Empowered Patient Podcast

Marina Bigsby, Chief Customer Experience Officer at AccessOne, focuses on providing financial products and services to help make healthcare more affordable for patients and improve the physicians' revenue cycle management. The aim is to provide more transparency and payment options upfront to avoid situations where patients forgo needed care. Using AccessOne's technology and mobile payment solution, providers collect payments faster and proactively identify and address operational inefficiencies and staffing challenges.

Marina explains, "We're a technology company. We partner with our providers and look at their various situations. Their situation might be that they have a pocket of their population with high debt problems, or maybe there is a staff shortage or some other operational efficiency challenge. We're designing a product that works for them. Our platform is highly configurable, and we built something that works for them and helps them collect more so they can allocate funds to wherever they need. We have a proprietary funding option, so they can work with us to accelerate cash quickly into their RCM or manage risk differently. So that's really what we're doing. We're working with them to collect more so they can help more patients."

"It's a time savings so that they get cash faster, which is always good, but it's also a time savings from an operational savings. So responses are great -- we send out a text and our MobilePay product is a replacement, a complete replacement of a piece of paper. Awareness of the text helps people say that even if they don't want to pay through the text, they know there's a bill and know it earlier than they normally would have, so they can pay it however they'd like. Whether in a portal or through our text, that awareness is increased. There are lots of glowing reviews around that product."

#AccessOne #RevenueCycleManagement #RCM #PatientExperience #PatientFinancing #PatientAccess

accessonepay.com

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Marina Bigsby, Chief Customer Experience Officer at AccessOne, focuses on providing financial products and services to help make healthcare more affordable for patients and improve the physicians' revenue cycle management. The aim is to provide more transparency and payment options upfront to avoid situations where patients forgo needed care. Using AccessOne's technology and mobile payment solution, providers collect payments faster and proactively identify and address operational inefficiencies and staffing challenges.

Marina explains, "We're a technology company. We partner with our providers and look at their various situations. Their situation might be that they have a pocket of their population with high debt problems, or maybe there is a staff shortage or some other operational efficiency challenge. We're designing a product that works for them. Our platform is highly configurable, and we built something that works for them and helps them collect more so they can allocate funds to wherever they need. We have a proprietary funding option, so they can work with us to accelerate cash quickly into their RCM or manage risk differently. So that's really what we're doing. We're working with them to collect more so they can help more patients."

"It's a time savings so that they get cash faster, which is always good, but it's also a time savings from an operational savings. So responses are great -- we send out a text and our MobilePay product is a replacement, a complete replacement of a piece of paper. Awareness of the text helps people say that even if they don't want to pay through the text, they know there's a bill and know it earlier than they normally would have, so they can pay it however they'd like. Whether in a portal or through our text, that awareness is increased. There are lots of glowing reviews around that product."

#AccessOne #RevenueCycleManagement #RCM #PatientExperience #PatientFinancing #PatientAccess

accessonepay.com

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Aaron Patzer, Founder and CEO of Vital, focuses on the stress on patients and clinicians created in urgent care, emergency rooms, and hospitals. The Vital platform provides real-time updates and plain-language explanations for patients on their mobile devices. Managing expectations for wait times, connecting to electronic health records, and providing discharge instructions increases patient satisfaction, reduces the burden on doctors and nurses, and causes and addresses staff turnover.

Aaron explains, "Everything is done on your mobile phone. You step into a hospital, whether it's urgent care or an emergency visit, or if you're admitted to stay overnight, it's called an inpatient stay. You'll get a text message. So it'll say, welcome to Children's of Los Angeles. Do you want to see what your wait times are? To understand your test results, click here. All you have to do is click this special link, like an airline record locator or password reset link. It can only be used by you. It's secure and brings up a mobile web application that is just a personalized webpage for you. Just like an Airbnb, a Facebook, or something personal to you."

"The other thing we let patients do is ask them throughout their visit how things are going. Is it one star or five stars? If they say, you know what, it's been a four or five-star visit, we'll say, great, do you want to tell your nurse that you appreciate them?"

"I was worried. I thought it was going to be mostly negative. It turns out that it's about 15% one- and two-star negative comments and 85% positive. And most nurses don't get compliments. They're in one of the most high-stress jobs you can have. They're often verbally or even physically assaulted. They're assaulted more than police officers. There've been a bunch of articles on this. It's crazy what happens in hospitals and emergency rooms. A steady stream of compliments has made all the difference in their quality of life."

