50+ Innovation Leaders

AARP, in collaboration with MedCity News, presents the inaugural 50+ Innovation Leaders — entrepreneurs, companies and ideas that are innovating healthcare services and products for the critical 50+ market.

Feature presented by
AARP: Real Possibilities

Last fall, MedCity News and AARP put out a call for nominees for its inaugural list of 50+ Innovation Leaders, looking to find the leading innovators of services and products designed to serve the booming 50+ consumer health market. The response was overwhelming, with more than 150 individuals and companies earning nominations for their dedication to creating new devices and services for this thriving segment of the population.

Today, after tallying more than 5,000 MedCity News readers’ votes, we’re proud to announce our esteemed pool of winners, which displays a true commitment to developing cutting-edge services and products to help the aging population in today’s digital world.

AARP has long been committed to serving and assisting aging Americans. With AARP’s mission to enhance the quality of life for the aging population, we are pleased to join MedCity News in showcasing entrepreneurs who are driving change and improvements in the healthcare industry for the more than 100 million Americans aged 50 and older. We are excited for all the great things happening in the industry, and we congratulate the remarkable winners who have been recognized by their peers.

A common goal of many of the 50+ Innovation Leaders was modernizing patient care to meet the needs of today’s mobile world. Many our winners have developed life-changing ways of bringing healthcare out of the traditional doctor’s office and into the digital world of online and cloud-based portals, wearable technology and apps.

Other winners showed exceptional creativity and outside-the-box thinking in the realm of alternative therapies, smart wearables and product design. Ongoing medical treatment is a reality of day-to-day life for many aging Americans, and these innovators have helped to ease the burden and take the stigma out of that necessary care.

Our 50+ Innovation Leaders truly embody the entrepreneurial spirit and have gone above and beyond in the field of improving healthcare services for those aged 50 and older. If these innovators are any indication, the vital 50+ healthcare industry stands to see many great advances in the future.

AARP and MedCity News applaud the creativity and innovation of all our winners and nominees for their contributions to improving the quality of life of the more than 100 million aging patients in America. We encourage entrepreneurs everywhere to continue to drive change in the healthcare industry and create much-needed products that make a real difference in people’s lives.

  • AliveCor, Inc.

    www.alivecor.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Sir Alexander Fleming; Mayo Clinic for excellence

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    The developed world is aging from Japan to Europe to the United States. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer are consuming more and more resources. We need to develop solutions for these problems that are practical and affordable for the aging population.

    Company Description
    AliveCor is a pioneer in FDA-cleared but consumer focused personal medical devices with the Kardia ECG. The average age of their customers is 61 years old, and the largest decade served is 60-70 as their customers are heart patients. Led by Chief Medical Officer and Founder Dr. Dave Albert, AliveCor provides remote diagnosis for physicians and peace of mind for patients — all for $99.

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  • ABL Denim

    abldenim.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    The more than 65 million paid and unpaid caregivers in the U.S.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My step-sister, a baby-boomer, became a wheelchair user after several failed back surgeries. To find fashionable clothing that was easier to dress in and non-harmful was impossible; there were only geriatric styles available. She inspired me to use my background as a designer in the fashion industry and lifelong history with family members with disabilities to start a business making clothing that offers in-style functional clothing, enabling greater independence, boosting self esteem, and making the work of dressing easier for caregivers each and every day.

    Company Description
    ABL Denim is the next big thing in inclusive design. Recognized by the Wall Street Journal and its founder Stephanie Alves invited to the White House as a leader in its first “Design for All” event, ABL Denim makes clothing with technology for the millions in the aging and disability communities and those suffering with various anxiety disorders. ABL Denim improves the quality of life for its customers each and every day.

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  • Room2Care.com

    room2care.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Mothers and daughters; the female leaders within families.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My mother is the most courageous, tenacious and persistent person I know. Over the past 20 years, I have watched her be the primary caregiver and navigate the long-term care continuum with her mother, grandmother, husband and aunt. Like many women around the world, she sacrificed and gave of herself completely to ensure that her family received the best care and benefits possible, even when told there were no options. Without someone as relentless as my mother, my family would have not received the care they did.

    The long-term care services industry is difficult to navigate for the average individual with regards to quality and cost. Without some form of government assistance, many would not receive the care they need. I truly believe it is our responsibility as a society to care for the most vulnerable among us. Specifically, those who must depend on others for their basic needs.

    Company Description
    Room2Care.com has created a brand-new option for senior living. Room2Care is a network of private caregiver homes in the geographic area desired by the senior. The senior or caregiver registers on the site, identifies their needs and is matched with a licensed or certified caregiver, who is renting a room and providing the care sought. The senior moves into the caregiver's home, creating a huge cost savings for the senior, as well as a job opportunity for a qualified caregiver. Room2Care.com is giving the vast majority of seniors access to living arrangements they could not otherwise afford through a traditional option. Room2Care is led by founders Dr. Todd Florin and Richard L. Ashenoff II.

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  • Rijuven Corporation

    www.rijuven.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    My mother, a nurse who has provided care to thousands of under-served patients throughout the world. The person I admire most in healthcare is Alexander Fleming. His invention of penicillin has saved and continues to save millions of lives throughout the world.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My inspiration to work with aging population comes from working with the elderly as an intern at a nursing home in high school. I was inspired to use technology to enable older adults to self-manage and monitor chronic conditions by continuously reading and interpreting their vital signs and medical conditions and alert medical professionals if an acute care event approaches.

    Company Description
    Rijuven's platform for diagnosis and monitoring of patients where and when they desire provides a foundation for building new care delivery models that benefit, in particular, the 50+ population. Remote monitoring of vital signs, anywhere/anytime health assessments and the capability to easily monitor one's own conditions provides the 50+ population with many new ways to get the care they need and to lead longer, healthier lives. Rijuven is led by CEO Evens Augustin.

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  • Alejandro Badia, Founder & CEO, OrthoNOW Urgent Care Franchise

    www.OrthoNOWfranchise.com

    Biography
    Alejandro Badia, M.D., FACS, is a hand and upper extremity surgeon at Badia Hand to Shoulder Center in Miami. Dr. Badia was educated at Cornell University and NYU, trained in orthopedics at Bellevue Hospital/NYU Medical Center, followed by a hand/microsurgery fellowship in Pittsburgh and trauma fellowship in Germany. He served as worldwide president of ISSPORTH and co-founded the world-renowned Miami Anatomical Research and Training Center (M.A.R.C.) and the Surgery Center at Doral, a state-of the art ambulatory facility. After years of a successful medical career, he saw the need for specialized urgent care to immediately assess and treat of range of orthopedic and sports injuries and founded OrthoNOW, the country’s only orthopedic urgent care franchise. The OrthoNOW medical franchise model disrupts the paradigm of orthopedic healthcare delivery and is paving a new path to more affordable, quality care. OrthoNOW, named a Top 10 Franchise Opportunity by Entrepreneur Magazine, has disrupted the multi-billion-dollar orthopedic healthcare delivery system while achieving the industry’s “Quadruple Aim” of better outcomes, lower costs and improved patient and clinician experience. OrthoNOW’s recently re-launched mobile app includes the patient-centric feature “On My Way NOW™,” which facilitates real-time interaction with centers and an innovative integration with ridesharing service Uber.

