Empowered Patient Podcast

Empowered Patient Podcast with Karen Jagoda is a window into the latest innovations in digital health, the application of AI for administrative and clinical uses, the changing dynamic between doctors and patients, personalized medicine, cell and gene therapies, aging in place, wearables and sensors, clinical trials and advances in clinical research, payer trends, transparency in the medical marketplace and challenges for connected health entrepreneurs. This show continues to evolve driven by the convergence of a diverse array of industries.

How Healthcare Organizations Use AI to Transform Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management with Patty Hayward Talkdesk TRANSCRIPT 05/05/2026

How Healthcare Organizations Use AI to Transform Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management with Patty Hayward Talkdesk TRANSCRIPT Patty Hayward, General Manager of healthcare and life sciences at Talkdesk, describes how a hybrid model of humans and AI is reshaping healthcare contact centers. Patient access and revenue cycle management are the primary, interconnected challenges for these centers, and modern large-language AI is being used to handle complex scheduling logic. Data analytics helps identify patterns in patient inquiries, predict demand peaks, and move care from reactive to proactive. The expectation is that AI agents will guide patients, becoming a normal and accepted part of healthcare. Patty explains, "I think that the challenge has always been in healthcare that it's difficult to automate things in comparison to other industries. If you call retail, it's very hard to get a human. You're constantly dealing with bots or being deflected to digital front doors versus in healthcare, as much as organizations have tried to push people to the digital apps and MyCharts and different things like that, it's been difficult. And there are good reasons, and there are bad reasons for that." "When you think about scheduling, scheduling really drives your revenue cycle because if people don't come to your organization, you can't bill them for things, you can't bill their insurance. And so your organization has problems with the revenue cycles. That's why I say they're inextricably linked, and it's very important to solve the access problem in order to solve the revenue cycle problem." "So, making sure that you match that patient with the right provider, making sure that you have the right requirements around insurance authorization and things like that. And then, of course, letting the patient understand what their burden will be as far as the charges go for that appointment is all part of the dance, so to speak. And that really requires a large language model that can consume and understand that information. You're right, the decision trees weren't going to work as far as an AI piece goes." #Talkdesk #AgenticAI #AIAgents #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Automation #CustomerServiceAutomation #ValuebasedCare #VBC #PatientExperience #MemberExperience #CustomerExperience #Providers #Payers #HealthcareAI #PatientExperience #HealthTech #ContactCenters #AIInHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareInnovation #PatientAccess #RevenueOptimization #HealthcareLeadership /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/41070310

How Healthcare Organizations Use AI to Transform Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management with Patty Hayward Talkdesk 05/05/2026

How Healthcare Organizations Use AI to Transform Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management with Patty Hayward Talkdesk Patty Hayward, General Manager of healthcare and life sciences at Talkdesk, describes how a hybrid model of humans and AI is reshaping healthcare contact centers. Patient access and revenue cycle management are the primary, interconnected challenges for these centers, and modern large-language AI is being used to handle complex scheduling logic. Data analytics helps identify patterns in patient inquiries, predict demand peaks, and move care from reactive to proactive. The expectation is that AI agents will guide patients, becoming a normal and accepted part of healthcare. Patty explains, "I think that the challenge has always been in healthcare that it's difficult to automate things in comparison to other industries. If you call retail, it's very hard to get a human. You're constantly dealing with bots or being deflected to digital front doors versus in healthcare, as much as organizations have tried to push people to the digital apps and MyCharts and different things like that, it's been difficult. And there are good reasons, and there are bad reasons for that." "When you think about scheduling, scheduling really drives your revenue cycle because if people don't come to your organization, you can't bill them for things, you can't bill their insurance. And so your organization has problems with the revenue cycles. That's why I say they're inextricably linked, and it's very important to solve the access problem in order to solve the revenue cycle problem." "So, making sure that you match that patient with the right provider, making sure that you have the right requirements around insurance authorization and things like that. And then, of course, letting the patient understand what their burden will be as far as the charges go for that appointment is all part of the dance, so to speak. And that really requires a large language model that can consume and understand that information. You're right, the decision trees weren't going to work as far as an AI piece goes." #Talkdesk #AgenticAI #AIAgents #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Automation #CustomerServiceAutomation #ValuebasedCare #VBC #PatientExperience #MemberExperience #CustomerExperience #Providers #Payers #HealthcareAI #PatientExperience #HealthTech #ContactCenters #AIInHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareInnovation #PatientAccess #RevenueOptimization #HealthcareLeadership /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/41070295

Virtual Reality Therapy for Lazy Eye More Effective Than Traditional Patching with Scott Xiao Luminopia TRANSCRIPT 05/04/2026

