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Psychiatrist: My Medicine Raised Our Patient’s Blood Sugar, Can You Help? PCP: That’s a Dump!

By HANS DUVEFELT, MD

If my hypertensive patient develops orthostatism and falls and breaks her hip, I fully expect the orthopedic surgeon on call to treat her. I may kick myself that this happened but I’m not qualified to treat a broken hip.

If my anticoagulated patient hits his head and suffers a subdural hematoma, I expect the local neurosurgeon to graciously treat him even though it was my decision and not his to start the patient on his blood thinner. After all, brain surgery is tricky stuff.

Why is it then that primary care docs, sometimes myself included, feel a little annoyed when we have to deal with the consequences of psychiatric medication prescribing?

My psychiatry colleagues diligently order the blood work that is more or less required when prescribing atypical antipsychotics, for example. But when the results are abnormal I get a fax with a scribble indicating that the PCP needs to handle this.

We need to just deal with that and appreciate that there has been communication between treating providers. Because that doesn’t always happen. Particularly with medication prescribing, we don’t always get a notification from our psychiatry colleagues when a patient is started on something new because their records are so much more secret than ours.

The other day I sat in my monthly conference with staff from the Behavioral Health Home that I serve as the medical director for. I consult on clinical and policy matters.

Continue reading…

DANGER! COURSE CORRECTION ALERT!

• 1

By JOE FLOWER

A hot take on healthcare in the Democratic debate: They’re doing it wrong.

Healthcare is not a reason to choose between the Democratic candidates. 

They are all for greater access and in some way to cover everyone, which is great. 

None of their plans will become law, but if they are elected those plans will become the starting point of a long discussion and legislative fight. The difference in their plans (between, say, Buttigieg or Biden and Warren or Sanders) is more of an indication of their general attitude toward governance rather than an outline of where we will end up.

Democrats are focused on coverage, Trump is on cost. 

Around 90% of Americans already have coverage of some sort. Polls show that healthcare is voters’ #1 priority. Read the polls more closely, and you’ll see that it’s healthcare cost specifically that they are worried about.

Democrats seem to assume that extending more government control will result in lower costs. This is highly debatable, the devil’s in the details, and our past history on this is good but not great. 

The President, on the other hand, can make flashy pronouncements and issue Executive Orders that seem intended to bring down costs and might actually. It’s highly questionable whether they will be effective, or effective any time soon. Still, they make good headlines and they especially make for good applause lines at a rally and good talking points on Fox.

But, Ms. and Mr. Average Voter will hear that Trump is very concerned about bringing down their actual costs. The Democratic plans all sound to the untutored ear (which is pretty much everyone but policy wonks like you and me) like they will actually increase costs while taking away the insurance that 90% already have in one way or another.

It is important to take care of everyone. But it is a mistake for the Democrats to allow this to become a battle of perception between cost and coverage. Voters’ real #1 concern is about cost, not coverage.

Joe Flower has 40 years of experience in the healthcare world and has emerged as a thought leader on the deep forces changing the system in the United States and around the world.

Snoop Last Year’s Bayer G4A Startups, Then Apply

SPONSORED POST

By JESSICA DA MASSA, WTF HEALTH

With the application deadline for Bayer’s G4A Partnerships program coming up on Friday, I thought I’d throw out a little inspiration to would-be applicants by featuring an interview I did with one of last year’s program participants at the grand-finale Launch Event.

Not only was this a great party, but a microcosm of the G4A program experience itself: a way to meet Bayer execs en-masse, an opportunity to sell directly to key decision-makers across Bayer’s various global business units, and a chance to feed off the energy of like-minded innovators eager to see ‘big health care’ change for the better.

While the G4A program itself has changed a bit this year to be more streamlined and to allow for bespoke deal-making that may or may not involve giving up equity (my favorite new feature), startups questioning whether or not they have what it takes should take a look at some alums.

