www.insightscare.com December 2018
10LEADING
The
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT Solution Providers
2018
Richard Atkin CEO
GREENWAY HEALTH Offering Providers Innovative Tools that Offer Patients Greater Access to their Health Information
Editor’s Column
Patient Engagement and Technology: A Superlative Fusion Elevating Healthcare Space
T
he term ‘Patient Engagement’ is been rapidly emerging and it is today’s buzzword in the healthcare industry. With its impeccable evolution, it has thrown a long lasting impact on the reviewers, who states that, “No other initiative will have such impact on improving the quality patient care and reducing healthcare costs”.
For years, marketers have been looking for new strategies to engage the customer, create recovering experiences, and reinforce brand relationships, all of them aimed at improving outcomes. Having called ‘consumer engagement’ in the business terms, patient engagement is the new key strategy that embraces the tools and actions taken by patients, caregivers as well as healthcare providers. These factors would promote informed decision-making and behaviors to facilitate improved health consequences. A recent survey from a renowned organization states that patient engagement is experiencing the biggest development with the implementation of technology. Today, consumers are considering the online healthcare information trustworthy. Social media and patient portals, Internet which allow us to fetch what we want at the tip of our fingers, have also witnessed a significant growth. Being lived in the connected and engaged society; patients as well as consumers have started expecting the same promptness and easy accessibility from the healthcare industry. Several latest technologies focused on patient engagement involve managing patient health data, managing communication with physicians, self-care at home, education, and financial management. Right from wearable tech and medical devices to patient portals and maintaining personal health records, all of these innovations are aimed at improving the overall patient experience. With the implementation of health information exchanges, patient portals, and electronic health records, patients are naturally becoming more involved in their health. Also, healthcare institutions and practices should embrace and integrate these changes while adapting this new and rapidly evolving landscape. Down the line, no one can deny that, patient engagement requires action that must be instigated and sustained by the individual. It is due to the encouraged providers due to whom patients learn to utilize tools and technology that produce improved health results. Engagement implies active involvement. All parties must be willing to participate and embrace the shift to technology to achieve better outcomes and reduce costs. Perhaps, the healthcare industry is working on par with the rest of the business world and recognizing that to grow and to compete with the marketplace, patients need more in the way of information, eminence, access, and liability.
S. D Ashwini
eshpande
Ashwini S. Deshpande,Editor
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Ashwini S. Deshpande Executive Editor Stella Andrew Contributing Editors Sayali, Aishwarya, Ashwini Visualiser David King Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Poonam, Shweta Co-designer Paul Belin Art & Picture Editor Savita Pandav Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Business Development Executive Mark Williams Sales Executives John, Amy, Bill, Sarah Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Swapnil Patil Technical Consultants David, Robert Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Rahul, Gemson, Swati Research Analyst Eric Smith Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightscare.com
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The
LEADING
110 PATIENT ENGAGEMENT EN Solution Providers 2018
The Personalized Future of Healthcare
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oday, patients are far too occupied to have time to wait around for the services that they don’t need. Thanks to the digital transformation, with the growth of data and technology, service providers can offer personalized healthcare experience to their customers. This metamorphosis, that the industry is experiencing, marks the future of healthcare. Patient experience is no more confined inside the clinical walls; one can have access to these from anywhere. Alongside, having hands on the vast data, the care providers can check the patients’ preferences and customize the experience for every patient, individually. As the whole concept of patient personalization will not only make everything easy, but also more effective, the focus on patient engagement is only expected to grow further. There are a few contributors in the industry aiding to take this concept further and to help the care givers adopting and applying it. To acknowledge the supreme work of these business giants, we bring to you our special edition of “The 10 Leading Patient Engagement Solution Providers in 2018”. In this issue, we have incorporated ‘Greenway Health’ in the Cover Story. Greenway Health is the eminent organization that provides software services to ambulatory healthcare practices, so that physicians can better run their businesses and care for their patients. We have also represented Behavior Imaging®, a company that develops solutions to facilitate the observational, analytical and collaborative needs of behavioral healthcare and special education professionals; EUPATI which seamlessly implements a structured program that trains patients and patient advocates on how drug development works and how all the regulatory processes around it; Medisafe that delivers a state-of-the-art medication adherence platform to its user; Santovia which has a technology that tackles major issues facing healthcare users and professionals, by delivering education and targeted surveys it facilitates shared decision making and better recovery for patients; and UbiCare which is the most prominent patient engagement company which flawlessly blends its rich experience combining with the targeted, multimedia content with a dynamic platform that allows complete real-time customization. Making the issue more exciting, our in-house editors have scripted articles ‘The Role of Shared Decision Making in Improving Patient Engagement’ and ‘Top Trends that can Boost Patient Engagement to Optimum Levels’ that will keep you updated with the latest trends going on in the industry. We have also presented Exclusive View ‘Proteins are Better Biomarkers than Genes’ by Dr. Steven Pelech who is the Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation. So, flip through the pages of this magazine and treat yourself with the innovations in the industry!
8
Cover story Cov
Providing Innovative Tools that Oer Patients Greater Access to their Health Information
CXO Standpoint 34 EXCLUSIVE VIEW Proteins are Better Biomarkers than Genes
CONTENTS
UBICARE
BEHAVIOR IMAGING®
Revolutionizing the Healthcare Industry One Child at a Time
16
EUPATI
MEDISAFE
A Revolutionary Initiative Driving Successful Patient Engagement through Education
18
Enhancing Medical Adherence and Outcomes for a Healthier Tomorrow
24
SANTOVIA
An Integrated and Comprehensive Health Engagement Platform
30
Enhancing Care Quality by Fostering Patient Engagement
42
Articles 26 32 TRENDS TO WATCH Top Trends that can Boost Patient Engagement to Optimum Levels
SHARED DECISION MAKING The Role of Shared Decision Making in Improving Patient Engagement
38 EDITOR’S PICK The Dynamics of Social Factors Influencing Physical Health
The
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110 PATIENT ENGAGEMENT EN Solution Providers 2018
COVER STORY
Providing Innovative Tools that Offer Patients Greater Access to their Health Information
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Encouraging patient engagement is a crucial step on the path to measurable improvements in population health.
