Faces Of Digital Health

Japan. The land of anime - hand-drawn or computer animations, a technological superpower with a staggering gross government debt. It accounted for 219% of GDP in 2016. The long-lasting trend of worsening fiscal situation in Japan continues alongside the increases in health and pension spending linked to population ageing which puts the upward pressure on government debt.   If this is not very inspiring a lot of others specifics in the Japanese society are admired by western countries. For example unbeatable longevity. Japan is no. 1 in the world when it comes to life expectancy at birth: the average life expectancy is 83.9 years, 87.1 for women, 80.8 for men. The ageing population requires new policies and political measurements to prevent economic collapse. According to the OECD Health Statistics 2016, Japan’s total health spending accounted for 11.2 percent of its GDP in 2015, ranking third out of 35 OECD members. Only the U.S. and Switzerland spend more. Two speakers share their views in this podcast - Ky

Blockchain is a new technology, still very complicated to understand, leaving a lot of space for misinterpretations and confusion in the public. This is one of the things the 23rd episode of Medicine Today on Digital Health addresses: what blockchain can solve and what the most common misconceptions are. Questions addressed in the podcast:What are the biggest misconceptions you’ve heard around blockchain so far?What are the best implications for blockchain use in healthcare?Why is blockchain not solving interoperability?Will the patient experience in a system with a blockchain solution be different from the experience in the current system? How much should patients know?How to look at ICO projects in healthcare and what to keep an eye on? Speakers:  Helen Disney, the CEO and Founder of Unblocked, a hub for Blockchain events, education and information and Dr. Navin Ramachandran, a blockchain expert from the medical world, who understands the technology, its capabilities and follows the development closely. He

If there is someone you want to ask for an opinion on diabetes management challenges it’s David Kliff, editor of Diabetic Investor — THE source of information when it comes to business aspects of diabetes. He’s been following the field closely ever since he was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 20 years ago. The problem in diabetes is not the know-how, it’s the “want to” desire that is hard to deliver to patients, he says.

Dubai is one of the seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the most populous city and Emirate in the country with a GDP of 82 billion USD. It is a global business hub that keeps transforming rapidly. In October 2016, Dubai launched a citywide blockchain strategy with the objective of becoming the first blockchain powered city, driving the future economy by 2020. In this episode, you can hear: What are the strong and the weak points of healthcare innovation here? How the use of social media became a quality indicator in healthcare? Why is Dubai striving to become the global center of digital health and how is the way forward being designed? How far is the blockchain strategy in practice? Speakers: Michael Stroud — International healthcare executive from the UK, who is currently Director at Dubai Healthcare City, Brian de Francesca — CEO of a telemedicine company Ver2, based in Dubai, Mazin A. Gadir — Senior Specialist at The Executive Office for Organisational Transformation at Du

IT in healthcare is at the moment usually an added layer to existing ways of working, consequently too often a source of frustration and anguish instead of aid for medical professionals. According to CB Insight, US represents 75% of the global digital health market. Hunger for better solutions is being addressed from many sides. How far are big medical institutions in the USA from being collaboration first, competition later relationship? In the 20th episode, you will get a glimpse into the attitude toward digital health solutions in three eminent US healthcare institutions - Stanford Healthcare, Mount Sinai Health System, and UPMC.   Speakers: Rasu Shrestha, the Chief Innovation Officer from UPMC, Mitesh Rao, Chief Patient Safety Officer and Director of the Center for Advancing Patient Safety at Stanford Healthcare, Ashish Atreja, Chief Innovation and Engagement Officer at Mount Sinai.

From todays perspective, when we already talk about practical uses of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robots in elderly care, Internet of Things, implantable, digestable and other sensor, the world 11 years ago seems unrecognisable. After all, the first iPhone and Kindle were released hardly in 2007, a year later. Then, three years later, the first iPad was on the market. But for the digital health world, 2006 was an important year. It marked the birth of Health 2.0, a global movement for use, promotion and research of digital technology for wellness, health, medicine and healthcare. Questions in the podcast: - How are new technologies changing medical practice and medical education? - How big are the differences in digital health across the globe? - How much savings can we expect in healthcare with new innovations, since the so called waste is someones revenue, consequenlty meaning that someone needs to be pushed out of the market? - What is the state of healthcare data interoperability in the USA

How are VCs looking at the changing landscape of investment opportunities? This was the topic at the Early Stage investments panel at mHealth Israel Conference, held in Jerusalem in September 2017. The included speakers were: Christian Seale, Partner, StartupBootcamp, USA Matt Storeygard, Investor, Connecticut Innovations, USA Kyoko Watanabe, Managing Partner, Defta Partners, USA Alexander Hoffman, Merck Ventures, Germany Clara Leonard, Partner, Digital Health Ventures, Germany.   The discussed topics in this podcast, are: - Is digital health really that much different from other industries when it comes to investment? - How long do investors stay with digital health companies?  - What are VCs looking at in early-stage companies, since investments in the riskiest?  - Which funding models are becoming obsolete? - According to Coinschedule 2,1 bn USD have been raised this year alone with ICOs by September, the biggest ones worth 265, 230, 185 million USD. What are new forms of funding such as crowdfunding and I

Israel is a country of 8.5 million people, attributing around 7.5 % of the GDP to healthcare. Serial entrepreneurship is the norm here, fueled by military service discipline, high population education and good ties with the best education institutions and big industry players from the USA. Digital Health is taken seriously on the national level in Israel. There is even a special Department for Digital Health inside the Ministry of Health. In this episode Levi Shapiro, entrepreneur, investor and the organizer of the mHealth Israel conference, Eyal Zimlichan, Deputy General Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Sheba Medical Center, Director of Digital Health Department at Israeli Ministry of Health Ronny Shapiro and Head of the same department Shira LevAmi talk about how the ecosystem looks like, where does the success come from and where is digital health in the country headed.

Clinical trials are essential from many aspects. They are needed for assessment of safety, efficacy, and superiority of existing drugs, therapies, equipment. They are essential to an assessment of new scientific findings. However, many challenges surround them. Medicinisto is a young German startup connecting medical experts to the industry. In this episode, its CEO Guido Axman explains how the company is trying to prevent only established researchers participating in clinical trials. Researchers and clinical trial setting are the essential two components of each new project. The next challenge is finding participants. For some patients participation in a clinical trial can be a shortcut to a new therapy or a last resort for their health improvement.  The industry is looking for participants through doctors, internet, patient groups, advertisement. There are many means. One option is a special agency, and this is Viomedo found an opportunity. Viomedo is a platform with a database of clinical trials in Germany

In this episode Anna Dubovik, a data analyst working for the government of Moscow talks about IMIAS - Integrated Medical Information and Analytical System. It connects more than 660 clinics and over 23.6 thousand medical practitioners in Moscow. The system offers pretty much everything and more you could imagine and expect from a high-tech clinical IT system: electronic health records are stored in the cloud, managers can see real-time analysis of patient flow, online appointments, electronic prescriptions and more. How does the system work? What information are stored in it? How can an IT system be implemented across 600+ facilities? What anomalies have been detected in healthcare management? ...and more! Comments/suggestions welcome at - @zajctjasa

In this podcast, two brilliant women explain applications of blockchain in healthcare. The first expert you are about to hear from is Nadia Thibault Diakun. She was in the team of researches that wrote a whitepaper titled Blockchain and Health IT: Algorithms, Privacy, and Data. The second part of the podcast is an interview with Chrissa McFarlane, CEO and Founder of Patientory. The young startup raised 7,2 million dollars through a so-called ICO — Initial Coin Offering. What’s next? The questions addressed in the podcast are: What and where are are the biggest possible potentials for blockchain and where could it bring most benefit? What is the difference between a blockchain and already existing platforms aimed at connecting different healthcare providers? How does the idea of blockchain technology in healthcare differ from the idea of a uniform EHR system that would solve the problem of interoperability? What are the downsides/dangers of blockchain in healthcare? Who decides, who can get included in a block

Do you, or have you, ever owned or tries a wearable sensor? Wearable devices for healthcare are estimated at 870 million USD today. The market is supposed to grow to 4,4 billion USD by 2019, when the digital health market is estimated to be worth 172 billion USD. In this episode Manesh Juneja talks about his experience with trackers and the issue of data accuracy in wellness and healthcare. He has worked with data to improve decision-making across a number of industries. Suggestion/comment: tjasa.zajc@finance.si or on Twitter: @zajctjasa

According to some estimates, it takes 17 years from a medical innovation to become a part of the standard practice in medicine. Adoption of technologies in healthcare is slow. Investments in digital health are rising - 8 billion USD was invested last year. But what does that even mean? What works, what not? What have we learned in the past years about business models in digital health? This was the topic of a Panel at INFUSE Digital Health Networking Event, organized in Ljubljana in May 2017. Top KOLs talked about why patients are different consumers than payers in other industries, what challenges are specific for digital health startups, and which mistakes are the same here as with the other startups. Speakers:  Dr. Jesus del Valle, Head of Bayer’s Grants4Apps Accelerator Dr. Axel Polack, General Partner at the Joint Polish Investment fund Dr. Klaus Stöckemann, the Managing Partner at Peppermint Venture Partners Dorjan Marušič, Practicing Cardiologist, Former Health Minister of Slovenia Stanislav Sirakov, P

When it comes to digitalization on a national level, German eHealth is lagging heavily behind other European countries. Fax machines still have an important place in healthcare, says Dr. Klaus Stöckemann. After obtaining his PhD in biology and pharmacology, dr. Stöckemann held several leading positions in research and development and business development. He then co-founded Peppermint VenturePartners (PVP) in 2009.

Which funding models can digital health and biotech companies count on? This was one of the main topics at the last Charite Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Berlin at the beginning of May. In this episode dr. Klaus Stöckemann, co-founder of Peppermint VenturePartners (PVP), talks about digital health and healthcare digitalization in Germany and challenges startups face when evaluating and proving the usability and value of their solutions. PVP looked at approximately 500 solutions last year. Comments, suggestions welcome on @zajctjasa or tjasa.zajc@gmail.com

In 2004, after 14 years of research, The Human Genome Project was concluded. 99,9% of the human genome was sequenced and we learned that people have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.  Genes are seen as a map to people’s health and diseases; the ultimate source of our health problems and wellbeing. Expectations of what could be explained with genetic testing are high, however, genes are a universe of the unknown.  Even if a person has a predisposition for something, it is very often the environment which will or will not trigger it. Many diseases are polymorphous — more genes are included in their expression and severity.  We are far from knowing all the correlations. So where are we? Sooraj Ratnakumar is a scientist with a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge. He is also the CEO of Swagene — an Indian company for medical genetics. Wondering what he thinks? Listen to the 9th episode of Medicine Today on Digital Health. Comments, suggestions welcome at tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or Twitter @zajctjasa

In this episode, Sachin Gaur, a researcher, and entrepreneur in space of mobile and Internet solutions talks about cybersecurity and innovation in healthcare in India. After working and studying in Finland and Estonia, he returned to India and co-founded InnovatioCuris, a company focusing on connecting healthcare experts and looking at global innovation models and lean management processes to deliver healthcare at an optimum cost. If you just want to know more about cybersecurity, skip the first 20 minutes! Reviews, comments, and suggestions welcome at tjasa.zajc@gmail.com, on Twitter you can find me under @zajctjasa

It is hard to imagine the size of the country with 1.3 billion people. That is the approximate population of India. In healthcare, the country faces many challenges: a big shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas, big differences in access to healthcare, the influence of pollution and environment on population health. The healthcare system is private, the majority of expenses - 60 to 70 percent - are out of pocket. But when it comes to digital health, India looks like a promise land for developers. According to GSMA, India is now the world’s second-largest smartphone market, overtaking the US in the first half of 2016. By 2019, a third of that population - which amounts to 430 million people - is supposed to own a smartphone. Estimates of the number of mobile internet users by 2019 vary from 500 to 600 million people. In this episode, Prabhu Guptara - a Distinguished Professor of Global Business, Management & Public Policy at William Carey University, India, a Member of Boards of different companies in

Wearables and measurements. Which Point of Care devices are just gadgets and which ones bring actual better outcomes for patients? British researcher prof. dr. Anthony Turner, Head of The Biosensors and Bioelectronics Centre at Linköping University Sweden: “we haven’t yet made the sensors we really need, we are using the sensors that we happen to have.” That is why in recent years investors have been more interested in other sensors: ingestibles, implantables, etc. Feedback welcome on Twitter @zajctjasa

Internet forums have been here before smartphones and somehow, despite all the apps, they are still very much alive, especially for health information. They give patients information, support, psychological empowerment, and self-confidence. They offer doctors and developers an insight into behavior and thinking of patients. One big advantage of online forums is anonymity which gives users a certain level of confidence about the safety of their shared information. The perception, retention, and dynamics of interaction in online health communities differ from health apps and other digital health solutions. Do you know what useful data can be extracted from conversations on forums? Comments and suggestions: tjasa.zajc@gmail.com, Twitter: @zajctjasa