Virtual Reality Therapy for Lazy Eye More Effective Than Traditional Patching with Scott Xiao Luminopia TRANSCRIPT Scott Xiao, Co-Founder and CEO of Luminopia, is developing a novel, FDA -cleared VR-based treatment for neurovisual disorders with a primary focus on amblyopia, lazy eye, in children aged 4- 12 years old. This approach uses popular TV shows to create an engaging, effective therapy that trains the eyes to work together and is designed as a replacement for traditional eye patching. Clinical data indicate that the vision improvements from this therapy are durable and that the VR approach is well-received by children and their parents. Scott explains, "We are pioneering a new class of treatments using virtual reality to treat various neurovisual disorders. So these are conditions where patients have vision loss that's driven by deficiencies in the brain, in the visual cortex. We're starting with amblyopia, which is often known as lazy eye. It's the number one cause of vision loss in children around the world. And it's an area of significant unmet need. There hasn't been much in the way of new treatments for decades. Typically, patients will go through glasses followed by eye patches, which is exactly what it sounds like. You take a patch, and you stick it on your stronger eye for multiple hours a day. And that's a really challenging treatment for a lot of kids and families. So we saw an opportunity to use technology to create something better, something that would be more engaging and more effective." "We've developed a VR-based approach that takes popular TV shows like SpongeBob and Sesame Street and turns them into a treatment by modifying how the images are shown to each eye. And this technology has been extensively validated at this point in multiple clinical trials. It was cleared by the FDA, and it's now commercially available. So over the past year, we've really been making strides on the commercial front, increasing awareness for the product among physicians and patients, and securing insurance coverage for the product." #Luminopia #Amblyopia #PediatricOphthalmology #VirtualReality #DigitalTherapeutics #LazyEye #VisionTherapy #Optometry #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/41070230

Virtual Reality Therapy for Lazy Eye More Effective Than Traditional Patching with Scott Xiao Luminopia 05/04/2026

Virtual Reality Therapy for Lazy Eye More Effective Than Traditional Patching with Scott Xiao Luminopia Scott Xiao, Co-Founder and CEO of Luminopia, is developing a novel, FDA -cleared VR-based treatment for neurovisual disorders with a primary focus on amblyopia, lazy eye, in children aged 4- 12 years old. This approach uses popular TV shows to create an engaging, effective therapy that trains the eyes to work together and is designed as a replacement for traditional eye patching. Clinical data indicate that the vision improvements from this therapy are durable and that the VR approach is well-received by children and their parents. Scott explains, "We are pioneering a new class of treatments using virtual reality to treat various neurovisual disorders. So these are conditions where patients have vision loss that's driven by deficiencies in the brain, in the visual cortex. We're starting with amblyopia, which is often known as lazy eye. It's the number one cause of vision loss in children around the world. And it's an area of significant unmet need. There hasn't been much in the way of new treatments for decades. Typically, patients will go through glasses followed by eye patches, which is exactly what it sounds like. You take a patch, and you stick it on your stronger eye for multiple hours a day. And that's a really challenging treatment for a lot of kids and families. So we saw an opportunity to use technology to create something better, something that would be more engaging and more effective." "We've developed a VR-based approach that takes popular TV shows like SpongeBob and Sesame Street and turns them into a treatment by modifying how the images are shown to each eye. And this technology has been extensively validated at this point in multiple clinical trials. It was cleared by the FDA, and it's now commercially available. So over the past year, we've really been making strides on the commercial front, increasing awareness for the product among physicians and patients, and securing insurance coverage for the product." #Luminopia #Amblyopia #PediatricOphthalmology #VirtualReality #DigitalTherapeutics #LazyEye #VisionTherapy #Optometry #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/41070220

Providing Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing with Joseph Kleiman Buzz Health TRANSCRIPT 04/30/2026

Providing Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing with Joseph Kleiman Buzz Health TRANSCRIPT Joseph Kleiman, President of Buzz Health, is working to improve price transparency and affordability of prescription drugs. He states that providing price transparency as early as possible in the prescription process is critical for prescribers, patients, and health plans to make better, more cost-effective decisions. To achieve true transparency, all parties in the ecosystem must cooperate and share data, moving beyond pricing visibility to fully integrate systems and use real-time information to improve patient adherence and lower costs. Joseph explains, "Buzz Health really focuses on improving the process behind the scenes, developing technologies that sit within the prescription ecosystem, creating opportunities to improve price transparency, early adoption, and integrated benefits for members." "We work with everybody from pharmacies to PBMs to payers to employer groups. