Some startups you hear from in the beginning, when everything is new and exciting, but then they go radio silent. Either things aren’t going well and the entrepreneurs in charge don’t want to talk about it, or things are going so well that there’s no time for press interviews.
Parallax doesn’t have either problem. They have made significant progress since I spoke with them last year and they are willing to talk about their work.
The team is working on the Consolidated Healthcare and Resource Management System, CHaRM™, which includes a heads-up display for the operating room. Parallax’s patent application has been approved for grant, and the official patent grant will occur in the next month or so. The company accepted the goal release of the CHaRM software this month.
They also have submitted a preliminary inquiry to the FDA and are waiting for a recommendation from the agency about which approval process is the best fit.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Parallax ran the tests with electrophysiologists who need multiple EKG readouts and X-rays during surgery. The company has conducted the first phase of beta testing in a live OR with patient cases and gathered feedback from more than 10 doctors.
CEO Dr. Jeff Woolford said that a lot of positive feedback was from nurses.
“We will be adding extra screens and more methods for them to input information,” he said.
The display that the surgeon sees includes this information:
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
- Patient name
- Allergies
- A full body image with surgery site highlighted in red
- A list of people in the OR
- A checklist in the middle in the biggest window
- A list of tools needed for the surgery
- An image gallery on the right
There is also an “operative risk management bar” that changes from green to red, depending on the relative risk of an accident.
Woolford said that his initial idea for the best interface for the system – gesture control software – didn’t survive the first user tests.
“It became clear to us that the voice interaction was much more natural,” he said.
Woolford said that he was also concerned at first that creating a checklist library would be difficult.
“It turned out that most of the docs were very eager to draft their own checklist,” he said.
Currently Parallax has 10 checklists. When the system launches, providers will write their own checklists and as the library grows, new providers can adapt existing lists to fit their own procedures. The checklists will be shared across all Parallax customers.
Dr. Tas Saliaris, the chief medical officer at Parallax, said that updating the checklists regularly and sharing them among all Parallax customers make it easier for more surgeons to follow best practices. Making the checklist digital will help doctors figure out the best set of steps.
“If I perform seven steps to ensure patient safety, you may not know that one of those steps is helpful. You could query our system and see that 93 percent of our providers performed these seven steps,” he said. “Then you can ask, ‘Why isn’t No. 6 on my list?'”
Woolford said the system will be able to learn a doctor’s habits and be able to predict how long a particular surgeon’s operation will take.
“It will know that when this doctor gets to step No. 7, she is usually done in the next 30 minutes,” he said. “The system will be able to predict when the next patient will make it to the room, which will improve scheduling and communication with the family.”
Woolford is not worried about competition from Google Glass, even though he thinks that augmented reality is its future.
“The problem is that with wearing Glass, you are the only one that has the information, which is opposite of the model that medicine is moving toward,” he said.
Saliaris said that some surgeons want their work to be recorded and that those capabilities are built into the Parallax system.
“Most providers haven’t wanted to wear anything else because they wear enough already,” he said.
The company still has a third of the money raised initially, so there is no fundraising going on at this time.
Woolford said he expects the initial customers to be cardiac and thoracic surgeons but he has also seen interest from cancer centers.
The company is looking for a strategic partner to continue development of the system. The initial plan was to deliver the best system for individual operating rooms. Now the company has shifted its focus to the hospital network that links the components, including the wireless mesh network. We expect this analysis to take approximately three to four months.
