In this week’s episode of The Bleeding Edge of Digital Health, Mike Moore sits down with Bill Hunter, CEO and founder of Canary Medical, to explore the orthopedic implant business and how Canary’s devices are changing the landscape of aftercare and the measurement of patient progress.   Bill discusses the dissatisfaction he observed among patients and how many companies weren’t utilizing a combination of resources to measure recovery, health, mobility, etc. With Persona IQ and the implants Canary has designed, they combine those resources to accurately assess patients by defining patient baselines and milestones before and after surgery. He also shares where he hopes to take this company and the ethical questions he pondered regarding user data and privacy, clinician access, and more. Tune in to this episode to learn more about these tiny but revolutionary products. Notable Quotes“It seemed absurd to me that all this medical hardware went in and none of it reported back. And it turned out that it wasn’t really, much like Angiotech, it wasn’t a technology problem. It’s not like the drugs didn’t exist. It’s not like the sensors didn’t exist or the power sources or transmission technology – it all existed. It’s just that no one had really bothered to put it together… So that was the premise of Canary, and as you alluded to, the canary in the coal mine was the first biological sentinel.” – Bill (4:31)“You do all this planning. You do all this intraoperative planning. Surgeries now are incredibly precise. And then you kind of walk the patient to the front door of the hospital and say, ‘See you in thirty days.’ If you follow that patient journey, more than 50% of people don’t come back for that 30-day visit, so you might not see the patient till three months, six months, whatever. So this whole recovery period, I mean, as we started doing these types of things – ‘What is a normal step count on day five? What is your range of motion on day seven? When do people start climbing stairs?’ A lot of this stuff just flat out wasn’t known… Coming up with the measuring tools was a really important first step.” – Bill (19:12) In This Episode(1:01) Canary Medical’s recent conferences (3:10) How Canary began and how they chose the company’s name (5:53) Bill’s background and the creation of their first few devices (8:25) How Zimmer became a successful partnership(12:28) Why they chose not to design their own implant (14:01) The dissatisfaction that prompted the creation of this implant(18:36) The technical barriers that are resolved by this technology(22:08) Measuring progress and creating a baseline for patients pre-surgery (23:33) How Canary navigates data ownership and privacy concerns(28:50) Breaking down the components of the device (31:37) How this technology is changing the industry on an institutional level (38:27) The current competition for Persona IQ(40:35) Where Bill hopes to take Canary in the future Our GuestBill Hunter is the CEO and founder of Canary Medical. After spending years as a practicing doctor, he noticed a hole in healthcare where many companies failed to utilize various resources together. With Canary Medical, his team is creating new and innovative technology to mark patient health and progress in a more accurate and personalized sense. 

Resources & Links
LinkedIn: Mike Moore
LinkedIn: The Bleeding Edge of Digital Health