Empowered Patient Podcast

Steven Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of Ianacare, is in the business of supporting caregivers by working with employers, health plans, and providers to offer services that patients and their families need. Effective hospital-at-home and home non-clinical care models show a reduction in hospital readmission and cost of care. This care navigator approach allows caregivers to keep patients in their homes and reduces employee absenteeism. Working with partners, Ianacare has applied to be an approved provider in the new CMS program GUIDE, the Guiding and Improved Dementia Experience program, to expand the application of this model.

Steven explains, "This has become really critical. For one reason, good caregiving in the home keeps patients in the home and out of institutions. And that's a win-win-win for everybody. Patients prefer being in the familiar surroundings of their home. We all would prefer to age in our own homes. It's cheaper for the healthcare system. Every inpatient admission or ER visit prevented by a family care member is thousands of dollars saved in the healthcare system."

"So it's really a win-win-win. The numbers and the research out there clearly prove these caregivers' critical role. I'll cite a couple of studies. There's a UPMC study that shows when family caregivers are involved and engaged in care plans, hospital readmissions decrease by 25%. Conversely, there's a study from the Journal of American Geriatric Society when patients have caregivers who are depressed, burnt out, or tired, they experienced a 73% increase in ED utilization and $2,000 higher medical costs over six months. So, to summarize, good caregiving keeps patients in the home, and that's why this is important."

"What we've done is bring together all the layers of resources you might need at some point in the care journey into one easy-to-use experience. We have a platform accessible through a browser or smartphone, and it starts by matching you up with unlimited access to a care navigator who's your right-hand expert to not only guide you through decisions and planning but also ensure things get done."

#Ianacare #Caregivers #HospitalatHome #HospitalReadmission #CareNavigators #CMSGUIDE #AlzheimersDisease

Ianacare.com

Listen to the podcast here

Steven Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of Ianacare, is in the business of supporting caregivers by working with employers, health plans, and providers to offer services that patients and their families need. Effective hospital-at-home and home non-clinical care models show a reduction in hospital readmission and cost of care. This care navigator approach allows caregivers to keep patients in their homes and reduces employee absenteeism. Working with partners, Ianacare has applied to be an approved provider in the new CMS program GUIDE, the Guiding and Improved Dementia Experience program, to expand the application of this model.

Steven explains, "This has become really critical. For one reason, good caregiving in the home keeps patients in the home and out of institutions. And that's a win-win-win for everybody. Patients prefer being in the familiar surroundings of their home. We all would prefer to age in our own homes. It's cheaper for the healthcare system. Every inpatient admission or ER visit prevented by a family care member is thousands of dollars saved in the healthcare system."

"So it's really a win-win-win. The numbers and the research out there clearly prove these caregivers' critical role. I'll cite a couple of studies. There's a UPMC study that shows when family caregivers are involved and engaged in care plans, hospital readmissions decrease by 25%. Conversely, there's a study from the Journal of American Geriatric Society when patients have caregivers who are depressed, burnt out, or tired, they experienced a 73% increase in ED utilization and $2,000 higher medical costs over six months. So, to summarize, good caregiving keeps patients in the home, and that's why this is important."

"What we've done is bring together all the layers of resources you might need at some point in the care journey into one easy-to-use experience. We have a platform accessible through a browser or smartphone, and it starts by matching you up with unlimited access to a care navigator who's your right-hand expert to not only guide you through decisions and planning but also ensure things get done."

#Ianacare #Caregivers #HospitalatHome #HospitalReadmission #CareNavigators #CMSGUIDE #AlzheimersDisease

Ianacare.com

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Stella Vnook, the Founder and President, and Bill Breitenbach, CEO of Oral Bio Life, talk about the prevalence and causes of periodontal disease and the limitations of current treatments. The Oral Bio Life PiezoGEL technology has shown effective removal of plaque and treatment of bacteria on teeth and regenerating bone for a long-term solution. Periodontal disease contributes to inflammation and infection and is showing links to other health conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. In addition to human trials, success is seen in trials with veterinarians to regenerate bone in dogs.

Stella Vnook elaborates, "Dentists can identify the early warning signs, but in addition to oral hygiene, we also found, and it's supported by data, there are some people who are predisposed to just having issues with their gums and/or periodontal disease. There are genetic implications, and there are people that have comorbidities. The goal is to remove the plaque and the bacteria film. But the process is rather painful. One of the reasons why I founded this technology and this company is because of the scaling and root planing, which is quite painful."