#VitalAI #AIinHealth #HealthcareTransparency #VitalPatientExperience #HealthTech #PatientEmpowerment

vital.io

Listen to the podcast here

Aaron Patzer, Founder and CEO of Vital, focuses on the stress on patients and clinicians created in urgent care, emergency rooms, and hospitals. The Vital platform provides real-time updates and plain-language explanations for patients on their mobile devices. Managing expectations for wait times, connecting to electronic health records, and providing discharge instructions increases patient satisfaction, reduces the burden on doctors and nurses, and causes and addresses staff turnover.

Aaron explains, "Everything is done on your mobile phone. You step into a hospital, whether it's urgent care or an emergency visit, or if you're admitted to stay overnight, it's called an inpatient stay. You'll get a text message. So it'll say, welcome to Children's of Los Angeles. Do you want to see what your wait times are? To understand your test results, click here. All you have to do is click this special link, like an airline record locator or password reset link. It can only be used by you. It's secure and brings up a mobile web application that is just a personalized webpage for you. Just like an Airbnb, a Facebook, or something personal to you."

"The other thing we let patients do is ask them throughout their visit how things are going. Is it one star or five stars? If they say, you know what, it's been a four or five-star visit, we'll say, great, do you want to tell your nurse that you appreciate them?"

"I was worried. I thought it was going to be mostly negative. It turns out that it's about 15% one- and two-star negative comments and 85% positive. And most nurses don't get compliments. They're in one of the most high-stress jobs you can have. They're often verbally or even physically assaulted. They're assaulted more than police officers. There've been a bunch of articles on this. It's crazy what happens in hospitals and emergency rooms. A steady stream of compliments has made all the difference in their quality of life."

#VitalAI #AIinHealth #HealthcareTransparency #VitalPatientExperience #HealthTech #PatientEmpowerment

vital.io

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Haitham Ayad, CEO of SPIMA Therapeutics, has secured a global licensing agreement for its lead peptide-based immunotherapy candidate, which targets the Myddosome complex involved in inflammation. This approach aims to target undruggable protein-protein interactions, leveraging the advantages of peptides over small molecules and antibodies. In addition to inflammatory diseases like acute pancreatitis, SPIMA is also exploring the potential in certain cancers with mutations in the Myddosome complex.

Haitham explains, "In fact, what happened is that the four scientific co-founders worked together for long years to develop and to bring them to the clinical phase and to secure a global patent for that. So, at one point, the technology transfer office of the university, which is called SATT, decided that it was the appropriate moment to create a spin-off of the company so that the company could continue the work and take the lead candidate further to the clinical phase. And I joined at that point as a co-founder and CEO, immediately after the legal creation and incorporation of SPIMA, we signed a global licensing agreement with SATT to secure the rights of the lead candidate globally. At the same time, we were accepted in the incubator of the University, which is called the TTM factory. So we're happy to continue working with that set and the university to progress the lead toward the clinical phase."

"It's known that more than 80% of drug targets consist of interactions between proteins, which take place inside the cells. So this is a big challenge for drugs because small molecules, small chemical molecules that can go inside the cells, are not very specific enough to inhibit this interaction between two big proteins. On the other hand, large molecules like antibodies have good specificity to inhibit such interaction, but they are too large to go inside the cells. This is the sweet spot of SPIMA Therapeutics because the Stapled peptides have the advantage of each category. They have very good cell penetration and good stability. So, it's allowed them to go inside the cell, and at the same time, they have enough specificity to block this interaction between the two proteins. This is where we choose our target, the Myddosome complex, which is the interaction between several proteins involved in the inflammation process."

#SPIMATherapeutics #Peptide #Immunotherapies #Cancer #Oncology #StapledPeptides #Inflammation #Immunology #DrugDiscovery #DrugDevelopment #AggresiveCancers #PeptideTherapies

spima-therapeutics.com

Listen to the podcast here

Haitham Ayad, CEO of SPIMA Therapeutics, has secured a global licensing agreement for its lead peptide-based immunotherapy candidate, which targets the Myddosome complex involved in inflammation. This approach aims to target undruggable protein-protein interactions, leveraging the advantages of peptides over small molecules and antibodies. In addition to inflammatory diseases like acute pancreatitis, SPIMA is also exploring the potential in certain cancers with mutations in the Myddosome complex.

