Women's health refers to a broad range of medical and wellness services specifically tailored to address the unique health concerns of women. Particular focus is on reproductive health, fertility, and menopause. Technology supporting women’s health can go from EHR records, telemedicine services, medical imaging, diagnostic and IVF technology, wearable devices for monitoring health, menstrual cycles, menopause symptoms, robotic surgery in gynecology, and more.  This episode focuses on the fertility market with investor Leslie Shrock, author, entrepreneur, and angel investor working at the convergence of health and technology. Leslie Schrock wrote two books: Bumpin’: The Modern Guide to Pregnancy, which mixes the latest clinical research with practical advice for working families and Fertility Rules, published in June 2023, which addresses male and female fertility. In this discussion, Leslie shared her insights into:  - key misconceptions and lack of knowledge we have around fertility, - how is the market developing,  - what technologies she is hoping to see, - what investment models seem to be working so far. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/fertility-womenshealth-leslie-schrock Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

If you’re still trying to wrap your head around the use of AI in healthcare, this episode will give you an idea about the use of generative AI to create clinical notes during an interaction between a doctor and a patient. Augmedix, a healthcare technology company that delivers ambient medical documentation and data solutions. Their clinician-controlled mobile app uses generative AI to instantaneously create a fully automated draft medical note after each patient visit. I spoke with Manny Krakaris - CEO of Augmedix, about the HOW. How is their data model built, what and what kind of technology do they use in their product? Manny also explains why they’re not covering revenue cycle management or RCM-related codes in their data structuring processes, and what are the biggest challenges in the industry at the moment.  The second part of this episode is unrelated to generative AI, and illustrates how existing medical data can be used to create risk prediction tools for medical care. You will hear from Nassib Chamoun, Founder and CEO of the Health Data Analytics Institute, an analytics company that is developing risk modeling methodology to ease clinical decision-making by assigning patients different risk scores based on their medical history. This enables clinicians to design follow-up protocols based on an individual's potential health deterioration. Both discussions were recorded at HLTH. Read a longer article about insights related to generative AI from HLTH, which includes an overview of the key player in medical notes generation space: https://fodh.substack.com/p/generative-ai-in-healthcare. Episode summary: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/ai-for-medical-note-taking-and-risk-scoring-augmedix-hdai Augmedix: https://augmedix.com/ HDAI: https://www.hda-institute.com/ Discussion summary: More about healthcare data in the US: Healthcare data in the US series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/healthcare-data-series-in-the-us-foundy-epic-komodo?rq=epic%20 Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or review in iTunes: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/subscribe

In the United States, individuals' healthcare information is dispersed among various healthcare providers. But many companies have been working on creating consolidated patient views, Reveleer being one of them.  Data fragmentation often occurs because people tend to switch healthcare providers when they change jobs and, as a result, their health insurance plans. Since insurance companies have specific networks of affiliated healthcare providers, a change in insurance necessitates a change in providers. Because providers use different information technology systems, individual healthcare data becomes compartmentalized and difficult to consolidate. In this episode, Jay Ackerman, CEO and president of Reveleer, a healthcare technology workflow, data, and analytics company, supporting payers and risk-bearing providers in their value-based care programs, explained: how Reveleer consolidates patient data to give clinicians a single overview of the patient,  what are the biggest pain points in healthcare data management in the US, how is generative AI affecting Reveleer’s product development?  Discussion transcription: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/healthcare-data-consolidation-reveleer More about healthcare data in the US: Healthcare data in the US series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/healthcare-data-series-in-the-us-foundy-epic-komodo?rq=epic%20 Generative AI in Healthcare: "The biggest challenge is in PR": https://fodh.substack.com/p/generative-ai-in-healthcare Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or review in iTunes: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/subscribe

