Healthcare Weekly: At the Forefront of Healthcare Innovation

Today Codrin is joined by Raoul Sherwitzl, the co-founder of Natural Cycles, a mobile app for contraception and fertility monitoring. Raoul and his wife developed the concept together while researching non-hormonal, non-invasive alternatives to the traditional birth control they were used to. Unsatisfied with their options, they set about developing an app that would predict ovulation using only data input from the user.

Natural Cycles uses daily body temperature readings to assess whether a woman is at risk of pregnancy on a particular day. As an entirely non-invasive option, Natural Cycles also offers the unique benefit of having zero risk of side effects.

Raoul lets us in on his plans for the future of this software and the technology associated with it. He intends on making the app more accessible and furthering the technology to create a better user experience. Ultimately, he would like to expand the services offered by Natural Cycles, creating and accessible and easy-to-use software that supports women’s health overall.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• The science behind how Natural Cycles accurately predicts ovulation.

• How Natural Cycles has changed fertility monitoring for its users.

• Benefits of using an app as opposed to traditional methods of birth control.

• How algorithm-based technology could change the future of health care.

• The challenge of creating a product for which there are no existing regulations in place.

• How the accessibility of birth control ties into greater issues, such as climate change.

• The importance of transparency when marketing healthcare products.

• Raoul’s immediate plans for updates to Natural Cycles.

Julie Charlestein is welcomed by Codrin in this episode. She is the President and CEO of Premier Dental Products, a company that develops, manufactures, and distributes innovative solutions for dentists around the world.

There are many technological advances currently available to dentists, but Julie explains that the adoption of these has brought mixed results. We hear Julie’s thought on gender representation in her industry as well as the history of her business. It was founded by her family, but she first gained her insights by observing the company from the outside.

Premier Dental Products leverages a large amount of customer data to optimize their products. Julie gives us some insights to this process, including how new product needs can be identified.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• How dentist offices are like mini tech centers.

• Trends being seen right now in the dental space.

• Traxodent, a flagship product offered by Premier Dental Products.

• A product that has seen an uptick in popularity during COVID-19.

• The collaborative relationship that used to exist in this space.

• Data that the company collects and how it is leveraged.

• Determining the likelihood of product adaptation using artificial intelligence.

• Getting data on how products are used when they are sold by a distributor.

• Looking at holes in the marketplace.

• Upcoming trends that Julie thinks will influence her company in the next decade.

• What we can get excited about as dental consumers.

Today’s guest is Nick Cherukuri, Founder and CEO of ThirdEye, a company providing augmented reality glasses.

ThirdEye was founded in 2016 and has seen rapid growth as a provider of all in one augmented reality solutions for all industries. In the case of the healthcare space, ThirdEye aims to provide hands free working for medical professionals, allowing workers in the field to remotely connect to experts and access protocols and patient information.

Nick joins us today to discuss the many possible applications for AR in healthcare, how ThirdEye has avoided the fate of Google Glass and the scope for using AR as a chronic disease management tool.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• How ThirdEye came to be

• Specific use cases for AR in healthcare

• The benefits of hands-free working in the medical field

• Telehealth applications of ThirdEye technology

• Avoiding the fate of Google Glass

• Creating the ability to triage at a distance

• Improving safety and efficiency for workers

• Integration with existing healthcare systems

• Human factor issues in using ThirdEye technology

• User face and intractability options

• Current healthcare applications and opportunities

• Going past gadgets to becoming useful technology

• Use cases for quality of life improvement

• Scope for chronic disease management in AR

• The beneficial features of ThirdEye products

• Pricing options and programs

• Where ThirdEye is going in the next five to ten years

• Future possibilities for AR integration in healthcare

Today’s guest is Madhu Reddiboina, CEO of RediMinds Inc. This company is in the data sciences field aiming to improve the healthcare delivery through data acquisition and analysis.

RediMinds specialize in collecting and organizing all patient centric clinical modalities, problem-specific data integration, and feature engineering. Their models augment the physician’s ability to predict disease vectors and effectively administer treatment protocols.

We hear about what data science is and how it can be used in the healthcare space, the issue of explainability when it comes to AI, and the hinderances to interoperability in the current system.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• What data science is

• The scope of the applications of data science in healthcare

• The process of ‘digitizing’ the patient journey and how it can create predictability models

• What the current extent of data science utilization is in the healthcare system

• Mechanisms of building predictability models

• How RediMinds validates their AI models

• The issue of Explainability

• Lack of interoperability in the current healthcare system

• Creating a better understanding of disease through data science

• Fragmentation issues in the healthcare data space

• How the fear of new technology and liability hinders adoption rates

• The potential role of data science in healthcare over the next decade

• The future of RediMinds

Today’s guest is Dr. Jeremy Orr, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Medial EarlySign, a company that hopes to create widespread AI and machine learning integration in diagnostics.

Medial EarlySign aims to help their clients deliver better patient care by identifying individuals at risk of high burden disease who might benefit from the earlier detection of deterioration trajectories. They are leading the charge in augmenting healthcare providers and increasing automation in healthcare delivery.

Dr. Orr joins us to discuss applying machine learning techniques to clinical data, how the success of their algorithms is measured, and the impediments they face in expanding AI adoption.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• What Medial EarlySign does

• Applying machine learning techniques to clinical data

• The Medial EarlySign mission: Aiming for early detection

• The process of validating algorithms

• FDA classification and interactions

• The accuracy percentage of their current algorithm

• How they aim to augment healthcare providers, not replace them

• The process of incorporating more machine learning into diagnostics

• How AI can impact chronic condition management

• Friction points and resistance to AI

• The importance of individualised, smooth workflow integration

• Creating trust in machine learning

• The high standards AI is held to and how it can cause distrust

• Impediments to expanding adoption

• The future of Medial EarlySign and machine learning in healthcare

On today’s episode of Healthcare Weekly, Larry Cohen, the CEO of Health 2047 talks about his company’s goal to transform the medical industry from the ground up.