Haitham explains, "In fact, what happened is that the four scientific co-founders worked together for long years to develop and to bring them to the clinical phase and to secure a global patent for that. So, at one point, the technology transfer office of the university, which is called SATT, decided that it was the appropriate moment to create a spin-off of the company so that the company could continue the work and take the lead candidate further to the clinical phase. And I joined at that point as a co-founder and CEO, immediately after the legal creation and incorporation of SPIMA, we signed a global licensing agreement with SATT to secure the rights of the lead candidate globally. At the same time, we were accepted in the incubator of the University, which is called the TTM factory. So we're happy to continue working with that set and the university to progress the lead toward the clinical phase."

"It's known that more than 80% of drug targets consist of interactions between proteins, which take place inside the cells. So this is a big challenge for drugs because small molecules, small chemical molecules that can go inside the cells, are not very specific enough to inhibit this interaction between two big proteins. On the other hand, large molecules like antibodies have good specificity to inhibit such interaction, but they are too large to go inside the cells. This is the sweet spot of SPIMA Therapeutics because the Stapled peptides have the advantage of each category. They have very good cell penetration and good stability. So, it's allowed them to go inside the cell, and at the same time, they have enough specificity to block this interaction between the two proteins. This is where we choose our target, the Myddosome complex, which is the interaction between several proteins involved in the inflammation process."

#SPIMATherapeutics #Peptide #Immunotherapies #Cancer #Oncology #StapledPeptides #Inflammation #Immunology #DrugDiscovery #DrugDevelopment #AggresiveCancers #PeptideTherapies

spima-therapeutics.com

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This is a conversation with Nicole Andrews, a patient with LGSOC and STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation Board Chairperson, and Dan Paterson, President and CEO of Verastem Oncology. Low-grade serous ovarian cancer is a rare and slow-growing ovarian cancer that is often misdiagnosed. Verastem Oncology is developing a targeted treatment for LGSOC and working with the STAAR Foundation to inform researchers about the disease and ways to improve treatments. Nicole was finally diagnosed with LGSOC after 18 months of unexplained symptoms, and her role at the STAAR Foundation is to raise awareness and funds to support research.

Nicole explains, "I have since learned that low-grade is difficult for pathologists who aren't used to seeing it and don't know the intricacies of diagnosing. My surgeon finally said I have to get this right because it changes treatment."

"So, she asked permission to send this to a specialty cancer center. And we did. Once that happened, they came back pretty quickly and said this was low-grade serous ovarian cancer. They were used to seeing it. They had high volume cases of reading pathology reports and, therefore, were able to diagnose and diagnose it."

Dan elaborates, "The majority of ovarian cancers are so-called high-grade, and that's when you hear about treatment with chemotherapies like platinum. A new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors came out in the last couple of years. And I think when you generally hear about ovarian, it's high grade. It was only in the last couple of years that the World Health Organization and, more recently, the FDA, based on some of our work, recognized it as a distinct and different disease because it acts very differently. It tends to occur in younger women, and it's slower growing, which, on the face of it, you would think is a good thing. And I think a lot of times, and we've heard anecdotes, and Nicole can probably speak to this, where women have said, oh, well, you have the good ovarian cancer. The downside of a slower-growing tumor is it's harder to treat."

#VerastemOncology #STAARFoundation #LGSOC #LGSOCAwareness #LowGradeSerousOvarianCancer #Cancer #RareDisease

verastemoncology.com

STAAR Foundation

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This is a conversation with Nicole Andrews, a patient with LGSOC and STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation Board Chairperson, and Dan Paterson, President and CEO of Verastem Oncology. Low-grade serous ovarian cancer is a rare and slow-growing ovarian cancer that is often misdiagnosed. Verastem Oncology is developing a targeted treatment for LGSOC and working with the STAAR Foundation to inform researchers about the disease and ways to improve treatments. Nicole was finally diagnosed with LGSOC after 18 months of unexplained symptoms, and her role at the STAAR Foundation is to raise awareness and funds to support research.

Nicole explains, "I have since learned that low-grade is difficult for pathologists who aren't used to seeing it and don't know the intricacies of diagnosing. My surgeon finally said I have to get this right because it changes treatment."

"So, she asked permission to send this to a specialty cancer center. And we did. Once that happened, they came back pretty quickly and said this was low-grade serous ovarian cancer. They were used to seeing it. They had high volume cases of reading pathology reports and, therefore, were able to diagnose and diagnose it."

