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Category: Health IT

How COVID-19 is Changing Telemedicine

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Diana Cugliari

By:  Diana Cugliari
President & CEO
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we do just about everything – including how we provide and receive healthcare. If you find yourself talking with your doctor more often via video call than in the office, you aren’t alone.

Since the onset of the pandemic last spring, federal and state governments have eased restrictions that had previously impeded the use of telemedicine platforms.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “The 154% increase in telehealth visits during the last week of March 2020, compared with the same period in 2019 might have been related to pandemic-related telehealth policy changes and public guidance.”

This has helped to propel emerging telehealth platforms into more widespread use, and now telehealth is emerging as a preferred delivery method for both providers and patients.

This stands to reason – not only is telehealth more convenient (no driving, parking, waiting in-office), it reduces risk to exposure and also helps to conserve the use of medical supplies and precious personal protective equipment (PPE).

In some scenarios, though, the use of telemedicine may not be ideal – for instance, if a patient’s condition requires more involved evaluation, testing, or labs.

Also, while telehealth may be a bridge to care for some, for others it may be a barrier. Some patients may struggle to overcome a variety of obstacles – no internet service, no smartphone or other device to access virtual care, lack of technical knowledge or resistance to embracing technology needed, and lack of a caregiver/support person who can help. Outreach and support are needed to help patients overcome these disparities and facilitate telehealth access.

This is especially important for those living with chronic conditions, as a telehealth platform is an ideal solution for chronic disease management, according to Pamela Greenhouse, Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President of Clinical Operations at Wellbridge Health, a connected health management company.

“There is no doubt that telehealth can improve the quality of care, such as in cases where patients would not travel to necessary medical appointments or need more frequent health intervention than traditional care models provide,” says Ms. Greenhouse. “Our chronic disease management approach, which provides frequent, brief one-on-one telehealth interactions in between physician visits, has been shown to improve health outcomes and quality of life while decreasing avoidable ER/hospitalizations.”

Will telehealth remain a preferred delivery method even post-pandemic? That may depend in large part on whether the easing of restrictions on the use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic are extended. The American Medical Association (AMA) is advocating to make these policy changes permanent.

Meanwhile, many of us have become accustomed to seeing our doctors from the comfort of our living room – bring a whole new spin on the old-fashioned “house call.”

Koonin LM, Hoots B, Tsang CA, et al. Trends in the Use of Telehealth During the Emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, January–March 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1595–1599. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6943a3external icon.
Posted in Uncategorized, Health ITLeave a comment

The Future of Healthcare is Connected: What you Need to Know About the IoMT

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Jim Jordan

Your thermostat has an app. So does your doorbell. Your refrigerator can show you a digital display of what’s inside, while pulling up your favorite recipes using those items. There are even dog collars with built-in GPS trackers. The Internet of Things (IoT) reaches deep into a wide span of everyday products. In fact, there’s little, if anything, that doesn’t boast an internet-enabled version. The ability to connect through the internet has even expanded to cover health and wellness. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), as you might expect, presents a mixture of pros and cons.

What Is It?

The IoMT bridges computer technology with health IT applications and medical devices. In layman’s terms, this is your Apple Watch doubling as a heart rate monitor. It’s your mobile phone interacting with your glucose monitor. It’s the medical devices that allow your healthcare practitioner to monitor you from home. It also extends to devices that are based in clinical settings, which can span from patient monitoring systems to recordkeeping. These are just some of the examples of IoMT devices in use today.

Challenges of IoMT

As with any new technology, IoMT presents a series of challenges that we must overcome. Let’s be clear: These challenges are not insurmountable, nor do they outweigh the benefits we’ll discuss shortly. These are weakness, however, that product developers are going to have to improve before widespread medical use is realized.

