⚕️Skunk Work Hours For HealthTech Innovation

Good Morning! Did you know today is the national donut day as well as national chocolate ice-cream day? Another fun fact, chocolate ice cream’s invention predates vanilla ice cream because of the popularity of hot chocolate after which it was modeled.

On that sweet note, let’s dive into today’s edition of HealthTech Zen.

DEEP DIVE
Supercharging Clinical Trials With Data Analytics

Pharmaceutical companies end up spending billions of dollars on clinical trials to enhance drug efficiency, patient outcomes, and safety.

• 40 percent of the US pharma companies‘ research budget is approximately $7 billion per year.

• The cost of patient recruitment for trials is about 40 percent.

Clinical trial analytics allows researchers to gain real-time insights into drug trials. Based on this they make decisions on whether a specific drug is ready to market or not.

Here are the ways data analytics is transforming clinical trials,

1. Data Visualization: This refers to creating visual representation of data to facilitate decision-making and interpretation.

2. Predictive Modeling: Here, historical data and machine learning are used to predict patient responses and trial outcomes.

3. Statistical Analysis: This refers to applying biostatistical methods to scrutinize the safety and efficacy of treatments.

4. Data Management: This involves handling study data with accuracy and consistency in mind, along with data storage and data backup processes in mind.

Read more about how to leverage real world data is transforming clinical trial analytics and what role big data, AI and ML are playing in analytics here.

PULSE POINTS
Latest Breakthroughs This Week

Here’s the most important breakthroughs and advancements we spotted in the healthcare technology space this week.

• AI triage: UMass Memorial Medical Center is using "Kate," an AI tool from Mednition, to assist in triaging emergency department patients. The tool helps nurses more accurately assign an acuity level on the Emergency Severity Index, determining patient priority. During triage, nurses input patient data into medical records, which Kate analyzes using an algorithm that considers the patient's health background and additional factors. Kate then recommends if a different acuity level is needed.

• Generative AI: UW Health collaborated with Microsoft and Epic on an AI pilot program to draft physician messages to patients, resulting in over 3,000 messages. Starting in April 2023, the program integrates generative AI into clinical practice to streamline patient interactions. The AI drafts responses to patient inquiries in UW Health's MyChart portal, which nurses then review and edit for accuracy and tone.

• 3D Printing: Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist has launched the 3D medical device printing studio for Healthcare Innovation in Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter. In collaboration with Ricoh, the studio will use medical images to create patient-specific anatomical models for presurgery planning and patient education. Additionally, the 3D printing studio will be available to startups and entrepreneurs in the innovation district, anchored by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

• AI for Treatment Outcomes: Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute developed an AI tool that predicts the best immunotherapy drug and a patient's response using routine clinical data. The model uses factors like age, cancer type, therapy history, blood albumin level, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and tumor mutational burden, comparing them to data from 2,881 patients across 18 solid tumor types. The AI accurately predicts response likelihood, survival time, and identifies patients with low tumor mutational burden who could still benefit from immunotherapy.

• Wearables: Houston Methodist is utilizing the FDA-cleared BioIntelliSense BioButton wearable to monitor patients across its eight hospitals, leading to enhanced outcomes and safety. The device, worn by patients upon admission, is monitored centrally and employs AI-driven analytics to detect vital sign trends. This facilitates coordinated care across medical-surgical units and specialty areas, resulting in heightened patient satisfaction.

• Partnership: Tampa General Hospital is partnering with Palantir Technologies to develop a care coordination system using Palantir's AI platform. This system will leverage Tampa General's knowledge, real-time data, and advanced language models to create decision-support tools for managing care operations. Additionally, the platform will automate workflows, including revenue cycle management.

• Stats: Fifty-seven percent of nurses reported using telehealth in 2022, up from 50% in 2018, according to the most recent federal data available. The most common telehealth uses reported by registered nurses are telephone calls without video (69%), live video-conferencing (67%), text messages or live chat (28%) and remote patient monitoring (15%)

EXPERT SPOTLIGHT
Samir Zahine: Skunk Work Hours

This week, HealthTech Zen got in touch with Samir Zahine, a seasoned technical executive and leader in connected medical devices.

Can you share an example of a major project or initiative in healthcare technology that inspired you?

I have been lucky in my career to be part of many projects which continue to re-enforce my passion for working in the healthcare and medical device industry. An event last year involved one of my 9-year old son’s best friends whose grand-father suffered a stroke and required an LVAD implant.

It happens that he received the LVAD I worked on for years and it literally saved his life and allowed him to continue his recovery. This  inspires me to continue my career in this field and help build more solutions which improve patient lives every day.

How do you foster a culture of innovation within your technology teams?

A culture of innovation is a continuous effort and process. I have used many tools in the past and one of the most effectives ones is actually conversations. Talking to team members and challenging them to learn new tools, new software languages, technologies and techniques which can accelerate product development, quality and speed to market.

I also like to implement skunk work hours (Google is very good at this with Skunk Fridays which has produced several products for them like google maps) where you set a certain amount of time a week for your team to work on things that don’t necessarily align with the projects/products they working on the rest of the time.   

What are the key skills and qualities you believe are essential for a successful CTO in the healthcare tech sector?

All of them! I think you need passion for the industry, this helps you provide a vision that is not just about developing the thing but how the thing helps people. 

You need passion for technology so the thing you build works and is something the team can be proud of. 

You need to embrace the fact that healthcare is regulated and process is something you have to deal with. You need to work with it, not against it.

Continue reading here

DECODER
What Is Software As A Medical Device (SaMD)?

Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) refers to software designed for medical use without being part of a physical medical device. It operates on general-purpose computing platforms, such as smartphones or computers.

Examples of SaMD include mobile health apps for tracking health metrics, software for diagnosing medical conditions based on imaging data, and algorithms for monitoring patients' vital signs. SaMD is regulated to ensure safety and efficacy by health authorities like the FDA or EMA.

Read the complete guide to software as a medical device here.