Bill explains, "I'd like to add there's a real recognition lately from scientists around the world that inflammation is the root cause of a lot of major diseases - cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even Alzheimer's. What they're finding is that the fibrous bacteria travel from the mouth throughout the body, contributing to heart disease, diabetes, pregnancy complications, cancer, and Alzheimer's. Just recently, there's some NIH data that shows that P. gingivitis, the main pathogen for chronic gum disease, has been identified in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. So, it's not just about gum disease, it's about total body health, and there is a need to be taking care of that and being mindful of the downstream effects of not taking care of periodontal disease."

#OralBioLife #GumDisease #PeriodontalDisease #Inflammation #Veterinarians #BoneRegeneration

oralbiolife.com

Listen to the podcast here

Stella Vnook, the Founder and President, and Bill Breitenbach, CEO of Oral Bio Life, talk about the prevalence and causes of periodontal disease and the limitations of current treatments. The Oral Bio Life PiezoGEL technology has shown effective removal of plaque and treatment of bacteria on teeth and regenerating bone for a long-term solution. Periodontal disease contributes to inflammation and infection and is showing links to other health conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. In addition to human trials, success is seen in trials with veterinarians to regenerate bone in dogs.

Stella Vnook elaborates, "Dentists can identify the early warning signs, but in addition to oral hygiene, we also found, and it's supported by data, there are some people who are predisposed to just having issues with their gums and/or periodontal disease. There are genetic implications, and there are people that have comorbidities. The goal is to remove the plaque and the bacteria film. But the process is rather painful. One of the reasons why I founded this technology and this company is because of the scaling and root planing, which is quite painful."

Bill explains, "I'd like to add there's a real recognition lately from scientists around the world that inflammation is the root cause of a lot of major diseases - cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even Alzheimer's. What they're finding is that the fibrous bacteria travel from the mouth throughout the body, contributing to heart disease, diabetes, pregnancy complications, cancer, and Alzheimer's. Just recently, there's some NIH data that shows that P. gingivitis, the main pathogen for chronic gum disease, has been identified in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. So, it's not just about gum disease, it's about total body health, and there is a need to be taking care of that and being mindful of the downstream effects of not taking care of periodontal disease."

#OralBioLife #GumDisease #PeriodontalDisease #Inflammation #Veterinarians #BoneRegeneration

oralbiolife.com

Download the transcript here

Chuck Rinker, CEO of PRSONAS, sees the next-generation workforce of digital healthcare components as digital personalities and avatars that will act as patient advocates and improve the communications between patients and clinicians. With an emphasis on building trust and showing empathy, these digital tools help gather accurate information and break down language and cultural barriers. Avatars can be customized for locations like hospital lobbies and purposes like clinical trial recruitment. With a background in game programming, Chuck brings a deep knowledge of how the emotional bond between gamers and avatars can be applied to building more robust patient engagement.

Chuck explains, "Since technology has been predominant in the healthcare space, we've always had to teach people how to use technology, and the barrier is communication. So, we've said, well, let's just take a different approach. We're not trying to recreate humans, and we're not trying to replace humans. We're just trying to teach all this technology, this scalable healthcare, this improvement in healthcare technology that we have, and make it so that it can communicate to us as humans. We naturally communicate as humans. We don't naturally communicate as an IT specialist, so we're trying to flip it on its head and work it the other way around."

"That was a concept we started way back in 2013. We originally built a few of these as product specialists in the pharmaceutical drug launch space. I think Genentech and Pfizer were probably the first ones to use it. It was meant to support the healthcare professionals. Okay, what's all the information you have, from prescribing information to all the complexities of a mechanism of disease and all that you have to relay over and over and over during a multiphase pharmaceutical launch? So, we built these repeatable humans to be those domain experts."

"We've learned along the way that it was a great, wonderful piece but that the patients themselves are the ones who are getting "lost in the mix." So, our units are trained to speak whatever language is used by the patient population you're targeting. They can be culturally diverse. We do Sign Language - American Sign Language and British Sign Language. So it's really about creating that advocate, breaking down that communication barrier so that every patient feels represented and welcomed and has their own patient advocate to help them through that healthcare journey."

#PRSONAS #Avatars #DigitalPersonalities #DigitalHealth #AI #PatientAdvocate #PatientEngagement #ClinicalTrials

PRSONAS.com

Listen to the podcast here

Chuck Rinker, CEO of PRSONAS, sees the next-generation workforce of digital healthcare components as digital personalities and avatars that will act as patient advocates and improve the communications between patients and clinicians. With an emphasis on building trust and showing empathy, these digital tools help gather accurate information and break down language and cultural barriers. Avatars can be customized for locations like hospital lobbies and purposes like clinical trial recruitment. With a background in game programming, Chuck brings a deep knowledge of how the emotional bond between gamers and avatars can be applied to building more robust patient engagement.

