Empowered Patient Podcast

Susan Grant, Chief Clinical Officer at symplr, reviews findings from their annual Compass Survey, which revealed the significant challenges hospitals face, driven by financial pressures, clinician burnout, and operational inefficiencies.  Fragmented technology systems create significant administrative burdens, and there is growing recognition that unifying healthcare operations and strategically implementing AI are crucial to streamlining workflows. Clinicians' involvement in the design and implementation of new processes and procedures is essential to ensure that patients' real-world needs are properly addressed. Susan explains, "The annual Compass Survey, is actually our fourth survey that we've done here at symplr, and the goal of the survey is to drive awareness around the need for and benefits of streamlining healthcare operations software. So it's a way to get feedback from our customers, clients, and leaders out in the healthcare world."  "I've been a Chief Nurse for the last 30 years in different hea

Fawad Butt, Co-Founder and CEO of Penguin AI,  is addressing the workflow challenges faced by healthcare payers and providers, particularly in prior authorizations and claims adjudications. These processes are inefficient and often yield inconsistent results because human reviewers interpret rules differently, and patients are denied care due to minor administrative errors.   Penguin AI is bringing consistency and speed to adjudication, breaking down data silos and handling non-clinical administrative work, enabling agents to address patient-specific problems and ensure accuracy and safety. Fawad explains, "When you look at the healthcare ecosystem, there are obviously the pharma side, the payer side, the provider side, and the PBN side. So there are lots of areas where opportunities exist. We think payers and providers are especially challenged, and I think the area where they struggle is in the administrative workflow. And these are things like prior authorization and risk adjustment, claims adjudication,

Alexander Tsiaras, CEO and Founder of StoryMD, is addressing the critical problem of the fragmented health information landscape. The StoryMD platform unifies a patient's health history, including clinical records, wearable data, and personal diary entries, along with relevant data from a vast validated medical library of text and strong visualizations.  This provides a coherent narrative about the patient that informs the patient, their healthcare providers, and caregivers, enabling more informed decisions and better outcomes. Alexander explains, "So one of the huge problems that we have in healthcare is that when people go through a health journey, they have to cobble information together from so many disparate sources. You get a PDF here, you get a URL there, you get a screenshot somewhere else. And fundamentally, what happens is that you're trying to cobble the story of your journey together, and it's totally fragmented. You get fragmented medical records, you get fragmented information, and you share fr

Seth Cohen, President of Cedar, is addressing the affordability of health care by shifting the emphasis from billing functionality to patient financial navigation by using technology to connect patients to underutilized financial resources. The Cedar Cover platform is designed to identify and enroll eligible uninsured or underinsured patients into Medicaid, ACA, available pharmaceutical copay subsidies, and untapped Health Savings Accounts, which can be used retrospectively to cover previous medical and ongoing bills, benefiting the patient and providers. An AI agent handles patient service calls to help patients navigate the challenges of connecting to these resources and identifying new coverage options in these uncertain times. Seth explains, "Cedar is the largest independent solution focused entirely on the patient financial experience in healthcare. As you probably know, in the revenue cycle space, there are lots of vendors out there selling solutions up and down the revenue cycle, mostly with an emphas

Jim Foote, Co-Founder and CEO of First Ascent Biomedical, is changing the standard of care for cancer treatment from 'try and hope' to 'test and treat'. The First Ascent platform combines functional drug testing of fresh biopsies, genomic sequencing, and an AI engine to assess a large panel of drugs and identify the most likely to be effective. Clinical data show a high correlation between how cancer cells respond in the lab test and how patients respond to the same drug, and is seen as a treatment guide for refractory cancer patients to identify novel drug combinations. Jim explains, "Fundamentally speaking, if we look at everybody on this planet from a DNA and RNA perspective, there are 8 billion people, and each one of us is different from the others due to our DNA and RNA. So if we acknowledge that biologically we're all different, then the problem that we're trying to solve is if we're all different, why are we treating each patient with the same standard of care? A process that has existed for a hundre