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  • CareSync

    www.caresync.com

    Company Description
    CareSync puts patients first, with 24/7/365 access to clinical staff to get their questions answered and chronic care needs addressed. It collects a patient’s medical records and presents the information in user-friendly ways, making it easier for patients, family members, caregivers and doctors to work together as a team. The free CareSync app (web and native iOS and Android app) tracks appointments, tasks, medications, medical data and more, and it syncs with devices such as blood pressure and glucose monitors. It has been named a Top 10 Drug App by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy. CareSync, the nation’s leading provider of Chronic Care Management services for Medicare patients, was just awarded Technology Company of the Year 2016 by Tampa Bay Technology Forum. CareSync lessens the burden on patients and their caregivers and helps patients avoid unnecessary, expensive tests, ER visits and hospital stays. It has identified and removed major medical errors in patient records and helped patients avoid serious reactions from the wrong combination of medicines. CareSync is led by Founder and CEO Travis Bond.

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  • UnaliWear

    www.unaliwear.com

    Company Description
    UnaliWear’s mission is to extend independence with dignity for millions of vulnerable seniors with its Kanega watch product. CEO and Founder Jean Anne Booth came out of retirement to create a product that her independent, yet aging mother could wear with pride and dignity. The Kanega watch is a product unlike any other in the market today for seniors. It offers medication reminders, fall detection, wander-guard and automatic emergency help, even when a senior cannot ask for it. It is a dignified, discreet product, which requires no programming or smart phone or app. Its patented battery system provides ease of use, and the watch never needs to be removed to charge the batteries. It is a stylish, innovative product that addresses many of the primary issues our aging population faces today, allowing them to live independently with an appropriate safety and monitoring device that is simple in concept, yet very complex in what it delivers to the end user.

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  • Hometeam

    www.hometeamcare.com

    Company Description
    Hometeam’s mission is to make every day for an older adult a day they want to live. The company calls that beautiful days for older adults, and it involves a series of problems to solve. Hometeam begins with helping individuals map out the next few years of their recovery from a serious incident. This includes getting their families up to speed and helping coordinate among loved ones through a team of specially trained advisors. Then they coordinate long-term care and train and empower the home-health aides so they are equipped to go into homes and help with every activity. Lastly, they build out the platform to take care of everything else at that stage in life that can be difficult or frustrating such as taking care of groceries, medication, medical equipment or physician visits. The goal is to enable older adults to get back to what makes them happy in life and to live the life they had before the onset of their medical condition. Hometeam is led by Founder and CEO Josh Bruno.

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  • Nymbl Science

    nymblscience.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Sir Alexander Fleming; Mayo Clinic for excellence

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Lots of research around the world has gone into increasing the number of years that people live. However, certain population-wide challenges still exist that can greatly diminish the quality of those years. Loss of balance is one of these challenges. When we saw that by applying leading edge mobile tech we could directly effect people's balance and mobility and health, and thereby contribute to a higher quality of life, we were inspired to form Nymbl Science.

    Company Description
    Good physical balance is vital for maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately for most people, balance begins to deteriorate about age 50. By age 65, 1 in 3 people fall each year, and falls become the No. 1 cause of accidental death. Falls also lead to loss of mobility, confidence and a restricted lifestyle. Currently, there is no way for people to accurately measure their balance outside of a health clinic or hospital, where expensive machines are required to do so. The Nymbl Balance System measures balance, provides exercises to train balance and assesses fall risk, all in a smartphone. Nymbl uses the motion sensors in the smartphone to measure the stability of the user and determine a balance score. Balance training is implemented in the app through animations and real-time measurement, and it includes cognitive exercises for “Double Task Training,” the medically proven best way to improve balance. Nymbl is aimed at adults aged 55-75 to help improve their balance and prevent falls for a better quality of life. Declining balance is a massive, population-wide challenge not being addressed by current healthcare practices. Nymbl’s approach of using smartphones to provide an inexpensive, accurate, self-managed balance evaluation and improvement system is a truly disruptive innovation. Nymbl’s CEO and Co-Founder is Jim Cook.

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  • Wellbe, Inc.

    www.wellbe.me

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Don Berwick and Michael Porter, who have been strong inspirations for shaping our vision.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    The demographic projections and the strain—both operational and financial—they will produce on our healthcare system are staggering. We need a new paradigm of patient-provider-payer collaboration to develop and support new models of care that can deliver the scale and efficacy required to address these levels of demand. The growing use of digital technology in the senior population offers an opportunity to bring new solutions to the table. Properly integrated with new care models and community health programs, it would be possible to address many of these large-scale challenges and in fact, even create new capabilities for more continuous and personalized care.

    Company Description
    Consumer demands for convenience, choice, engagement, transparency and responsiveness are driving the digitization of service delivery. At the same time, value-based payment models like CJR and the BPCI Initiative from CMS are catalyzing the transition to integrated care delivery, with hospitals responsible for managing care across an entire episode, even though much of the patient’s experience happens outside the hospital. The EHR has so far proven insufficient at meeting these new demands. Wellbe, led by Founder and CEO James Dias, addresses these challenges. Its ConnectedCare cloud-based platform enables high-performing health systems throughout the United States to transform care models by reshaping care delivery for the connected consumer, improving patients’ experiences, satisfaction and health outcomes while reducing costs. The platform digitizes workflows to facilitate connected care between patients and healthcare providers across an episode such as a joint replacement surgery, empowering patients to participate as active partners in their treatment, and giving providers the ability to monitor large numbers of patients more effectively. Patients are guided step by step through personalized information and actions that prepare them for surgery and recovery to help them achieve their health goals. Care coordinators are alerted if a patient is off track or needs additional support. Data insights enable continuous process improvement.

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  • Clarify Health Solutions

    www.clarifyhealth.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    The nurses and caregivers who selflessly and tirelessly deliver care day in, day out.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    One of society’s true measures is how well it takes care of its young and its elders. We believe that the aging population can and should benefit from the latest technology. It’s about making it accessible to a population that still has a significant capacity to learn, despite the stereotypes to the contrary.

    Company Description
    At the heart of Clarify Health Solutions’ mission is a belief that patients and their caregivers can receive far better care through the application of the best technologies from other industries. Clarify Health offers a breakthrough digital care management and patient engagement platform that seamlessly integrates powerful analytics, AI, real-time patient navigation and smart workflows. With this platform, Clarify Health empowers patients and their families to take more control over their own care. Clarify Health provides a personalized experience for each patient by creating a detailed patient profile, based on clinical, demographic and behavioral data. At the same time, Clarify Health enables providers to more effectively and efficiently engage with their patients, leading to higher satisfaction and quality. Clarify Health will initially focus on episodes of care that most commonly affect patients aged 50 and older such as total joint replacements, cardiac and oncology. Led by CEO Dr. Jean Drouin, the Clarify Health team combines senior clinical leaders with the best of Silicon Valley’s engineering talent. Their unique combination of expertise allowed Clarify Health to develop a truly ground-breaking solution that will transform the way we think about communication and collaboration across the care continuum.

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  • Omada Health

    www.omadahealth.com

    Company Description
    Omada Health is an online program that strives to inspire long-term healthy habits. Its mission is to help employers and health plans tackle diabetes and heart disease in an engaging, effective and scalable way possible. Its 16-week program is designed to help individuals lose weight, which has been shown to help reduce behavioral risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. The program is based on clinically-proven science and focuses on guiding participants toward reaching modest weight loss and activity goals through nutrition and behavioral changes. By combining the science of behavior change with personal support, participants are more likely to make permanent changes and improvements to their health. Additionally, Omada Health is one of several digital health companies to benefit from the recent move by HHS to provide reimbursement for Medicare patients taking part in diabetes prevention programs. Sean Duffy is Co-founder and CEO.