Chuck explains, "Since technology has been predominant in the healthcare space, we've always had to teach people how to use technology, and the barrier is communication. So, we've said, well, let's just take a different approach. We're not trying to recreate humans, and we're not trying to replace humans. We're just trying to teach all this technology, this scalable healthcare, this improvement in healthcare technology that we have, and make it so that it can communicate to us as humans. We naturally communicate as humans. We don't naturally communicate as an IT specialist, so we're trying to flip it on its head and work it the other way around."

"That was a concept we started way back in 2013. We originally built a few of these as product specialists in the pharmaceutical drug launch space. I think Genentech and Pfizer were probably the first ones to use it. It was meant to support the healthcare professionals. Okay, what's all the information you have, from prescribing information to all the complexities of a mechanism of disease and all that you have to relay over and over and over during a multiphase pharmaceutical launch? So, we built these repeatable humans to be those domain experts."

"We've learned along the way that it was a great, wonderful piece but that the patients themselves are the ones who are getting "lost in the mix." So, our units are trained to speak whatever language is used by the patient population you're targeting. They can be culturally diverse. We do Sign Language - American Sign Language and British Sign Language. So it's really about creating that advocate, breaking down that communication barrier so that every patient feels represented and welcomed and has their own patient advocate to help them through that healthcare journey."

#PRSONAS #Avatars #DigitalPersonalities #DigitalHealth #AI #PatientAdvocate #PatientEngagement #ClinicalTrials

PRSONAS.com

Download the transcript here

Cody Shandraw, President and Co-Founder of Healing Realty Trust, aims to provide robust mental and behavioral health treatment facilities. The lack of infrastructure has been a significant hurdle for expanding the commercialization of drugs that require longer in-office visits and space to accommodate the needs of patients undergoing treatments. The emerging field of psychedelics for treating neurological conditions like PTSD requires clinicians to understand the physical requirements for treatment facilities to provide privacy and comfort during the extended time necessary for many of these treatments.

Cody explains, "In 2020, it was a really interesting stat that I was made aware of at one of the conferences down here in Miami. It was around a drug called Spravato, which is an intranasal ketamine drug. And they were very excited about the launch. It was in development for quite some time, and unfortunately, it didn't commercialize, I think, to their expectations. I asked one of the drug reps down here in Florida why he thought that was, and he said it was a really simple answer: the lack of infrastructure."

"It's a unique drug, and we've only seen this a couple of times. Maybe proton therapy or dialysis centers where when a new therapy is approved, you need that infrastructure to go along with that therapy. And that is what Spravato was. You actually had to be in a clinic for two hours after administration for Spravato. So it was a very unique thing. And a lot of the legacy behavioral mental health providers that would be the target market for that drug, they didn't want to disrupt normal patient inflows into their clinic. So it took a couple of years. When that drug was launched, there were less than a hundred clinics in the United States offering that. Today, there are 2,700 of those clinics, and now Spravato is a blockbuster drug."

#HealingRealtyTrust #CommercialRealEstate #BehavioralHealth #EmergingTherapies #PsychedelicAssistedTherapy #PatientAccess #HealthcareInfrastructure #ImprovingBehavioralHealth

HealingRT.com

Listen to the podcast here

Cody Shandraw, President and Co-Founder of Healing Realty Trust, aims to provide robust mental and behavioral health treatment facilities. The lack of infrastructure has been a significant hurdle for expanding the commercialization of drugs that require longer in-office visits and space to accommodate the needs of patients undergoing treatments. The emerging field of psychedelics for treating neurological conditions like PTSD requires clinicians to understand the physical requirements for treatment facilities to provide privacy and comfort during the extended time necessary for many of these treatments.

Cody explains, "In 2020, it was a really interesting stat that I was made aware of at one of the conferences down here in Miami. It was around a drug called Spravato, which is an intranasal ketamine drug. And they were very excited about the launch. It was in development for quite some time, and unfortunately, it didn't commercialize, I think, to their expectations. I asked one of the drug reps down here in Florida why he thought that was, and he said it was a really simple answer: the lack of infrastructure."

"It's a unique drug, and we've only seen this a couple of times. Maybe proton therapy or dialysis centers where when a new therapy is approved, you need that infrastructure to go along with that therapy. And that is what Spravato was. You actually had to be in a clinic for two hours after administration for Spravato. So it was a very unique thing. And a lot of the legacy behavioral mental health providers that would be the target market for that drug, they didn't want to disrupt normal patient inflows into their clinic. So it took a couple of years. When that drug was launched, there were less than a hundred clinics in the United States offering that. Today, there are 2,700 of those clinics, and now Spravato is a blockbuster drug."

