Faces of Digital Health
F080 How far are we with digitising mental health support? (Christopher Molaro)
On April 15th this year a panel of experts published a position paper online in the Lancet Psychiatry, where they outlined a proposed government response to curb the long-term “profound” and “pervasive” impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Undoubtedly, the global lockdown caused a lot of anxiety in some individuals, depression in others, it is fair to assume some medical professionals will suffer from PTSD after the worst is over. The positive news is, that by today we have many validated digital tools and programs to help patients deal with mental health problems remotely. In this episode, Christopher Molaro, talks about why is access to mental health care still problematic, how can digital tools support providers and patients, and what trends are already visible because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris is co-founder of NeuroFlow – a health care technology company whose goal is to bridge the gap between mental and physical health in all care settings. Chris first started thinking about the need for better mental health support and care coordination when he was still working for the US army. Upon return from his mission in Iraq, he started noticing how veterans and civilians alike face too many barriers when it comes to receiving appropriate, timely care.
One of the things that CDC, WHO and other authorities advise us of doing in case of stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness in this unprecedented times, is to get plenty of sleep, avoid alcohol and drugs, try to eat healthily, keep in contact with your friends, colleagues, and family, and try to destress with deep breaths and meditation.
Read WHO recommendations for mental health issues management, as well as the CDC guidelines to ease difficulties occurring during this pandemic.
Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s080-how-far-are-we-with-digitising-mental-health-support-christopher-molaro
The background music in this show was composed by the pop artist based in New York Cheryl B. Engelhardt. Cheryl suffered from debilitating panic attacks her entire life, tried many coping strategies and in the end composed an album called Luminary and started a daily meditation practice with it. If you wish to find inner calm with her music, you can access it for free on all streaming platforms and meditation apps Insight Timer and Simple Habit. Listen to “Luminary” here
S079 Women’s health and the dream but real healthcare setting (Carolyn Witte)
Healthcare is anything but relaxing once you’re a patient. But what if you could look forward to your appointments as you look forward to a wellness visit?
This was among the guidelines designers of Tia – the next generation women’s healthcare platform – are operating under in their product development.
Tia was first a search-engine like support companion for women interested in anonymous search of reliable health information. By today, Tia is an ecosystem of services: a personalized women’s health information provider, a brick and mortar clinic in New York City. Listen to co-founder and CEO of Tia Carolyn Witte explain what patient-centered care looks like and how can healthcare be made more affordable, as in the case of Tia.
Summary of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s079-womens-health-and-the-dream-but-real-healthcare-setting-carolyn-witte
More about Tia: https://asktia.com/
S078 DTx series 5/5: Diabetes clinical trials on Whatsapp? (Abhishek Shah)
Wellthy is one of Asia’s leading digital therapeutics companies that inspires and enables patients to prevent, reverse and control chronic diseases. It works with pharmaceutical, medical devices companies, payors and healthcare providers to improve health outcomes. With active therapeutic areas in diabetes and cardiology, it has published real-world evidence across 20 publications in leading peer-reviewed journals and global conferences. In this episode, the last one of the 5-part series about digital therapeutics, Abhishek Shah, the CEO and Founder of Wellthy, on of the largest DTx companies in Asia, talks about the importance of understanding that healthcare is always local and shared some vivid examples of different rules of engagement with users in India compared to the West.
Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s078-dtx-series-55-chronic-disease-management-in-india-abhishek-shah
Wellthy: https://wellthytherapeutics.com/about
F077 DTx series 4/5: Want to get rid of chronic pain? (Mark Liber, Kaia Health)
In any given year, 12% to 14% of the adult population in the US will visit their physician for back pain. In the UK muscosceletal conditions (MSK) affect 1 in 4 of the adult population.
MSK are very expensive to treat, as patients require medical imagining, medications, sometimes surgery and physical therapy, explains Mark Liber, VP of Business Development at Kaia Health – a digital therapeutics company offering a solution for mitigating musculoskeletal diseases such as chronic back pain. Kaia Health works by offering the user an AI-supported motion sensor guided exercises, which means that an individual not only tries to follow the video instructions but can get feedback if he is executing the positions correctly or not. The app is additionally supported by an actual coach the user can connect with.
Recap of the show: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s077-dtx-series-45-want-to-get-rid-of-back-pain-mark-liber-kaia-health Kaia Health: https://www.kaiahealth.com/
F076 DTx series 3/5: Are you drinking? (Jamie Moore)
According to WHO, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. These deaths represent 5.3 % of all deaths. Australian organization Hello Sunday Morning has been tackling alcohol abuse for over a decade, with a digital approach, that has by today been developed to the level of a soon to be a digital therapeutic (DTx). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down across the world, Hello Sunday Morning has been noticing an increase in alcohol consumption.In this episode, Jamie Moore who is a General Manager & Daybreak Co-Founder of Daybreak program at the Australian organisanition Hello Sunday Morning, talks about the early days of Hello Sunday Morning, the drinking culture in Australia and the meaning of community support in tacking alcohol addiction. When the organisation was founded over ten years ago, the emphasis was on binge drinking. By today, the user structure has changed and Daybreak members are predominantly dependent drinkers, they are very much on the heavy end of drinking with 40+ drinks per week, while some users are moderate drinkers.
Recap of the show: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/s076-dtx-series-35-are-you-drinking-jamie-moore Hello Sunday Morning: https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/ DTx Alliance: https://dtxalliance.org/
F75: Healthcare innovation financing in times of COVID-19 (Part 2/2)
On April 9th, Slovenian health tech community and Faces of digital health organised a webinar about healthcare innovation funding in times of COVID-19. We asked four experts from Slovenia, Italy, Germany and Israel to join us in the discussion about the effect of the pandemic on health tech business. What you will be able to hear is the webinar adapted for radio.
The event is divided into two podcast episodes – in the first one you can listen to the presentations of Levi Shapiro, founder of mHealth Israel talk about the current trends in digital health and future expectations. Nana Bit Avragim shared an overview of the innovative business models. In the second episode, you can listen to the recording panel discussion. The panellists agreed tough times are ahead and offered their advice as to where opportunities lie and how existing companies should adopt to survive the coming economic crisis.
Webinar agenda:
14:05 – 14:20 Overview of the global digital health scene up until now, COVID-19 related investments (Levi Shapiro, mHealth Israel (Israel))
14:20-14:35 Collabetition: New Possibilities to Create, Co-Create and Rethink Healthcare Businesses (Nana Bit-Avragim, Digital Health Business Architect (Germany))
14:35-15:10 Round table: Effects of COVID-19 on business (Nana Bit-Avragim, Levi Shapiro, Giovanni Loser, investor (Italy), Blaž Triglav, healthcare executive (Slovenia))
15:10-15:20 Q&A with the audience
Webinar summary: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/special-episodes-7475-healthcare-innovation-financing-in-times-of-covid-19nbsp
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