VR is becoming a well-established tool in healthcare and medicine to help treat pain management, anxiety, mental wellness, and more. Thousands of studies have shown the efficacy of VR approaches for health because of the impact of the immersive experience offered by this technology. We covered VR in medicine in several episodes in the past, and I’m adding the link to those in the show notes. In this episode, Aaron Gani, CEO of BehaVR, a company providing virtual reality solutions to address pain management, anxiety, mental wellness, and social engagement, shares: the latest on reimbursement, shifts in digital therapeutics companies' business models, which might make VR solutions more widely accessible with direct-to-consumer approaches, the impact of VR on decreasing opioid use in pain management, thoughts about VR and psychedelics since both approaches leverage altered states of consciousness. Enjoy the discussion. You can also read the summary of this chat on our website; the link is in the show notes. And if you haven’t yet, do check out our newsletter at fodh.substack.com. The latest edition focuses on the state of generative AI in healthcare, and the past editions have info on how France is approaching the reimbursement of digital therapeutics. You can find an overview of healthcare and digitalization in Africa, insight into the APAC and LATAM regions, and much more. Do check it out! Discussion summary: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/vr-healthcare-behavr-aaron-gani BehaVR: https://www.behavr.com/how-it-works/ https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Past episodes on VR: F106 VRx: What has over 5000 studies taught us about the healing effect of VR? (Dr. Brennan Spiegel) https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f106-vrx-what-has-over-5000-studies-taught-us-about-the-healing-effect-of-vr-dr-brennan-spiegel VR: Promises and Challenges in 2021 (Rafael Grossman, Jennifer Esposito, Aaron Gani): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/vr-rafael-grossmann-behavr-magic-leap

Generative AI - a subset of AI technologies that employ advanced machine learning algorithms to generate content, solutions, or outcomes that weren't explicitly programmed into the algorithms has many potential applications in healthcare. But at the moment, the digital health space is filled with noise. This discussion was recorded at HLTH 2023 in Las Vegas. Justin Norden - Partner at GSR Ventures talks about: his observes from the investor’s perspective, what he thinks about the discussions on open-sourced vs. closed AI development, why everyone should incorporate generative AI in healthcare and more. Newsletter summary of generative AI in healthcare: https://fodh.substack.com/p/generative-ai-in-healthcare Interview with Justin Norded - July 2023: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/investors-bet-on-in-generative-ai-in-healthcare https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

Alex Merwin is Head of Growth, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this episode, he presents the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, which showcases startups that are advancing healthcare & life science by leveraging cloud computing technology. In this episode, Alex Merwin and Tjasa Zajc, Host of Faces of Digital Health, discuss: podcasting, how AWS supports startups, what trends is Alex observing in the health innovation space, key findings from the recent Faces of Digital Health series about entrepreneurship and healthcare in Africa. ... and more.  More about AWS Health Innovation Podcast: https://healthpodcastnetwork.com/show/aws-health-innovation-podcast/  Get in touch with AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/contact-us/?trk=d7b08691-7f65-4c28-8b4e-13f1db4e310c&sc_channel=el Connect with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmerwin/ Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Scarsity of resources can be difficult to image: it encompasses the adaptation of clinical guidelines, palliative care instead of treatment, and clinicians accepting that they can’t help everyone, but need to choose who to save and who to palliate. Khalida Soki is a consultant physician and kidney specialist working in Nairobi. She moved back to Kenya in 2018. She participated in over 20 kidney transplants in Nairobi, successfully run a large hemodialysis unit, grown a clinic for kidney disease and helped write the COVID19 guidelines for the Ministry of Health in Kenya. She is also the organizing secretary for the young nephrologists committee at the African association of Nephrology and an honorary lecturer for the East African Kidney Institute. In this discussion, she explains: how did her transition from NHS to Kenya look like, how do clinicians operate on a daily basis with lack of resources, how they innovate because they have to, how is technology helping educate patients and improve access through telemedicine. Read the report and health tech innovation in Africa: https://fodh.substack.com/p/jedsy-ilara-nigeria-digital-health Website: facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Ilara Health: https://www.ilarahealth.com/about-us/ Leave a rating or a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Kenya has a lot of talent and opportunities for innovation. Access to care is not a problem because plenty of community nurses are present nationwide. However, they have a limited problem and mostly focus on main infectious diseases, leaving serious conditions undiagnosed, says Emilian Popa, Founder and CEO of Ilara Health. Ilara health equips a network of small healthcare providers with lifesaving and essential diagnostic tools to improve the quality of medical care in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this episode, Emilian Popa talks about:  why health insurance is hard to scale in Africa, where people are concerned with daily costs and survival,  investments and how local VCs mostly invest in sectors like real estate and investments for health tech are supported by foreign investors,  why Ilara Health is expanding on the Kenyan market but not in Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria or Egypt.  Transcript: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/kenya-ilara-health-diagnostics-africa Website: facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Ilara Health: https://www.ilarahealth.com/about-us/ Leave a rating or a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