Richard Atkin
CEO Greenway Health
I
n today’s digital world, patients want access to their health data, test results and providers instantly. Emerging tools, such as patient portals and secure messaging, offer them greater access to their health information, which has the potential to encourage engagement with their physicians more frequently for better health. One company leading the charge in providing medical practices with these cutting-edge solutions is Greenway Health, a leading Florida-based health information technology and services provider. Founded in 1977, Greenway has an impressive track record of serving as a healthcare problem solver, satisfying clients with its solutions. Over the last several decades, Greenway has experienced an increase not just in terms of revenue, but also as it relates to client trust and industry awards and recognitions. This trailblazing company, considered to be a market leader in the U.S. healthcare space for more than 40 years, delivers exceptional service through an experienced team of clinical, financial and technology experts committed to delivering services that create value for providers and patients. Greenway’s main goal: to make patient-driven care a reality while navigating the everchanging healthcare system. To date, Greenway has partnered with more than 10,000 organizations and 75,000 progressive providers across more
“
Greenway is dedicated to working with customers to provide cutting -edge software that meets their unique needs
than 40 specialties, which translates into more than 100 million lives that are touched by its solutions. An Engaged Patient Is a Happy, Healthy Patient Today more than ever, providers are experiencing increased burn out. They are often overwhelmed by hours of paperwork, revenue concerns, changing government regulations, leaving them with less time to truly focus on and care for patients. As such, Greenway partners with physicians and their teams, providing solutions that make their lives easier so they can get back to changing patients’ lives. The company has mastered the art in developing patient engagement tools that offer patients greater access to their health information. Greenway’s patient portal, for example, integrates with Greenway Patient Messaging for patient-provider engagement. The solution offers easy-touse features, such as secure messaging and immediate views of health records, and also enables users to request, schedule, and receive appointment reminders. Greenway’s online patient portal also simplifies engagement requirements for Meaningful Use and valuebased reimbursements. This is all done through simple, fast registration, secure messaging, and a view of an individual’s health record that meets view, download, transmit (VDT) measure.
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When caregivers receive proper support, they deliver better care. Our robust solutions assist in helping practices achieve success with value-based care
Richard Atkin, the CEO of Greenway. Atkin joined the company in June 2018, bringing extensive executive experience and a focus on process-driven management, as well as a deep background in developing talent, team building and organizational alignment. Richard joined Vista Equity Partners in 2014 and has worked with Vista portfolio companies DealerSocket, EagleView, Finastra, Omnitracs, Solera, and STATS. Prior to his role as an operating principal, Richard was the President of Vista Consulting Group from 2014 to 2017, where he helped the organization evolve and scale to support the growth in the Vista portfolio. Before joining Vista, Richard handled the prestigious posts of president and chief executive officer of Sunquest from 2005 to 2014.
“At Greenway Health, we put possibility into practice” The success of Greenway’s patient engagement tools can be best understood from the company’s client advocates: “Today, patient engagement is huge, and Greenway’s Patient Portal and Messaging helps us do that better. I really like how Greenway Patient Messaging gets the right information to the right patient, in the right manner, and saves staff time in the process.” - Bethany Suggs, Systems Coordinator, Family Medical Associates of Raleigh “Not being at every appointment with my mother has caused me worries. With the patient portal - when I can’t be there - I still can help her manage her health and that’s important to both of us.” – Nancy Brown, Practice Administrator, The Veranda In addition to its patient engagement tools, Greenway offers electronic heath record and practice management solutions. A Greenway EHR solution can be exclusively tailored to the needs of each provider’s practice and their specialty, allowing for user-focused simplicity to the front office, clinic and back office. Leading from Example: Empowering Employees with a Healthy Workplace An ace leader is one who fosters an environment of growth, which ultimately results in greater success of a team and an organization overall. A leader also provides knowledge and motivation to its team members, encouraging them to strive for their best in serving clients, fellow team members, and stakeholders of an organization. One such strong leader is
Richard believes employees are the real assets of any organization. As such, he promotes a healthy and conducive work environment, and emphasizes a special focus on the personal growth and professional development of each individual. His goal is to provide his team with knowledge and motivation, encouraging them to strive for their best each and every day. Greenway does this by offering ongoing training, educational sessions and additional learning activities to foster collaboration among its team members. This enables colleagues to continue to grow throughout their career and ensures that award-winning customer support can be achieved each day. At Greenway, Atkin is known for his sheer dedication and diligence to better serving customers, working endlessly to help them achieve success. He considers his team to be problem solvers, working each day to truly understand the challenges Greenway customers face, from ever-changing government regulations, deadlines, and security and compliance requirements, to also maintaining profitability. He encourages his team to take charge of all situations, making decisions that are in the best interest of those who matter most – Greenway customers. Looking Ahead to a Prosperous Future Greenway is committed to bringing continuous innovation into its products and is very optimistic about its future success. The company is currently developing a nextgeneration platform that will help customers succeed amid the constant industry change, in particular the movement toward value-based care. The company’s state-of-the-art next-gen platform will focus on workflows, documentation and device integration. It will reimagine a healthcare practice’s daily tasks from start to finish with a goal of seamless performance.
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The
Solution Providers 2018
Company Name
Management
Brief
Behavior Imaging® behaviorimaging.com
Ron Oberleitner CEO
The company develops solutions to facilitate the observational, analytical and collaborative needs of behavioral healthcare and special education professionals.
eHomeCare ehomecare.com.au
Hubert Van Dalen CEO
eHomeCare connects smart care technologies solutions to complement other aged and healthcare services.
EUPATI eupati.eu
Matthew May Program Coordinator
It is a pan-European program implemented as a publicprivate partnership by a collaborative multi-stakeholder consortium from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, not-for-profit, and patient organizations.
GetWellNetwork getwellnetwork.com
Michael O’neil CEO
GetWellNetwork acquires HealthLoop to provide the very best in digital patient engagement solutions for providers, patients and their families.
Greenway Health greenwayhealth.com
Richard Atkin CEO
Greenway Health provides software services to ambulatory healthcare practices, so that physicians can better run their businesses and care for their patients.
Medisafe medisafeapp.com
Omri Shor CEO & Co-founder Rotem Shor CTO & Co-founder
Medisafe provides a state-of-the-art medication adherence platform to its users.
MedSymphony medsymphony.com
Jamie Simmons Founder
MedSymphony was created to empower physicians, health institutions as well as patients with a complete mobile health technology platform.
Santovia santovia.com
Fiona Calnan CEO
Santovia’s technology tackles major issues facing healthcare users and professionals, by delivering education and targeted surveys it facilitates shared decision making and better recovery for patients.
SynsorMed synsormed.com
Theo Harvey CEO
Synsormed is transforming patient engagement with the telehealth and patient monitoring platform.
UbiCare ubicare.com
Betsy Weaver CEO
UbiCare empowers hospitals to create efficiencies and reduce costs by engaging patients earlier in the care episode.