To begin with, the lack of interoperability is a factor. With devices operating within proprietary structures, the ability to share information between patient and provider(s) is limited. Heart health data collected on your wearables should be able to be downloaded to the EHR system your doctor’s office uses. The post-surgical data your specialists are tracking via remote monitoring should be easily connected to your primary care physician’s records. Today, a lack of standards impedes this cross-connectivity. A move to a new set of standards that allows interoperability will improve this.

Connected devices are inherently a cybersecurity risk. Until device makers focus on this and make mitigating the risk of data breeches a priority, IoMT adoption may be hindered. This category goes beyond the fitness tracker on your wrist. Connected devices include pacemakers, implanted defibrillators, and insulin pumps, as well as hospital-based equipment. With these devices, cybersecurity becomes a matter of patient safety. Similarly, the same issues with insecure remote access that cause some to pause over security concerns, can present challenges to HIPAA, as well.

Strengths of IoMT

The benefits of IoMT make the efforts to overcome or mitigate the above-mentioned challenges worth pursuing. Devices that track our vitals, monitor various health and wellness markers, and even remind us to stick to our prescribed medications can improve patient experiences and outcomes while simultaneously keeping costs in check. For example, the combination of an aging baby boomer generation and a shortage of healthcare providers can stress our already taxed healthcare system. IoMT devices are a natural fit for telehealth solutions that increase access by circumventing geographic barriers to care.

Goldman Sachs estimates IoMT devices will reduce healthcare costs by $300 billion. Being able to effectively remote-monitor decreases hospital admissions. Reduced cost of care is a natural byproduct of this. In addition, the function of hospital-based connected devices can be more effectively monitored, which can help reduce downtime and the costs associated with it. IoMT devices, as previously noted, can improve patient adherence, which has a positive impact on overall healthcare costs.

Further, with interoperability challenges resolved, IoMT would give providers access to more accurate data than traditional patient reporting methods in use today. Did you complete your prescribed physical therapy exercises today? Did you complete each exercise properly? IoMT devices can collect precise data to answer these questions, helping physicians track patient adherence, and amend the course of treatment as needed.

Of course, as the technology evolves, the benefits and the challenges of IoMT will evolve as well. What we do know is this: The IoMT will play a key role in the future of healthcare, and the more time, energy, and resources we devote to this category of technology, the more benefits we will achieve.

Posted in Uncategorized, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

The Synergy of Technology and Humans Will Improve Healthcare

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Jim Jordan

There is no question that technology is disrupting the healthcare industry. From surgical robots to artificial intelligence applications that diagnose diseases, technology is changing the way we practice medicine. Of course, with every news report about a new deep learning tool that identifies cancerous cells years before the human eye can, there’s someone wondering whether technology will render radiologists obsolete. Every time someone writes about telehealth applications or chatbots that guide patients through routine questions, someone else muses about whether these machines will replace physicians.

These questions are understandable. We’ve rapidly entered a new world of medicine, and this swift change of pace can be unsettling. Articles that espouse the capabilities of AI and other tech logically raise questions about the role of humans and machines going forward. However, those who lean into the idea that human medical practitioners will be replaced are missing the mark. Technology is a tool, not a replacement.

Rote Tasks

Disinfecting a room, moving medical equipment from one place to another, lifting bedridden patients, and medication management are all important tasks related to caring for a patient. These tasks can be time consuming and, in some cases, physically demanding. They are also tasks that could be handled by technology. Using robotic assistance for these routine responsibilities would free up medical personnel to do more of what they do best: care for the patient.

Empathy is a Human Strength

Earlier this year, a physician in California delivered devastating news to a patient and his family via a telepresence robot. The exchange sparked a nationwide discussion about the use of technology in medicine. Discussions about the importance of a good bedside manner are not new. Technology simply adds a new layer to it.

The California story is an excellent example of why technology will not eliminate human medical practitioners. Technology cannot replicate human empathy or face-to-face conversation. That’s not to say telehealth tools and other tech aren’t valuable. They absolutely are. They are a tool that can extend access to medical care and address the gaps created by physician shortages. The tech must, however, be balanced with human contact and support. We must recognize when technology is the appropriate medical tool, and when it’s not.

