Empowered Patient Podcast

Scott Xiao, Co-Founder and CEO of Luminopia, is developing a novel, FDA -cleared VR-based treatment for neurovisual disorders with a primary focus on amblyopia, lazy eye, in children aged 4- 12 years old. This approach uses popular TV shows to create an engaging, effective therapy that trains the eyes to work together and is designed as a replacement for traditional eye patching. Clinical data indicate that the vision improvements from this therapy are durable and that the VR approach is well-received by children and their parents.

Scott explains, "We are pioneering a new class of treatments using virtual reality to treat various neurovisual disorders. So these are conditions where patients have vision loss that's driven by deficiencies in the brain, in the visual cortex. We're starting with amblyopia, which is often known as lazy eye. It's the number one cause of vision loss in children around the world. And it's an area of significant unmet need. There hasn't been much in the way of new treatments for decades. Typically, patients will go through glasses followed by eye patches, which is exactly what it sounds like. You take a patch, and you stick it on your stronger eye for multiple hours a day. And that's a really challenging treatment for a lot of kids and families. So we saw an opportunity to use technology to create something better, something that would be more engaging and more effective."

"We've developed a VR-based approach that takes popular TV shows like SpongeBob and Sesame Street and turns them into a treatment by modifying how the images are shown to each eye. And this technology has been extensively validated at this point in multiple clinical trials. It was cleared by the FDA, and it's now commercially available. So over the past year, we've really been making strides on the commercial front, increasing awareness for the product among physicians and patients, and securing insurance coverage for the product."

#Luminopia #Amblyopia #PediatricOphthalmology #VirtualReality #DigitalTherapeutics #LazyEye #VisionTherapy #Optometry #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalTechnology

luminopia.com

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Scott Xiao, Co-Founder and CEO of Luminopia, is developing a novel, FDA -cleared VR-based treatment for neurovisual disorders with a primary focus on amblyopia, lazy eye, in children aged 4- 12 years old. This approach uses popular TV shows to create an engaging, effective therapy that trains the eyes to work together and is designed as a replacement for traditional eye patching. Clinical data indicate that the vision improvements from this therapy are durable and that the VR approach is well-received by children and their parents.

Scott explains, "We are pioneering a new class of treatments using virtual reality to treat various neurovisual disorders. So these are conditions where patients have vision loss that's driven by deficiencies in the brain, in the visual cortex. We're starting with amblyopia, which is often known as lazy eye. It's the number one cause of vision loss in children around the world. And it's an area of significant unmet need. There hasn't been much in the way of new treatments for decades. Typically, patients will go through glasses followed by eye patches, which is exactly what it sounds like. You take a patch, and you stick it on your stronger eye for multiple hours a day. And that's a really challenging treatment for a lot of kids and families. So we saw an opportunity to use technology to create something better, something that would be more engaging and more effective."

"We've developed a VR-based approach that takes popular TV shows like SpongeBob and Sesame Street and turns them into a treatment by modifying how the images are shown to each eye. And this technology has been extensively validated at this point in multiple clinical trials. It was cleared by the FDA, and it's now commercially available. So over the past year, we've really been making strides on the commercial front, increasing awareness for the product among physicians and patients, and securing insurance coverage for the product."

#Luminopia #Amblyopia #PediatricOphthalmology #VirtualReality #DigitalTherapeutics #LazyEye #VisionTherapy #Optometry #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalTechnology

luminopia.com

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Joseph Kleiman, President of Buzz Health, is working to improve price transparency and affordability of prescription drugs. He states that providing price transparency as early as possible in the prescription process is critical for prescribers, patients, and health plans to make better, more cost-effective decisions. To achieve true transparency, all parties in the ecosystem must cooperate and share data, moving beyond pricing visibility to fully integrate systems and use real-time information to improve patient adherence and lower costs.

Joseph explains, "Buzz Health really focuses on improving the process behind the scenes, developing technologies that sit within the prescription ecosystem, creating opportunities to improve price transparency, early adoption, and integrated benefits for members."

"We work with everybody from pharmacies to PBMs to payers to employer groups. Anybody we believe has an opportunity that, with technology and early adoption of price transparency and adherence, could benefit them and the members they serve."

"What's interesting is that, like most things, the earlier you have information, the easier it is to make actionable change, things with long-term impact. So if you have price transparency and you have it early on, a prescriber can make more informed decisions. A patient, rather than showing up at a pharmacy counter, can make decisions earlier on. So again, it's kind of like the earlier you have anything in making a decision, the easier it is for you to make a really actionable change all the way up through a PBM or health plan. If they see gaps in coverage and they have that information, they can make changes early on as well."