Behavior Imaging
®
Revolutionizing the Healthcare Industry One Child at a Time
A
ccording to the Stanford Medicine News Center, demand for autism treatment is over eighteen times larger than the available supply of caregivers in the U.S. Combine that demand with a climbing prevalence in autism diagnosis – the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reported a growth of over 15 percent this year – and many individuals and families are left waiting for answers. Individuals with autism and their families require timely diagnosis and treatment but are often stopped by the barriers of distance, cost, and unavailability of experienced providers. Boise, Idaho based, Behavior Imaging® is one prominent organization that works to eradicate all these barriers. They relentlessly focus on developing technology that increases disabled people’s access to care. The company has served over 20,000 clients in ten countries to date and has major clients such as the US Air Force, State Departments of Education, and several leading universities. The company has also won awards from the Small Business Administration (awarded in 2016 at the White House) and the Google/Autism Speaks award for its disruptive business model that allows families to share clinically relevant data from their homes to accelerate their child's diagnostic assessment. Story behind BI’s Inception
Ron Oberleitner CEO
16 | December 2018
Ron and Sharon Oberleitner founded Behavior Imaging® in 2005. Since their son’s autism diagnosis in 1996 at the age of three, the challenges of receiving specialized care for those with intellectual disabilities hits close to home for the Oberleitners. To date, Ron and Sharon have dedicated their careers to assisting families and organizations, improving their accessibility to behavior health treatment through a unique asynchronous telemedicine platform – Behavior Imaging®.
LEADING 110 PATIENT ENGAGEMENT EN
The
“
Shine a Light on Autism and Beyond
Solution Providers 2018
more efficient and cost effective for the people who need it most. BI products provide patients and their doctors/clinicians with the solutions for understanding autism and behavior health needs. The benefits are similar to the ways X-rays and MRI’s have allowed patients to show medical doctors broken bones and tumors. NODA™ is Behavior Imaging’s evidence-based Autism diagnostic service platform that addresses many challenges hindering an earlier diagnosis. Behavior Imaging has led several National Institute of Health-funded research studies. The most recent study compared current in-person autism assessment practices with the NODA smartphone-based method. The research showed that the NODA method cut the average total time for an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment in half – saving on average two months for families. Fostering Employees with Active Work Environment
About the Perceptive Leader The CEO, Ron Oberleitner holds more than two decades of enriching executive management experience within the health industry including medical devices, telemedicine, and medical imaging solutions. His personal experience with autism and professional experience from the medical device, nonprofit, and research industries fuels a passion to help others by creating and expanding solutions for better diagnostic, assessment, and continuity of care for a variety of behavioral and mental health challenges. Besides, he brings an attitude of ‘why NOT our kids’ when it comes to using innovative technology to address difficult health conditions. Ron believes that an ideal leader in the health IT industry (be it telemedicine, digital therapeutics, or digital assessments) recognizes the current barriers and resist to change for disruptive patient engagement solutions. “This ideal leader works hard and tirelessly to overcome objections and demonstrate profound benefits through responsible research and compassion for both struggling patients and the well-meaning clinicians who serve them”, says Ron. Unrivaled Services of BI Behavior Imaging® works to take behavioral care beyond in-person assessment and treatment into a fully realized technological landscape. By using smart phones, video capture, and artificial intelligence, behavioral care becomes
It is well said that, “Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.” BI precisely follows this concept, which can be observed from its distinctive approach. BI employees regularly receive outside training in areas relevant to their position, paid for by BI. They also have direct hands-on experience with colleagues with disabilities who perform special tasks for the company. BI emanates a culture of ‘family first, Behavior Imaging second’– which helps to attract and retain the right employees. Foreseeing a Bright Future Besides providing a well-equipped and advanced work surrounding to their employees, BI leaves no stone unturned to stay abreast of the industry requirements. According to BI, an ace patient engagement solution provider should leave patients and their families/caregivers feeling empowered to take an active role in care. BI also believes that, when families are concerned about their loved one’s health, patient engagement solutions should enable clinicians to fetch helpful information about their patients. Today, the healthcare market is waking up to the benefits of capturing health data as it’s happening and sharing it with knowledgeable doctors remotely to get earlier diagnosis and guidance on treatment. In the next few years, Behavior Imaging plans to integrate artificial intelligence to help clinical professionals make quicker and better-informed decisions as they assess behaviors and recommend treatments.
December 2018
17
EUPATI A Revolutionary Initiative Driving Successful Patient Engagement through Education
W
ith its long expertise in the healthcare field and recognition as an objective education provider, EUPATI (The European Patients Academy on Therapeutic Innovation) is a valuable resource for anyone looking to do Patient Engagement. It can be done through its publicly available tools or by collaborating to find a solution to the clients’ specific needs.
The patient community has dreamt to empower patients to be an active partner in medicines research and development (R&D) for some time. In some disease areas, the patient community has been involved in R&D for a decade or two, which needed an advanced and systematic approach. EUPATI seamlessly implements a structured program that trains patients and patient advocates on how drug development works and how all the regulatory processes around it. It also educates the stakeholders to engage patients on how to do so in an effective and systematic way. Illustrious Course The EUPATI Expert Training Course is an exciting and unique opportunity offering patients and patient advocates the expert-level training in medicines research and development. It is a mixture of independent e-learning coursework and face-to-face training events spread over a 14-month period. EUPATI provides support through the toolbox and guidance documents for all stakeholders to enable effective engagement of patients. It will be releasing training for industry in 2019 and for other stakeholders in the future. The academy believes that for effective patient engagement, it is necessary to ensure that all involved stakeholders have the capacity to implement systematic patient engagement.