Just the Facts

Machine learning applications can sift through mountains of data and identify patterns.  This process allows the tech to make predictions based on the data through which it has combed. Researchers are using this technology to improve the way we diagnose diseases. These studies are encouraging. Machine learning can often produce a diagnosis faster and more accurately than its human counterpart. What it lacks, however, is the ability to look at those results within the context of a complete patient history. This is still an innately human ability that machines have not mastered and likely won’t. This doesn’t render the machine learning approach irrelevant. It simply illustrates the technology’s strength as a tool to be used by humans to improve patient care.

More Precision

Robotic surgery is another excellent example of the way technology can be a tool that improves patient outcomes. Surgical robots like Medrobotics  Flex® Robotic System give physicians the ability to access anatomical locations that were previously difficult or impossible to reach minimally invasively.  Perhaps a better way to describe what’s happening in today’s surgical suites is “robot-assisted surgery.” These procedures aren’t performed by autonomous bots. There’s a trained, skilled physician manning the controls.

This is an exciting time to be involved with the life sciences industry. The examples listed above are just the tip of the health IT iceberg. As innovators like those that make up the PLSG portfolio develop new tools, healthcare continues its massive transformation to the benefit of both patients and providers.

Posted in Health IT, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Video: Telehealth: Lowering Costs and Improving Access, Particularly in Rural Settings

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Jim Jordan

Video: Telehealth: Lowering Costs and Improving Access, Particularly in Rural Settings

Posted in Uncategorized, Health IT, Words of Wisdom, ConcentrationsLeave a comment

The Next Frontier in Health Technology: Virtual Reality as a Medical Tool

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Jim Jordan

In 1974, Star Trek’s animated series introduced its audience to the holodeck, a bit of futuristic technology that would eventually appear in multiple iterations of the science fiction classic from television programs to the big screen. This recreation room was designed to create simulated, alternative versions of reality. In this simulated world, crew members could engage with their virtual environment as if it was the real world. Sound familiar?

Today, you don’t need a full deck on a spaceship to experience an alternate reality. We have virtual reality headsets and augmented reality apps that run off our mobile phones. While there’s certainly a home for these applications as an entertainment medium, we are increasingly seeing the strength of extended reality (XR) as a health and wellness tool that can improve patient outcomes.

What’s XR?

Before we can explore how this technology can improve quality of care, and thereby improve outcomes, we need to define the category. Extended reality is the umbrella term that encompasses all real and virtual combined environments. It includes:

  • Virtual Reality (VR) – full immersion in a digital environment.
  • Augmented Reality (AR) – overlays virtual objects on the real-world environment.
  • Mixed Reality (MR) – anchors virtual objects in the real world. Objects here are not just overlaid into the real world–the real world can interact with these virtual objects.

Improving Quality Through Training

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, a traditional med school curriculum combines two years of pre-clinical science training – where students learn basic medical concepts – with two additional years of clinical study. In these clinical study years, students are given hands-on experience with patients.  Extended reality technologies add a new twist to this educational model. Virtual simulations of real-life medical scenarios allow students to make medical decisions in a safe environment before they engage with actual patients. Today’s technology isn’t a replacement for real-life clinical rounds, but it can be a good supplemental component that gives students an opportunity to prepare for direct patient engagement.

Improving Quality through Surgical Walk-Throughs

Imagine if your physician could walk through your surgery before you slip into a hospital gown the day of your procedure. Facilities like Stanford Medicine are using virtual reality to change the way physicians prepare for surgery. Stanford’s Neurosurgical Simulation and Virtual Reality Center feeds conventional MRI and/or CT scans into VR technology, which allows their physicians to see the brain in 3D and walk through complex procedures via a simulated surgery. This process can help mitigate any unexpected challenges the surgery may present.

