Faces of Digital Health

The promise of voice is great: doctors speak to their patients, while their words get correctly transcribed, interpreted and recorded in a structured way in a clinical system. No more long hours spent on typing clinical notes on the computer. While this may seem futuristic, it’s actually already in use in some places. At HLTH in November, I spoke with Punit Singh Sonu, CEO of Suki, which provides doctors with an AI-powered voice assistant for healthcare designed to save doctors time and energy. We discussed how Suki works, how it translates text to structured data, and how clinically risky is to rely on AI to interpret medication names which can very quickly sound alike correctly. The biggest issue, says Punit Singh Sonu, is not specialty phrases, it’s regular English. “The problem typically happens not in medical terminology. It happens in regular English. I'll give you a very funny example. The doctor would just say “bilateral knee,” and it would actually understand it as “beyonce knowles”. Regular English is where speech recognition trips and falls in, in specific medical terminology,” he explained. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/nlp-in-healthcare-suki-voicetech Suki: suki.ai Monthly. newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

ChatGPT has been entertaining and amazing the world in the last month, and there’s no shortage of ideas and new inspiration about what AI could do for healthcare. In a short series of three episodes, we will touch upon this topic from three angles: will first take a look at the state of symptom checkers and their accuracy today, the development and state of voice tech and natural language processing for structuring data, and end with a comment on ChatGPT, chatbots and Google’s recently released paper on MultiMedQA, a benchmark combining six existing open question answering datasets spanning professional medical exams, research, and consumer queries; and HealthSearchQA, a new free-response dataset of medical questions searched online.  Today you’ll hear from a discussion with Jeff Cutler - Chief Commercial Officer of Ada Health, whom I spoke with at HLTH. Ada is the world's most popular symptom assessment app, with 10 million users and 25 million completed assessments. Every three seconds, someone turns to Ada for personal health guidance.Discussion topics: the development of accuracy and business models of symptom checkers, how is Ada improving the accuracy of its algorithms, their partnership with the likes of Sutter Health to enhance the care patients receive even before entering the doctor’s office. ***BTW: Did you check our newsletter yet? It only comes out every few weeks with a summary of a specific topic and an overview of past episodes. Go to fodh.substack.com. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/nlp-in-healthcare-1-the-state-of-symptom-checkers-jeff-cuttler-ada-healthLeave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthMonthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

 We tend to be very good at overestimating what can happen in a year and underestimating what can happen in a decade. At the last mHealth Israel Conference in Tel Aviv,  Mark Coticchia, who is the Innovation, Technology Commercialization, and Venture Development Leader at Baptist Health Innovations, shared his prediction about healthcare systems and healthcare delivery in the US in 2033. Transcript: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/mark-coticchia-baptist-healthLeave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthMonthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

This episode is the second about the evolution of mental health companies. In the previous episode, you could listen to Katie Di Perna Cook - SVP of Partnerships at Headspace Health, and today, we’re continuing the topic with Luke Hejl, CEO of TimelyMD, the leading virtual health and well-being solution for college students, CCO of Iris Telehealth, a leading provider of telepsychiatry services for health systems and community health centers across the U.S..Luke and Michael talked about the state of mental health in the younger population and how the two companies look at digital innovation and digital therapeutics in the mental health space. 9 out of 10 students said they’re dealing with anxiety, said Luke Hejl, and as mentioned by Michael Maus, 1 out of 4 people that need mental health services actually look for them. So three out of four people needing them do not get help.  Iris Telehealth: https://iristelehealth.com/ TimelyMD: https://timely.md/ Subscribe to the newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

The pandemic has significantly increased the need for mental healthcare and destigmatized discussing well-being and mental health issues in everyday conversation. Unfortunately, the number of quality providers of mental health services is still much lower than the demand, and the number of people that are seeking help is rising. At HLTH or Health conference, which took place in November in Las Vegas, I spoke with representatives of 3 mental health-focused companies based in the US. TimelyMD is the ninth-fastest growing health services company in the US, according to Inc., and focuses on the mental health of students,, Iris Telehealth is a leading provider of telepsychiatry services for health systems and community health centers across the U.S. and Headspace Health -the largest digital mental health provider in the world - it is reaching 100 million people in 190 countries across the world. In this episode, we’ll dive into a discussion with Katie DiPerna Cook - SVP of Partnerships - Headspace Health. The company offers a broad range of services. If was established after a 2021 merger between Headspace - world-class meditation and mindfulness company, and Ginger - the on-demand mental health service provider in the US. In 2022, Headspace Health also acquired The Shine App, a mental health and well-being platform dedicated to providing an inclusive mental health experience for the black, indigenous, and other people of color. Katie talked about the state of mental health in 2022, how Headspace Health is evolving, and how to build resilience to cope with the broad uncertainty of the current political, economic and environmental stress. Partial transcript: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/katie-diperna-cook-headspace-health Subscribe to the newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

If someone told you to get an eye exam, would you associate that with a virtual reality headset? It might be where ophthalmology diagnostics will end up in the near future. Compared to the existing diagnostics tools, a VR approach is much more portable and hence accessible. The Swiss company PeriVision is using AI and VR to enable more efficient workflows and deeper clinical insights to manage eye diseases better. I spoke with the co-founder and CEO of Perivision, Patrick Kessel. Prior to joining PeriVision, Patrick advised Medtech, biopharma, and insurance clients on business development, go-to-market strategy, digitization, and operations optimization at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). We discussed how VR and AI help in eye care, what the competition is in the field, and how did the company evolve. Perivison won EIT Health’s Wild Card program in 2021 and received 1.5 million euros for its further development. Patrick shared his reflection on the wild card program and which startups the program is most suitable for.   www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Subscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth Browse the full EIT Health Germany-Switzerland series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/eit-health-germany *****This episode is supported by EIT held in Germany, Switzerland, which is one of the eight knowledge and innovation communities currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and technology. EIT Health Germany-Switzerland is currently serving 26 leading companies and public health care institutions in Germany and Switzerland, as well as renowned universities and research institutions, to realize EIT Health’s mission of a public-private partnership. To learn more, visit https://eit-health.de/, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. 