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  • Humetrix

    www.humetrix.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Dr. Roger Guillemin

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    All of our wonderful parents, grandparents, friends and mature users of our technologies who inspire us everyday with their expertise, insight, and creativity. By sharing their wealth of knowledge and personal experiences navigating the healthcare system with our development team, they are intimately involved in helping us to advance technology innovation.

    Company description
    Based on its ground-breaking health services research on aging, Humetrix has developed a series of award-winning mHealth platforms designed to empower individuals 50 and older in the United States and around the world to better manage their healthcare. iBlueButton, winner of three HHS industry innovation awards, including last year’s CMS FHIR competition, uniquely decodes Medicare claims to automatically generate a user’s longitudinal medical history securely on their own mobile device. Medicare beneficiaries see, on average, seven different providers a year, and the ability to share their health history at every point of care can be life- and cost-saving. Our app TENSIO helps more than 75 million American adults with hypertension better manage blood pressure. TENSIO uniquely integrates data from self-monitoring devices and the user’s specific medications and diagnoses with a system to generate ongoing notifications and alerts on the user’s smartphone and Apple Watch. TENSIO won the U.K. NHS Test Bed competition. For active adults experiencing an emergency at home or abroad, the multi-language SOS QR allows emergency responders to immediately and securely access — in their own language — users’ critical health information while automatically alerting their emergency contacts. SOS QR received the 2016 FCC Chairman’s Advancements in Accessibility Award. Dr. Bettina Experton is Founder and CEO of Humetrix.

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  • SingFit

    singfit.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Sohail Inayatullah

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    As the granddaughter and daughter of women with dementia, I saw firsthand the devastating impact of the disease. As an entrepreneur, I was also painfully aware of the complete dearth of effective, quality, scabIe solutions that can provide better health and wellbeing, not only for those with dementia but for their family caregivers as well. In the last 120 years, not a single pharmaceutical solution has been created to effectively prevent or treat this disease. This lack of solutions for dementia is not something you see in other areas of healthcare, and I was motivated to create a product that could help alleviate the suffering I saw firsthand. Our SingFit technology can be used to treat a variety of healthcare challenges, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension and autism, but we started with dementia and healthy cognitive aging because it's where we saw the most pressing and unattended opportunity to transform healthcare through active music.

    Company Description
    SingFit of Los Angeles, California, combines a growing body of scientific research on the health benefits of prescribed singing with a proprietary music platform to mass distribute the benefits of music as medicine. At its core, SingFit is mobile technology that digitizes the evidence-based music therapy protocol of lyric cuing. Featuring a proprietary Lyric Coach track, the SingFit app makes it simple for just about everyone, including people with dementia, autism and traumatic brain injuries, to sing and record their favorite songs. Developed by a team of music therapists, speech therapists, activities directors and occupational therapists, SingFit can be integrated into an overall treatment plan to aid in speech recovery, respiratory therapy or dementia care. Rachel Francine is Co-Founder and CEO.

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  • Clover Health

    cloverhealth.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Everyone who devotes their lives to being on the front lines helping patients.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    The health system over time has not been set up to put the patient at the center, particularly the elderly population. I felt that had to change.

    Company Description
    Clover Health’s goal is to improve the quality of life of its members and physicians, and it starts with its insurance model. Clover aligns with physicians by reducing friction and increasing transparency, leading to improved patient care. Notably, it sells plans to seniors on Medicare Advantage. Its technology is designed to take data from labs, claims and other factors to identify patients at risk for hospitalization and intervene earlier. It also seeks to improve care coordination. Its physicians can focus on people, not paperwork. The Clover team also works to serve as partners in care, using patient-centered analytics and a dedicated care management team to identify potential risks and directly provide preventive care. CEO Vivek Garipalli is a co-founder and board member.

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  • Emma Gilsanz

    boomlyshop.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Rie Norregaard, Assaf Wand, Gretchen Addi, Michael Graves, and Matthias Hollwich for bringing attention to the need for better design in the aging space.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My grandparents. I grew up being very close to them, and seeing my grandfather suffer from Parkinson’s and my grandmother struggle to care for him inspired me to work in this field.

    Company Description
    Through Boomly, Emma Gilsanz is bringing some much-needed style and color to the world of senior products. At just 24, Gilsanz has created a site offering a curated selection of beautifully designed premium products to aid seniors in activities of daily life (things like cool pill cases, designer canes, ergonomic gardening tools, nice incontinence underwear, etc.). Boomly is a departure from the typically depressing senior supply websites that offer products that look like they belong in a hospital more than in a home. Gilsanz understands that Boomers and beyond do not want just any bleak one-size-fits-all product, and she is committed to promoting better design in the senior product space.

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  • RxAssurance Corporation

    rxassurance.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Dr. Toby Cosgrove, Cleveland Clinic CEO

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    The risks associated with taking opioids in the aging population are enormous. Opioids alone account for 259 million prescriptions filled each year, enough for every adult in America to have a full month supply of these potent medications. With more than 91 deaths every day (CDC data) as the result of opioid misuse and a baby being born every 25 minutes suffering from opioid withdrawal (NIH), the US is facing a problem of epidemic proportions. Care providers are asked to follow guidelines for prescribing opioids that add hours of additional work and related costs to their already packed schedules. RxAssurance provides time and cost saving tools for prescribers and patients to help address these problems more effectively and ultimately optimize care and potentially save lives.

    Company Description
    The risks associated with prescribing opioids are enormous. Opioids alone account for 259 million prescriptions filled each year, enough for every adult in America to have a full month supply of these potent medications. With more than 78 deaths every day (per the CDC) as the result of opioid misuse, the United States faces a problem of epidemic proportions. Led by Bob Goodman, Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, RxAssurance provides clinical tools for prescribers of opioid medications to be guideline (CDC) adherent and able to track patients to help address these problems more effectively and ultimately optimize care and potentially save lives.

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  • Dosecast 360 powered by ChoiceView

    www.montunosoftware.com/products/dosecast

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Caregivers. They are the unsung heroes.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My mother has many chronic health conditions. It is a struggle for her to remember to take the medications to treat her conditions. She inspired me to get into Healthcare IT to help others. That is what Montuno's Dosecast Mobile Medication Reminder software does.

    Company Description
    A major problem in healthcare is keeping patients on track with complex medication regimens. Montuno Software invented Dosecast, a mobile app that engages patients to adhere to prescriptions and provides adherence information to caregivers. Dosecast already has loyal users, mostly seniors and baby boomers, with more than 350,000 downloads on mobile devices. To enhance its usefulness, Montuno is partnering with Radish Systems to offer Dosecast 360 “powered by ChoiceView®” to healthcare organizations. The Dosecast 360 app further supports adherence with “voice-with-visuals telecare” communications between patients and caregivers. Patients can talk/text while seeing graphics and photos sent by their healthcare providers to communicate about their condition and medications. Many patients, especially those with difficulty hearing or comprehending English, can use the Dosecast 360 app on their mobile devices to support their healthcare. With Dosecast, patients can regain/retain their health while keeping their caregivers in the loop; health plans can improve member health while serving providers and reducing costs; healthcare providers can improve patient health while seeing patient behavior; and pharma firms can improve treatment outcomes by better understanding patient behavior. Montuno's healthcare customers include Kaiser Permanente, GNC, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Children's Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Institute – University of Utah School of Nursing. Prab Goriparthi is Principal Partner & CEO of Montuno Software.

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  • NeuroMetrix, Inc.

    www.neurometrix.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Jonas Salk

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    There are far too many "cool technologies" chasing problems. Most wearable devices target the worried well but don't address the major societal challenges. As the population ages, the impact of chronic disease, including pain, is rapidly growing with an estimated cost over $2 trillion annually in the U.S. Technology can not only address costs but dramatically improve quality of life.