Matthew May
Program Coordinator
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December 2018
EUPATI was established in the first instance to increase capacity within the patient community by developing training and information material dedicated to increasing the knowledge of patient advocates so they can operate at an expert level. This gave rise towards the contribution to the establishment of frameworks under which patients can successfully and ethically work with other stakeholders to
LEADING 110 PATIENT ENGAGEMENT EN
The
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We focus on education and training to increase the capacity and capability of patients to understand and contribute to medicines research and development
ensure the optimum development of medicines and access to healthcare. Words of Gratified Clients EUPATI’s strength lies in its construction as a publicprivate partnership and as a collaborative multi-stakeholder consortium of patient organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and not-for-profit organizations hosted at the European Patients' Forum. EUPATI’s products are not only designed by multi-stakeholder teams but also delivered by them. This ensures that the company can offer the firsthand experience of patient engagement for both the ‘sides’ of engagement. Being a customer-centric company, EUPATI has made many clients satisfied with its services and solutions and below are few of them. · “EUPATI has been a game-changer in the empowerment of patients because we can see people trained by EUPATI almost everywhere, be it in regulatory committees, industry-led research projects and clinical trials, academic projects or ethics committees.”-Jan Geissler, Patvocates & LeukaNET. · “The expert training course is certainly a unique asset and achievement with almost 150 patient experts trained and more on the way. They are the ones who can really actively participate in all the decision points with the industry, regulators and HTAs [health technology assessment bodies]. Beyond that, I think the toolbox on medicines R&D, the material that is available on the website and now used by more than 1.2 million people worldwide, is a huge achievement and allows everyone around the world to use the high
Solution Providers 2018
quality-controlled material.”- Matthias Gottwald, Bayer Pharma Elevating Employee’s Growth by Rendering Diverse Opportunities EUPATI provides a unique opportunity to the individuals involved on behalf of their organizations in the publicprivate partnership to form relationships with other experts across their own and other stakeholder groups. This melting pot of personalities, perspectives, and expertise not only gives EUPATI its strength, expertise, and authority but also empowers and develops its members to drive effective cocreation and engagement within their own organizations. This would also encourage its employees with a strong network that provides endless continuous professional development. The professionals at EUPATI work together to bring its pieces of the medicines R&D puzzle together to ensure that EUPATI trained patients have the necessary broadspectrum knowledge to represent their communities. EUPATI strongly believes that- “The essence of Patient Engagement is about co-creation and partnership. Therefore, Patient Engagement Solution Providers need to walk-the-walk themselves, designing their solutions as a partnership between patient experts and others. This ensures that the solutions put in place meet both the needs of the companies and the communities with which they are engaged, ensuring expectations are met for all, and effective medicines development occurs to bring made-forpurpose medicinal products to market in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective way”. Upcoming Plans Today, patient engagement is being recognized across the industry as being a necessary component of modern medicines development. EUPATI initially developed the capacity in the patient community in Europe to build the community of patient advocates that are able to engage at an expert level. With this approach, pharmaceutical companies and patient organizations are recognizing their lack of infrastructure and capacity to implement systematic patient engagement throughout the life-cycle of medicines R&D. EUPATI has set a framework for patient engagement with four stakeholders i.e. pharmaceutical industry, ethics committees, regulatory authorities, and health technology assessment bodies in 2016. Since publishing them in Frontiers in Medicine in 2018, EUPATI will be rolling out training programs aimed at these stakeholders ensuring that the things will be executed flawlessly.
December 2018
19
HIV
STILL AN IMPENDING THREAT TO
MANKIND
H
IV research has come a long way since the disease was discovered in the 1980's. Antiretroviral therapy was a major milestone that has changed the lives of millions, but the goal now is to find an HIV cure before 2020. Over the past several decades, researchers have learned a lot about the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the disease it causes, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
20
December 2018
Stopping the replication of HIV Last year in a clinical trial scien sts showed that this approach has the poten al to become a func onal cure for HIV. The key to its poten al is that it can target the reservoir of HIV viruses that “hide” inac ve within our cells. Current therapies suppress the virus in circula on by inhibi ng the forma on of new viruses, but they don't touch the reservoir. Once you stop, the virus comes back in 10-14 days. ABX464 is the first drug candidate ever shown to reduce the HIV reservoir. The drug, called ABX464, binds to a specific sequence in the RNA of the virus, inhibi ng its replica on.
Shock and kill Another approach that is becoming popular in the fight against HIV also goes a er the hidden HIV reservoir. The “shock and kill” or “kick and kill” approach uses latency-reversing agents (LRAs) that ac vate or “kick” the latent HIV reservoir, making it possible for standard an retroviral therapy to “kill” these viruses. In 2016, a group of UK universi es reported promising results from one pa ent treated with this approach. A similar strategy using vaccine is currently being tested. One s mulates the produc on of an bodies that block the replica on of HIV, while the other a acks the reservoir.
December 2018
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Immunotherapy What makes HIV so dangerous is that it a acks the immune system, leaving people unprotected against infec ons. But what if we could supercharge immune cells to ďŹ ght back? That's the reasoning behind immunotherapies. Researchers reported last year that thanks to an immunotherapy that primes the immune system against the virus, 7 out of 15 pa ents were cured. Their approach combines a drug to ac vate the hidden HIV reservoir with a vaccine that can induce an immune response thousands of mes stronger than usual.
Gene therapy It is es mated that about 1% of the people in the world are naturally immune to HIV. The reason is a gene c muta on on the gene that encodes CCR5, a protein on the surface of immune cells that the HIV virus uses to enter and infect them. People with this muta on are missing part of the CCR5 protein, making it impossible for HIV to bind to it. Using gene therapy, it would, in theory, be possible to edit our DNA and introduce this muta on to stop HIV. In the future, gene therapy for HIV could be done with CRISPR, a gene edi ng tool that is much easier and faster to make. Its poten al in HIV has already been shown in vitro, and soon HIV could become of the ďŹ rst diseases to be cured with CRISPR.
When will we have an HIV cure? Although there are several approaches that could eventually bring a functional HIV cure, there are still some challenges ahead. One of the biggest concerns around any HIV treatments is the virus' ability to quickly mutate and develop resistance, and for many of these new approaches there is still no data on whether the virus will be able to become resistant. So far, none of these functional cures have reached late-stage clinical testing, meaning it doesn’t seem likely that we will meet the goal of having an HIV cure by 2020.
22 | December 2018
Medisafe Enhancing Medical Adherence and Outcomes for a Healthier Tomorrow
T
wo brothers, Omri and Rotem, were sitting in the lobby of a hospital, in front of the emergency room. They were waiting for their father, a diabetic patient who, while taking his every day dose, had accidentally injected a second dose of insulin, to get better. Fortunately, he was fine. But, both the brothers, after spending the day in that lobby, wondered how it was possible that there was no tool to help people manage their medications and prevent mistakes like not remembering to take their meds or double dosing. After researching over this, they realized that no such solution was available and therefore, set out to create one. That is when Medisafe was born. Medisafe is the brain-child of the brothers- Omri Shor, the CEO and Co-founder, and Rotem Shor, the CTO and Co-founder of the company. Medisafe is a fast-moving patient engagement business that has created easy-to-use, personalized technology to help people manage their health better. It provides a state-of-theart medication adherence platform to its users. Talking about the company, Omri says, “Medisafe helps people manage their medications easily and effectively. We provide our pharma partners with insights into patient behavior and ways to engage with their patients.” Medisafe is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with its major operation center in Haifa, Israel. When incepted in 2012, the founders’ dad was Medisafe’s app’s first user, and today, it has over 4.5 million users in 150 countries.