Improving Quality through Surgery Guided by Extended Reality

In 2017, a team of researchers conducted a proof-of-concept study to explore the potential benefits of using augmented reality to superimpose digital images on top of the visual field during surgical procedures. In December of that year, a surgeon used an MR headset to access patient medical data and data of the operative technique during a procedure to implant a prosthesis into an 80-year-old patient.  The surgeon was also able to share his field of vision with four additional surgeons via Skype, which would allow collaborative input during the procedure. The study’s authors concluded that, “surgical practice and education can derive significant benefits from the implementation of AR and MR tools in daily practice.”

Improving Quality Using Extended Reality as Treatment

A number of studies have looked at virtual reality’s value as a treatment for psychiatric disorders and pain management. Through the course of these studies, virtual reality has proven to be an effective tool, particularly, as noted in a systematic literature review published in Harvard Review of Psychiatry in 2017, “with the most strength of evidence for use in exposure therapy for patients with anxiety disorders, cue exposure therapy for patients with substance use disorders, and distraction for patients with acute pain requiring painful procedures.”

Looking to the Future

As with any medical technology, extended reality’s value lies in its application as a tool. Effective use, for example, in medical training lies in recognizing that virtual experiences don’t replace real-life patient interaction. Simulated experiences offer supplementary practice, not substitution. Applications that tap into extended reality’s strength in pre-surgical planning, pain-management, or psychiatric treatment require thorough physician training prior to use. Like any other medical tool, medical personnel must be trained on how to appropriately utilize the technology for the benefit of the patient.

Posted in Uncategorized, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

Is Telehealth the New House Call?

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Jim Jordan

In the 1930s, it wasn’t at all uncommon for a sick patient to see their doctor from the comfort of their own home. Back then, about 40% of doctor visits took place in the patient home. By 1950, that number dropped to around 10%. Today, thanks in large part to telehealth technologies, checking in with your doctor from home is once again on the rise.

What is Telehealth?

Telehealth provides support and enhancement of healthcare through the use of digital information and communication technologies. It may include remote clinical services (often referred to as telemedicine), as well as remote patient monitoring, training for healthcare providers, and patient education.

Improved Access through Telehealth

A 2016 Commonwealth Fund study found that just over half of US adults were unable to get evening or weekend medical care without visiting the emergency department. In 2017, another survey found that residents in 15 major metropolitan areas waited nearly a month for an appointment with a new family medicine physician. That problem is likely to get worse. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that shortages of primary care physicians (PCP) will increase significantly by 2025. Today, an estimated 64 million Americans live in an area where the total number of primary care physicians can only meet 50% or less of the population’s needs.

Telehealth technologies can help alleviate some of these challenges by giving patients access to physicians that may be outside their usual geographic area. Patients may interact with the physician via video, talk, or text, depending on the service, and appointments can take place at any time of day, every day of the week.

Access to Specialist

Telehealth can be used for more than virtual visits to a PCP, and that’s a good thing. Access to specialists can be even more difficult to schedule, particularly in rural areas where there are roughly 40 specialists for every 10,000 Americans (compared to 134 per 10,000 in urban locales.)  An example of this in practice is PSLG portfolio company DermatologistOnCall, which provides an online care delivery platform that connects patients with online dermatologists for skin care diagnoses and treatment plans.

Reduced Cost

The average cost of an in-person doctor visit is $125. Conversely, telehealth visits average about $45. A 2016 article by the American Council on Science and Health reported that an average of $86.64 is saved every time a patient received care online at UPMC instead of visiting the ER or urgent care. Up to 40% of those patients also indicated that without the option of telehealth visits, they would have skipped care altogether.

Improved Follow-Up Care

Telehealth technologies include wearables and digital health apps that allow patients and doctors to monitor health between visits. This exchange of information can help doctors and patients coordinate long-term care and monitor progress. In addition to having a potentially positive impact on patient adherence, monitoring can also help doctors identify when treatment plans aren’t working so changes can be made.