    Company Description
    Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans with an annual cost of $600 billion. Despite massive spending and overuse of opioids, 51 percent feel they have no control of their pain, 77 percent are depressed, and 86 percent are unable to sleep well. Led by President, CEO and Director Shai N. Gozani, M.D., PH.D., NeuroMetrix has roots in the labs of MIT and is applying neurotechnology to address the chronic pain epidemic with a drug-free, wearable technology solution called Quell. Quell was designed to meet the needs of people with conditions like arthritis, back pain, leg pain and nerve pain who wish to manage their pain without side effects. The FDA-cleared device works by stimulating the sensory nerves in the upper calf, which carry neural pulses to the brain. This stimulation triggers the release of the body’s natural pain blockers to deliver widespread relief in your body. In a Quell user study, 81 percent of study participants reported a reduction in their chronic pain while using the device, and 67 percent reported a reduction in medication use. Paired with the Quell app, users can optimize therapy and track progress, including eight dimensions of sleep, activity and pain levels.

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  • Quartet

    quartethealth.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    My wife, Mrinali. She’s an awesome doctor.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Mental health is a core driver of overall health. Emotional stability, mental wellbeing and meaningful social connections are all critical components to a healthy aging process. Arun has seen how beneficial mental health is in the lives of his own parents and Quartet is in a position to make a profound impact on families that need better access and resources to get the care they need.

    Company Description
    As America’s population ages, the need for behavioral healthcare increases. Quartet works in partnership with insurers, primary care physicians and behavioral healthcare providers to get patients, many in the 50+ market, to appropriate, effective behavioral healthcare, at no additional cost. Quartet specifically helps patients, particularly those with chronic physical ailments and concomitant behavioral health conditions, access the treatment they need. Through Quartet’s platform, patients can view their provider options and access technology-enabled supports, like telemedicine and cognitive behavioral therapy. Based in New York City and led by Founder and CEO Arun Gupta, Quartet is a healthcare technology company dedicated to integrating behavioral health into primary care. With investors such as GV (formerly Google Ventures), Oak HC/FT, Polaris Partners and F/Prime, Quartet is available to physicians, specialists and patients across the country — most notably in New England, Pennsylvania and Washington state.

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  • Mercy Virtual Ambulatory Program

    www.mercyvirtual.net

    Company Description
    Mercy Virtual has redesigned care provided to complex, chronically ill patients. Chronically ill patients have continual needs, yet the current system meets them episodically. Patients fall into these gaps in care with subsequent, frequent ED visits/hospital admissions and frequently skilled care facilities, all while quality of life suffers. The Mercy Virtual ambulatory program brings the care to the patients when and where they need it. Biometric devices, two-way audio video (virtual encounters), and co-development of triage software allows for proactive, individualized care plan resulting in improved quality of life at a fraction of the cost. Dr. J. Gavin Helton serves as Medical Director of Ambulatory Medicine at Mercy Virtual.

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  • Cure Forward

    www.cureforward.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Laureate and Renaissance man.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My primary personal motivation was having gone through the end-of-life process with my parents. I was also motivated as a citizen to address what I see as a looming national crisis; my generation will consume massive healthcare resources from a system that is not ready to meet that need.

    Company Description
    Cure Forward is a free online platform that connects cancer patients to nearby clinical trials that they may otherwise not be aware of. It empowers cancer patients and their caregivers to utilize their own clinical data to explore options for care, including clinical trials. Every patient who comes to Cure Forward is given a guide to support them through the process of obtaining clinical data and posting a profile that clinical trial recruiters can view and use to determine matches for studies to screen at a trial site near the patient. Cure Forward is the opposite of scouring the internet for trial options—it brings the trials to the patient. Frank Ingari serves as CEO of Cure Forward.

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  • GreatCall

    www.greatcall.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Francis Collins. A physician-geneticist, he was known for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and leadership of the Human Genome Project, the first mapping of human DNA. This is one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, although the full healthcare benefit of that project is still being played out. Dr. Collins also wrote an amazing book called the “Language of God" that beautifully laid out the relationship between modern science and religion and how they can coexist. I also admire the home care workers across the country that help take care of the senior population in their homes. They are often forgotten and underappreciated but are a critical part of our healthcare system.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Like many in the space, I was inspired to work with the aging population by my parents. I lost my father when he was 87 after a protracted battle with cancer, and my 90-year-old mother lives over 3,000 miles away and still drives. I want to make a difference in both the lives of older adults and the family caregivers that support them.

    Company Description
    With connected health and safety solutions for older adults and their family caregivers, GreatCall’s suite of mobile products and customer care helps aging consumers live more independent lives. Since its inception in 2006, GreatCall has developed a portfolio of products and services that help enable independent aging, including: telehealth services, medication adherence programs, emergency response, fall detection and activity monitoring. These products and services include Jitterbug Flip and Jitterbug Smart, the Lively Mobile medical alert device, Lively Wearable, Healthsense, Dashboard and HealthNotes, plus health, safety and medical apps Urgent Care, GreatCall Link, MedCoach and 5Star. GreatCall helps the older consumer adopt and enjoy connected health solutions while keeping caregivers up to date on their smartphones with the GreatCall Link app. David Inns serves as CEO.

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  • Towerview Health

    towerviewhealth.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    The Valilis Family

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    TowerView’s cofounder and college roommate, Nick Valilis, was diagnosed with leukemia three months after we graduated from Duke and in his first week of medical school. Nick was discharged from the hospital with 10 medications and, even though he was a 22-year-old med student whose father is an oncologist, Nick struggled to manage his meds. We quickly learned he wasn’t the only one, and it was our goal to create an end-to-end service to help those who needed it most–seniors. We’re proud to bring together insurance companies, providers and pharmacies to make it easier for elderly, chronically ill patients to manage their health at home.

    Company Description
    For TowerView’s co-founders, the challenge of managing medications is personal. Their college roommate and a fellow co-founder, Nick Valilis, was diagnosed with leukemia at 22. When he left the hospital, he had a war chest of medications he struggled to manage. TowerView quickly realized it wasn’t just Nick who struggled with this problem: nearly 50 percent of patients don’t take their medications as prescribed, resulting in 125,000 avoidable deaths every year. In the United States alone, 1 in 3 Americans suffer from a chronic illness that requires multiple medications, and their noncompliance costs insurance companies nearly $100 billion every year in avoidable hospitalizations. Many other companies have tried to solve this problem, but nearly all have failed because their solution is either too expensive or complex for the elderly. TowerView offers a simple service for the elderly population, and it is covered by nine U.S. insurance companies (to date) so patients can receive the help they need for free. With 10,000 seniors turning 65 every day, TowerView has shown incredible promise in delivering a solution to one of today’s most challenging problems in healthcare. TowerView is led by CEO Rahul Jain.

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  • Pager

    www.pager.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Healthcare leaders like Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Toby Cosgrove

    What inspired you to work with the 50+ population?
    We believe in the power of technology-enabled services to help not just the patients themselves but all those emotionally invested in their care. Indeed it often takes a village, and Pager looks to ease the burden of all players in an elderly patient's care circle.

    Company Description
    Pager is a mobile technology offering healthcare on-demand and simplifying the medical experience. Its patient-centric model provides users with access to quality personal care and empowers them to take better care of their own health with an easy-to-use interface. Pager’s service holds the ability to scale based on connecting patients with the right type of care at the right time, and that benefits many key stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, inclusive of health systems, insurers and patients. Pager CEO is Walter Jin.