#HealingRealtyTrust #CommercialRealEstate #BehavioralHealth #EmergingTherapies #PsychedelicAssistedTherapy #PatientAccess #HealthcareInfrastructure #ImprovingBehavioralHealth

HealingRT.com

Download the transcript here

Fengru Lin, Co-Founder and CEO of TurtleTree, is applying precision fermentation technology to produce high-value ingredients for food and beverages without the need for animals. This biotech company's first goal is to expand the production of lactoferrin, a protein found in small quantities in milk that has been shown to promote gut health and immunity. Finding a scalable way to produce lactoferrin will lead to adding this iron-binding element to plant-based milks and energy drinks.

Fengru explains, "A couple of years ago, I was learning how to make cheese as a hobby. It was quite a fanatic period of time. I went up to Vermont from Singapore for a couple of weeks to learn how to make cheese and I wanted to replicate this whole process back in Singapore. But in Singapore, we have no access to cows, we have no access to raw, fresh milk. So, I had to go down to Indonesia and Thailand to look for milk. In this journey, I was exposed to a lot of challenges around the dairy industry, things like contract farming, things like antibiotics, and hormones being pumped into the cows. As a result, the milk quality always suffers, the mozzarella couldn't stretch, it's not enough calcium, not enough nutrients in the milk. So, I gave up that whole idea and was still working for Google."

"So, we bootstrapped initially, brought in some scientists, did a lot of research, and filed our first patent. The technology requires getting memory cells and culturing the cells to express full-function milk, all 2,000 different ingredients in milk. We had our early success and quickly brought this technology to some of the biggest dairy companies in the world, folks like Fonterra and Abbott, and told them, "Hey, we can make milk. What do you think?"

"Very quickly they came back with feedback saying, "Well, great that you can make milk, but milk is $2 a gallon. I don't think you can get to the price point anytime soon. You should really be focused on high-value ingredients that are found in milk." So they gave us a list of half a dozen proteins and ingredients that we should look at, and at the top of the list is lactoferrin because of all these great benefits and the high price point it is today. You guys should be focused on the high-value ingredients that are low in supply across the market so you can address this accessibility problem and not try to reproduce a commodity like milk. So that's how we started and where we are today. We just got our FDA Self GRAS status in November last year, so we've started to commercialize this lactoferrin."

#TurtleTree #FunctionalFood #Lactoferrin #Protein #PrecisionFermentation #Milk #SustainableFoodProduction #Nutrition

turtletree.com

Listen to the podcast here

Fengru Lin, Co-Founder and CEO of TurtleTree, is applying precision fermentation technology to produce high-value ingredients for food and beverages without the need for animals. This biotech company's first goal is to expand the production of lactoferrin, a protein found in small quantities in milk that has been shown to promote gut health and immunity. Finding a scalable way to produce lactoferrin will lead to adding this iron-binding element to plant-based milks and energy drinks.

Fengru explains, "A couple of years ago, I was learning how to make cheese as a hobby. It was quite a fanatic period of time. I went up to Vermont from Singapore for a couple of weeks to learn how to make cheese and I wanted to replicate this whole process back in Singapore. But in Singapore, we have no access to cows, we have no access to raw, fresh milk. So, I had to go down to Indonesia and Thailand to look for milk. In this journey, I was exposed to a lot of challenges around the dairy industry, things like contract farming, things like antibiotics, and hormones being pumped into the cows. As a result, the milk quality always suffers, the mozzarella couldn't stretch, it's not enough calcium, not enough nutrients in the milk. So, I gave up that whole idea and was still working for Google."

"So, we bootstrapped initially, brought in some scientists, did a lot of research, and filed our first patent. The technology requires getting memory cells and culturing the cells to express full-function milk, all 2,000 different ingredients in milk. We had our early success and quickly brought this technology to some of the biggest dairy companies in the world, folks like Fonterra and Abbott, and told them, "Hey, we can make milk. What do you think?"

"Very quickly they came back with feedback saying, "Well, great that you can make milk, but milk is $2 a gallon. I don't think you can get to the price point anytime soon. You should really be focused on high-value ingredients that are found in milk." So they gave us a list of half a dozen proteins and ingredients that we should look at, and at the top of the list is lactoferrin because of all these great benefits and the high price point it is today. You guys should be focused on the high-value ingredients that are low in supply across the market so you can address this accessibility problem and not try to reproduce a commodity like milk. So that's how we started and where we are today. We just got our FDA Self GRAS status in November last year, so we've started to commercialize this lactoferrin."

#TurtleTree #FunctionalFood #Lactoferrin #Protein #PrecisionFermentation #Milk #SustainableFoodProduction #Nutrition

turtletree.com

Download the transcript here