Dan elaborates, "The majority of ovarian cancers are so-called high-grade, and that's when you hear about treatment with chemotherapies like platinum. A new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors came out in the last couple of years. And I think when you generally hear about ovarian, it's high grade. It was only in the last couple of years that the World Health Organization and, more recently, the FDA, based on some of our work, recognized it as a distinct and different disease because it acts very differently. It tends to occur in younger women, and it's slower growing, which, on the face of it, you would think is a good thing. And I think a lot of times, and we've heard anecdotes, and Nicole can probably speak to this, where women have said, oh, well, you have the good ovarian cancer. The downside of a slower-growing tumor is it's harder to treat."

#VerastemOncology #STAARFoundation #LGSOC #LGSOCAwareness #LowGradeSerousOvarianCancer #Cancer #RareDisease

verastemoncology.com

STAAR Foundation

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Maria Perrin, President and Chief Strategy Officer at PPL, is focused on expanding access to self-directed and whole person care allowing people to stay in their homes and receive the services they need to maintain a good quality of life. Consumer-directed care programs funded by Medicaid allows disabled and the aged populations to choose their own caregivers they know and trust to provide personal services like meals, dressing, and transportation. PPL provides training, technology, quality assurance, and other support to help consumers and their caregivers participate in these programs.

Maria explains, "So the programs differ from state to state. If someone needs care in their home, say they had an injury or they need help because of a disability or certain access, they can get help for people to, for example, come in, prepare meals, help them get dressed, and for bathing. Or if they're relatively healthy and can do that themselves, some programs support things like meal services, transportation, occupational assistance, and other goods and services they may need to thrive."

"We see a lot of health disparities. I know that many people who work in healthcare talk about this, and you have communities that are underserved. They don't have enough home health workers in their community to serve them. Often, they don't have facilities that speak the language they speak or consider their religious or cultural implications. Therefore, the consumer-directed care program allows people to choose the caregiver that meets their needs and to have them deliver the services within their home."

"That's a little different than, for example, a home health agency model whereby the agency will choose the caregiver they get, and that person may or may not be trusted by the individual consumer. They may not speak the same language as the individual consumer. So this elevates the care that the consumer is getting to what they specifically need and establishes trust by enabling them to choose the caregiver. A caregiver may be a family member, it might be a church member, a friend of the family, someone who's in the community who they already know and trust, and who can best serve that particular consumer."

#PPL #Healthcare #Caregivers #ConsumerDirectedCare #SelfDirection #AtHomeCare #CommunityBasedSupportServices #LongTermServicesSupports #Medicaid

PPLfirst.com

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Maria Perrin, President and Chief Strategy Officer at PPL, is focused on expanding access to self-directed and whole person care allowing people to stay in their homes and receive the services they need to maintain a good quality of life. Consumer-directed care programs funded by Medicaid allows disabled and the aged populations to choose their own caregivers they know and trust to provide personal services like meals, dressing, and transportation. PPL provides training, technology, quality assurance, and other support to help consumers and their caregivers participate in these programs.

Maria explains, "So the programs differ from state to state. If someone needs care in their home, say they had an injury or they need help because of a disability or certain access, they can get help for people to, for example, come in, prepare meals, help them get dressed, and for bathing. Or if they're relatively healthy and can do that themselves, some programs support things like meal services, transportation, occupational assistance, and other goods and services they may need to thrive."

"We see a lot of health disparities. I know that many people who work in healthcare talk about this, and you have communities that are underserved. They don't have enough home health workers in their community to serve them. Often, they don't have facilities that speak the language they speak or consider their religious or cultural implications. Therefore, the consumer-directed care program allows people to choose the caregiver that meets their needs and to have them deliver the services within their home."

"That's a little different than, for example, a home health agency model whereby the agency will choose the caregiver they get, and that person may or may not be trusted by the individual consumer. They may not speak the same language as the individual consumer. So this elevates the care that the consumer is getting to what they specifically need and establishes trust by enabling them to choose the caregiver. A caregiver may be a family member, it might be a church member, a friend of the family, someone who's in the community who they already know and trust, and who can best serve that particular consumer."

#PPL #Healthcare #Caregivers #ConsumerDirectedCare #SelfDirection #AtHomeCare #CommunityBasedSupportServices #LongTermServicesSupports #Medicaid

PPLfirst.com

Download the transcript here