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  • Myndlift

    www.myndlift.com

    Company Description
    Myndlift is revolutionizing the world of ADHD by providing an alternative treatment based on neurofeedback, an effective therapy that hasn’t been available to many people due to the high cost and low accessibility. Using a wearable device and a mobile app, Myndlift was able to transform this technique to the home environment while keeping the clinician involved. Its team, led by CEO and Co-Founder Aziz Kaddan, has raised $800,000 and has evidence-based research backing their product and established sales.

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  • Cloud DX

    www.clouddx.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    My dad, Dr. Ditmar Kaul, a psychiatrist who taught me about caring for others.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    At Cloud DX we believe consumers deserve better tools to track their health status in real time. Doctors and nurses also deserve sophisticated equipment to care for their patients. To help solve this problem, we’ve engineered our devices to provide clinical accurate readings. We want to our users to feel empowered and help revolutionize wellness education. It’s time to start taking control and managing your own health.

    Company Description
    Cloud DX is a start-up company shaking up the industry by delivering cutting-edge healthcare at an ever-lower cost to reach the widest market. Cloud DX engineered and entered Vitaliti, considered a “doctor in a box” and is the first consumer-friendly medical wearable that records all five main vital signs and streams them to the cloud 24/7. It is capable of autonomously diagnosing 19 separate conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, HIV and TB with clinical accuracy. This breakthrough device will be able to help millions of people in remote areas where healthcare is not easily accessible. This product is in human testing today and ready for commercialization in 2017. Led by CEO, Founder and President Robert Kaul, Cloud DX’s innovative approach to healthcare offers consumers simple, automated medical solutions that free up precious resources and reduce costs.

    Crunchbase Company Profile: Cloud DX

  • Zocdoc

    www.zocdoc.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    All the industry innovators working hard to improve patient access to high-quality care.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    At Zocdoc, our mission is to give power the patient – patients that span all ages, geographies, and healthcare circumstances. For the last decade, we've worked to put the control back into the patient's hands and help remove some of the frustration, complexity and barriers to care that patients so often encounter in the traditional healthcare experience. For the aging population in particular, it's vitally important that they and their caretakers are able to find, book and manage the medical appointments they need to stay healthy. The stories and anecdotes we hear from these users about how we've impacted their lives further reinforce our mission and inspire our team every day to work hard to help patients of all ages get the care they need. We're so proud Zocdoc has become one of the tools that elderly patients turn to in their healthcare journey.

    Company Description
    At Zocdoc, we believe people are patients well before they’ve put on a paper gown – when they’re looking for a new doctor, checking who is in-network, or waiting for an appointment. Zocdoc is empowering patients beyond the exam room, and its 50+ user base is active and growing. This year, more than 1 in 5 account sign-ups are by patients ages 50 and older, compared to just over 1 in 10 in 2010. Caregivers booking for sub-patients (i.e., a child or aging parent) is also growing. Older Americans need more frequent doctor visits to manage chronic conditions and have specific insurance needs for Medicare. Through Zocdoc, users simply enter insurance information and search for the type of doctor they need; then read verified reviews from real patients, view appointment times, and book instantly. With Zocdoc, most patients see a doctor within 24 hours, compared to a national wait time of nearly three weeks. Zocdoc removes the frustration and complexity that often comes with managing healthcare, at a time that’s critical for older patients to be proactive about their health. With a mission to give power to the patient, its online marketplace delivers the seamless, simple healthcare experience they expect and deserve. Zocdoc is led by CEO and Founder Oliver Kharraz.

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  • iRhythm Technologies

    www.irhythmtech.com

    Company Description
    iRhythm is a digital health company that derives clinically valuable meaning from heart rhythm data to advance patient care in the management of cardiac arrhythmia information, a large and growing unmet clinical need. Led by President and CEO Kevin M. King, iRhythm develops and commercializes FDA-cleared solutions that integrate consumer friendly biosensor technology, vast patient data, powerful analytics and medical expertise. Its flagship solution, the ZIO Service, offers a proven approach to long-term continuous monitoring that enables diagnosis earlier in the clinical pathway to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. More than 500,000 prescribed patients have already benefited from the ZIO Service.

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  • Tom Kottler, Co-Founder and CEO, HealthPrize Technologies

    healthprize.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Craig Venter

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My mother inspired me to work with an aging population. She died 10 years ago after a Herculean struggle with multiple organ failure. Her grace, strength and wit under incredibly trying circumstances, usually while in incredible pain, remain a guiding light for me. The costs, both financial and emotional of her life extension, have motivated me to work on end-of-life issues, as well as being concerned for the quality of life of older Americans.

    Biography
    Tom Kottler, founder and CEO of HealthPrize Technologies, is an entrepreneur with an innovative approach to improving medication adherence. Kottler and his team have created a platform that forgoes traditional medication reminder programs in favor of interactive educational- and incentives-based content designed to engage and motivate patients to take their medications as prescribed. The results? Staggering success, particularly in the ever-important 50+ patient market. In a 2016 study of patients taking a branded cholesterol-lowering medication, for example, enrollment in the HealthPrize program led to an almost immediate 99 percent reduction in “gap days,” or days late to refill. In another study, diabetes patients engaged with their HealthPrize program an average of five times per week and reported an overall medication adherence lift of 2.9 fills over eight months. A study of patients with self-reported asthma or COPD, with an average age of 53.5, concluded with 92 percent reporting they would continue the program if able, and 95 percent said they would recommend the program to a friend, family member or colleague. By designing a truly innovative and engaging digital platform, Kottler is bringing about behavior change, improving medication adherence and — most importantly — promoting better health outcomes for patients.

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  • Singular Sleep

    singularsleep.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Colin Sullivan, inventor of the CPAP machine

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Sleep apnea is extraordinarily common in the United States, particularly in older adults. We were floored by the fact that an estimated 80% of Americans suffering with sleep apnea have not yet been diagnosed. Obviously significant barriers to care exist and we launched Singular Sleep to "positively disrupt" the industry by increasing access to cost-effective and convenient sleep apnea care. Our virtual sleep center provides complete sleep apnea solutions: home sleep apnea testing, online sleep doctor consultations, and affordable CPAP equipment. Older adults face disproportionately high health care costs and, in many parts of the country, long waits to get the sleep apnea services that they need. Our overriding goal is to facilitate older American adults to sleep well again and maintain their health without breaking the bank. \

    Company Description
    Most sleep apnea sufferers are 50 or older. Singular Sleep has revolutionized sleep medicine. Under the direction of company founder and president Dr. Joseph Krainin, Singular Sleep has harnessed telemedicine to increase access to cost-effective sleep apnea care. Krainin started Singular Sleep to help empower people to take control of their health by getting better sleep and improve access to sleep medicine, particularly for those with high-deductible health insurance plans.

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  • OurDirectives.org

    ourdirectives.org

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Diane Meier, MD Palliative Care Physician

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    In my personal experience working in geriatric psychiatry and now palliative care, there are ongoing demonstrations on the importance of assuring a patients' care delivery is aligned with their values and wishes. Many times with the aging process, medical care's complexity is overwhelming to an adult, along with the burden of illness. The need to assure that their preferences are discussed and shared is integral to maintain and respect their goals.