Deb Nevins, Director of Product Strategy at POCN, emphasizes the expanding role and importance of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Associates in the American healthcare system.  These professionals have evolved from being an extension of the physician to becoming autonomous clinicians who handle a wide range of patient care, including diagnosing, prescribing, and creating treatment plans for a significant portion of the patient population. In many cases, NPs and PAs are filling care gaps in rural and underserved areas and applying a more holistic approach to healthcare in an increasingly virtual healthcare environment. Deb explains, "POCN is an organization that has been around for over 10 years now. It started really with the mission to support nurse practitioners and physician associates and help them practice at the top of their license. And we do that multiple ways, but specifically we like to say it's a learn, earn, care, and connect model. So we provide educational insights to them. We allow them to c

Jill Eubank, Division President of Professional Talent Solutions at Randstad USA, shares key findings from the Randstad Work Monitor Pulse Survey on the current landscape in the medical and healthcare industry. Noted is the significant shift from prioritizing remote work to job security, alignment with leadership values, and how AI is being used to improve job efficiency.  In an environment facing a scarcity of qualified employees, retention drivers include pay increases that keep pace with inflation, flexible scheduling, and strong manager support. Jill explains, "We're the largest staffing and workforce solution provider in the country and really in the world. We offer recruiting, staffing, HR services, whether it's on a temporary contingent basis or even all the way up to executive search and permanent placement. In healthcare specifically, our co consultants specialize in recruiting for those essential roles in the healthcare industry. Think medical, dental, and pharmaceutical sectors. We have a large, e

David Bates, CEO and Co-Founder of Linus Health, highlights the need to monitor brain health to identify the earliest signs of cognitive decline. The Linus Health AI-powered platform enables primary care providers to quickly screen for, diagnose, and help manage cognitive issues for an expanding population. Striving to overcome stigma and bias, this approach to early detection is crucial because many underlying causes of cognitive decline are treatable or reversible. David explains, "In brain health, especially, I'll talk first about cognitive health. There are up to 15 million Americans right now who have mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to dementia, and they do not know it. So, it's believed that up to 92% of mild cognitive impairment is undiagnosed, and up to 60% of dementia is undiagnosed. So we have this massive need to identify these folks and help them, empower them to get the resources to manage the condition, to optimize quality of life for themselves and their family and their loved

Mike Hoxter, CTO of Lightbeam Health Solutions, is focused on applying AI to population health management by using predictive models to enhance risk stratification for organizations with value-based care contracts. He emphasizes the importance of integrating social determinants of health along with clinical data to create more accurate predictive scores for patient outcomes, such as reducing hospital readmissions. AI enables a model to incorporate diverse data to derive more fine-tuned, actionable predictions. Mike explains, "We're really all for optimization in value-based care plans and care management. That's really our bread and butter, which is a pretty wide net. So we have a lot of large provider organizations in either CMS MSSP, ACO REACH, or a wide range of value-based care contracts with a lot of the commercial players. The Blues, Humana, Cigna, and Aetna all have value-based care plans that they have contracts with providers. So, optimizing for performance in those contracts. Anybody who works withi

Adam David, CEO of Doctors House Calls, has identified a gap in healthcare for homebound, high-acuity patients who lack a primary care physician, which often leads to frequent hospital admissions. This service operates primarily for Medicare patients by deploying physicians, PAs, and nurse practitioners to provide comprehensive care in patients' homes. Technology, such as connected devices, AI, and portable diagnostic equipment, enables efficient and effective visits to provide proactive care, extending the range of services available to this population.  Adam explains, "I put together Doctors House Calls, not to compete in the business of treating patients in assisted living facilities, which seems to be very popular among independent physicians looking to be more mobile and not wanting to work within four walls." "And so they see facility-based type of care as a way to sort of get out and be mobile and have flexibility, but they're only servicing patients that are in facilities. I would say there are prob