#BuzzHealth #PrescriptionDrugs #Pharmacies #HealthcareIT #PriceTransparency #PrescriptionAffordability #PharmacyTech #MedicationAccess #HealthcareTransparency #PrescriptionPricing #PatientCare #HealthTech #PharmacyBenefits #HealthcareInnovation #PatientOutcomes #MedicalTechnology

buzzhealth.com

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Joseph Kleiman, President of Buzz Health, is working to improve price transparency and affordability of prescription drugs. He states that providing price transparency as early as possible in the prescription process is critical for prescribers, patients, and health plans to make better, more cost-effective decisions. To achieve true transparency, all parties in the ecosystem must cooperate and share data, moving beyond pricing visibility to fully integrate systems and use real-time information to improve patient adherence and lower costs.

Joseph explains, "Buzz Health really focuses on improving the process behind the scenes, developing technologies that sit within the prescription ecosystem, creating opportunities to improve price transparency, early adoption, and integrated benefits for members."

"We work with everybody from pharmacies to PBMs to payers to employer groups. Anybody we believe has an opportunity that, with technology and early adoption of price transparency and adherence, could benefit them and the members they serve."

"What's interesting is that, like most things, the earlier you have information, the easier it is to make actionable change, things with long-term impact. So if you have price transparency and you have it early on, a prescriber can make more informed decisions. A patient, rather than showing up at a pharmacy counter, can make decisions earlier on. So again, it's kind of like the earlier you have anything in making a decision, the easier it is for you to make a really actionable change all the way up through a PBM or health plan. If they see gaps in coverage and they have that information, they can make changes early on as well."

#BuzzHealth #PrescriptionDrugs #Pharmacies #HealthcareIT #PriceTransparency #PrescriptionAffordability #PharmacyTech #MedicationAccess #HealthcareTransparency #PrescriptionPricing #PatientCare #HealthTech #PharmacyBenefits #HealthcareInnovation #PatientOutcomes #MedicalTechnology

buzzhealth.com

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Dr. Bill Kerr, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalon Healthcare Solutions, highlights the critical role of advanced precision diagnostics and how these tools are driving true precision medicine, where therapies are targeted to specific genetic mutations. There have been significant innovations, such as less invasive liquid biopsies and the application of AI to interpret medical images and complex lab results, which provide faster analysis and make it easier to monitor disease over time. The future of diagnostics includes more routine tests and imaging to enable earlier interventions and more effective treatments by overcoming the logistical and physical challenges of traditional tissue biopsies in cancer care.

Bill explains, "At Avalon, we believe that if you don't get the diagnosis right, the rest of healthcare is wasted, and time is wasted on getting a patient better. So our number one focus is getting the science of diagnostics deployed into the healthcare ecosystem. I think a lot of people know that there's been a lot of innovation in lab testing, as well as in advanced diagnostic imaging. And historically, it takes 17 to 20 years to get new science evenly adopted, and we want to accelerate that process. So that's really our focus. We say sciences are True North, and our goal is to get that science deployed into the healthcare system."

"I think, unfortunately, we used the phrase precision medicine too early. When it was really precision diagnostics, and I'll separate the two out. For over a decade, we've been able to measure, let's say for instance, in cancer, what mutations might be in the cancer cells, but we didn't have any new therapies to offer. So while the phrase precision medicine was used, all we did was identify the mutations, build up an understanding of the disease, but offer the same cancer therapy. Now we actually have therapies that target some of those specific mutations."

"We truly have reached the era of precision medicine. But I think getting people to understand that now it's not just measuring the mutation, it's measuring the mutation and selecting the chemotherapy based on that. That's the new reality, and that's what we're trying to get people to understand. And that's why I think undertesting still happens, because people aren't maybe aware that now there are therapeutic decisions you can make off those results."

#Avalonhcs #PrecisionMedicine #Diagnostics #HealthcareInnovation #LiquidBiopsy #Healthtech #DiagnosticIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #PersonalizedMedicine #Oncology #HealthcareProfessionals #MedicalTechnology #PatientCare

avalonhcs.com

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Dr. Bill Kerr, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalon Healthcare Solutions, highlights the critical role of advanced precision diagnostics and how these tools are driving true precision medicine, where therapies are targeted to specific genetic mutations. There have been significant innovations, such as less invasive liquid biopsies and the application of AI to interpret medical images and complex lab results, which provide faster analysis and make it easier to monitor disease over time. The future of diagnostics includes more routine tests and imaging to enable earlier interventions and more effective treatments by overcoming the logistical and physical challenges of traditional tissue biopsies in cancer care.