    Company Description
    Eighty percent of Americans would prefer to die at home, yet 60 percent die in the hospital — one-third in ICUs. This discrepancy between preference and reality can largely be attributed to the fact that many patients — even those with multiple serious illnesses — haven’t completed an advance directive. Furthermore, many patients who do don’t share it with family members or healthcare providers. The failure to know and follow patients’ end of life preferences leads to moral distress among family, inappropriate utilization of hospital resources and wasted expenditures that don’t serve patient interests. It is estimated that 20 percent of Medicare expenditures are incurred in the last year of life — totaling about $124 billion in costs per year. OurDirectives is an online platform that aims to dramatically increase the number of individuals with completed, shared and accessible advance directives to ensure patients receive care consistent with their goals. It’s a tool that facilitates the discussion, documentation and accessibility of advanced care planning and documentation, eliminating the many points of friction patients face to make their wishes known. With OurDirectives, patients can choose, share and access advanced care wishes from anywhere with anyone at any time. OurDirectives is a Penn Medicine platform led by a team that includes Susan Kristiniak, DHA, MSN, Associate Director of Palliative Care.

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  • Avera eCARE Senior Care

    www.averaecare.org/ecare/what-we-do/senior-care

    Company Description
    Avera eCARE™ Senior Care uses telemedicine to support geriatric-led healthcare through innovative programs, including Geriatric Services, Long Term Care and Medical Directorship. These services improve access to healthcare while enhancing the quality of care and life for those needing specific geriatric care. Senior Care through Avera eCARE consists of a team of board-certified geriatricians, along with other geriatric healthcare professionals. The Senior Care model comprises three main service offerings for residents and to those providing care for seniors. Instead of transferring long-term care facility residents, the Long Term Care program provides a team 24/7 to accurately assess residents’ conditions from hundreds of miles away through eCARE’s innovative telemedicine technology. Through the Geriatric Services program, experienced geriatricians provide several benefits for the aging population. Residents, long-term care facilities, hospital discharge personnel, home health agencies and assisted living facilities have access to the geriatric-led team for 24/7 urgent care services. Additionally, through advanced two-way video equipment, our geriatric-trained physician can take on the Medical Directorship role at a long-term care facility. Senior Care provides services in five states, including 51 senior care communities and covers more than 4,000 long-term care beds. Deanna Larson serves as CEO of Avera eCARE.

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  • Dr. Charles Lee, M.D., Founder & President of Polyglot Systems, Inc.

    www.pgsi.com/company.html

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Community health workers who live day-in and day-out helping people in their community live active and healthy lives.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My Korean-born grandmother who raised me and didn’t speak English well inspired me. She struggled to understand her medication instructions — an issue one-third of Americans face due to low health literacy and language barriers. I focused on developing a simple way to make medical information more understandable for patients. My company, Polyglot Systems, recently acquired by First Databank, and the Meducation® solution was born from this endeavor. I am passionate about developing practical, affordable multi-language technology solutions to improve healthcare access and reduce disparities for the aging, underserved and limited English proficient patient populations.

    Biography
    Charles Lee has advocated to reduce disparities in access to health information for underserved populations since he immigrated to the United States with his Korean family at age 7. Even then, he noticed his grandmother struggled to understand her medication instructions – an issue one-third of Americans face due to low health literacy and language barriers. After becoming a board-certified internal medicine physician, his immigrant experience compelled him to learn more about health literacy, medical education software development and instructional design. In 2001, Dr. Lee founded Polyglot Systems and invented Meducation, a cloud-based technology that enables providers to create personalized patient medication instructions, including drug, dose and time of day. Available in more than 20 languages, they are written at a fifth- through eighth-grade reading level and presented in intuitive formats, including large fonts, pictograms and videos. Meducation helps reduce medication errors while improving patient medication adherence and readmission rates – at one hospital by more than 18 percent. Patients who stay healthy are more satisfied with their hospital experience, leading to improved HCAHPS scores. Dr. Lee received the Triangle Business Journal’s 2007 Healthcare Heroes Award and the U.S. Small Business Administration Tibbetts Award for his work in healthcare and technology.

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  • Hope Lewis

    morehealth.com/about-us

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Regis Kelly and Rae Lyn Burke

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    While living in China, I discovered that most people do not have access to the levels of healthcare that people in developed countries enjoy. Several of my clients asked me to help them find access to the best care in the US. When I moved to Silicon Valley, I had the pleasure of meeting Reg Kelly and his wife Rae Lynn Burke, a pioneer in drug development. Reg introduced me to excellent physicians around the Bay Area who were eager to help improve the healthcare outcomes of patients in China. As I grew closer with Reg and Rae Lynn, I learned more about the health struggles that Americans face. One of the key struggles that Americans face is the same faced by Chinese patients: identifying and accessing top healthcare providers. At MORE Health we help people from around the world, including Americans, access the best physicians in the world through our innovative online physician collaboration platform.

    Company Description
    MORE Health’s mission is to offer patients access to the best physicians in the world when they are needed most: when faced with a critical, potentially life-changing illness such as cancer or heart disease. Initially delivered as a concierge service to private clients in China, its Chief Executive Officer Hope Lewis co-founded MORE Health to offer the service to patients around the world. She brought together a world-class technical team to develop a cloud-based physician collaboration platform, then built a team of expert U.S. physician specialists — some of the best medical minds in areas such as oncology, neurology, cardiology and pediatrics. Using a collaborative diagnosis approach, MORE Health virtually brings together the treating doctor with one of our physician specialists to develop an accurate diagnosis together with the optimum treatment plan. In May 2015, New Enterprise Associates invested $3 million in a Series A round to allow the company to further develop its technology. Led by Lewis, the team’s vision is to become a virtual global hospital for serious illness by providing the highest quality of diagnosis and treatment for patients anywhere in the world.

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  • Zipdrug

    www.zipdrug.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    The team of emergency clinicians who saved my father's life in late 2014.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Right before starting Zipdrug, my father suffered from a massive cardiac event; medication non-adherence was a key factor leading up to his near-death experience. While supporting him through his recovery, it became clear that the existing patient-pharmacy dynamic was broken, negatively impacting health outcomes. Drug costs and access have been identified as key drivers of non-adherence. Zipdrug eliminates these barriers, enabling the aging population to obtain home delivery of prescriptions at the lowest cost, from high-quality pharmacies, and with a superior customer experience.

    Company Description Zipdrug is an innovative and exciting medication management and prescription delivery solution. With over 300,000 medications delivered and used by more than 25,000 patients, Zipdrug assists the 50+ population in maximizing their pharmacy benefit and receiving their prescriptions in a cost effective, safe and convenient way. More than half of patients are not adherent to their medication therapies, and one in three prescriptions are never filled – the cost of non-adherence to prescribed medications is $300 billion annually. When patients don’t take their medications as directed, consequences include worsening health and added medical expenses. Non-adherence causes 30-50 percent of all treatment failures, and more than $17 billion is spent each year in hospital readmissions alone. Under the leadership of CEO and Co-Founder Stu Libby, Zipdrug delivers value with hand delivery to the patient’s home, ensuring the prescription is filled and received by the patient. Zipdrug improves quality through coordinated and managed medication delivery that patients find convenient.

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  • Omnicell Medication Adherence

    www.omnicell.com/Products/Medication_Adherence.aspx

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    The nurses, doctors, and pharmacists who provide frontline care to patients.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    In my life, I wear many hats, including CEO, parent, caregiver and patient, to name a few. With many high-energy kids to keep up with, and as a recent caregiver for my in-laws, I appreciate the importance of maintaining a high quality of life. Those of us who work in the healthcare industry realize that our careers are more than just jobs but instead feel a calling to help members of our communities -- or even members of our own families. As we are all consumers of healthcare, it's just a matter of time before we reach the moment our hard work becomes very personal and we, or our family members, are thrust into the very healthcare systems we've contributed to. Just as my daughter's care at birth first inspired me to found Omnicell, seeing my parents and my wife's parents age has reinvigorated my commitment to this population and the individuals who support their care.