There’s a playlist with nearly two dozen interviews waiting for you here if you’re REALLY up for some procrastinating, or you can click through and just check out my chat with Joe Curcio, CEO of KinAptic. A healthtech startup taking wearables to the bleeding edge, Joe shows us a mock-up of the KinAptic ‘smart shirt’ which features their real innovation: printed ink electronics that look and feel like screenprinting ink, but work bi-directionally to both collect data from the body AND apply signals back to it. Is it AI-enabled? Did you have to ask? Listen in for a mindblowing chat about how this tech can change diagnostic analysis and treatment and completely redefine our current limitations when it comes to healthcare wearables.Once you’re inspired, don’t forget to head over to www.g4a.health and fill out your own application for this year’s partnership program.

Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt

NEW: HardCore Health Podcast, Episode 1

By MATTHEW HOLT

Apparently, podcasts are new, all the rage and minting billionaires every day!  So, of course, THCB had to have its own podcast, and here it is: HardCore Health

Now I’ve been doing “podcasts” (otherwise known as audio or video interviews) on THCB since before people actually had iPods (remember those, kids?). But apparently these days any punter can do an interview, call it a podcast and shove it up on Spotify. Hardcore Health is going to be a little bit different…

Hardcore Health will feature multiple guests, topics, and interludes brought to you by many co-hosts starting off with Jessica DaMassa and me. We’ll embed some (familiar) tidbits into the show including: Health in 2 Point 00, THCB Spotlights, and the WTF Health Show as well as some newer segments, including banter sessions between guests & rant sessions from health care experts. This first episode features Brian Kalis, Accenture’s “post” Digital Health expert & Niko Skievaski from Redox, and a little more.

I hope you enjoy our first episode below!

Matthew Holt is the founder and publisher of The Health Care Blog and still writes regularly for the site.

Calling All Tech Companies & Early Stage Innovators Health 2.0 Annual Conference Applications Are Open!

SPONSORED POST

By IRENA LUO

Considered a major hallmark of the Health 2.0 Annual Conference, these two opportunities for tech presentations are a chance for entrepreneurs and startups to gain visibility for their products with potential investors, partners and peers. The conference—scheduled from September 16–18 in Santa Clara, California—is now accepting applications from companies who want to demo their health tech innovations or pitch for a chance to be named Startup Champion at the HIMSS event.

Health 2.0 Live Tech Demos

Applications close June 7, 2019

Last year at the 2018 Health 2.0 Annual Conference, more than 100 innovative companies, including Aaptiv, Healthify, and Heart Flow, showcased products designed to help transform healthcare. In 2019, the Health 2.0 team is changing things up and reworking their breakout session schedule to allow more focus around the main stage programming. What does this mean for our demos? With more streamlined programming, we’re upping the ante for our tech demo applicants and selecting the most intriguing, adaptable, applicable products to be featured at the 13th year of the conference. Chosen companies will either demo their tech in standalone presentations or as part of larger panel sessions.

How to apply:

  1. Go to the application page
  2. Create a login
  3. Click “Health 2.0 Live Demos 2019”

Health 2.0 VentureConnect Pitch Competition

Applications close July 8, 2019

For startups and entrepreneurs, the rapid-fire pitch competition is an opportunity to get valuable exposure for their products, make connections with some of health tech’s biggest and most active investors, and ultimately win the title of Most Fundable Startup. Last year, 60 companies competed in the competition. Mira and Avhana Health won in the contest’s consumer and provider tracks, respectively.

The Health 2.0 VentureConnect Pitch competition brings together vetted seed companies through raising Series A companies to pitch their innovative product live on stage during rapid-fire presentations. The prize? Being named the most promising startup by the venture capitalists and corporate investors judging the competition. Six competition finalists—three consumer-facing startups and three provider-facing ones—will compete to win in their category.

How to apply:

  1. Go to the application page
  2. Create a login
  3. Click “Health 2.0 Pitch Competition 2019”

Irena Luo is a Producer at the Health 2.0 Annual Conference, A HIMSS Event

THCB Spotlights: Arcadia.io

Arcadia.io is a population health company that helps providers and insurers in their transition to a value-based care model. Arcadia is working with several of the Blues, Cigna, Beth Israel, and more. While it started as a consulting firm, in recent years Arcadia has raised over $40m from Merck, GE, and other corporate venture funds.