One of the biggest challenges for healthcare startups in Nigeria is access to market. “In Nigeria, healthcare is fragmented, making it difficult to find distribution channels. We have to be creative and may need to look outside healthcare for distribution channels.” , says Jennie Nwokoye is the founder and CEO of Clafiya - a digital primary healthcare service that connects individuals and businesses to health practitioners to provide convenient, quality, and affordable, on-demand primary care from their mobile phones. In this discussion, Jennie explains:  What are the healthcare challenges in Nigeria, How do startups do business in Nigeria and why is it difficult to scale, How do startups work with local and international investors and more Transcript: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/primary-care-nigeria-clafiya Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

One of the speakers at the Nextmed Health Conference 2023 said: “In the past, people didn’t age; they just died.” This is still a daily reality in many low-income countries, which face a lack of workforce, poor healthcare system structure, and lack of resources. In this episode, we will learn about Nigeria. Nigeria has 220 million people which is roughly ⅔ of the population of the US. While many healthcare-related resources are scarce, the Internet is available and so is the fierce ambition of local entrepreneurs. These use digital tools to bring healthcare information and care closer to patients or to upskill the workforce. So what does care in Nigeria look like? What challenges do startups face? Where do they get investments?  Hear from: Charles Umeh, Chief Medical Officer of CribMD, Ossai Ifeanyi CEO of CribMD, Jennie Nwokoye, CEO of Clafiya and Christian Chidoziem, Pharmacy Student and Entrepreneur. Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

Africa is a huge continent with 1.2 billion people and a diverse set of countries. Healthcare systems are generally poor, with workforce and supply chain struggles, and infrastructure challenges such as power outages. In this episode you will hear about how drones are used in Malawi for healthcare delivery. Herbert Weirather is the CEO of Jedsy - a technology company based in Switzerland with the ultimate aim of designing and developing high-end multipurpose drones. Jedsy is present in Switzerland, Malawi, India and Brazil. In this discussion, Herbert explained: What challenges are present in the medical supply chain in Africa, Which stakeholders does the company work with, what’s their business model, and why there is no such thing as competition in the medical supply drone delivery space, because healthcare needs all the help it can get.  Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Jedsy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGaXHdjoQ-Q https://jedsy.com/

In June 2021, France announced a €7.5 billion Health Innovation Plan, as part of a broader financial investment to boost the French industry.  This funding goes beyond digital health, it’s aimed at supporting biotech development, startups, medtech, and more. In 2021, The eHealth Acceleration Strategy was launched, a large part of which includes upskilling and training new and existing healthcare experts, and medical and social workers in digital health. In today’s discussion you will hear from Louisa Stüwe is the project director of the Ministerial eHealth delegation at the French Ministry of Health. We discussed how the French strategy was designed, who was involved, and what has been realized to date. She also explains the process for reimbursement of digital therapeutics software medical devices and telemonitoring, how France supports the secondary use of medical data, and more.  Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Additional resources: French core information platfom for digital health information: https://gnius.esante.gouv.fr/en  TEHDAS state of digital health in 12 countries in Europe report: https://tehdas.eu/results/member-states-readiness-to-benefit-from-the-ehds-regulation-varies/  Health data hub: https://www.health-data-hub.fr/

