Faces of Digital Health

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/

As of 2017 healthcare is the leading category of the 78,5 billion in consumer debt collected each year, which is more than 40 times the size of credit card debt. While the number of uninsured is reducing, it is being replaced with the issue of underinsurance. 3 in 10 people reported costs caused them not to take their medicines as prescribed in the past year, writes law professor Christopher T. Robertson in his last book Exposed: Why Our Health Insurance Is Incomplete and What Can Be Done About It. This is especially critical in situations as the current Covidvirus crisis. New York Times and Financial Times warn that the US is at high risk for a fast spread of Covid-19, because many people don’t have the option to work at home + the uninsured, and there are 27 million of them, are reluctant to seek healthcare.In the following discussion with dr. Robertson, you will hear more about what kind of costs patients are exposed to in the US, what the role of technology could be in curbing those costs or at least make prices transparent and clear before a patient get the bills, and how could the healthcare system be improved. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f070-why-is-getting-sick-in-the-us-financially-toxic-for-many-people-christopher-t-robertson

"Each investor sees about 1200 pitch decks per year, meets 500 founders, and invests in 10 companies. So when preparing for your pitch, you need to be aware that investors are looking for reasons to say NO to you," says Beth Susanne. The key thing to consider when preparing presentations, says Beth, is what investors could say YES to. In healthcare, that is: traction, clearly identified payor and partners that show the scalability of your product. Beth Susanne is an international pitch coach from the US, based in Spain, who coached over 3000 teams so far, over 200 in digital health. No matter if you are a startup or a corporation, team communication is key to success - either for company growth or fundraising.   Summary of the show: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f069-what-else-is-there-to-learn-about-pitching-digital-health-solutions-bethnbspsussane  Beth Susanne: https://bethsusanne.com/

Grace Cordovano is an expert healthcare navigating solutionist and award winning, board-certified patient advocate specializing in the oncology space. She is the founder of Enlightening Results and Unblock Health  - a suite of services that finally provides patients and carepartners with a way to level the playing field and demand access to the critical information needed to make informed, engaged, and empowered decisions about their care. In this episode, she talks about challenges patients faces because of the complexity of the healthcare system in the US, she shares her view about the need of patients getting access to their data and more.   Recap of the discussion: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series Enlightening Results:https://www.enlighteningresults.com/ Unblock Health: https://www.unblock.health/

Clinical advocacy has many different shapes. In the US, says Dr. Bettina Ryll, patient advocates work as patient’s navigators in the healthcare system. In Europe, they have a more activist/policy influencing role. When a patient’s interest in his disease grows beyond his personal interest, he becomes a patient advocate, says Mr. Ryll, when asked about how she would define patient advocacy.  This episode presents the role of patients in improving care, the influence of patient advocacy and needs of patients with serious conditions.   Summary: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series Melanoma Patient Network Europe: http://www.melanomapatientnetworkeu.org/

In the second episode of the short series about the patient perspective of healthcare Marina Borukhovich, born in Belarus, raised in US and living for the past 8 years in Netherlands and Germany shares her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer at 37 years old. 3 years later she lost her father to pancreatic cancer. She founded YourCoach, a startup giving coaches client management and accountability tools in order to help heal their clients holistically, with a vision of having health coaches accessible to everyone. YourCoach aims to become the ultimate authority for health coaches.   Recap of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series YourCoach: https://yourcoach.health/

Roi Shternin had medical ambitions while he was still a student. Before he turned 20 however, his physical health started deteriorating to the point where he couldn’t get up from his bed. He visited 33 doctors. “The 33rd doctor told my parents that I will never get married or have a career, so they should just get me an as comfortable bed as possible, so I can die with dignity,” Roi remembers today. Because he did not get a diagnosis, and consequently treatment, he lost a lot of his faith in healthcare. And after doctors gave up on him, he decided to try to find out the cause of his deteriorating health himself. Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series  Roi Shternin: http://roi.shternin.com/

Social isolation and loneliness are linked to several health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and even death. Can these problems be alleviated with the help of robots?  A group of French innovators created Cutii — a robot for the elderly that looks like a screen on a stand that moves around in the environment. It supports speech recognition and vocal synthesis so the users can send written messages using their voice, the robot allows remote control for family caregivers, detects falls. The robot is an IoT device that enables the elderly to meet new people — caregivers in the Cutii community. Caregivers are usually younger volunteers that share their activities (for example cooking, hiking, visiting the gallery) while being connected to an elder in real-time. The robot is currently available in France, Switzerland and the US. The average age of Cutii users is between 72 and 74. As explained by Richard Marshall, VP of Business Development at Cutii, the aim of the company is to increase the years of happy living to those that wish to age in their homes. Most people do, due to the emotional attachment they have with their home.   Show summary: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f064-fighting-loneliness-in-older-people-with-robots-richard-marshall Cutii: https://www.cutii.io/le-concept/

Building communities is time-consuming and demands special soft skills. Aline Noizet is a digital health connector with rich experiences of building and getting to know communities in digital health. She started her digital health journey working for the digital health startup Doctoralia in Barcelona in 2011. She later became an important part of Health 2.0, followed by a position at Bayer’s G4A. She now works globally as an independent consultant, based in Barcelona. More: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f063-how-to-build-a-community-in-healthcare-aline-noizet Aline's website: www.digitalhealthconnector.com