Advancing Research on Ataxia for Development of Therapeutics and Patient Education with Andrew Rosen NAF
Release Date: 11/13/2025
How AI is Transforming Medical Coding and Impacting Hospital Revenue Cycle Management with Linda Schatz AKASA TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Linda Schatz, Director of AKASA, explains the role of Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) specialists in ensuring accurate coding and bridging the gap between clinical documentation and specific, accurate codes to ensure proper reimbursement. The complexity of medical coding often leads to errors, which can be nearly eliminated by using AI to review 100% of patient encounters to identify inconsistencies and help CDI and coding professionals process more accurate claims quickly. Accurate documentation is important for hospital revenue, patient care quality, and perception of the hospital's...
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How AI is Transforming Medical Coding and Impacting Hospital Revenue Cycle Management with Linda Schatz AKASA
Empowered Patient Podcast
Linda Schatz, Director of AKASA, explains the role of Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) specialists in ensuring accurate coding and bridging the gap between clinical documentation and specific, accurate codes to ensure proper reimbursement. The complexity of medical coding often leads to errors, which can be nearly eliminated by using AI to review 100% of patient encounters to identify inconsistencies and help CDI and coding professionals process more accurate claims quickly. Accurate documentation is important for hospital revenue, patient care quality, and perception of the hospital's...
info_outline
Extending Transplant Access with Diagnostics and Living Donors with Tina Liedtky Thermo Fisher Scientific TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Tina Liedtky, President of Transplant Diagnostics at Thermo Fisher Scientific, identifies the significant challenges in the US organ transplant system that must be addressed to meet the demand for organs. Patient access to transplant care is hindered by geography, the need to match donors and recipients, and the threat of organ rejection. Living donations, particularly of kidneys and livers, are a solution to address the organ shortage, as organs from living donors often lead to better outcomes and can be scheduled to avoid damage caused by organ transportation. Tina explains, "So first...
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Extending Transplant Access with Diagnostics and Living Donors with Tina Liedtky Thermo Fisher Scientific
Empowered Patient Podcast
Tina Liedtky, President of Transplant Diagnostics at Thermo Fisher Scientific, identifies the significant challenges in the US organ transplant system that must be addressed to meet the demand for organs. Patient access to transplant care is hindered by geography, the need to match donors and recipients, and the threat of organ rejection. Living donations, particularly of kidneys and livers, are a solution to address the organ shortage, as organs from living donors often lead to better outcomes and can be scheduled to avoid damage caused by organ transportation. Tina explains, "So first...
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Using Big Data and AI to Uncover Disease Patterns and Improve Predictive Analytics with Dr. Sev MacLaughlin DeLorean AI TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Sev MacLaughlin, the CEO of DeLorean AI, has developed an AI platform to identify at-risk patients, including those with renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions. Serving smaller and mid-sized provider clinics, this approach supports the shift to value-based care by predicting adverse events, recommending preventive measures, and reducing hospitalizations and healthcare costs. By analyzing entire populations instead of samples, the platform avoids biases and overlooked subgroups inherent in traditional analytical methods. Sev explains, "So I think there's an...
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Using Big Data and AI to Uncover Disease Patterns and Improve Predictive Analytics with Dr. Sev MacLaughlin DeLorean AI
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Sev MacLaughlin, the CEO of DeLorean AI, has developed an AI platform to identify at-risk patients, including those with renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions. Serving smaller and mid-sized provider clinics, this approach supports the shift to value-based care by predicting adverse events, recommending preventive measures, and reducing hospitalizations and healthcare costs. By analyzing entire populations instead of samples, the platform avoids biases and overlooked subgroups inherent in traditional analytical methods. Sev explains, "So I think there's an...
