Empowered Patient Podcast

Allison Jacob, Senior Medical Director at Adaptive Biotechnologies, uses their technology to decode the genetic language of the immune system and develop clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for hematologic malignancies. With a focus on the adaptive immune system and the receptors of B and T cells, the platform is used to identify, monitor and precisely quantify tumor cells over time. In the past, MRD stood for minimal residual disease, but due to more accurate testing, the goal now is measurable residual disease, MRD, negativity.

Allison explains, "The clonoSEQ technology essentially looks at rearrangements in the DNA of proteins that are expressed on B cells, and we're harnessing something that the immune system created for us. So, unlike other genes that we talk about in cancer, let's say like BRCA1, where you have a normal version of that and a mutated version of that, B-cell receptors are constantly having to shuffle and create new gDNA sequences, again, to be able to recognize these foreign invaders."

"What that means is that within this very small region of DNA, let's say 150 to 200 base pairs, there's a diversity upwards of 10-12. So, when we talk about clonoSEQ as a clinical diagnostic, what that means is that these sequences are unique and are expressed by that tumor cell and its progeny and can be used essentially as a barcode to track and quantify that tumor over time."

"I think one of the most important aspects we spoke to a little bit ago is having a deeper understanding of how and if the patient is responding to therapy. So even if a patient is in a complete response, we know that if they're MRD positive, they have a higher likelihood of relapse. So, identifying patients with the best prognosis, complete response, and MRD negative can be very helpful in understanding what's coming."

#AdaptiveBiotechnologies #PrecisionDiagnostics #PatientEmpowerment #MRD #Myeloma #clonoSEQ #Immunosequencing

AdaptiveBiotech.com

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Allison Jacob, Senior Medical Director at Adaptive Biotechnologies, uses their technology to decode the genetic language of the immune system and develop clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for hematologic malignancies. With a focus on the adaptive immune system and the receptors of B and T cells, the platform is used to identify, monitor and precisely quantify tumor cells over time. In the past, MRD stood for minimal residual disease, but due to more accurate testing, the goal now is measurable residual disease, MRD, negativity.

Allison explains, "The clonoSEQ technology essentially looks at rearrangements in the DNA of proteins that are expressed on B cells, and we're harnessing something that the immune system created for us. So, unlike other genes that we talk about in cancer, let's say like BRCA1, where you have a normal version of that and a mutated version of that, B-cell receptors are constantly having to shuffle and create new gDNA sequences, again, to be able to recognize these foreign invaders."

"What that means is that within this very small region of DNA, let's say 150 to 200 base pairs, there's a diversity upwards of 10-12. So, when we talk about clonoSEQ as a clinical diagnostic, what that means is that these sequences are unique and are expressed by that tumor cell and its progeny and can be used essentially as a barcode to track and quantify that tumor over time."

"I think one of the most important aspects we spoke to a little bit ago is having a deeper understanding of how and if the patient is responding to therapy. So even if a patient is in a complete response, we know that if they're MRD positive, they have a higher likelihood of relapse. So, identifying patients with the best prognosis, complete response, and MRD negative can be very helpful in understanding what's coming."

#AdaptiveBiotechnologies #PrecisionDiagnostics #PatientEmpowerment #MRD #Myeloma #clonoSEQ #Immunosequencing

AdaptiveBiotech.com

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Alicia Staley is the VP of Patient Engagement at Medidata and working to bring more technology and software solutions to clinical research. With a focus on creating patient-centric clinical trials, Alicia emphasizes the value of digital tools to drive diversity of participation and retention. As a cancer survivor and patient advocate, Alicia has deep insights into how clinical trials are run and who participates.

Alicia explains, "I think the entire industry is still responding to what life looks like post-COVID. However, in particular, in clinical research, this gravitation toward more digital tools to support clinical research is still very much at the forefront. Topics like decentralized clinical trials and patient portals, patient registries, and ways to support the patient through the clinical journey using digital tools, sensors, and wearables are very much at the forefront of the conversations we're having today. Clearly there is an interest in going in that direction. And I think we learned during the pandemic that these tools are great resources for expanding the potential participation in clinical research to essentially a broader audience of participants."

"It took the pandemic for the industry to realize that these tools are valuable resources. I think there had been historically quite a bit of hesitancy to embrace technical solutions like eConsent, eCOA, ePRO, or any of the eSource tools. And I think the pandemic made us realize that these tools are here, they're here to stay, and they work very, very well. But our hand was never forced in the way it was during the pandemic."