The first efforts to establish ePrescribing in the US started in 2001. However, by 2014 only 4% of clinicians had adopted it. Electronic prescribing became legal in all 50 states by 2007. Eight years later, electronic prescribing of controlled substances and prior authorization were well established on the singular ePrescribing network. In 2022, a new player entered the market, founded by FDB - a global provider of clinical decision support tools and resources for medication. FDB Vela sets itself apart with newer technology and additional features. They are also working on building a veterinarian ePrescribing network. In today’s discussion with Lathe Bigler - Vice President of Clinical Network Services at FDB (First Databank) and General Manager of FDB Vela™, you will hear more about what ePrescribing entails under the new network. Additionally, you will learn about FDB's plans to enhance medication information for patients, improve accessibility to pharmacogenomics insights, and more. Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

A systemic approach to care for non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes is Africa is in its early stages, with the biggest challenge for patients being the price of medications, says Anne Stake, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Medtronic Labs.  Medtronic Labs is a nonprofit organization that works with governments and local communities in across Africa to create local ecosystems for the management of hypertension and diabetes. In this episode, Anne Stake explains: how does Medtronic Labs work, why are they present in Africa, how to run successful non-communicable diseases programs in Africa, why regulation isn't as loose in less developed markets than the West might think, ...and more! This is a rerun of an episode first published in July 2022. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Excerpt and full episode with Anne Stake: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/medtronic-labs-africa?rq=medtronic Herve Mwamba - South Africa & Africa More Broady: What’s The State of Medical Device Regulation? : https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/medical-device-regulation-mdr-africa?rq=herve%20 Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Leave a rating or a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Drug development is undeniably expensive. For years, the pharmaceutical industry cited an estimate of 3 billion US dollars. However, a recent study published in 2020 discovered that the median cost actually falls between 985 million and 1.3 billion US dollars. Even within this range, it remains a substantial amount. The high cost primarily stems from the significant failure rate of new potential medications that never progress beyond clinical trials. Computational biology and AI have already assumed significant roles in drug development. The aspiration is for them to expedite the creation of new, more precise, and tailored medications. Today, we will delve into biotech and explore how technology aids in predicting a specific patient's response to a particular drug. In a conversation with Rafael Rosengarten, the CEO of Genialis - a company using machine learning and high-throughput omics data to capture underlying disease biology and predict how patients will likely respond to targeted therapies, we explored the impact of computational biology on drug development and pricing, the application of generative AI in discovering novel molecules, and the challenges companies encounter in acquiring patient data to advance their work. Sponsor: Magic Mind Learn more at: magicmind.com/digitalhealth Use the code: digitalhealth20 Find more at: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Chronic diseases are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. They require long-term management and often behavioral changes. Achieving long-lasting effects can be extremely difficult, and digital health solutions have since the beginning been seen as an important factor in assuring success, by providing patients with continuous monitoring and feedback. Omada Health is a US digital behavioral medicine company that uses digital tools and personalized support to help individuals living with prediabetes, diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal issues. It’s been present on the market for over a decade, so in this discussion, you will hear the CEO Sean Duffy talk about what exactly does Omada do differently compared to traditional chronic care management providers, we discussed approaches to providing sustainable long-term chronic care management, and touched the topic of the sharp rise in popularity of GLP-1 drugs, we’ve seen in the last year. GLP-1 agonists are drugs that are used for treating diabetes but have become a popular weight loss tool for many people.  SPONSOR https://magicmind.com/digitalhealth For discount, use the code: digitalhealth20

