their customer more so than “to sell lots of ‘X’ and make lots of money because it’s a great product”. She said, “So many people come up with a great idea and they fall in love with the ‘What’. They fall in love with the widget or the product. And if your ego and your passion is in the product then they are going to woefully un-deliver. But if your ego and your passion are in the “So What?” and the impact and the problem you’re solving then the sky’s the limit.” NOWaccount is a merchant services company that provides the B2B company with access to capital by selling slower-paying invoice accounts within 2-5 days for basically the same cost as accepting a credit card. Their solution is invisible to their client’s customers, has no minimum time commitment, and includes only those accounts selected by the B2B they’re helping. The NOWaccount option gives businesses the capital they need to accept larger orders, add staff, often enabling them grow larger and faster than was possible before.

Special Guests:

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

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

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

LeeAnn Maxwell, CEO/Co-Founder of Vixen Vodka

28 years experience in finance sector
former Director, Client Services of AccousTech Music Productions
Crossfit fan
50% Firecracker
50% Do-It-Yourself Woman

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express – Top Docs Radio

October 29, 2014 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express - Top Docs Radio

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ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express

This week I sat down with the CEO’s of ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express. With the recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act, new requirements came into effect that placed emphasis on patient satisfaction as a component of reimbursement. As it happens, these innovative companies had been developing and implementing their innovative platforms that dramatically improve patient experience and engagement before the law came into effect. That positions them as leaders in the space and I was pleased to have them join us to talk about what they’re doing.

ShareWIK.com provides licensed health information to a wide variety of organizations seeking to provide useful health content to their website and social media visitors. The writers who contribute to the ShareWIK content are journalists who have a true understanding of the topics they are covering. Content is vetted for accuracy before distribution. That means companies and healthcare organizations seeking to control health costs through helping employees and patients make better choices in their daily lives now have an effective, engaging tool to do just that. The team at ShareWIK is also collaborating with the Bioscape Digital platform to provide content that will be served to their patient-users.

ER Express is an application/platform that enables participating ER’s and Urgent Care centers to post an estimated time they can expect to be seen at their location. This means a prospective patient can register and hold their place in line and do much of their wait time at home, work, etc. The application uses IP address and Geo-tagging for users on mobile devices to display nearby area care centers and their estimated Time To Be Seen. In this way patients can reduce their overall wait time as well as optimize ER versus Urgent Care utilization for non-life-threatening problems. The service is free for patients to use and is currently available for numerous major health facilities in the Atlanta metro (and elsewhere in the country).

Bioscape Digital is a tablet-based platform for use in the emergency department and urgent care settings. The platform is simple to use with a simple, intuitive point-click interface. It serves the patient with professionally-produced health content provided by ShareWIK that covers a variety of topics from what to expect with a given type of study or procedure to information about available services within the hospital. The platform provides an engaging way for patients to occupy their time spent waiting for care that improves their awareness of useful health information at the same time. Patients can use the platform to communicate positive and negative feedback in real time to hospital personnel, giving the staff the opportunity to potentially address and correct issues of concern. Their platform is already showing a dramatic improvement in patient satisfaction scores as well as staff morale in their client-user facilities.

These Atlanta-based companies are helping to improve the way care is delivered and the way the experience is perceived by patients. It’s exciting to get to introduce them to a wider audience and help them expand adoption of these helpful, innovative technology platforms.

Special Guests:

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

Sahil Patel, President of ER Express