#Medidata #DecentralizedTrials #Diversity #ClinicalTrials #LifeSciences #PatientExperience

Medidata.com

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Alicia Staley is the VP of Patient Engagement at Medidata and working to bring more technology and software solutions to clinical research. With a focus on creating patient-centric clinical trials, Alicia emphasizes the value of digital tools to drive diversity of participation and retention. As a cancer survivor and patient advocate, Alicia has deep insights into how clinical trials are run and who participates.

Alicia explains, "I think the entire industry is still responding to what life looks like post-COVID. However, in particular, in clinical research, this gravitation toward more digital tools to support clinical research is still very much at the forefront. Topics like decentralized clinical trials and patient portals, patient registries, and ways to support the patient through the clinical journey using digital tools, sensors, and wearables are very much at the forefront of the conversations we're having today. Clearly there is an interest in going in that direction. And I think we learned during the pandemic that these tools are great resources for expanding the potential participation in clinical research to essentially a broader audience of participants."

"It took the pandemic for the industry to realize that these tools are valuable resources. I think there had been historically quite a bit of hesitancy to embrace technical solutions like eConsent, eCOA, ePRO, or any of the eSource tools. And I think the pandemic made us realize that these tools are here, they're here to stay, and they work very, very well. But our hand was never forced in the way it was during the pandemic."

#Medidata #DecentralizedTrials #Diversity #ClinicalTrials #LifeSciences #PatientExperience

Medidata.com

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Dr. Holly Urban, the Vice President of Clinical Product Design at CliniComp, understands the need for a positive user experience for clinicians to use electronic health record software effectively. Clinician burnout is often blamed on the documentation burden and the time it takes to enter patient data. With a shift to a focus on the quality of the notes rather than the length, CliniComp is designing systems that aid in medical decisions and is considering ways to use natural language processing and generative AI to change how notes are created.

Holly explains, "One of the challenges is that today's electronic health records, in my view, are very transactional focused. They allow you to place an order. A physician can write an order to have medications given to a patient, they can write a note where they document what happened in a patient visit or the results of a procedure, and they can get lab results."

"But it's very transactional. We haven't yet achieved that ideal state where the electronic health record is helping the providers and other clinicians make decisions. A lot of the struggle has been around workflows that aren't supporting what they need to do and not getting to that third rail of advanced clinical decision support to help providers make better decisions based on their electronic health records."

#CliniComp #EHR #ElectronicHealthRecords #EHRSoftware #ClinicianBurnout #HealthcareTech #HealthcareTechnology #HealthInnovation

clinicomp.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Holly Urban, the Vice President of Clinical Product Design at CliniComp, understands the need for a positive user experience for clinicians to use electronic health record software effectively. Clinician burnout is often blamed on the documentation burden and the time it takes to enter patient data. With a shift to a focus on the quality of the notes rather than the length, CliniComp is designing systems that aid in medical decisions and is considering ways to use natural language processing and generative AI to change how notes are created.

Holly explains, "One of the challenges is that today's electronic health records, in my view, are very transactional focused. They allow you to place an order. A physician can write an order to have medications given to a patient, they can write a note where they document what happened in a patient visit or the results of a procedure, and they can get lab results."

"But it's very transactional. We haven't yet achieved that ideal state where the electronic health record is helping the providers and other clinicians make decisions. A lot of the struggle has been around workflows that aren't supporting what they need to do and not getting to that third rail of advanced clinical decision support to help providers make better decisions based on their electronic health records."

#CliniComp #EHR #ElectronicHealthRecords #EHRSoftware #ClinicianBurnout #HealthcareTech #HealthcareTechnology #HealthInnovation

clinicomp.com

Download the transcript here

Ashley Perry, Chief Strategy and Solutions Officer at Socially Determined, highlights the problems created by the Medicaid redetermination process. Building on their SocialScape social risk intelligence platform, Socially Determined is providing a new risk score that will help state Medicaid agencies and Managed Care Organizations identify and prioritize members needing help navigating the redetermination.

Ashley explains, "As many of your listeners will know, on April 1st of this year, we started redetermining eligibility for the 95 million Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide. And that's a year-long process during which we expect that up to 15 million of them may be disenrolled from the program. So far, we've seen that as of June 16th, we've had about 1.3 million Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide disenrolled across the 22 states that have reported data to date."

"What's notable about that, though, is on average across those 22 states, 74% of those who've been disenrolled have been disenrolled for procedural reasons. This means one of two things: either number one, they did not return the paperwork period, or number two they did, but they did not include some of the required documentation. So overall, a very high percentage of those who've been disenrolled to date are not necessarily no longer eligible for the program but have not been able to navigate that recertification process on their own."