Bill explains, "At Avalon, we believe that if you don't get the diagnosis right, the rest of healthcare is wasted, and time is wasted on getting a patient better. So our number one focus is getting the science of diagnostics deployed into the healthcare ecosystem. I think a lot of people know that there's been a lot of innovation in lab testing, as well as in advanced diagnostic imaging. And historically, it takes 17 to 20 years to get new science evenly adopted, and we want to accelerate that process. So that's really our focus. We say sciences are True North, and our goal is to get that science deployed into the healthcare system."

"I think, unfortunately, we used the phrase precision medicine too early. When it was really precision diagnostics, and I'll separate the two out. For over a decade, we've been able to measure, let's say for instance, in cancer, what mutations might be in the cancer cells, but we didn't have any new therapies to offer. So while the phrase precision medicine was used, all we did was identify the mutations, build up an understanding of the disease, but offer the same cancer therapy. Now we actually have therapies that target some of those specific mutations."

"We truly have reached the era of precision medicine. But I think getting people to understand that now it's not just measuring the mutation, it's measuring the mutation and selecting the chemotherapy based on that. That's the new reality, and that's what we're trying to get people to understand. And that's why I think undertesting still happens, because people aren't maybe aware that now there are therapeutic decisions you can make off those results."

#Avalonhcs #PrecisionMedicine #Diagnostics #HealthcareInnovation #LiquidBiopsy #Healthtech #DiagnosticIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #PersonalizedMedicine #Oncology #HealthcareProfessionals #MedicalTechnology #PatientCare

avalonhcs.com

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Zack Tisch, Partner of Portfolio Services, and Molly Kalinowski, Vice President of Managed Services at Pivot Point Consulting, describe how the role of IT in healthcare has evolved from a reactive, support function to a central strategic component of business. As AI becomes more important, healthcare systems are navigating a challenging environment and recognizing the need for managed services partners to handle day-to-day operations so they can better focus on big-picture goals and priorities. Zack and Molly emphasize the need to drive incremental changes to streamline provider data capture and clinical documentation, which could lead to broader changes in workflows and patient outcomes.

Zack explains, "A lot of what we're doing today is really helping health systems of all shapes and sizes navigate this challenging environment. Whether it's financial pressures, dealing with cybersecurity and risk, or having to implement new technologies every day. Whether it's AI or technologies in the cloud, and really helping them navigate this new normal of healthcare, putting together five- to 10-year strategic roadmaps and plans."

Molly elaborates, "I would say there's a shift in that many organizations are very heavy on the strategic priorities, with AI being one of those. So we're seeing more of our clients needing to support those projects and long-term initiatives. And then they need a partner like a managed services group to really support the day-to-day breaks and fixes, and maintenance types of activities so that they can focus on those AI strategic initiatives."

#PivotPointConsulting #Healthcare #PatientExperience #ManagedServices #TalentSolutions #AI #CompanyCulture #WorkerBurnout #WorkforceTransformation #CostPressures #AIGovernance #HealthcareIT #AIinHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthTech #ManagedServices #ClinicalWorkflow #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare

pivotpointconsulting.com

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Zack Tisch, Partner of Portfolio Services, and Molly Kalinowski, Vice President of Managed Services at Pivot Point Consulting, describe how the role of IT in healthcare has evolved from a reactive, support function to a central strategic component of business. As AI becomes more important, healthcare systems are navigating a challenging environment and recognizing the need for managed services partners to handle day-to-day operations so they can better focus on big-picture goals and priorities. Zack and Molly emphasize the need to drive incremental changes to streamline provider data capture and clinical documentation, which could lead to broader changes in workflows and patient outcomes.

Zack explains, "A lot of what we're doing today is really helping health systems of all shapes and sizes navigate this challenging environment. Whether it's financial pressures, dealing with cybersecurity and risk, or having to implement new technologies every day. Whether it's AI or technologies in the cloud, and really helping them navigate this new normal of healthcare, putting together five- to 10-year strategic roadmaps and plans."

