Faces of Digital Health

On April 15th this year a panel of experts published a position paper online in the Lancet Psychiatry, where they outlined a proposed government response to curb the long-term "profound" and "pervasive" impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Undoubtedly, the global lockdown caused a lot of anxiety in some individuals, depression in others, it is fair to assume some medical professionals will suffer from PTSD after the worst is over. The positive news is, that by today we have many validated digital tools and programs to help patients deal with mental health problems remotely. In this episode, Christopher Molaro, talks about why is access to mental health care still problematic, how can digital tools support providers and patients, and what trends are already visible because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris is co-founder of NeuroFlow -  a health care technology company whose goal is to bridge the gap between mental and physical health in all care settings. Chris first started thinking about the need for better mental health support and care coordination when he was still working for the US army. Upon return from his mission in Iraq, he started noticing how veterans and civilians alike face too many barriers when it comes to receiving appropriate, timely care.  One of the things that CDC, WHO and other authorities advise us of doing in case of stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness in this unprecedented times, is to get plenty of sleep, avoid alcohol and drugs, try to eat healthily, keep in contact with your friends, colleagues, and family, and try to destress with deep breaths and meditation.  Read WHO recommendations for mental health issues management, as well as the CDC guidelines to ease difficulties occurring during this pandemic.  Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s080-how-far-are-we-with-digitising-mental-health-support-christopher-molaro The background music in this show was composed by the pop artist based in New York Cheryl B. Engelhardt. Cheryl suffered from debilitating panic attacks her entire life, tried many coping strategies and in the end composed an album called Luminary and started  a daily meditation practice with it. If you wish to find inner calm with her music, you can access it for free on all streaming platforms and meditation apps Insight Timer and Simple Habit. Listen to “Luminary” here

Healthcare is anything but relaxing once you're a patient. But what if you could look forward to your appointments as you look forward to a wellness visit?  This was among the guidelines designers of Tia - the next generation women's healthcare platform - are operating under in their product development.  Tia was first a search-engine like support companion for women interested in anonymous search of reliable health information. By today, Tia is an ecosystem of services: a personalized women's health information provider, a brick and mortar clinic in New York City. Listen to co-founder and CEO of Tia Carolyn Witte explain what patient-centered care looks like and how can healthcare be made more affordable, as in the case of Tia.   Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s079-womens-health-and-the-dream-but-real-healthcare-setting-carolyn-witte More about Tia: https://asktia.com/

Wellthy is one of Asia's leading digital therapeutics companies that inspires and enables patients to prevent, reverse and control chronic diseases. It works with pharmaceutical, medical devices companies, payors and healthcare providers to improve health outcomes. With active therapeutic areas in diabetes and cardiology, it has published real-world evidence across 20 publications in leading peer-reviewed journals and global conferences. In this episode, the last one of the 5-part series about digital therapeutics, Abhishek Shah, the CEO and Founder of Wellthy, on of the largest DTx companies in Asia, talks about the importance of understanding that healthcare is always local and shared some vivid examples of different rules of engagement with users in India compared to the West. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s078-dtx-series-55-chronic-disease-management-in-india-abhishek-shah Wellthy: https://wellthytherapeutics.com/about

In any given year, 12% to 14% of the adult population in the US will visit their physician for back pain. In the UK muscosceletal conditions (MSK) affect 1 in 4 of the adult population. MSK are very expensive to treat, as patients require medical imagining, medications, sometimes surgery and physical therapy, explains Mark Liber, VP of Business Development at Kaia Health - a digital therapeutics company offering a solution for mitigating musculoskeletal diseases such as chronic back pain. Kaia Health works by offering the user an AI-supported motion sensor guided exercises, which means that an individual not only tries to follow the video instructions but can get feedback if he is executing the positions correctly or not. The app is additionally supported by an actual coach the user can connect with. Recap of the show: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s077-dtx-series-45-want-to-get-rid-of-back-pain-mark-liber-kaia-health Kaia Health: https://www.kaiahealth.com/

According to WHO, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. These deaths represent 5.3 % of all deaths. Australian organization Hello Sunday Morning has been tackling alcohol abuse for over a decade, with a digital approach, that has by today been developed to the level of a soon to be a digital therapeutic (DTx). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down across the world, Hello Sunday Morning has been noticing an increase in alcohol consumption.In this episode,  Jamie Moore who is a  General Manager & Daybreak Co-Founder of Daybreak program at the Australian organisanition Hello Sunday Morning, talks about the early days of Hello Sunday Morning, the drinking culture in Australia and the meaning of community support in tacking alcohol addiction. When the organisation was founded over ten years ago, the emphasis was on binge drinking. By today, the user structure has changed and  Daybreak members are predominantly dependent drinkers, they are very much on the heavy end of drinking with 40+ drinks per week, while some users are moderate drinkers. Recap of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s076-dtx-series-35-are-you-drinking-jamie-moore Hello Sunday Morning: https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/ DTx Alliance: https://dtxalliance.org/

On April 9th, Slovenian health tech community and Faces of digital health organised a webinar about healthcare innovation funding in times of COVID-19. We asked four experts from Slovenia, Italy, Germany and Israel to join us in the discussion about the effect of the pandemic on health tech business. What you will be able to hear is the webinar adapted for radio. The event is divided into two podcast episodes - in the first one you can listen to the presentations of Levi Shapiro, founder of mHealth Israel talk about the current trends in digital health and future expectations. Nana Bit Avragim shared an overview of the innovative business models. In the second episode, you can listen to the recording panel discussion. The panellists agreed tough times are ahead and offered their advice as to where opportunities lie and how existing companies should adopt to survive the coming economic crisis.   Webinar agenda: 14:05 - 14:20 Overview of the global digital health scene up until now, COVID-19 related investments (Levi Shapiro, mHealth Israel (Israel)) 14:20-14:35 Collabetition: New Possibilities to Create, Co-Create and Rethink Healthcare Businesses (Nana Bit-Avragim, Digital Health Business Architect (Germany)) 14:35-15:10 Round table: Effects of COVID-19 on business (Nana Bit-Avragim, Levi Shapiro, Giovanni Loser, investor (Italy), Blaž Triglav, healthcare executive (Slovenia)) 15:10-15:20 Q&A with the audience   Webinar summary: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/special-episodes-7475-healthcare-innovation-financing-in-times-of-covid-19nbsp