    Company Description
    The link between medication non-adherence and readmission in hospitals and nursing homes has been well established. The purpose of Omnicell Medication Adherence is to help reduce those readmissions and improve overall patient health. It can be extremely frustrating and time-consuming for a senior on multiple medications to organize prescriptions per their physician’s instructions. Omnicell’s SureMed® multimed blister cards are filled and distributed directly by the pharmacy to patients, increasing the accuracy of organizing meds and saving the patient or caregiver valuable time. The SureMed weekly blister cards organize prescriptions by both day and time, significantly reducing the risk of taking medications incorrectly. Adherence rates increased from 22 percent to 97 percent among patients utilizing the SureMed blister packages, while patient confidence in managing their medications increased from just 7 percent to 93 percent. The SureMed blister package is changing senior care for the better, and making successful medication adherence a reality. Omnicell is led by Randall A. Lipps, Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Founder.

    Crunchbase Company Profile: Omnicell

  • WatchRx Inc.

    www.watchrx.io

    WatchRx was founded to help the elderly with multiple chronic conditions to manage their medications and health conditions remotely. Current solutions available in the market, like mobile apps and pill caps/bottles, didn’t fit the need and only add to their confusion. Under the leadership of Founder and CEO Jayanthi Narasimhan, WatchRx provides a simple, dedicated reminder solution.

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  • VitalConnect

    vitalconnect.com

    Company Description
    Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, VitalConnect was founded in 2011 with a vision of changing healthcare by creating a new world of information with predictive data analytics at everyone’s fingertips. VitalConnect provides physicians, nurses and patients with continuous monitoring of vital signs through a single, small—yet powerful—device. By consolidating eight critical vital signs into one wireless biosensor, VitalPatch enables a new view into healthcare. More importantly, it connects all interested parties in a patient’s recovery with each other. VitalConnect is also engaged in numerous partnerships with other leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies. It’s all about helping to bring a new paradigm and vision to fruition and providing the healthcare industry with the predictive data analytics it needs to reduce expenses, increase efficiency, provide better care—and most important of all, to save lives. Nersi Nazari serves as CEO of VitalConnect.

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  • Susan Perry, CEO and Principal Inventor, SpeechMED

    www.speechmed.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?

    Women who have influenced other women to follow their footsteps and reach further heights in healthcare.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    Susan Perry had strong family ties with elderly members of her family throughout her life. They greatly influenced her development as a child and into adulthood. When the tragedy happened with her mother-in-law — an event that could have been prevented and caused by a language barrier — she became even more determined to assist families and the elderly to better manage their day-to-day healthcare and reduce miscommunication due to low health literacy and language barriers.

    Company Description
    Susan Perry’s development of new and cutting-edge technology to better assist persons with special needs, the visually impaired, seniors and foreign language readers and speakers began in 2006 with the introduction of the company’s first invention, Menus That Talk™. The inspiration was born after dining with a family member suffering from Stargardt’s disease, a form of macular degeneration. Several years later, another family tragedy inspired the creation of SpeechMED. An inability to understand medication instructions in a family caregiver’s native language resulted in the untimely death of another family member. The simple act of replacing an old medication with a new prescription did not happen — the new was added to the old. Within 18 months, the patient who was recovering prior to the incident had died. The company’s mission is that, regardless of a person’s age, language, disability or literacy, vital medical information and instructions will be delivered anytime, anyplace and in any language. Perry has undertaken the lead to reduce and prevent this type of error and other potential problems resulting from miscommunication or lack of basic understanding of medical instructions and medications to reach any person and their caregivers needing to manage their healthcare and/or other chronic diseases.

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  • Dr. Ronald J. Pion

    www.linkedin.com/in/ron-pion-md-74443/

    Biography
    Dr. Ronald Pion has been a creative and innovative healthcare educator for his entire professional life. Whether as a medical school professor or an inspired entrepreneur, he has sought to change the manner in which we see problems and offer imaginative and ingenious solutions. He has embraced telecommunications as a vehicle for this inventive process of change. Ron never tires nor loses his optimistic perspective that transformation is in the moment and is indeed plausible and surely possible.

  • Wellframe

    www.wellframe.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Susan Beaton, VP Provider Services, Care Management, and Risk at BCBS Nebraska

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    "Seniors represent the fastest growing population in our country, with over 10,000 seniors aging into Medicare per day. Historically, members of these populations have been some of the most vulnerable and difficult to reach. However, smartphones and tablets are becoming indispensable among these increasingly tech-savvy seniors, and that's changing the way health plans and healthcare organizations are looking to engage with them.

    With this large influx into Medicare Advantage programs coupled with rising rates of chronic disease, behavioral risks and mental illness, health plans are working to provide ongoing care programs to members when and where they need it, ultimately aiming to help seniors remain independent throughout their golden years. At Wellframe, we are partnering with care management programs around the country to mobilize their services, helping them to extend their reach, personalize care programs and amplify their impact for better outcomes."

    Company Description
    Wellframe is tackling one of the country’s most pressing problems: how to deliver and scale high-quality, patient-centered care management/primary care. Wellframe helps clinicians better identify emergent risk and need within a population, determine who to reach out to and when, and fully optimize the allocation of their limited human and financial resources. Wellframe uses technology to amplify, rather than replace, therapeutic relationships to deliver personal and adaptive care plans to patients with complex medical needs. It empowers patients by giving them their care plan in a form with which they can interact, providing unique access to support and feedback from a trusted clinician. This patient- and clinician-centric approach is simultaneously high tech as well as high touch, which is novel for a technology company. Wellframe is led by President, CEO and Co-Founder Jacob Sattelmair.

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  • Solera Health

    soleranetwork.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Esther Dyson, who is both a healthcare and technology investor and social entrepreneur. Esther, through her Way to Wellville project, is exploring sustainable, scalable models to improve individual and community health.

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    The over-50 age group is extremely diverse and presents unique opportunities and challenges for engagement in programs to improve and maintain their health. Addressing both health and the social determinants of health such as loneliness, food insecurity and transportation presents a tremendous opportunity to improve the costs quality of care.

    Company Description
    Solera Health is the only chronic disease prevention integrator/technology platform designed to offer patients a range of choices when selecting a lifestyle modification program to ward off chronic disease or manage chronic conditions. Solera’s technology is important to aging Americans as the CDC found that middle-aged and older adults 45 to 64 years old were most at risk for developing chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes. As a population health management/patient engagement technology platform, Solera offers a unique approach to linking at-risk patients with traditional (walking groups, in-person weight loss meetings) and non-traditional (digital health apps) lifestyle modification tools and curriculum proven to improve outcomes at a lower cost. Solera has implemented the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) through its national scalable model, leveraging complex analytics to identify the “best fit” lifestyle program for those at risk for disease. Utilizing patient demographic, psycho-graphic, behavior and preference information, including social determinants of health, Solera’s platform matches patients to the best DPP intervention to meet their unique needs and preferences. By understanding an at-risk individual’s health and wellness needs and directing them to appropriate resources, participants can quickly adopt healthy lifestyle changes in a practical way. Solera is led by CEO and Founder Brenda Schmidt.

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  • SnapMD

    snap.md

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Dr. James C. Caillouette, an OBGYN who was an advocate for women

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    A core aspect to SnapMD’s mission statement is helping to expand access to care through technology. An estimated 22 percent of the population will be over the age of 65 by 2030, and the fastest growing cohort within this subgroup will be people over 75. These are massive numbers, so the need to find new ways to deliver treatment is critical. We believe technology has a large role to play in the care for older Americans, and we’re working to do our part via our virtual care management offering.