"We've done that for the entire United States community level across a number of different domains, so things like the food landscape and the housing environment. We've also done it for hundreds of millions of Americans at the individual level for similar domains. And so all of that data and insights around the SDOH and social risk factors that influence healthcare utilization costs, outcomes and equity was built into our social state platform. We've been working with organizations to use that data to inform their strategies for years."

@SocDetermined #SDOH #SocialDeterminantsofHealth #Redetermination #Medicaid #MCO #HealthEquity #SocialRisk #DataAnalytics

SociallyDetermined.com

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Ashley Perry, Chief Strategy and Solutions Officer at Socially Determined, highlights the problems created by the Medicaid redetermination process. Building on their SocialScape social risk intelligence platform, Socially Determined is providing a new risk score that will help state Medicaid agencies and Managed Care Organizations identify and prioritize members needing help navigating the redetermination.

Ashley explains, "As many of your listeners will know, on April 1st of this year, we started redetermining eligibility for the 95 million Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide. And that's a year-long process during which we expect that up to 15 million of them may be disenrolled from the program. So far, we've seen that as of June 16th, we've had about 1.3 million Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide disenrolled across the 22 states that have reported data to date."

"What's notable about that, though, is on average across those 22 states, 74% of those who've been disenrolled have been disenrolled for procedural reasons. This means one of two things: either number one, they did not return the paperwork period, or number two they did, but they did not include some of the required documentation. So overall, a very high percentage of those who've been disenrolled to date are not necessarily no longer eligible for the program but have not been able to navigate that recertification process on their own."

"We've done that for the entire United States community level across a number of different domains, so things like the food landscape and the housing environment. We've also done it for hundreds of millions of Americans at the individual level for similar domains. And so all of that data and insights around the SDOH and social risk factors that influence healthcare utilization costs, outcomes and equity was built into our social state platform. We've been working with organizations to use that data to inform their strategies for years."

@SocDetermined #SDOH #SocialDeterminantsofHealth #Redetermination #Medicaid #MCO #HealthEquity #SocialRisk #DataAnalytics

SociallyDetermined.com

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Lauralea Tanner, Chief Growth Officer at Acclara, describes the revenue cycle management critical decision points for hospitals, health systems, payers, and patients. In the hospital setting, there are lab tests, radiology, anesthesiology, surgeons, and other clinicians, all providing services that require proper coding and billing for collection. With many opportunities for errors and patient confusion, call center technology to handle questions, AI to address mundane coding tasks, and other technologies allow the professionals to take complex patient questions.

Lauralea explains, "So revenue cycle management really starts when the hospital or health system engages with the patient. So it starts with that patient intake process, or what we call patient registration or scheduling process, and then when they present at the hospital or the doctor's office for services."

"At that point, then it falls into clinical care. The patient is seen, and they're treated. After the patient leaves, that is really where the hefty part of revenue cycle management kicks in. You have doctors that have to document charges. They have to dictate what they've done to treat the patient. They have to get all of that clinical documentation in place before it goes to coding, then to billing and collections."

"A lot is still paper-based. The submission of claims, the follow-up, even the remittance advice that the hospital gets back from the payers is largely electronic. But you still have some of these smaller payers that do send paper, and it is very much a challenge to try to deal with that."

#Acclara #DigitalHealth #HealthcareReform #HealthTech #RevenueCycleManagement #RCM

Acclara.com

Listen to the podcast here

Lauralea Tanner, Chief Growth Officer at Acclara, describes the revenue cycle management critical decision points for hospitals, health systems, payers, and patients. In the hospital setting, there are lab tests, radiology, anesthesiology, surgeons, and other clinicians, all providing services that require proper coding and billing for collection. With many opportunities for errors and patient confusion, call center technology to handle questions, AI to address mundane coding tasks, and other technologies allow the professionals to take complex patient questions.

Lauralea explains, "So revenue cycle management really starts when the hospital or health system engages with the patient. So it starts with that patient intake process, or what we call patient registration or scheduling process, and then when they present at the hospital or the doctor's office for services."

"At that point, then it falls into clinical care. The patient is seen, and they're treated. After the patient leaves, that is really where the hefty part of revenue cycle management kicks in. You have doctors that have to document charges. They have to dictate what they've done to treat the patient. They have to get all of that clinical documentation in place before it goes to coding, then to billing and collections."

"A lot is still paper-based. The submission of claims, the follow-up, even the remittance advice that the hospital gets back from the payers is largely electronic. But you still have some of these smaller payers that do send paper, and it is very much a challenge to try to deal with that."

#Acclara #DigitalHealth #HealthcareReform #HealthTech #RevenueCycleManagement #RCM

Acclara.com

Download the transcript here