On April 9th, Slovenian health tech community and Faces of digital health organised a webinar about healthcare innovation funding in times of COVID-19. We asked four experts from Slovenia, Italy, Germany and Israel to join us in the discussion about the effect of the pandemic on health tech business. What you will be able to hear is the webinar adapted for radio. The event is divided into two podcast episodes - in the first one you can listen to the presentations of Levi Shapiro, founder of mHealth Israel talk about the current trends in digital health and future expectations. Nana Bit Avragim shared an overview of the innovative business models. In the second episode, you can see the panel discussion. The panellists agreed tough times are ahead and offered their advice as to where opportunities lie and how existing companies should adopt to survive the coming economic crisis.   Webinar agenda: 14:05 - 14:20 Overview of the global digital health scene up until now, COVID-19 related investments (Levi Shapiro, mHealth Israel (Israel)) 14:20-14:35 Collabetition: New Possibilities to Create, Co-Create and Rethink Healthcare Businesses (Nana Bit-Avragim, Digital Health Business Architect (Germany)) 14:35-15:10 Round table: Effects of COVID-19 on business (Nana Bit-Avragim, Levi Shapiro, Giovanni Loser, investor (Italy), Blaž Triglav, healthcare executive (Slovenia)) 15:10-15:20 Q&A with the audience   Webinar summary: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/special-episodes-7475-healthcare-innovation-financing-in-times-of-covid-19nbsp

Paul is the CEO and Founder of Eyeforpharma  - international hub connecting senior-level pharma executives, patient groups and other health stakeholders to exchange ideas and observe shifting trends and practices at events, in reports and conferences. In this second episode of a short series about digital therapeutics, Paul talks about the relationship between Pharma and DTx and Pharma development as an industry in general. As an Advisor to Hu-manity.co Paul also discussed the concept of people owning their data and managing it as property.   Webinar about innovation financing in times of COVID-19: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/healthcare-innovation-financing-in-times-of-covid-19-tickets-101653044994  Recap of the show: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f073-dtx-series-24-whats-pharma-got-to-do-with-digital-therapeutics-paul-simms

Digital therapeutics (DTx) are clinically validated digital solutions with proven positive effects on disease management and outcomes. in this episode, Jessica Shull, European Lead for the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, shaping advocacy and organizational engagement for the DTx industry in European countries, explains what DTx are, why are they relevant clinical interventions, how do clinical trials for medications differ from clinical trials for digital therapeutics. Jessica also explains what digital therapeutics are and how they should be differentiated from digital diagnostics and more. As written by the Digital Health Alliance, DTx have immense potential in the coronavirus pandemic, because patient access to and utilization of digital therapeutics could improve health outcomes, consequently reducing chronic disease-related hospitalizations, mitigating additional pressures on healthcare providers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Their use could reduce vulnerable populations’ potential coronavirus exposure. Announcement: Jessica Shull will be at the Eyeforpharma virtual conference taking place between March 30th and April 3rd! Go to: https://www.eyeforpharma.com/barcelona/   Resources:  Recap of the show Apple COVID-19 screening toolWHO Whatsapp service for COVID-19 informationDTx and COVID-19

When Europe became the new epicentre of the COVID-19 spread, and with the steady rise of infected in the US, tech companies offered their knowledge to curb the pandemic: COVID-19 triage and self-assessment apps are available, the US is seeing a rise of telemedicine use, in the US, in Italy 3D printing company aided a crisis cause by the need for new respirator valves, etc.  The British based Organisation for the Review of Care & Health Application ORCHA, which has in place a high-standard review process, warned on March 13, that app stores are unregulated, and 85% of apps do not meet ORCHA's quality threshold. This episodes names a few relevant digital health solutions and trends, coming from the US, Europe and China. The short report is followed by a discussion about the healthcare ecosystem in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a regional health care powerhouse, home to the largest non-profit hospital system in the U.S - Ascension., Washington University/BJC Healthcare, the #1 pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S. Express Scripts.  Luke Blackburn - Business Developer at GlobalSTL - a section of BioSTL - which has laid the foundation for St. Louis' innovation economy with a comprehensive set of transformational programs that elevate St. Louis’ leadership in solving important world challenges in agriculture, medicine, health care, and other technology areas. explains who GlobalSTL is working with, what are they learning based on collaborations with 15 countries around the world and more.   Episode recap: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f071-why-is-st-louis-a-hidden-digital-health-ecosystem-gem-in-the-us-and-the-latest-about-digital-health-efforts-fornbspcovid-19 Node.health webinars: https://nodehealth.org/  Orbita’s virtual assistant: https://go.orbita.ai/orbita-launches-screening-chatbot-covid19-patient-education-triage-virtual-navigation  ORCHA recommended Covid apps: https://www.orcha.co.uk/news/coronavirus-apps-to-help-self-management/  The Journal of Gastroenterology: https://gi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ACG-AJG-Media-Statement-COVID19-Hubei-Pan-et-al-FINAL-03182020.pdf  DreaMed Diabetes: https://dreamed-diabetes.com/ Mediately: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mediately/