Lack of Broadband as a Health Issue

Telehealth depends on internet access. Without affordable broadband to support reliable access to the technology, adoption of telehealth will be hampered. Unfortunately, rural communities, which are more likely to face physician shortages (both specialists and primary care), are also less likely to have access to the internet connection speeds required to support the transmission of data for telehealth services.

Policy Needs to Catch Up to Technology

As the American Hospital Association aptly suggests in their most recent fact sheet on telehealth, today’s limited Medicare coverage is impeding the expansion of telehealth services. The current statute limits access to services based on geographic locations, the types of technology that may be used, and the list of services covered.

Telehealth also requires compliance with federal and state regulations. Particularly with variances in laws between each state, providers and insurers may be limited on what services can be provided based on legal and regulatory challenges, ranging from coverage and payment to licensure, credentialing, and privileging, among other factors. If telehealth is going to become a viable, value-based care solution, federal and state hurdles must be addressed.

The Future is Now

Telehealth isn’t necessarily new. Nascent applications stretch back as early as the 1940s when radiology images were sent 24 miles between two Pennsylvania towns via a telephone line. Today’s technology, however, has brought telehealth applications into the mainstream as a viable and necessary healthcare service. While challenges remain to widespread adoption, many hurdles have already been overcome. The introduction of 5G networks and the ongoing evolution of government policy pertaining to telehealth will continue to pave the way to improved access of services.

Posted in Uncategorized, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

Understanding Population Health and Public Health

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Jim Jordan

Understanding Population Health and Public Health

The terms “population health” and “public health” sound similar. If you’ve used them interchangeably, you’re not alone. The similarities, both in name and concept, make it easy to overlook their nuanced differences. However, in order to have a productive conversation about the evolution of modern healthcare, it’s important to understand the distinction between these terms.

How Are They Similar?

Some of the confusion involving population health vs. public health stems from the fact that both focus on the health and wellness of a group or community. These concepts look beyond individual care to identify patterns of health and illness within groups of people. By monitoring trends, both population and public health seek to identify interventions or preventive models that can promote health, improve patient outcomes, and reduce overall costs.

Population Health

Population health is concerned with the medical outcomes of individuals in a specific group with a similar characteristic. This can be defined by geographic location or by other factors such as ethnicity, chronic illness or disability, socioeconomic status, employment, and age. Of course, individuals may belong to multiple populations. When studying population health, researchers look at societal structures, attitudes, and common behaviors that might influence health outcomes with the goal of identifying patterns of determinants and, ultimately, identifying what can improve those outcomes.

Public Health

Focusing on society at large, public health puts its attention on wellness programs and initiatives designed to prevent disease or injury. Researchers in this arena look to identify steps that can be taken to create conditions in which individuals can be healthy. The focus is often on large-scale initiatives such as smoking cessation, improved air quality, vaccinations, or management of disease outbreaks.

The Role of Health IT in Population and Public Health

The era of digital health tools has made it easier to collect relevant data used to identify specific populations and the social detriments that impact them. Further, innovations like artificial intelligence can be used to sift through the data to more efficiently identify patterns, and later automate tasks that facilitate improved outcomes.

For example, PLSG portfolio company Mental Health Metrics uses statistical process management techniques to intervene in patient care before adverse events occur. A great example of the way health IT can be used for population health initiatives, this start-up provides early detection of a pending patient crisis and triggers a treatment sequence. In turn, the early intervention may translate to a more effective and less expensive approach.

Digital health tools also help collect data used to identify public health issues and then widely disseminate information related those issues. A great example of a company working within this space is another PLSG portfolio company, Health Monitoring Systems (HMS), which aggregates healthcare data from more than 600 U.S. hospital systems and 3,600 ambulatory systems in order to monitor and quickly identify emergent threats to community health. HMS’s novel weather-map-like design is the largest private repository of this data.

Both population health and public health play significant roles in upgrading healthcare systems by improving access, reducing costs, and enhancing outcomes. They are two powerful disciplines working to make meaningful changes to better meet the healthcare needs of individuals.