Omri Shor
CEO & Co-founder
24 | December 2018
Commitment to Saving Lives Realizing that almost 125,000 people die each year in the U.S. as a result of not taking their prescribed medications
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We save lives by making medication management easy
properly, Medisafe is committed to changing this scenario for better. With its medication adherence app, Medisafe has been improving adherence significantly. Another severe problem that Medisafe addresses is that of dangerous drug interactions (DDI). Recent estimates indicate that DDIs cause nearly 74,000 emergency room visits and 195,000 hospitalizations each year in the USA alone. Since its introduction a year ago, Medisafe's drug interaction feature has warned patients of more than 100,000 potentially dangerous drug interactions. A ‘Client-First’ Company Always a client-first company, Medisafe has ensured to offer patients and its customers the best. A testimony to this is the app’s 4.6 rating, out of 5, on the app stores. Many reviewers have talked about their stories - of how Medisafe has saved their lives, or how it has dramatically improved their quality of life by making medication management much simpler. On the business side, the company offers its pharma partners a way to gain a much better understanding of the behavior of their patients, and a way to engage with them and improve adherence. Addressing the benefits this provides, a prominent client of Medisafe- Leif Moll, Head of General Medicine Strategy & Portfolio Expansion, at the biopharma business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany,
said: “With Medisafe, we would like to help patients with chronic conditions to better organize their medication, therefore improve adherence to their regimen and ultimately achieve the best possible treatment outcomes.” Outshining its Peers Medisafe’s success puts it on a different level from competing medication management platform solutions, as with 4.5 million registered users it is by far the leading platform. The ease of use and intuitive interface, the fact that the company has addressed all therapeutic areas, unique features like Medfriend, and the drug interaction checker – all make Medisafe uniquely effective. Its large and highly engaged user base makes it particularly attractive to pharma partners, as the company can provide insights into much larger groups of patients. Life at Medisafe At Medisafe, ownership is a central value. Everyone who works at Medisafe has to take ownership of projects and overcome new challenges, every day. The biggest opportunity that working at Medisafe provides is to improve people’s quality of life, and even save lives. The company gets amazing feedback every day with people sharing incredible stories, and it has made it a habit that the entire team sees these as a major motivation for everyone. Medisafe also provides individual support for employee development. “Ideal leadership is inspiring and visionary, driving the team to greater successes, while giving them the freedom to pursue their creativity and initiatives,” asserts the CEO. Future Endeavors Over a third of older adults in the U.S. regularly use 5 or more medications or supplements. Over 100 million people who, if they used a medication reminder and drug interaction checker – would be healthier and safer, and the global number is many times higher. Driven by the same goal, Medisafe wants to reach not 4.5 million users, but 450 million users, and it is confident that this is achievable. Shor asserts, “We strive for a future in which people no longer die or are hospitalized because of medication mistakes, and we believe Medisafe can help make it happen.”
December 2018
25
The role
OF SHARED
Decision Making IN IMPROVING
Patient Engagement H
ealthcare professionals are constantly under consumer’s pressure and their requirements. Physicians, regulators, and health providers are figuring out the best way required to engage the patients in their own medical care. Hence, organizations have shifted to shared decision making (SDM) as a key strategy in bringing out the role of patients in their own treatments. SDM enables physicians and patients to share the decisions to arrive at a mutual agreement in the care plan, tests, and the treatment. Physicians base these results on the clinical evidence, balance of risks, and expected outcomes along with the patient’s values and preferences. By implementing mutual decision via patient education and communication, patients can progress beyond participation and can develop into health collaborator. From the provider's view, SDM obliges them to merge their clinical expertise realizing that the patients can understand their difficulties alongside acknowledging their value and priorities. Hence, the call for the SDM is emerging now and
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is seeking more value-based and patient-centred healthcare. Time limitation and the knowledge accompanying with the regulatory action has demeaned the SDM and has allowed it to flow under the radar of the healthcare providers. Consequently, the healthcare professionals require education on SDM and how to practice it to set up a collaborative environment for the patients and the clinical staff. Usage Experts break SDM down in simple and stable steps. They represent it as a simple example like identifying the patient condition, reviewing the treatment options, testing the patient’s preference and values, and carrying out the decision. The emerging challenges in these basic steps lie in the present workflow and on the provider’s part via irregular communication with the patients. Such false and inferior
Shared Decision Making
information will erode the purpose of the applied decision. In addition, the absence of clarity while considering the treatment choices can leave the patient with the inadequate information in carrying out a healthy decision or can further confuse them, overwhelming them with information. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggest the user of acronym SHARE while discussing the SDM. -Seeking patient’s participation -Helping patient in exploring the treatment options -Accessing patient’s value and preference -Reaching decision with the patient -Evaluating the patient’s decision Challenges SDM is a perfect strategy for engaging the patients; however, it faces numerous challenges. First one is related to the awareness of the SDM. There are only a few caretakers that actually know about the SDM practice or the
best way of facilitating it. Healthcare providers already struggle as they cope with the regulatory burdens, quality, reporting programs, schedules, and other healthcare sector demands. Integrating the SDM in an already congested schedule can lengthen the framework and can impede their workflow. However, critics believe that SDM does not take away much clinical time. Studies have accompanied these decisions by showing positive to mix results. Physicians can practice SDM to their likeness and enjoy the outcomes as they help patients to improve quality and their understanding. Providers just need the strategies that can promote SDM in accommodating a place in their clinical practice. Leaning on care coordination, team-based models, and nurse communications can help physicians in establishing SDM into practices. Overcoming these restrictions with the knowledge, time, and consistency may prompt many other industries in creating resources required to implement the SDM.
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Benefits As medical decisions are always complicated, therefore, it is essential for general citizens to welcome information from healthcare providers, caregivers, or even from patients. The primary goal of SDM is to enlighten patient and provide them with access of the evidence-based decisions that further aid the patients in learning them about their care options and make decisions that align with their preferences and care goals. Hence, the tools like interactive media and multimedia are meant to be the partners of the conversation, taking place between the patient and healthcare provider. This can help in guiding the patients in forming strong decision even when they are stuck in complicated situations. Experts believe the despite hurdles and obstructions, SDM can have a positive impact on the clinical elements. A study published in 2012 illustrated that SDM helps patients in revealing anxiety about the health care costs, which further allows the patients in choosing the best and personal care priorities and treatment budgets. A separate study reveals that SDM reduces the preventable hospital readmissions, which aid the patients in deciding the best treatment that is beneficial for them. SDM also supports informing the value-based care models. Using these models, patients can opt-out of the expensive and potentially ineffective treatment options and can choose an option that works for their imminent needs. This is more likely to yield long-lasting results in the long-term. For example, in the last stage of cancer, a patient can pursue less aggressive treatment based on the comfort at the end of their life. It is important for them to live the last moments of their life as comfortable as possible. Ultimately, SDM can be counted as the key that ensures that the patients see results that they truly want. Physicians are experts on the diseases; hence, they are the best person who can provide insights into the treatment. They can enlighten patients with the side effects or other various aspects of the treatment that can influence patient’s lives. SDM ensures that healthcare providers accommodate the patient preference in the care. In the end, it depends on the patient what he/she prefers, their needs, values, and their incorporation of the treatment planning. Allowing patient’s participation in their own care can be the key for a better outcome and higher patient satisfaction. Physicians that implements and practice SDM must share their models so they can offer the benefits linked to the practice. Consequently, this will make it easier and more workable for other hospitals and clinics to foster SDM into their healthcare.