Linda Schatz, Director of AKASA, explains the role of Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) specialists in ensuring accurate coding and bridging the gap between clinical documentation and specific, accurate codes to ensure proper reimbursement. The complexity of medical coding often leads to errors, which can be nearly eliminated by using AI to review 100% of patient encounters to identify inconsistencies and help CDI and coding professionals process more accurate claims quickly. Accurate documentation is important for hospital revenue, patient care quality, and perception of the hospital's performance. Linda explains, "Well, the old adage, if it isn't documented, it wasn't done. If the doctor uses incorrect or perfectly acceptable medical terminology, it doesn't translate into an appropriate code. You've heard the term UIs, this is years ago, right? Grandma had UTIs and died. In the coding world, that used to code for a simple UTI. So the hospitals are getting paid for a patient that took care of a UTI, wh

Tina Liedtky, President of Transplant Diagnostics at Thermo Fisher Scientific, identifies the significant challenges in the US organ transplant system that must be addressed to meet the demand for organs.  Patient access to transplant care is hindered by geography, the need to match donors and recipients, and the threat of organ rejection. Living donations, particularly of kidneys and livers, are a solution to address the organ shortage, as organs from living donors often lead to better outcomes and can be scheduled to avoid damage caused by organ transportation. Tina explains, "So first of all, I would say that organ transplantation saves thousands of lives a year and gives patients with end-stage organ disease the ability to extend their lives meaningfully for many years. However, the organ transplant system in the US is not perfect, and it faces several real challenges. The most pressing challenge is a persistent imbalance between organ supply and demand, in that far more patients are in need of a lifesav

Dr. Sev MacLaughlin, the CEO of DeLorean AI, has developed an AI platform to identify at-risk patients, including those with renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions. Serving smaller and mid-sized provider clinics, this approach supports the shift to value-based care by predicting adverse events, recommending preventive measures, and reducing hospitalizations and healthcare costs. By analyzing entire populations instead of samples, the platform avoids biases and overlooked subgroups inherent in traditional analytical methods. Sev explains, "So I think there's an opportunity to not only give better care at the point of care, but also aid in the discovery or assist in the diagnosis of unknown diseases that people may have in the chronic format. That may be identifying chronic kidney disease patients five years earlier, so they can have a different treatment modality and directionality in their lives, or hypertension or cardiovascular disease."  "We're very strong in renal. So both ch

Antoine Pivron, Vice President of Health Solutions in the B2B division at Withings, highlights the clinical-grade connected devices that are changing the remote patient monitoring market. The equipment and AI-enhanced tools are designed to focus on personalized patient engagement and retention, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. The data made available identifies trends over time, allowing for intervention when necessary, and is presented in a form that emphasizes prevention rather than reaction. Antoine explains, "We are very well known for our connected devices, especially the weight scales. So we were the first company back in 2009 to develop a connected weight scale, and now we are the leader in this field, mainly in Europe and in the US. So I think we might have the broadest ecosystem of connected devices to be honest, on the market. So we have weight scales, but we also have blood pressure monitors, activity trackers with smart watches. We also have urine analyzers that we're going to laun

Dr. Jay Lalezari, CEO of CytoDyn, is focused on solid tumor immunology, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer, where their lead drug, leronlimab, is showing significant long-term survival benefits.  This monoclonal antibody targets the CCR5 receptor, converting cold tumors into hot tumors and making them more susceptible to immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors. Work with leronlimab for 20 years has demonstrated the potential for use in colorectal cancer as well as TNBC, and to vastly expand the patient population that could benefit from immunotherapy. Jay explains, "When I became CEO back in November of 2023, my first order of business was to figure out where CytoDyn should go with this intriguing monoclonal antibody called leronlimab that targets CCR5. And we looked at a number of indications, and by far and away, the data that we found in solid tumor oncology is clearly the place CytoDyn will go to create the most benefit for patients and the most benefit for our shareholders. We recently presented