Posted in Uncategorized, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

HIMSS 2019: Solutions combine cutting-edge technology with government policy

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Jim Jordan

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a truly transformative event. The Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society, or HIMSS, held their global Health IT conference, where more than 45,000 healthcare professionals attended.

Tech leaders and industry executives networked with government policy makers, healthcare providers, and payors to discuss the future of healthcare. As expected, the results were eye-opening, and I would like to share them with you.

But before we talk about healthcare’s future, we need to take a step back and review the past to understand the significance of recent developments.

Shortly after the end of World War II, employers introduced the concept of health insurance as a perk to entice workers in an increasingly tight job market. Quickly, the practice took hold, and employer-sponsored, private health insurance became the norm in the United States.

The number of individuals covered by health insurance continued to grow significantly, but another issue had been thrust into the spotlight: Older and poorer Americans, without the benefit of employer-sponsored health insurance, were left out of the system. With the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s, senior citizens and those in lower-income brackets were provided a lifeline, but the cost of healthcare in the United States had skyrocketed.

And while healthcare costs continued to rise at a greater pace than the U.S. GDP, there were still many people who did not have access to affordable healthcare. The introduction of COBRA and other measures in the 1980s helped to bring some Americans back into the system, but the issue still persisted. And as Baby Boomers continued to age, healthcare costs began spiraling out of control.

In 2010, the issues of healthcare access and rising costs were addressed with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The number of uninsured Americans decreased from 44 million in 2008 to 11 million in 2011. And with more people in the insurance pool, a value-based reimbursement system, and other measures designed to rein in costs, the decades-long growth in healthcare spending had finally begun to slow.

But while the ACA has improved access to healthcare and slowed the growth rate of actual cost, it has also limited choices for many Americans who are unable to see providers who are not within their insurance networks. This lack of competition will inevitably inhibit the best value being delivered by the system.

So this is where we are today. At the HIMSS Conference, we discussed recently proposed legislation and many ideas that will help tackle some of the pressing healthcare issues we are now facing. A few of the ideas presented include:

  • A dedicated focus on improving core outcomes, including access to affordable healthcare, reduced healthcare costs, and improved quality.
  • A shift in our current healthcare model. Through newly proposed legislation, there is an effort to convert our current provider-and-payor-centered healthcare system to a patient-centered model.
  • This new consumer-centered model will allow patients to have access and electronic portability of their medical records across the care continuum.
  • Providing this interoperability will lead to consistency across health IT systems, better communication among healthcare providers, and greater patient control over healthcare data.
  • Interoperability will also allow the capture of social determinants of health (lifestyle factors), which are now recognized as being equally as important as genetic information. This will give health providers a more complete picture of a patient’s health status, leading to better, more cost effective diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.
  • Leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance outcomes. This will lead to greater healthcare access, more patient involvement in their own care, and the alleviation of our growing shortage of healthcare providers.

After speaking with healthcare, technology, and government leaders, one conclusion has become crystal clear: Healthcare problems cannot be solved in silos. The only way we can address our pressing challenges is by developing a holistic solution that combines cutting-edge technology with government policy. Only when these two forces work together will we be able to make meaningful changes in our healthcare system. It will require a combined effort of lawmakers, health IT companies, healthcare providers, payors, and patients to adopt new practices and new mindsets, and tackle our challenges once and for all.

I believe that the HIMSS Conference was a powerful step in the right direction, and I remain excited about the future of healthcare.

Posted in Uncategorized, Business Development, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

Using Public Disclosures to Prevent Competitive Patents

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Alan West

When does disclosing a secret actually help the secret-keeper?  In the world of patents and patent protection, it can be a key strategy.

Most entrepreneurs understand that an invention must be truly novel to receive a patent.  According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (uspto.gov), an invention cannot be one that has been previously “patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.”