Health2047 focuses on four main groups: data liquidity, chronic care, radical productivity, and healthcare value. They tackle some of the biggest healthcare challenges in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA), the parent company of Health2047.

Why the name Health2047? Because in 2047, America will lead the world in all major healthcare metrics. This company has some huge goals and they are well on their way to achieving them.

Listen to this episode to learn about:

• What Health2047 does and how the AMA plays a part in the company.

• How does Health2047 work and how is it structured?

• The four companies involved with Health2047 and their roles.

• Who should reach out to have an exploratory conversation with Health2047.

• The advancement of digital services assisting senior citizens.

• The biggest hurdles to overcome when launching a new technological solution for physicians.

• Some of the concerns that come up from a physician’s perspective when adopting new technologies.

• Health2047’s plan to announce one major partnership per quarter. How does that work?

• The most exciting trends that’s changing the healthcare system.

Today’s guest is Glen de Vries. He is Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Medidata, a platform for professionals and patients involved in clinical trials to simply and comprehensively collect data.

Medidata is the most used platform for clinical trials in the world and has powered tens of thousands of trails, with millions of patients and billions of patient records. Medidata aims to create and improve precision medicine by utilizing data collected in clinical trials to improve treatment protocols.

Glen discusses the importance of the patient experience when collecting data, how clinical trial management protocols are changing with technological innovations, and how digital transformation can help transform the healthcare system.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• How Medidata began as a platform to connect life sciences professionals

• How the Medidata platform allows for greater patient engagement and connection to research

• How Medidata has created a fully interactive experience

• Clinical trial protocols and how they are changing with advancements in technology

• The importance of aiding and administering precision medicine

• ‘Patient Equation’: what it is and how it works

• Data collection and analysis in modern clinical trials

• How health systems can break down data silos

• Opportunities for data collection and utilization during COVID-19

• The process of simplifying and consolidating data collection

• How technology could impact the future management of trials

• Future predictions for precision medicine

On today’s episode we are joined by Jon Zimmerman, the CEO of Holon Solutions. Holon Solutions has built a patented technology software, CollaborNet®, which provides healthcare practices with patient insights so that they can focus on delivering optimal patient care.

Jon has over 35 years in the healthcare industry and was part of pioneering Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) process which can be used by companies to share data securely in an electronic format in the late 1980s. In 2014, he received the Louis J. Sullivan Award from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) for his continued efforts in making the healthcare industry more efficient.

Listen to this episode to hear more on:

• What Holon Solutions does and how their solution fits into the bigger picture of data accessibility in healthcare

• How physicians interact with the Holon Solutions platform

• How Holon Solutions provide insights that assist the diagnosis process.

• If the platform has experienced pushback from physicians based on user compatibility

• The return on investment (ROI) by using the software

• Metrics for adopting CollaborNet

• Gaps in medical coding and how the platform addresses them

• What hospital systems can expect if they invest in working long-term with Holon Solutions

This week on the Healthcare Weekly podcast, Codrin Arsene interviewed Bryan Statham. He is the CEO of RxBenefits, a pharmacy adviser to employee benefits consultants and an established pharmacy benefits solution provider for self-insured employers. The company was founded in 1995 and Bryan began working there in 2005.

This episode gets stated by discussing the difference between a PBM and a PBO.

We hear about 3 things self-insured companies should look for when negotiating benefits coverage options for their employees: the contract, clinical elements, and the service.

The employees of RxBenefits work as a health insurance accountant: they read over contracts, make suggestions, and help employers optimize their benefits plan.

Bryan explains that some of the big benefits providers sometimes use tactics trying to upsell employers. They may offer an add-on, preying on the employers’ lack of knowledge to tell them that they require more than they really do. Companies must do their due diligence before settling on a plan.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• The difference between a PBM and a PBO.

• 3 things companies who are self-insured should look for in their benefits coverage.

• How companies can negotiate the price of a healthcare coverage contract and optimize cost over time without reducing quality of care.

• What the employees of RxBenefits do.

• How big benefits providers sometimes prey on employers’ lack of knowledge.

• The value and importance of understanding health benefits coverage offered under an insurance plan

Today’s guest is Michael O’Neil, Sr. Vice President of Strategy & Development for Healthcare Bluebook.

Healthcare Bluebook, started in 2007, is a digital platform that combines objective price and quality data with industry-leading usability helping employers and employees get the best price for their upcoming medical procedure.

Healthcare Bluebook provides people and organizations with everything they need to be more effective healthcare consumers.

Michael joins us today to discuss the lack of transparency in the American healthcare system and how his company has established a streamlined rating system of healthcare options to help patients decide where to have their next medical procedure done.

Listen to the podcast to learn about:

• What Healthcare Bluebook does

• The difference between actual cost and billed charges in healthcare

• Price transparency problems in the US health system

• Why transparency is such a big issue in healthcare

• How the health system is geared to benefit payers

• Why profit caps for payers has driven up treatment costs

• Why self-insured employers could be the best bet for driving change in healthcare price transparency

• Cherry picking which provider is best and identifying who is worst for your next medical procedure

• How Healthcare Bluebook made data around medical procedures easily digestible for consumers

• The future of price discrepancy and price transparency