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Santovia An Integrated and Comprehensive Health Engagement Platform
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antovia provides targeted patient education, and resources that promote shared decision-making, and better outcomes. Santovia is happy to announce its new partnership with EBSCO Health and the new integrated Option Grid solution for providers. The Option Grids are build on years of evidence-based research to guide people through life’s major health decisions Its surveys are used by healthcare providers to improve patient satisfaction through rapid feedback. Santovia also supports patient reported outcomes by measuring recovery and keeping track of how patients are progressing. The need for better patient engagement has never been higher, and with more people than ever using technology, the fundamentals are falling into place for Santovia. “It’s often those who least have access to technology that need the information most.” This insight is an important driver in the development of Santovia. Headquartered in Boston MA, Santovia was launched in 2016. Santovia is optimized for all platforms: mobile, tablets, desktops and even paper for those that want it. The inspiration behind Santovia was its recognition that patients need better education and everyone in the system needs to communicate more effectively. For Santovia, this means high-quality educational materials tailored specifically for each individual patient. It aims to consign poor-quality photocopies with obscure diagrams and difficult jargon to the trash heap. Instead, Santovia provides:
Fiona Calnan CEO
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• Extensive easy-to-understand content that explains what patients need to know about their conditions and procedures, in video and written format, and in both English and Spanish; • Conversational videos with expert doctors explaining exactly what behavior patients need to change; • Physical therapy exercises videos; • A wide library of customizable surveys to support rapid
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Santovia is the only integrated solution that allows providers to deliver quality video and written education al materials, offering the added advantage for providers to assign their own customized content to patients
and accurate feedback about patient care and how conditions are progressing. Words of Happy Clientele “Evidence shows that informed patients make more costeffective decisions.” says Fiona. The company works with providers, employers, and insurers to reduce healthcare costs and increase profitability. Dr. Donald Rice, M.D, stated that when the clinic switched from their old vendor to Santovia, the staff noticed immediate improvements. “We had searched for a new provider for many years, so it was nice to see a proactive company like Santovia step up and address all of our concerns.” Feedback from both staff and patients has been very positive reaffirming they made the correct choice in partnering with Santovia. According to Dr. Rice, “The user interface window was incredibly well designed. The Santovia portal seamlessly ties into the Urgent Care Clinic’s medical record system making it easy to remain paperless. It pulls the proper handout and documents the delivery to the patient. We had used third party educational providers and by far, Santovia is far superior. They clearly ‘get us’ and our needs.” Astute Leadership Before moving to the U.S., Santovia’s CEO, Fiona Calnan successfully created a built a network of hospitals in the UK that delivered the best patient outcomes for orthopedic procedures in the country. Great clinical care was clearly an important part of this achievement but helping patients to
Solution Providers 2018
fully understand what they need to do to recover effectively was just as important an ingredient. Fiona’s pioneering use of technology to help patients understand how to boost their recovery was recognized by industry awards. It’s those insights, both about the need for patients to be fully engaged in their recovery and how to harness technology to support learning, which inspired Calnan to move to the US to bring those pioneering achievements to a wider audience by working with Santovia’s founder, Dr Ibrahim Eid. The Uniqueness of Santovia Santovia’s patient education platform provides an unrivalled breadth and depth in both written and video content. Santovia integrates surveys that give deep insights into each patient’s experience of care and how their treatment is progressing. Santovia is assessible directly from the providers’ EMRs and content can be viewed through patient portals, health apps and printed at the point of care. Santovia is the only solution that brings all these approaches together in one package. The Santovis platform aligns all healthcare participants towards a common goal: to achieve the highest quality care in an efficient and costcontained environment.“Everybody wins. Patients, and providers all benefit from Santovia. We listen and act on their feedback.” asserts Fiona. Speaking about the working close with customers, Fiona says, “The team are all close to customers, spending significant amount of time understanding their needs and then translating that directly into new features and product enhancements.” Future of Santovia Santovia has already established itself as the most comprehensive patient engagement platform in the market, “but this is just the tip of the iceberg” they say. Immediate plans include rollout expansion of its teleconsult capability to enable patients to access expert physicians on demand. Other areas in development include expansion of its cutting-edge physical therapy videos to cover even more exercises to improve recovery at home. It has already helped thousands of patients make better decisions and aims to reach many more people by helping employers create a healthier culture and support their employees' health care choices.
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Top Trends that can Boost Patient Engagement to Optimum Levels atient engagement is a continuous process. It does not end within the four walls of a clinic or hospital. Nowadays, with more awareness and desire to live healthy lives, it is vital for healthcare providers to provide an uninterrupted and better support along with guidance to make patients healthcare journey a happier one which will be based exclusively on trust and empathetic care. Here we bring some exciting facets of healthcare that are becoming popular for better patient engagement.
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site information, treatment/infection information to help customers in:
Health 5.0 Health 5.0 has become the latest buzzword in the field of healthcare. This more recent version of healthcare is more focused towards personalization and emergence of digital wellness. What’s new in this new stage is patients are recognized as customers and from a patient-centric healthcare, 5.0 is tilting towards customers centric wellness services.
Moreover, these solutions will assist reduce the social costs associated with healthcare and caregiving and solve laborshortage problems at healthcare sites.
The main focus in this face of healthcare is more towards prevention than cure. Health 5.0 utilize AI analysis of big data spanning over diverse types of information, including personal real-time physiological data, environmental information, healthcare-
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• Promoting healthy living and early detection of diseases through real-time automatic health checkups • Providing ideal treatment anywhere through the sharing of physiological and medical data • Using robots to ease the on-site burden of healthcare and caregiving
Health Education No one wants to be in the dark when it comes to any kind of dental treatment. Everyone wants to know about the detailed procedures and techniques the doctor perform while treating dental patients. As the awareness level on the rise, more and more patients want to know about their treatment procedures in advance. Educating the patients about the treatment can significantly improve the patient experience. Increasing patient engagement not only does help in augmenting patient’s knowledge and skills but also builds their confidence in managing their health.