Andrew Rosen, Chief Executive Officer of the National Ataxia Foundation, has a dual mission of accelerating research for treatments and cures for Ataxia while supporting the patients affected by this rare disease. Ataxia describes both a group of hereditary genetic diseases and symptoms of lack of coordination seen in other conditions.  While genetic tests exist for hereditary Ataxia, a significant challenge in drug development has been the lack of a reliable biomarker. To encourage drug development, NAF has funded translational research and the world's most extensive study for SCAs, Spinocerebellar Ataxias, providing new data on the progression of the disease and for the design of future trials. Andrew explains, "NAF has been around for a long time. We were founded in the late 1950s by a neurologist in western Minnesota who had a disease called Ataxia in his family. And NAF's mission has really been twofold ever since that. Our formal statement is that we are trying to accelerate the development of treatmen

Anne Meneghetti, Executive  Director of epocrates, is focused on medication management and providing tools for clinicians to better handle challenges from the increasing population of patients who take multiple drugs and are treating a wide variety of conditions. The epocrates app provides access to drug information, pill identification, checks for interactions, and calculates dosing, reducing medication errors and patient confusion. Polypharmacy patients are further at risk when they are taking over-the-counter drugs and supplements, requiring regular medication reconcilation to avoid serious drug interactions. Anne explains, "So epocrates has been around since the late 1990s, and it's the number one mobile medical app in the country in terms of physician usership. And it's both a free model and a subscription model. The main reason why clinicians use epocrates is because of the drug information. So, quickly looking up a drug dose, for example, if a drug needs to be prescribed by weight, what is the calcula

Dr. Adam Kilian, Director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program at the St. Louis University School of Medicine, focuses on IgG4-related disease, a rare multi-organ disease that has only recently been recognized due to significant diagnostic challenges. The MITIGATE trial is a landmark study that demonstrated that the first FDA-approved treatment, UPLIZNA from Amgen, provides an effective, targeted, steroid-free therapy. The approval of this drug is driving awareness in the medical community about IgG4-RD and whether the disease should be considered after inconclusive results for other suspected conditions. Adam explains, "IgG4-related disease is a rare disease that affects many organ systems. It's a chronic systemic, fibroinflammatory disease that can affect almost any organ system. And it will usually present with these tumor-like inflammatory masses that can cause scarring and lead to organ failure." "Our understanding of it continues to evolve, and it's had a really interesting story over the la

Dr. Thomas Wisniewski, Director of NYU Langone's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, shares insights from a recent study that projects new dementia cases in the US will double by 2060. New diagnostic tools have made it easier to identify early signs of Alzheimer's, and disease-modifying therapies are being approved, which can be effective if patients are treated in the earliest stages of the disease. AI is seen as a tool to help identify at-risk patients and routinely screen patients to manage the growing need for access to dementia care.  Thomas explains, "This was a study that was led by the NY Optimal Institute, which is directed by Dr. Joe Resh, who's really a leader in this area and many public health issues. He did a very thorough analysis along with his team that the annual number of incident dementia cases in the United States is projected to increase from current estimates of 500,000 to around 1 million in 2060. So basically doubling in white adults. Furthermore, in African Americans, this incidenc

Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, CEO of Canid, highlights the significant financial risks that pediatricians face in managing their vaccine inventory.  There are administrative burdens associated with ordering, patient demand, tracking, reporting, and filing for insurance reimbursement. The Canid platform was designed to be a vaccine-as-a-service model, removing risk and administrative work from pediatric practices, allowing small and independent practices to achieve economies of scale, and freeing up more time to spend with patients and their parents.  Pedro explains, "When managing a vaccine program, the expectation is that the pediatrician will buy and maintain the stock in their office until a patient comes in and gets vaccinated. So, the refrigeration, the temperature logging, the stocking up, and the cost of the vaccine always fall as liability to the pediatrician. And what happens there is that you have a fairly small margin on these vaccines. Now I'm sure we're going to get into this, but when people say ped