Molly elaborates, "I would say there's a shift in that many organizations are very heavy on the strategic priorities, with AI being one of those. So we're seeing more of our clients needing to support those projects and long-term initiatives. And then they need a partner like a managed services group to really support the day-to-day breaks and fixes, and maintenance types of activities so that they can focus on those AI strategic initiatives."

#PivotPointConsulting #Healthcare #PatientExperience #ManagedServices #TalentSolutions #AI #CompanyCulture #WorkerBurnout #WorkforceTransformation #CostPressures #AIGovernance #HealthcareIT #AIinHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthTech #ManagedServices #ClinicalWorkflow #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare

pivotpointconsulting.com

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Dr. Patricia Hayes is the Chief Medical Officer of Imagine Pediatrics, which has developed a hybrid care model for children with special needs. Imagine Pediatrics provides 24/7 virtual and in-home care, which integrates medical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy services to support families and existing providers and help prevent unnecessary emergency room visits. The organization uses technology and predictive models to identify at-risk children and proactively target interventions to increase the number of safe days at home for children with complex conditions.

Patricia explains, "Imagine Pediatrics is a 24/7, 365 virtual and in- home care for children and youth with special health care needs and medical complexity. We offer integrated medical, behavioral, and social services, inclusive of also pharmacy services, social services, as I mentioned, behavioral health therapy. It's just really an amazing form of wraparound care supporting these kids and supporting the providers that care for them outside of Imagine Pediatrics as well."

"We are in multiple states, and we can provide those services in the states where we're practicing from border to border. So because we're virtual first, we're able to see kids in rural areas, urban areas, wherever they may be, and offer in-home services to them as well when they may have any sort of difficulty, either need additional services that we can't provide virtually, or they may have difficulty going to an emergency room or difficulty seeing their primary care pediatrician or their specialist. We could offer that support in home as well."

"It's a very wide spectrum. We have anywhere from children who have extreme medical complexity, who may be dependent on equipment, who may have a tracheostomy, be ventilated, have a G-tube, all the way to children who may just have severe asthma or be seen and utilize the hospital quite a bit for their asthma. See a wide range of behavioral health conditions as well, anywhere from severe depression to bipolar or anxiety, and early schizophrenia. And so it's an extremely wide range of really our care that we provide."

#ImaginePediatrics #pediatrics #PediatricHealthcare #ComplexCare #ValueBasedCare #VBC #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #VirtualHealth #SpecialNeeds #ChildHealth #HealthTech #PatientCare #MedicalHome #HealthcareAccess #PediatricMedicine #TeleHealth #IntegratedCare

Imaginepediatrics.org

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Dr. Patricia Hayes is the Chief Medical Officer of Imagine Pediatrics, which has developed a hybrid care model for children with special needs. Imagine Pediatrics provides 24/7 virtual and in-home care, which integrates medical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy services to support families and existing providers and help prevent unnecessary emergency room visits. The organization uses technology and predictive models to identify at-risk children and proactively target interventions to increase the number of safe days at home for children with complex conditions.

Patricia explains, "Imagine Pediatrics is a 24/7, 365 virtual and in- home care for children and youth with special health care needs and medical complexity. We offer integrated medical, behavioral, and social services, inclusive of also pharmacy services, social services, as I mentioned, behavioral health therapy. It's just really an amazing form of wraparound care supporting these kids and supporting the providers that care for them outside of Imagine Pediatrics as well."

"We are in multiple states, and we can provide those services in the states where we're practicing from border to border. So because we're virtual first, we're able to see kids in rural areas, urban areas, wherever they may be, and offer in-home services to them as well when they may have any sort of difficulty, either need additional services that we can't provide virtually, or they may have difficulty going to an emergency room or difficulty seeing their primary care pediatrician or their specialist. We could offer that support in home as well."

"It's a very wide spectrum. We have anywhere from children who have extreme medical complexity, who may be dependent on equipment, who may have a tracheostomy, be ventilated, have a G-tube, all the way to children who may just have severe asthma or be seen and utilize the hospital quite a bit for their asthma. See a wide range of behavioral health conditions as well, anywhere from severe depression to bipolar or anxiety, and early schizophrenia. And so it's an extremely wide range of really our care that we provide."

#ImaginePediatrics #pediatrics #PediatricHealthcare #ComplexCare #ValueBasedCare #VBC #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #VirtualHealth #SpecialNeeds #ChildHealth #HealthTech #PatientCare #MedicalHome #HealthcareAccess #PediatricMedicine #TeleHealth #IntegratedCare

Imaginepediatrics.org

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