In this final episode of our series on opioid abuse in America we talk with Stephanie Peglow, DO, MPH, about innovative clinical approaches, harm reduction and public health controversies such as the pros and cons of needle-exchange programs and widespread distribution of reversing agents like Naloxone. Dr. Peglow fills an impressive variety of roles including Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry at Eastern Virginia Medical School; Sentara Healthcare System Director for Addictions Treatment; and as a Substance Use Disorder Policy Advisor for Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services. This combination of experiences gives her unique insight into the latest thinking on new approaches and will be of interest to patients, clinicians, and public policy experts.

About the Series

America is in the midst of an Opioid abuse crisis. In 2017, more than 28,000 Deaths were attributed to overdosing on synthetic opioids. The steady rise in the number of people misusing opioids and the migration of some patients to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl  when they can no longer get legitimate prescriptions has resulted in a genuine public health crisis and an “all-hands on deck” moment for healthcare. In this special series of 4x4 Health our guests share their views on this crisis as we look at the current state of diagnosis and treatment as well as the role technology can play in enabling better care.

In this episode of our series on opioid abuse in America we talk with Rob Valuck, PhD, co-founder and CEO of OpiSafe and Director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. Rob is a leading proponent of collaborative approaches to addressing the crisis and provides insights into the successes and challenges of this approach based on his experience in Colorado. We also discuss how OpiSafe is using innovative, cutting-edge information technology deliver ever more effective and efficient interventions.

About the Series

America is in the midst of an Opioid abuse crisis. In 2017, more than 28,000 Deaths were attributed to overdosing on synthetic opioids. The steady rise in the number of people misusing opioids and the migration of some patients to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl  when they can no longer get legitimate prescriptions has resulted in a genuine public health crisis and an “all-hands on deck” moment for healthcare.

Healthcare is moving to the cloud and in this episode of 4x4 Health we talk with Travis Good, MD, Chief Technology Officer of Datica; following their recent merger with Sansoro Health. Travis and the Datica team have deep expertise and experience in helping healthcare organizations deploy in cloud environments, integrate securely with EHRs, achieve HIPAA compliance, and pass HITRUST CSF assessments. Previous 4x4 Health guests have noted how important the cloud is becoming for data-driven healthcare and Dr. Good takes us through the compelling reasons for this shift as well as the associated integration and compliance challenges.  You won’t want to miss this discussion about how cloud-based health IT is enabling the next wave of innovative technology to improve outcomes for patients, providers, and payers.

While much has been made about how the proposed rules on information blocking and interoperability from ONC and CMS will impact providers, patients and health IT companies, there has been surprisingly little discussion of the new requirements for health insurance companies. But make no mistake: these rules have major implications for participating insurance providers and they are scheduled to take effect beginning in January 2020.

 

In this special edition of 4x4 Health, we turn the spotlight on this important issue with Nikki Kent, Senior Vice President of Operations at Sansoro Health.  Nikki has decades of experience working with both payer and provider organizations, including 15 years at Optum and UnitedHealthcare where she served at VPs of Client Services and Compensation.   Nikki’s experience with organizations on all sides of the health IT, make her the perfect person to provide an overview of the challenging technical, business, and compliance requirements that payers are set to face in the very near future. 

 

To learn more about the proposed rules and ongoing API revolution in healthcare, be sure to check out the rest of our series on ONC and CMS as well as our API 101 episodes.

In this episode of 4x4 Health, we talk to Grahame Grieve, the architect-developer of HL7s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and principle at Health Intersections of Melbourne, Australia.  Grahame is one of the world’s foremost experts on healthcare interoperability, a strong leader of the Health IT community, and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Father of FHIR.’ “[Interoperability] is not a technology problem . . . It’s an information and people problem”, Grahame observes before describing how FHIR was able to break through this 'people problem' by using a collaborative and community driven approach. Grahame's passion for improving healthcare outcomes with technologies like FHIR shines throughout the episode. We think you will leave this episode inspired and optimistic about an interoperable future for healthcare.

In this episode of our series on opioid abuse in America we talk with Debra Bauman, VP of Technology Services and Chief Information Officer at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation about how her organization is harnessing information technology to enable better, more efficient patient care. With over 30 years of experience in Technology Services in a variety of industries, Deb is a seasoned, accomplished leader and trusted advisor. Her insights about how to get the most out of IT will benefit anyone engaged in leveraging technology to combat the opioid abuse and can be generalized to a wide range of clinical and operational IT opportunities.

About the Series

America is in the midst of an Opioid abuse crisis. In 2017, more than 28,000 Deaths were attributed to overdosing on synthetic opioids. The steady rise in the number of people misusing opioids and the migration of some patients to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl when they can no longer get legitimate prescriptions has resulted in a genuine public health crisis and an “all-hands on deck” moment for healthcare. In this special series of 4x4 Health

We begin our series on opioid abuse in America with an overview of the origins of the crisis and current approaches to diagnosis and treatment with Dr. Marvin Seppala. Dr. Seppala is Chief Medical Officer at the world-renowned Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and has over 30 years of experience developing programs and treating addiction. This is a do-not-miss episode for patients, clinicians, policy makers and anyone else touched by this crisis.

About the Series:

America is in the midst of an Opioid abuse crisis. In 2017, more than 28,000 Deaths were attributed to overdosing on synthetic opioids. The steady rise in the number of people misusing opioids and the migration of some patients to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl when they can no longer get legitimate prescriptions has resulted in a genuine public health crisis and an “all-hands on deck” moment for healthcare.

 

In this special series of 4x4 Health our guests share their views on this crisis as we look at the current state of diagnosis and treatment as well as the role technology can play in enabling better care.

In this episode of 4x4 Health, we discuss intellectual property (or “IP”) with David Hyams, a senior technology lawyer at The Marbury Law Group with over 20 years of experience in IP matters.  With the US healthcare system facing rising costs and limited resources, health IT innovators are stepping up with cutting edge technology that accomplishes the triple-aim of healthcare.  However, IP can often be a key challenge that holds companies back as they struggle to make decisions about how to protect their tech while growing and innovating as fast as possible.  David has broad and deep knowledge about IP issues and can explain them while skipping the dense “legalese”. Given his ability to look at IP from different perspectives, from startup to large publicly traded company, we hope you learn as much as we did from this conversation.

In this episode of 4x4 Health, we continue our exploration of APIs with Sam Pierson, the VP of Engineering here at Sansoro Health and a recent addition to our team.  Sam has extensive experience working with APIs outside of healthcare and we were excited to explore his unique perspective in this episode.  Throughout the conversation, Sam touches on several important developments that have already revolutionized e-commerce, such as cloud computing, and explains how APIs can unlock these innovations for healthcare.  We often say that healthcare is a decade behind the rest of the internet economy and talking to Sam is a great reminder of Health IT's incredible potential to decrease costs and improve outcomes for health systems of all sizes.

In this episode of 4x4 Health, we talk with Steven Posnak, the Executive Director of the Office of Technology within the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC).  This role places Steve at the intersection of regulation and innovative technology in Health IT, as he leads both the ONC Health IT Certification Program and directs the ONC Tech Lab.  In this episode, Steve discusses the new ONC proposed rules on interoperability (here are links to the rules themselves and where can post your comment directly), rapid technological innovations coming to Health IT, and how ONC is helping healthcare interoperability finally ‘catch up’ with the rest of the digital economy.  To learn more about the ONC proposed rules in relation to information blocking, listen to this 4x4 Health episode with fellow ONC leader Mike Lipinski, and, to hear from the National Coordinator himself, check out Dr. Rucker’s 2019 Predictions episode from earlier this year.