As an example, I once worked at a company that acquired a medical device patent from a physician.  The resulting product achieved rapid market penetration, and the physician inventor received substantial royalty payments – until a competitor discovered that the inventor had described the concept to a group of physicians during a Grand Rounds at a small hospital a few days before he had filed the patent.  As a result, the patent was invalidated, the competitor began marketing a look-alike product, and the company and inventor had to deal with the rather nasty legal business of all the royalties that had been paid.

You have to be especially cautious to not disclose a patentable idea to anyone before filing a patent, unless your audience has signed non-disclosure agreements in advance.  Otherwise, it is considered to be a “public disclosure,” even if it is to one person.

You can, however, use such public disclosures to your advantage.  Let’s say you are a start-up company with a patent covering your first product.  A common defensive patent strategy is to file additional patents covering improvements and line-extensions to your original patent – a tactic known as the “picket fence.”  In this way you create a “fence” surrounding your product, making it much more difficult for competitors to get around your patent.

These new patents are all subservient to your core patent in that they are offshoots of the original and cannot be independently practiced.  As a start-up company, however, you may not have the cash to file all these new applications.  A well-financed competitor, on the other hand, may decide to file patents covering improvements to your product as an offensive strategy.

By filing enhancements to your original patent, they can create bargaining chips to use with you to negotiate a cross license, giving them the right to your original patent in exchange for you to use their patents covering product improvements.  It is a common and effective strategy, but it’s crucial to realize that it can also undermine your company’s competitive advantage.

A simple way to avoid becoming fenced in by a competitor in this way is to publish a description of the improvement in a paper or on your website.  If you are not going to file a patent on the improvement, publicly disclose the idea so no one else can patent it.  In that case your product would still be protected by your core patent.

The Intellectual Property Pyramid Assessment©, a workbook published by the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, will soon be available to order on Amazon. To sign up to get more details please email info@plsg.com.

Posted in Portfolio Companies, Therapeutics, Biotechnology Tools, Uncategorized, Business Development, Health IT, Words of Wisdom, Concentrations, Medical Devices, DiagnosticsLeave a comment

From Analytics to Action – Part II

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Alicia Varughese

In Part I of this two-part series, we noted that the rise of data analytics in the business of health care represents important changes in roles and responsibilities.  This includes the fact that more physicians and clinicians – because of their prior experience in analyzing data – are finding themselves moving up to the executive suites of their organizations.

The graphic above shows few examples of how Big Data and the need to implement a value-based care approach have been key drivers in the creation of these new roles. Out of these, the roles of Chief Strategic Officer and Chief Data Officer are seen to rely heavily on data analytics. A general description of each role follows:

Chief Strategic Officer – This might also be referred to as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).  Some of the primary responsibilities include improving performance management systems, imparting the CEO’s vision to the clinical team and staff, overseeing business and corporate development, leading market research and integration.  An example of this new role currently in action is David Cannady, Chief Strategy Officer of Mercy Health, Ohio’s largest non-profit healthcare system.

Chief Data Officer – Alternate names for this role include Chief Data (Analytics) Officer (CDO) or Chief Health Information Officer (CHIO).  This role focuses on providing a centralized control of data management, leveraging analytical tools, tackling issues of interoperability, and harnessing data to strategize population health initiatives and improve patient outcomes.

Some current leaders performing in this role are: John Pyhtila, Ph.D., Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Partners HealthCare, a Boston-based non-profit hospital and physicians network; and Terri Steinberg, MD, MBA, Chief Health Information Officer and VP Population Health Informatics for Christiana Care Health System, a Delaware-based private, non-profit hospital network.

Bringing analytics to action continues to present challenges and opportunities within the health care system, including changes within senior management roles and responsibilities.  As the health care industry continues its march toward a value-based, consumer-driven approach, data analytics and strategic decision-making will go hand-in-hand.  At the same time, the influence of other industry C-suite models will continue to be felt within health care leadership.

The PLSG remains connected to the growing impact of data analytics affecting health care and the life sciences.  Reach out to us to learn more.

Posted in Business Development, Health IT, Words of WisdomLeave a comment

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