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Build-Your-Own ‘Squad’ – YourCoach Redefines Health Coaching

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By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH

Health coaches are playing an ever-more important role in healthcare, but there’s no one single authority when it comes to finding one — or vetting them for that matter — until now.

Marina Borukhovich, CEO of startup YourCoach, talks about how she hopes to disrupt health coaching after she learned the value of having a ‘squad’ of experts help her through her breast cancer journey.

In fact, ‘Squads’ are the value-add that YourCoach is hoping will set them apart. The app’s signature feature is that it lets you build-your-own team of experts who can work together to tackle any aspect of health and wellness.

“We’re connecting coaches from around the world who are going to lead the client holistically,” explains Marina. “So, it could be diabetes support, it could be pull[ing] somebody in who does meditation, they could bring in a business coach. It just really depends on the person…and what you need as a person.”

“We’re building ‘Team YOU.”

Joining in on the fun in this interview is Eugene Borukhovich, who some of you will recognize as the face of Bayer’s G4A program.

Eugene serves as an advisor to YourCoach and is also Marina’s husband — possibly making them the “Beyonce & Jay-Z” power couple of digital health. Is this a blessing or a curse? Apparently, there are 3am pitch practices that sound like the solid foundation of any marriage.

Listen in to meet them both.

Filmed at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, January 2019.

Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 62- AHIP in Nashville!

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On Episode 62 of Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I are reporting from Nashville—while enjoying some delicious barbecue. We’re in town for AHIP’s Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum, where Jess did an amazing job as a moderator and I was on a panel. In this episode, Jess asks me about my key takeaways from the forum, what the deal is with Tivity Health acquiring Nutrisystem, and how I managed to get into a fight on Twitter while at AHIP. —Matthew Holt

THCB Spotlight: Jesse Ehrenfeld, AMA

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By ZOYA KHAN

Today, we are featuring Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld from the American Medical Association (AMA) on THCB Spotlight. Matthew Holt interviews Dr. Ehrenfeld, Chair-elect of the AMA Board of Trustees and an anesthesiologist with the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The AMA has recently released their Digital Health Implementation Playbook, which is a guide to adopting digital health solutions. They also launched a new online platform called the Physician Innovation Network to help connect physicians with entrepreneurs and developers. Watch the interview to find out more about how the AMA is supporting health innovation, as well as why the AMA thinks the CVS-Aetna merger is not a good idea and how the AMA views the role of AI in the future of health care.

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

Susannah Fox on Teens & Digital Health Study

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By JESSICA DAMASSA, WTF Health

How are teens and young adults engaging with digital health? Results of a national survey asking just that were released today by Susannah Fox (Former CTO at US Dept of HHS) and her research partner, Victoria Rideout.

You can check out the full report of the findings here, but I spoke with Susannah in April, just as she and Victoria were starting to draw some insights from their work.

Hearing her talk about the survey at this stage of synthesis is not only unique (most researchers won’t talk until the findings are published) but more so because it adds a layer of understanding to the final results now that they’re here.

We get her candor about how teens and young adults are a wildly viable – yet very overlooked – market for digital health…

We see how she’s trying to formulate a much larger hypothesis about what healthcare can learn about social media from a generation that has never lived without it and, more importantly, view it as having a positive impact on their well-being…

And, probably most inspiring to me, we see an approach to health data that stands out for its warmth. For it’s love, really. In a world of big data and clinical trials, it’s endearing to hear from someone who is taking a more anthropological approach and who has fallen absolutely, head-over-heels in LOVE with the personal side of her dataset.

As we all clamor for a patient-centered end, we’d be remiss to underestimate the value of a human-centered starting point. Watch Susannah Fox for a strong model of how this can be done in health research.

Filmed at Health DataPalooza, Washington DC, April 2018. Find more interviews with the people pushing healthcare to better tomorrow at www.wtf.health. 

Digital Health and the Two-Canoe Problem

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By DAN O’NEILL

Digital Health and the Two-Canoe Problem

As healthcare gradually tilts from volume to value, physicians and hospitals fear the instability of straddling “two canoes.” Value-based contracts demand very different business practices and clinical habits from those which maximize fee-for-service revenue, but with most income still anchored on volume, providers often cannot afford a wholesale pivot towards cost-conscious care.  That financial pressure shapes investment and procurement budgets, creating a downstream version of the two-canoe problem for digital health products geared toward outcomes or efficiency. Value-based care is still the much smaller canoe, so buyers de-prioritize these tools, or expect slim returns on such investment.  That, in turn, creates an odd disconnect.  Frustrated clinicians struggle to implement new care models while wrestling with outdated technology and processes built to capture codes and boost fee-for-service revenue. Meanwhile, products focused on cost-effectiveness and quality face unexpectedly weak demand and protracted sales cycles.  That can short-circuit further investment and ultimately slow the transition to value.

