Health Care Execs Behaving Badly
BY KIM BELLARD
In the midst of a pandemic during which health care workers proved themselves to be very bit the heroes we like to think of them as being, it’s sobering to be reminded that the system they work in is filled with perverse incentives that work against patients’ best interests. Four pieces of excellent journalism – two from The New York Times, and two from Kaiser Health News — this week brought that front and center.
If you haven’t read them yet, I urge you to do so, but, while you might enjoy the writing, don’t expect to enjoy their content.
Let’s start with two arti...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 29, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: The Business of Health Care Health Care Execs Kaiser Health News New York Times Providence Source Type: blogs
NeuroFlow & The Tech that Jumps the Care Gaps Between Physical Check-ups & Mental Health Care
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
Mental health infrastructure company, NeuroFlow, is a tech platform that integrates into care management systems and EHRs to help clinicians and care managers identify behavioral health conditions in patients as they are getting physical health exams like annual check-ups, post-partum exams, and more. Founder & CEO Chris Molaro joins us from NeuroFlow’s new headquarters just hours before their grand opening to talk about how the startup – which has raised a total $32 million, including a $20 million Series B led by Magellan Health – is helping health systems and health plans inte...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 28, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: WTF Health Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 105, Thursday September 22 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) for #THCBGang on Thursday September 22 are delivery & platform expert Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis); THCB regular writer and ponderer of odd juxtapositions Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); and in a quick late switch everyone’s favorite cynical radiologist Saurabh Jha (@RogueRad) joins us too
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 22, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang #THCBGang Casey Quinlan Kim Bellard Matthew Holt Vince Kuraitis Source Type: blogs
The Society for Participatory Medicine Presents a Creative Learning Exchange: Community Health Access and Equity
I’ve been on the board of the Society for Participatory Medicine for a few years and we are kicking off a series of “Creative Learning Events”. There’ll be two in the balance of 2022 and hopefully one a quarter thereafter. Should be great in-person AND online exchanges about getting participatory medicine into the hear of the health care system. Here’s details on the first one, October 20, in Boston and everywhere else!–Matthew Holt
Participatory Medicine is a movement in which patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals actively collaborate and encourage one another as full...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 22, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health disparities Patients Policy Society for Participatory Medicine Source Type: blogs
The Future of Clinical Trials at Pfizer
BY JESSICA DaMASSA
From de-centralized clinical trials to real world data (RWD), real world evidence (RWE), and even social media, the future for clinical research at Pfizer sounds increasingly tech-enabled and focused on meeting and engaging patients where they are.
Pfizer’s Head of Clinical Trial Experience, Judy Sewards, and Head of Clinical Operations & Development, Rob Goodwin, drop in to chat about what Pfizer’s approach to clinical research looks like now, after the rapid evolution it underwent to “lightspeed” the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The big change? Rob says they are “obsess...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 22, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech Uncategorized WTF Health Clinical Trials de-centralized trials Pfizer Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 105, Thursday September 22 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) for #THCBGang on Thursday September 22 are delivery & platform expert Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis); THCB regular writer and ponderer of odd juxtapositions Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); and fierce patient activist Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 21, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang #THCBGang Casey Quinlan Kim Bellard Matthew Holt Vince Kuraitis Source Type: blogs
Ribbon Health & Provider Data ’ s Holy Grail: The Accurate Provider Directory
BY JESSICA DaMASSA
It’s one of the greatest mysteries of the era of health data digitization: Why is provider directory still so hard to get right?? Ribbon Health’s co-founder & CEO Nate Maslak explains how Ribbon (which started out in the symptom-checker biz) pivoted to take on, once-and-for-all, the miserable state of provider data management to not only fix provider directories (which are still wrong 50% of the time!), but also referral management systems, health plan enrollment data, and now, thanks to those new price transparency rules, price lists.
“All of the different use cases we focus on around e...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 21, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech WTF Health Accurate Provider Directory Jessica DaMassa Provider Data Ribon Health Source Type: blogs
When Medical Error Becomes Personal, Activism Becomes Painful
BY MICHAEL MILLENSON
In the mid-1990s, researching a book about the quality of medical care, I discovered how the profession had for years been ignoring evidence about the appalling death toll from preventable medical error. Though I’d never myself experienced an error, I became an activist.
Recently, however, a relative was a victim, and the frustrating persistence of error became personally painful.