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How Connected Medical Devices are Changing Impact of Remote Patient Monitoring with Antoine Pivron Withings TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Antoine Pivron, Vice President of Health Solutions in the B2B division at Withings, highlights the clinical-grade connected devices that are changing the remote patient monitoring market. The equipment and AI-enhanced tools are designed to focus on personalized patient engagement and retention, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. The data made available identifies trends over time, allowing for intervention when necessary, and is presented in a form that emphasizes prevention rather than reaction. Antoine explains, "We are very well known for our connected devices, especially the...
info_outline
How Connected Medical Devices are Changing Impact of Remote Patient Monitoring with Antoine Pivron Withings
Empowered Patient Podcast
Antoine Pivron, Vice President of Health Solutions in the B2B division at Withings, highlights the clinical-grade connected devices that are changing the remote patient monitoring market. The equipment and AI-enhanced tools are designed to focus on personalized patient engagement and retention, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. The data made available identifies trends over time, allowing for intervention when necessary, and is presented in a form that emphasizes prevention rather than reaction. Antoine explains, "We are very well known for our connected devices, especially the...
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Turning Cold Tumors Hot to Effectively Treat Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with Dr. Jay Lalezari CytoDyn TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Jay Lalezari, CEO of CytoDyn, is focused on solid tumor immunology, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer, where their lead drug, leronlimab, is showing significant long-term survival benefits. This monoclonal antibody targets the CCR5 receptor, converting cold tumors into hot tumors and making them more susceptible to immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors. Work with leronlimab for 20 years has demonstrated the potential for use in colorectal cancer as well as TNBC, and to vastly expand the patient population that could benefit from immunotherapy. Jay explains, "When I became...
info_outline
Turning Cold Tumors Hot to Effectively Treat Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with Dr. Jay Lalezari CytoDyn
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Jay Lalezari, CEO of CytoDyn, is focused on solid tumor immunology, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer, where their lead drug, leronlimab, is showing significant long-term survival benefits. This monoclonal antibody targets the CCR5 receptor, converting cold tumors into hot tumors and making them more susceptible to immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors. Work with leronlimab for 20 years has demonstrated the potential for use in colorectal cancer as well as TNBC, and to vastly expand the patient population that could benefit from immunotherapy. Jay explains, "When I became...
info_outlineAndrew Rosen, Chief Executive Officer of the National Ataxia Foundation, has a dual mission of accelerating research for treatments and cures for Ataxia while supporting the patients affected by this rare disease. Ataxia describes both a group of hereditary genetic diseases and symptoms of lack of coordination seen in other conditions. While genetic tests exist for hereditary Ataxia, a significant challenge in drug development has been the lack of a reliable biomarker. To encourage drug development, NAF has funded translational research and the world's most extensive study for SCAs, Spinocerebellar Ataxias, providing new data on the progression of the disease and for the design of future trials.
Andrew explains, "NAF has been around for a long time. We were founded in the late 1950s by a neurologist in western Minnesota who had a disease called Ataxia in his family. And NAF's mission has really been twofold ever since that. Our formal statement is that we are trying to accelerate the development of treatments and a cure while working to improve the lives of those living with Ataxia. And so we really focus on research and support. We do a lot in the research world. We fund grants for researchers who are looking into the various types of Ataxia. You'd be hard pressed to find an Ataxia researcher in the world, I think I can say now at this point that hasn't received a grant from NAF at one time or another in their career. We also do a lot of translational-type research. We fund the largest natural history study in Ataxias."
"So, the term ataxia itself is even complex because it both describes a genetic disease, and I think of that as capital 'A' - Ataxia, but it's also a symptom of many other conditions. So small 'a', if you will. Ataxia just means a lack of coordination. It comes from a Greek word. And so what I mean by both hereditary and other things is if you, for instance, have too much to drink, you would show signs of Ataxia. You might stumble when you walk, and your speech might be slurred. Those are the two classic symptoms of hereditary Ataxia. Right. So that's really the Ataxias that we at NAF focus on. So hereditary, as in passed from parent to child, there are several hundred forms of hereditary Ataxia, and they continue to find more as more specific genetic mutations are discovered year after year now."
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