Trends to Watch
Educating the patients can bridge the gap between patient and healthcare providers and assist: • • • • •
Patients in taking accountability for their health Patients in practicing prevention techniques at home In developing patient trust, satisfaction, and loyalty In increasing treatment acceptance rate In safeguarding the continuity of care between appointments • In empowering the patients to decide the best plan of action Moreover, rural or population with low health literacy, educating about the treatments and other can prove to a boon for the healthcare sector. As many within these populations have not experienced healthcare delivery that emphasize or encourage high levels of patient engagement. The Arrival of Tech Gadgets Wearable gadgets are becoming popular in today’s fast paced-life due to its fascinating features and compelling end results on the go. Whether you want to track your sleep, movements, heart rate, physical activities, calories burnt, distance traveled, active time, activity break-up in a day, or more, wearable gadgets does the work for you in a proactive manner. The ability to produce vital body stats in
a hassle-free manner is what has been attracting consumers towards wearable gadgets. In a prominent survey, it was found that use of technology gadgets have increased multifold between 2014 and 2016. What’s more interesting is whopping 76 percent of patients’ follow physicians’ recommendation to use wearable gadgets as they feel more empowered with its usage and effectiveness. Moreover, the integration of wearable gadgets and electronic health records has expanded the patient’s satisfaction level towards the optimum. The doctors have become more empowered to get the deeper insights about a particular patient’s daily activities, which ultimately assist physicians to advice better guidance to the patients. All these make the patient’s journey fruitful and assist them to live a healthy life. Although the list is endless, and there are many other trends which are gaining popularity, but one thing that is common is – Patients are now- no more just concerned about the recovery from their diseases; they want to know about its prevention as well. Doctors and healthcare providers thus need to gear up to match the growing expectation from a tech-savvy and highly educated world population in order to maintain a cordial relationship and better patient engagement for a sure success.
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Dr. Steven Pelech Founder, President, & Chief Scientiď€ c Ofď€ cer
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Exclusive View
PROTEINS ARE BETTER BIOMARKERS THAN GENES About the Author Dr. Steven Pelech is the Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation, and concurrently a full professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He was formerly the founder and president of Kinetek Pharmaceuticals. He has authored more than 230 scientific papers and created the SigNET on-line Knowledge-bank. Seasoned with over twenty-five years of experience in the areas of science, business, and administration, he has contributed leadership, vision, and strategic planning to Kinexus.
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he costs of sequencing the order of nucleotide bases in the DNA strands found in chromosomes have plummeted by a million-fold over the last 25 years. The entire sequence of 2.9 billion nucleotide base-pairs in a single human genome can now be determined for less than $1000. Complete genomes of hundreds of thousands of people are expected to be sequenced over the next decade. While the acquisition of such genomic knowledge was originally forecasted to herald better diagnostics and therapeutic treatments, the actual deliverables for improved health care have been disappointing. Excluding cancer, it has become apparent that only about 10% of the cases of the most common diseases that afflict our population have a genetic basis that can be ascribed to hereditary mutations in the DNA sequences of specific genes. Over 100 million single nucleotide variants appear to exist in the human population, and perfectly healthy people appear to commonly harbour about 100 or so serious disease-associated mutations without any apparent manifestations of these particular diseases. Studies, with over 50,000 genetically identical twins, have shown no increased risks for the 24 most common diseases amongst the twins than for a twin with the general population. Over 95% of the known 21,300 genes carried in the human genome serve as the blue-prints for the construction of all of the cellular proteins, known as the proteome. These proteins function like molecular robots to regulate and carry out all of the biochemical reactions needed to keep cells alive. Their programming for specific tasks is partly
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hardwired into the structures of these proteins as dictated by their gene sequences. But, they are also tightly controlled by reversible modifications after they are initially manufactured, which are added on by regulatory proteins that operate within cellular intelligence systems. While gene sequences can provide some clues as to the potential functions and interactions of proteins with each other and other molecules, this information is extremely limited. Even now, we do not have a real sense of what over a third of these diverse proteins do, and less than 20% of these proteins have received any real serious attention in research labs. The disconnect between genetic information and the actual occurrence of disease is due to the high impact of environmental factors such as diet, life style and exposure to agents in the environment that can affect the proteome. Proteomes are immensely complex and dynamic. For example, blood plasma may contain as many as 40,000 different protein products, and their individual concentrations can range over a trillion-fold. Consequently, tracking proteins offers much better insights into the occurrence of diseases than genetic profiling, and importantly the opportunity for more rational therapeutic intervention. While about 21,300 genes encode proteins in the human genome, the actual number of distinct protein entities in the proteome may actually exceed several million, largely due to the range and degree of added modifications and other processing. More than 50 types of modifications have been documented in proteins, with phosphorylation as the predominant reversible regulatory mechanism. Over 85% of the proteome is known to be phosphorylatable at over 250,000 sites, but the actual number of phosphosites appears to be closer to a million. The occurrence of these and other modifications in proteins represent a rich source of biomarkers that may correlate better with the development of pathologies. Most sites of known protein modification were originally revealed by mass spectrometry (MS). However, apart from being very expensive, MS requires milligram amount of biological sample material and is finicky for reliable detection of desired target proteins. For example, out of some 3000 phosphosites in proteins that have been well documented to be functionally important in the scientific literature, about 22% have not been reported in any MS studies, whereas another 16% were documented in only one of thousands of MS analyses that had been performed. Antibodies have been well proven to be reliable and effective probes for the detection and quantification of specific proteins for their present and modification states. Over a million different antibodies against diverse proteins are presently commercially available. Furthermore, the printing of antibodies as individual microdots on microscope slidesized chips with densities exceeding 5000 spots per chip has paved the way for biomarker discovery that is easily translatable into the development of routine diagnostic tests. Biomarker antibodies can readily be re-deployed into other tried and true platforms such as immunoblotting, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. Problems with sample preparation, high background issues, and low sensitivity of detection initially hampered the widespread adoption of antibody microarrays. However, recent breakthroughs on all of these fronts have poised antibody microarrays to become the most versatile, reproducible, and cost-effective tools in the foreseeable future for biomarker discovery, using as little as 25 microgram amounts of protein samples from crude, unfractionated lysates from cells, tissues, and bio fluids. High content antibody microarrays can identify the most appropriate and robust panel of biomarkers. When used to probe lysate microarrays printed instead with hundreds of patient specimen samples on each slide, these biomarker antibodies can provide accurate, comprehensive and economical diagnoses for diseases and for the monitoring of the effectiveness of therapeutic treatments.
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THE
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here are many factors that account for a person’s well-being. One of the factors among these can be a person’s genes or his/her biology. The second factor is the i n d i v i d u a l’s b e h av i o r. T h i s behavior includes whether a person smokes or not, his/her eating habits, and exercise routine. There is a common misconception amongst people that their health is a result of their genes, their visit to the physicians, and their behavior. But it’s not just how they live or healthy they are, the social and physical environment can have a huge impact on the health too.
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Editor’s Pick
LACK OF PHYSICAL INACTIVITY Physical inactivity among teenagers can contribute to cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, or cancer in the later life alongside increased body mass index and obesity. An environment that restricts physical activity has been labeled as a major factor for obesity. The rise of obesity in young people has been attributed to environmental changes. These changes include the use of transport for commute and a decrease in the opportunities for recreational physical activities.