The field of generative AI companies is evolving fast and many companies, that have been exploring the field for years, are gaining in visibility. However, new companies are popping up as well. One of them is Hippocratic AI, founded in 2023. Hippocratic AI building a safety-focused large language model (LLM) for the healthcare industry. The company raised 50 million US dollars this year. In this episode, Munjal Shah, CEO and Founder of Hippocratic AI talked about what exactly does the company mean by positioning itself as a safety-based LLM, what convinced investors, how are they building the team, and why there are a lot of inefficiencies to be solved before we use generative AI for diagnosis. This episode will give you a basic understanding of:  how are large language models built,  what’s the difference between horizontally and vertically build models,  where LLMs could replace (yes, “replace” as in cater to the staffing needs in healthcare) the healthcare workforce  https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ SPONSOR Looking for an alternative to coffee? Magic Mind Go to magicmind.com/digitalhealth use the code DIGITALHEALTH20 to get a discount on your purchase

Generative AI is definitely the word we will remember 2023 by. Knowing that administrative burden is among the key reason for physician burnout, the idea that AI could tackle this challenge, became a little bit more tangible with the raised awareness and public understanding of generative AI. But where are we exactly, and how is generative AI utilized for clinical use cases, administration, patient care and in biotech?  GSR Ventures and Maven Ventures are two health technology-focused VC firms that analyzed 145 startups across healthcare delivery and life sciences with generative AI solutions. They highlighted their innovations, challenges, and market potential. Collectively, the startups have earned more than $20 billion in funding and have 47,000 employees. I had the pleasure to chat with Partner at GSR Ventures Justin Norden about the report and details such as: why has biotech raised the most so far, why not are startups working on the administrative issues, how do investors look at liability issues with generative AI, and what exactly are they looking for in startups, apart from a great team?  Full generative AI companies in healthcare report: https://aicheckup.substack.com/p/where-generative-ai-meets-healthcare www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: fodh.substack.com SPONSOR: Magic Mind Go to magicmind.com/digitalhealth use the code DIGITALHEALTH20 to get a discount on your purchase

Nurses play a key role in patient care, but their contribution to patient outcomes is often undervalued and underappreciated. It took a pandemic to create a major shift in their job opportunities and power to negotiate. Many nurses left the profession entirely, others switched to better-paid travel or agency jobs. The pandemic is settling down so the question debated in today’s episode, is what is the position the nurses are in today? You will hear from: Rebecca Love, Thought Leader on Nurse Innovation & Entrepreneurship, experienced nurse executive and entrepreneur, and Chief Clinical Officer of IntelyCare, Alice Benjamin, nurse, author, and health advocate is affectionately known as America's favorite nurse. Rebecca and Alice talked about the position of nurses, healthcare technologies that are not designed to make the work of nurses easier, recent criminal cases against nurses in the US, and what needs to change so that being a nurse will be an attractive job opportunity. Let’s dive in, and if you will enjoy the discussion, do leave a rating or a review wherever you get your podcast and subscribe to receive the next episode straight to your podcast inbox. Also, do check our newsletter! It’s published on a monthly basis. Now to Rebecca and Alice. Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth Official website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Healthcare is one of the rare industries, in which often times, by requesting a service, the work hardly begins for the patient. Especially in complex cases, care is rarely seamless: test are done, drugs are presribed and if all goes well the problem is resolved. But oftentimes months can pass before the right drug and dose is found. Antidepressants are a good example. They are still often prescribed on a trial and error basis, with changes made if the initial regimen proves ineffective.  But what if there was a better way for prescribing? This is where pharmacogenomic testing comes into play. By analyzing genetic variations that influence drug metabolism, efficacy, and potential adverse reactions, pharmacogenomics tests provide valuable insights for personalized treatment decisions. However, despite its potential, implementing pharmacogenomics testing is more complex than it may seem. In this discussion, you will hear from Adrijana Kekic, Pharmacogenomics Clinical Specialist at the Mayo Clinic. We discussed  the current state of pharmacogenomics,  the optimal timing for individuals to undergo a pharmacogenomics test, to get the right drug and the right dose based on your metabolism, Why is pharmacogenomics not used more frequently,  Further development of the field.  www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/