To skirt these shoals, most successful innovators have clustered around three primary strategies.  Each aims to establish a foothold in a predominantly fee-for-service ecosystem, while building technology and services suited for value-based care, as the latter expands.  A better understanding of these models – and how they address different payment incentives – could help clinicians shape implementation priorities within their organizations, and guide new ventures trying to craft a viable commercial strategy.

Continue reading…

‘Immigrants’ Bring Patient Engagement Energy

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By MICHAEL L. MILLENSON

An Irish software expert who’d been helping companies sell on eBay walks into a room with a Slovenian inventor who’d built a world-class company in the “accelerator beam diagnostics market.” (Don’t ask.) What they share is not just foreign birth, but “immigration” to health care from other fields. Both have come to the MedCity Invest conference in Chicago seeking funding for start-ups focused on patient engagement. They’re not alone in their “immigrant” status, and their experience holds some important lessons.

Eamonn Costello, chief executive officer of patientMpower, works out of a rehabbed brick building in Dublin next to the famed Guinness brewery at St. James Gate. An electronic engineer who’s worked at companies like Tellabs, Costello became interested in healthcare in 2012 when his father was in and out of the hospital with pancreatic cancer. What struck him was the lack of any monitoring on how patients fared between doctor appointments or hospitalizations.

When in 2014 a friend working in healthcare approached him, they looked at building an app for different illnesses.Continue reading…

Health in 2 point 00 — Episode 12

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Jessica DaMassa asks me about the AMA & digital snake oil, Israel investing in Digital Health, and the budget impact on CSRs & Obamacare in today’s edition of Health in 2 point 00 — Matthew Holt

Health in 2 point 00, Episode 6

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This edition of Health in 2 point 00 comes from HIMSS. This one was done just off the show floor, but don’t worry–tomorrow we’ll be back to doing it outside a bar! So here goes! Jessica DaMassa asks me as many questions as she can squeeze in about health & technology in just 2 minutes–Matthew Holt

A Mystery Mission in LA: Aetna, Apple, and a Vision of Digital Health’s Future, Part 1

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By LYGEIA RICCIARDI

It was an invitation too intriguing to refuse: fly to LA to participate in a “top-secret mission” related to digital health. Instructions? Bring workout clothes. Don’t disclose your location. “We can’t say much. Just enough for you to quickly pack your bags, fly to California and participate in an exclusive Apple Watch from Aetna event – all expenses paid.” Generally, I’d file this type of message in the junk mail folder, but knowing that Apple takes secrecy seriously, I did some background sleuthing and decided it looked legit.

The mystery unfolded last week as I stepped into a black car at LAX with a secretive driver who joked that I and his other two passengers (who had received similar invites) would have to cover our faces as we drove through town. (Yikes!) When we arrived at a hip “concept” hotel I felt more at ease, and relaxed into enjoying the so-called mission with a glass of wine and some discussion of trends in the digital health industry. Over the course of a couple of days I was fortunate to join a group of new (and some old) friends to exchange ideas, take a challenging hike to the peak of Runyon Canyon Park, interact with Apple and Aetna execs, try out some new technologies, and get a glimpse of what both Aetna and Apple are envisioning for the future of digital health. I was assigned to one of several teams named after famous movies (in keeping with the Tinseltown theme) a personalized agenda, and some critical tools for the modern adventurer, including a bandana, water bottles, a phone charger, and, naturally, a selfie stick.

For about a year Aetna has used the Apple watch as part of an integrated wellness program available to its 50 thousand employees and those of several partner organizations it insures, such as Hartford HealthCare, which was represented among the participants in the mystery mission. Both companies are poised to expand the program.Continue reading…

Struggling to Get Customers, Revenue and Traction in the Digital Health Market?

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By ELENA LIPSON                                                           SPONSORED POST

Imagine the peace of mind and confidence you will feel if you had a quick, proven process to take your solution or concept from its current state to one that generates sustainable revenue, hoards of customers and value to the healthcare ecosystem.

Elena Lipson has been working with organizations and entrepreneurs in the digital health community for more than 15 years to help them successfully bring new products and services to market, identify and engage new customers and partners, and grow their market share.

For the first time, she is offering a free webinar training to the Health 2.0 community to share the three steps you need to create a blueprint for your digital health solution that will get you customers, accelerate your path to revenue, and help you go to market quickly even if:Continue reading…

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