EDUCATION An education level can affect the health meter of a person. Education provides the tool to make a good decision about health. It is generally said that people with a good education will live more. They are more likely to take part in seeing their physician and keeping a regular habit of exercising. Education further helps them in eliminating unhealthy habits like smoking and drug use. Moreover, they can avail themselves with the benefits of health insurance alongside making connections with the other people in their life. All these factors add up to the betterment of the health.
CULTURE DIFFERENCES Different types of culture and society value body types in different ways. In some places, the weight is seen as a positive thing where the food is scarce and some culture despise it and label it as obesity. The type of food one consumes can affect the health and well-being of an individual. The culture and the types of foods that community holds also affect the health and longevity. Not only the eating patterns play a part, but also the attitude and behavior of people play an important role, which influences health. Such cultural traditions can induce stress in individuals and they can doubt themselves whether they are socially accepted and acknowledged in their life. All these factors add to the social insecurities and irregular eating habits in human beings.
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REVENUE People with higher income tend to be healthier and they enable themselves to live in a safe neighborhood and have more access to health foods and organic stores. They also get the access of gym, yoga and even joggers’ park. On the other hand, citizens with lower income are likely to live in the poverty. These include the unsafe housing, challenges in getting healthy food, and less time for the physical activities. Furthermore, the citizens below the poverty line can also face challenges in availing healthcare facilities like health insurance. It also denies people access to housing, education, transport, and other factors to the overall participation in life. The stress of living in poverty is even more harmful during the pregnancy and for the babies, children, and elders.
PARENTING The health impact of good early development and education can last a lifetime. This good start in life comes from the support of the parents. Studies have shown that the foundations of healthy adult life are established in early childhood and even before birth. Parenting with slow growth and poor emotional support can lead to the lifetime risk of poor health and reduce physical and emotional functioning in adult years. Any kind of inferior experience and slow growth can be embed in the biology of the child during the process of development and can form the basis of individual biological damage which in turn affects the health throughout life. As far as children are concerned, their emotional, cognitive, and sensory input program brain’s responses and insecure attachment and poor upbringing can lead to reduced studying abilities in school, low attainment of education, and behavior problems. Additionally, peer and families often set health habits of young one such as exercising, sensible eating, refraining from drugs, smoking, and alcohol. Hence, the experience of an infant is also important for adult health.
All these factors play an important role in a person's health on a daily basis. Individuals must understand how these factors affect the health so that they can take the necessary steps to improve themselves and also improve their health.
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UbiCare Enhancing Care Quality by Fostering Patient Engagement
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eadquartered in Boston, MA, UbiCare is a prominent patient engagement company that impacts care cost and quality through its proven SAAS products. Effectively, UbiCare combines targeted, evidence-based, multimedia content with a dynamic software platform that allows complete customization and real-time usage data. Founded in 2002, UbiCare is on the forefront of creating a completely digital patient engagement solution in the U.S. In its initial stages, the company used technology to overcome obstacles in successfully engaging and educating patients. Through weekly, relevant emails delivered throughout the whole episode of care, hospitals strengthen their patient connection and relationships, enjoy immediate patient access, and provide the means to make patients true in their care. Magnificent Talent
Betsy Weaver CEO
The CEO, Betsy Weaver, has gathered a team of great talent, most of whom have been with the company for half a decade or more—including three team members who worked together in her last company. The Executive VP of Content/UI/Product started out in print, adapted quickly to the web and has since moved into mobile and interactive. The Executive VP of Corporate previously designed museum exhibits and applied her MBA at digital marketing companies, focusing on using content to gain audience attention, being hyper-relevant, and increase product use. The Executive VP of Finance and Operations keeps the team moving forward with grace and efficiency. Lastly, the CTO, who was previously a member of the team that created eINK used in the Amazon Kindle devices, continues to innovate for patients and the hospitals who care for them. Teamwork, Unity Brings Strength “Our evolutionary—or revolutionary!—content and
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We give healthcare the tools to improve care and lower costs platform would not have been possible without our talented team,” says Betsy, proudly. This team is enhanced through in-house continuing education with “UbiUniversity” sessions, as well as external learning opportunities. For example, the company’s product manager participated in a development course to increase productivity and efficiency with product engineers. Plus, each quarter, the whole company bonds together by volunteering for local community organizations. UbiCare believes that “Patient Engagement is a ‘teamsport’! We all need the patients, but it’s the patient engagement provider who is the MVP,” Betsy says. The organization’s core mission is to give healthcare providers the means to access and sustain the connection with the patients. “It’s not just about the means of connection—emails, text, apps, websites or patient portals—it’s about NO barriers to access. It’s about making it easy, relevant and delightful, with connections that are of use right now because they’re perfectly timed, arriving when and where they’re needed,” asserts Betsy. Cutting-edge Services UbiCare’s unique platform automatically delivers turnkey sourced, evidence-based content, providing the right message to the right patient at the right time throughout an entire episode of care. The cloud-based platform has been enhanced as technology has evolved and patient and provider needs have changed. It is now interoperable with
Solution Providers 2018
other hospital IT systems and meets enterprise-wide needs for hospital systems. UbiCare’s flagship product, SmarteXp, was first developed for the Obstetrics/Pediatrics population. One client appreciates UbiCare for its services and noted that expectant and new moms “are the frontend of our customer pipeline, as they make 80% of all care decisions for the whole family. When loyal and engaged, their value lasts for 20+ years. UbiCare enhances that for us. They created the digital category.” Words about Ideal Leadership As UbiCare’s leader, Betsy believes that “the ideal leader is an innovator, a change agent, and a disruptor. He/She is driven, comfortable with rapid change and able to harness that to positive ends for the company but also for the world. New talent and the best talent want more than money and equity. They want to believe, grow and change with the products and the company. The ideal leader guides and appreciates this. Plus, good leaders must feel comfortable moving and bringing their team along with them. This is impossible without careful selection of the right team and having that evolve as your innovations do. Talent evolves, as products and the marketplace do.” Upcoming Plans In 2018, UbiCare completed a study with a four-hospital system in the Midwest. It has given it and the healthcare industry new knowledge of this type of digital connection. When utilized from well before to well after an episode of care, it can provide statically significant and clinically impactful results. In this case, reduced the length of hospital stay and decreased emergency department visits within 30 days post-operation. It also showed positive direction for the other tracked outcome variables including the day of surgery cancellations, discharge destination, and hospital readmissions within 30 days post-op. Today, the challenge ahead of the company is to share these findings more widely to stimulate more research and to have more patients and hospitals benefit from this research. “Our goal is to stay armed with the findings that digitally connecting with patients throughout a care episode works to reduce costs and increase care quality. We want to help providers achieve the highest ROI while improving outcomes,” concludes Betsy.
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