One of the biggest challenges to improving care for patients with diabetes and heart disease is figuring out the best tools for those patients. The problem is, there’s no such thing as a typical patient. Things like co-morbidities, support system, age and financial standing all have an impact on their disease and set them apart from each other. A Merck and Heritage Provider Network innovation challenge invited entrepreneurs to use open data sets to develop a care plan or re-imagine a care plan that can respond to the differing needs of the complex patient populations typical of diabetes and heart disease.
Applicants were encouraged to tap 13 open data sets. Submissions were whittled down to five semifinalists who were each selected to receive $20,000. The teams will pitch their concepts in a demo day set for January 23 (this Thursday) in New York.
FitForD developed a personalized patient coach platform that brings together workflow, data capture, device integration and reporting. The aim is to provide a personalized tool within a national network.
Frame Health: In a response to the conundrum of how to develop an effective way to help a diverse group of people who share a disease, Frame Health tapped a personality characteristic database to create patient adherence profiles. The platform predicts the most effective psychological triggers to use to get medical adherence from each patient.
Sense Health: This company takes the approach that there needs to be a better way to support patients between visits. An endocrinologist recently shared a story with me about how she complimented one of her patients who was doing a good job in managing his diabetes. The next appointment revealed he had gained weight and his condition had declined slightly because he felt he had permission to indulge. A mobile health tool developed by Sense Health uses interactive SMS texting to improve patient support between appointments.
Vital Score: The idea behind the app, developed by Johns Hopkins Center for Behavior and Health faculty member Hilary Hatch, a clinical psychologist in New York, is to standardize the assessment of unhealthy behavior. It is designed to make it easier for primary care physicians to make referrals based on behavior. It could be for smoking cessation, medication adherence or care management.
WellFrame: A collaboration between MIT-trained computer scientists, the former clinical director of Sana Mobile at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the former director of research and strategy at Dossia reimagined a care plan using mobile devices, artificial intelligence and human-centered process redesign. It’s designed to deliver care plans to patients “as dynamically generated personalized multimedia daily to-do lists on mobile devices.” Depending on which teams emerge victorious at the demo day, on January 27 two will be picked to receive $20,000 to refine their idea and develop a mini pilot in February. In May, the winning team will be awarded $100,000 to develop its solution.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
[Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos user jscreationz]