Last year, one of the key buzzwords in healthcare was virtual care; in 2020 it was probably telemedicine. In 2019 it was AI, in 2017 and 2018, it was blockchain in interoperability. There are many others of course, and many of these terms are still popular today. It seems, though, that the one term that got pushed most in the background, is blockchain. And that’s a good thing, says John Bass, Founder & CEO of Hashed Industries (dba Hashed Health), a healthcare-focused venture studio. John is an internationally recognized author and speaker on value-based care, blockchain, and decentralized healthcare technology. He is the co-author of the HIMSS-published book “Blockchain in Healthcare: Innovations that Empower Patients, Connect Professionals and Improve Care."This short discussion was recorded at HLTH 2022 conference in Las Vegas. John talks about: where is blockchain in 2022, what can we expect in the future, how it relate to web3, and what could NFT - nonfungible tokens do for healthcare.Transcript: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/blockchain-and-web3-in-healthcare-hashed-health www.facesofdigitalhealth.comSubscribe to the newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

The European Health Data Space is supposed to be implemented in a bit more than two years, by 2025. Two goals are at the forefront: to create the infrastructure for a European health data pool for researchers and innovators, and secondly, to enable patients to pick up their medications outside their home country and give doctors across Europe access to their patient information, if in need of medical care while abroad in Europe. On 18 November, EIT Health Germany-Switzerland and EIT Health Spain organized a joint symposium titled Right to privacy vs. duty to protect lives: Health Data Management in Focus. Speakers discussed patients’ perspectives on Health Data use and the EHDS, balancing health data privacy and AI development, ongoing approaches for data solutions, and more. I managed to speak with Nick Schneider, Head of division 511 on new technologies and data use at the Germany Federal Ministry of Health to discuss:  Where is EHDS at the moment Will it be implemented by 2025 What are still the biggest open questions And how Germany is advancing with its digital transformation.  Resources:EIT Health Statement on the European Health Data Space: https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EIT-Health-Statement-on-the-EHDS-proposal_final-05052022.pdf Joint Symposium with EIT Health Spain - EIT Health Germany (eit-health.de): https://eit-health.de/en/joint-symposium-2022/eHealth Services across Europe: https://health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/electronic-cross-border-health-services_en This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany-Switzerland,  which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Find out more: eit-health.dewww.facesofdigitalhealth.comMonthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Nurses play a key role in patient care, but their contribution to patient outcomes is often undervalued and underappreciated. It took a pandemic to create a major shift in their job opportunities and power to negotiate. Many nurses left the profession entirely, others switched to better-paid travel or agency jobs. The pandemic is settling down so the question debated in today’s episode, is what is the position the nurses are in today? You will hear from: Rebecca Love, Thought Leader on Nurse Innovation & Entrepreneurship, experienced nurse executive and entrepreneur, and Chief Clinical Officer of IntelyCare, Alice Benjamin, nurse, author, and health advocate is affectionately known as America's favorite nurse. Rebecca and Alice talked about the position of nurses, healthcare technologies that are not designed to make the work of nurses easier, recent criminal cases against nurses in the US, and what needs to change so that being a nurse will be an attractive job opportunity. Let’s dive in, and if you will enjoy the discussion, do leave a rating or a review wherever you get your podcast and subscribe to receive the next episode straight to your podcast inbox. Also, do check our newsletter! It’s published on a monthly basis. Now to Rebecca and Alice. Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthOfficial website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Between 13 and 16 November, HLTH, the largest digital health conference with over 9000 attendees, took place in Las Vegas. Over 400 speakers discussed the current trends and challenges in the industry. This short episode recaps some of the discussed topics - investment trends, holistic healthcare: food as medicine, digital therapeutics, mental health trends, telemedicine decline, patient experience as a determinant of care, health disparities and more.Speakers: Smriti Kirubanandan, Healthcare Strategist and Board Member of The World Food Bank,  Lyndsey (McKay) Harper, Ob/Gyn, Founder/CEO of Rosy  Aline Noziet, Digital Health Connector from Barcelona, Spain Hagai Heshes, Head of Product Marketing at TytoCare  Erica Olenski Johansen, Caregiver and Patient Advocate  Julien de Sallabery, CEO of Galen Growth Read the transcript in the newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthOfficial website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com*** Past episodes about DTx in Germany***How Can A Digital Health Solution Become a "DiGA App" in Germany? https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-procarement How did Germany accelerate the speed of the digitization of healthcare?https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f095-how-did-germany-managed-to-take-the-lead-in-healthcare-digitization-henrik-matthies-maike-henningsen-maren-lesche?rq=germany