Thanks to my relative being acutely aware of the need to be alert (and a bit of luck), no harm was caused by what could have been a serious medication mistake. That was the good news. The bad news is that even...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 21, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Education Medical Practice medical error Michael Millenson Patient Safety World Patient Safety Day Source Type: blogs
Goliath, Meet David
BY KIM BELLARD
I’m a sucker for underdog stories. I love unconventional wisdom overthrowing conventional wisdom. I’m deeply suspicious of Big Tech, Big Oil, and big health. I know unfettered competition is not always to my benefit but get nervous when I don’t really have many options.
So when I read that Google is starting to worry about a threat to its search dominance and that TikTok and other social media giants are scared of a rival start-up, well, count me in. I just wish it was health care goliaths that were worried.
————–
You probably use Google to search on...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 20, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health BeReal Healthcare financing tiktok Source Type: blogs
#HealthTechDeals Episode 46 | Redesign Health, Theranica, Soda Health, and Kyruus
It’s that time of the year! Summer is over and it’s conference season! The Rock Health Summit was a fun session, the highlight of which was diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation. Tune in for Jess’s and my thoughts on the summits, the end of the world, and new deals: Redesign Health raises $65 million, Theranica raises $45 million, Soda Health raises $25 million, and Kyruus buys Epion Health.
-Matthew Holt (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 16, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech Health Tech Deals Kyruus Redesign Health Theranica Source Type: blogs
Constructed of star dust, will Guardian Angels continue to exist?
BY MIKE MAGEE
“EXCLUSIVE: Royal beekeeper has informed the Queen’s bees that the Queen has died and King Charles is their new boss in bizarre tradition dating back centuries. … He placed black ribbons tied into bows on the hives, home to tens of thousands of bees, before informing them that their mistress had died.”
So read John Dingwall’s exclusive in the Daily Mail posted at 03:48 EDT, 10 September 2022. In defense of what might first appear a bizarre practice, others were careful to provide evidence that the practice, of informing fellow natural creatures of important human losses, is well documente...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 16, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 104, Thursday September 15 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday September 15 patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@mlmillenson); Suntra Modern Recovery CEO JL Neptune (@JeanLucNeptune); fierce patient activist Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey); delivery & platforms expert Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis); & policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 15, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang #THCBGang Casey Quinlan JL Neptune Matthew Holt Michael Millenson rosemarie day Vince Kuraitis Source Type: blogs
Why mandating boosters for college kids is a no good, very bad, dumb idea 
This study reinforced prior research that measured these responses up to 12 months. The stimulation of an immune response after a mild infection can even be demonstrated in the absence of actual seroconversion (detectable prior infection by antibodies) at the level of T-cells. The presence of effective immune memory, both humoral (antibody) and cellular components, after even a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection is no longer a matter of debate. One might be tempted to argue that repeated boosting can permanently suppress infection. Unfortunately, all available evidence suggests that this increased protection from infection is ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 14, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Anish Koka COVID-19 vaccine Viral Myalgia Source Type: blogs
Start the Revolution without Us
BY KIM BELLARD
Well, as usual, there’s a lot going on in healthcare. There’s the (potential) Amazon – One Medical acquisition, the CVS – Signify Health deal, and the Walmart – United Healthcare Medicare Advantage collaboration. Alphabet’s just raised $1b. Digital health funding may be in somewhat of a slump, but that’s only compared to 2021’s crazy numbers. Yep, if you’re a believer that a revolution in healthcare is right around the corner, there’s a lot of encouraging signs.
But I was in a Walmart the other day, and my thought was, these people don’t look like they care much about a r...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 13, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy AP-NORC Healthcare Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Meet Voice Tech Start-Up Cardiokol
BY JESSICA DaMASSA
Early-stage health tech start-up Caridokol is developing technology that listens to the sound of a patient’s voice over a mobile phone, landline phone or smart speaker to detect and analyze vocal biomarkers that indicate that the patient may be suffering from disease. The voice tech co is proving its case first in detecting arrhythmias, which are often asymptomatic and usually go undetected until they’ve led to a more serious issue like a stroke.
Cardiokol’s CEO James Amihood explains the tech behind this first use case – which already has one US patent granted and is pending approval on t...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 12, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech WTF Health Cardiokol James Amihood Jessica DaMassa Matthew Holt Source Type: blogs