Listen to Matthew Holt’s interview with Sean Carroll, CEO of Arcadia.io below.

THCB Spotlights: Matt Cox CMO of Lumeris

Today THCB is spotlighting Lumeris which creates a platform to help set-up and develop health plans and manage care delivery for patients. Working with its associated medical group Essence, Lumeris has been creating actionable steps to reduce Medical Cost Rates (MCRs) and is now taking that process to other health systems that want to set up Medicare Advantage plans. Lumeris is working with 12 health systems and is growing rapidly. Recently, Lumeris partnered with Cerner to bring their product to market.

Matthew Holt interviewed Matt Cox, Chief Marketing Officer at Lumeris to find out the details.


THCB Spotlights: Lightbeam Health Solutions

By ZOYA KHAN

Today, THCB is spotlighting Lightbeam Health Solutions. Lightbeam is an end-to-end population health management solution, which means they build everything from the ground up (i.e. no acquisitions or 3rd party interfaces are used). “Interface to innovation” as Jorge Miranda, CRO of Lightbeam, states, allows Lightbeam to build a health system’s value-based contracts relatively quickly. Their main focus is to generate data insights for ACOs and other provider systems, to engage care teams in the coordination of patient care. This is Lightbeam’s 6th year in the health care field, and with 100 customers and over 20 million patients in their enterprise data warehouse (EDW), they have no signs of slowing down.

Lightbeam has 4 main focuses: data ingestion, data insights, the engagement of the team with the data gathered, and the patient outcomes that result from that data. Lightbeam seeks to use their insights to empower care teams by giving the information back to the caregivers, physicians, and patients. According to them, this creates more transparency in the entire process as well as allows the patient and caregivers to play an active role in their health care process.

The ultimate value that clients (health systems or providers) receive from Lightbeam’s system is cutting costs and improving quality. Lightbeam does this by monitoring engagement numbers and patient outcomes based on the data and insights they gathered, ensuring costs savings for clients as well as an effective approach to cutting the high cost of care today. Lightbeam’s ultimate goal is to replace a manual process that is currently being done by multiple people and using multiple resources, to refocus the target on improving care for everyone involved in the health care system.

Zoya Khan is the Editor-in-Chief of THCB as well as an Associate at SMACK.health, a health-tech advisory service for early-stage startups.

Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 76 | Facebook releasing an EMR? Jim Cramer Going to Epic? #AprilFools

Facebook is releasing an EMR? Jim Cramer is going to work at Epic? April Fools! On today’s actual Health in 2 Point 00 Episode 76, Jess asks me about the follow up from Health Datapalooza, which ended with the government saying they will be changing the world and that everyone should join them in their initiative to innovate digital health. AHRQ & CMMI ran digital health challenges, and CMMI will be doing an AI challenge for $1 million for startups in the space. Speaking of the government, Seema Verma was in the news for her PR spending and as I said “Evil Twin Seema” and “Good Seema” are joined at the hip and they should “not screw around on the PR front”. In other news, MountSinai launched a digital health institute to develop advances in artificial intelligence and other emerging health care technologies spaces. Clover Health laid off a ton of people, and according to me, they are starting to get serious because running a Medicare Advantage plan is hard work — Matthew Holt

Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 75 | Rounds & IPOs, Health Datapalooza, & the Facebook Controversy

Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I are at 10th annual Health Datapalooza in Washington D.C.! Jess talks to me about Xealth’s $11 million round to develop out its company, and Change Healthcare is applying for a $100 million IPO. The big takeaways from Health Datapalooza are that many people and companies have integrated data into their systems, but they haven’t been able to gain many actionable insights from it. Also, if you haven’t heard of the complaint Andrea Downing, Fred Trotter, and David Harlow wrote to the FTC concerning the privacy and data that can be downloaded from Facebook’s groups, you better check it out. It details out the concern that Facebook is not protecting the data of patients as anyone can download sensitive data from the groups and use it — Matthew Holt