    Company Description
    According to the National Council on Aging, approximately 92 percent of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and these diseases account for 75 percent of the money the United States spends on healthcare. Patients with chronic conditions often require timely intervention and supportive care that not only is expensive to deliver, but also places significant burdens on patients and their immediate care givers. SnapMD’s Virtual Care Management (VCM) telemedicine platform represents the next true point of care for aging Americans to access on-demand care from their physician. This HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant offering utilizes a private-label, cloud-based telemedicine software that enables health systems and other providers to extend care that has traditionally been delivered in high cost centers directly to the patient at home or in tertiary care settings. Diabetes, stroke and heart disease are only a handful of chronic adult health conditions that can be more effectively managed using the VCM platform, enhancing care coordination, improving continuity of care, decreasing response times and reducing medical costs. For aging Americans and baby boomers with chronic illness, SnapMD’s easy-to use Virtual Care Management platform can have a significant impact in improving patient health and long-term outcomes. SnapMD is led by CEO David Skibinski.

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  • CareBand

    carebandremembers.com

    Company Description
    CareBand is a revolutionary product with never-before-seen technology. The company epitomizes innovating healthcare as it strives to fill a need for adults with dementia or wandering behavior. So much capability is in the wearable itself, and the app takes the innovation to a new level. As this company continues to grow under the leadership of founder Adam Sobol, the product is expected to be further developed and used across the country.

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  • iAssist

    iassist.com

    Company Description
    iAssist helps eliminate the waste of time and costs experienced during the prescription process for specialty medications, helping patients begin life-saving therapies sooner. iAssist assists specialty pharmaceutical brands speed up time to therapy for patients. With a growing senior population, the specialty drug market is projected to see revenues at nearly $500 billion, accounting for half of the pharmaceutical industry’s revenue by 2020. With current prescribing processes, patients may wait weeks to receive medications due to added paperwork and tedious steps required by pharmacists and physicians. iAssist eliminates this lengthy process by enabling healthcare providers to prescribe medications all in one step. The solution contains modules such as electronic prescribing (eRx), electronic consent (eConsent), electronic prior authorizations (ePA), electronic eligibility queries (eRx Eligibility) and more. These modules ensure all stages of the prescribing process are completed accurately and efficiently. The technology also facilitates a transparent communication process, empowering healthcare providers, hubs, specialty pharmacies, payers and patients to exchange and track information related to prescribing specialty medications. Because iAssist streamlines the processes related to prescribing, patients can begin life-saving treatments sooner, and healthcare professionals are able to spend more time focused on what really matters — patient care. iAssist was developed by AssistRx, which is led by President and CEO Jeff Spafford.

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  • Force Therapeutics

    www.forcetherapeutics.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    President Obama

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    I worked with this population as a clinician for years and established a deep understanding of their specific challenges with respect to recovery and access to care. This population inspired me to create Force Therapeutics, a web and mobile recovery platform that uses video-based education and information to deliver prescriptive care plans to patients where they are most comfortable, their home. The 50+ population is often dismissed as being technology-phobic or unsophisticated in that regard. We have found the opposite and continue to develop and design our technology to cater to this group.

    Company Description

    Force Therapeutics is changing the way people recover from total joint replacement surgery by delivering video-based exercises and education prescribed by their surgeon and care team. Force is a digital health business that works with health systems to monitor and track patients through a clinically proven web platform. It offers remote monitoring and telemedicine to physical therapy, making it easier for people to recuperate from home after surgical procedures and still follow through on their physical therapy regimen. Patients do better when they are connected, knowledgeable and know someone is looking out for them. Through using Force, our clients have seen greater than 80 percent engagement rates throughout an episode and a greater than 20 percent improvement in patient satisfaction. Force Therapeutics is led by CEO and Co-founder Bronwyn Spira.

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    Crunchbase Company Profile: Force Theraputics

  • Anthony (Tony) Sterns, Ph.D., CEO of iRx Reminder

    www.irxreminder.com

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    My parents Drs. Harvey and Ronni Sterns dedicated their careers to the study of aging. They inspired me to go beyond studies to designing interventions that improve healthcare and the quality of life for older persons. It has inspired my involvement in gerontechnology and the creation of cognitive prosthetics to support medication adherence and lengthening living independently.

    Biography
    Anthony Sterns has a lifelong commitment to healthcare and cognitive solutions for older persons. As CEO of startup iRx Reminder, he has innovated an internet-connected device for more advanced medication management used in research, clinical trials and personal prescription maintenance, reducing the overall cost of research, healthcare and re-hospitalization. One key innovation is that medication is managed together among the consumer, the healthcare professional and the family caregiver, providing maximum transparency in adherence to the regimen. The iRx Reminder solution uses cloud- and mobile-based assistance to a state-of-the-art pill dispenser that controls and tracks medication taking. The platform reminds the consumer only when the optimal pill-taking window of time is closing. This empowers the person to take medication on time themselves, relieving caregivers and making it less likely the consumer will abandon medication management systems altogether. Other advantages include the sleek, space-saving form factor, portability and ability to modify the pill-taking regimen remotely without refilling the prescription. A graduate of the universities of Michigan and Akron, a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a board member of the International Society of Gerontology, Sterns has applied decades of experience to universal solutions for keeping retirees healthy.

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  • Dr. Blaine Warkentine

    www.linkedin.com/in/blainewarkentine/

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Any family able to talk to one another about death

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    I believe that to improve aging we must first do a better job of listening to one another. Our values, beliefs and preferences matter. From there we can personalize care in ways that are far more valuable. I think the only way to make this effort sustainable is to build a marketplace of aging improvement that can be fully embraced by the communities in which we live.

    Biography
    Dr. Blaine Warkentine, MPH, is tackling a tremendously large issue for seniors by giving healthcare providers a tool to improve the value of discussions for advance care planning (ACP). He is CEO of Caregoals ACP, which brings not just a good fee-for-service solution to the table but leverages these discussions toward value-based healthcare improvement by giving patients and their families an appropriate perspective on how they should be preparing for aging and end-of-life care well ahead of time. Preparation and starting early is critical to better experiences as resources are wasted on unwanted care in last month of life alone.

    Video: Blaine Warkentine, CareGoals CEO and Co-founder

    LinkedIn Profile: Dr. Blaine Warkentine

  • UbiCare SmarteXp

    www.ubicare.com/solutions/

    Who is your healthcare hero?
    Hillary Clinton and Dr. Leonard A. Rappaport

    What inspired you to work with the aging population?
    I guess we are all in the "aging population!" Our inspiration comes from that fact that 87% of 50-64 year olds are on the internet. And 64% of those 65 and older are internet users. So we are all part of this exciting and dynamic digital revolution. We're honored to be part of this opportunity for patients and hospitals.

    Company Description
    UbiCare’s SmarteXp joint replacement surgery engagement solution empowers knee and hip replacement surgery patients to care for themselves and hospitals to gain operational efficiencies through targeted education, mobile connections and real-time data. UbiCare total engagement solutions connect hospitals before, during and after discharge, linking caregivers, children, patients and the entire care team. The health information is easily accessed through any device at any time. Messages are designed for easy reading and interaction and translated to 10 of the most common languages. Health advice is reinforced to accommodate how adults learn—through strategic repetition. Users have no new technology to learn or apps to download. If a patient can check email, SmarteXp Joint can improve his or her health. UbiCare is led by CEO, President and Founder Betsy Weaver.

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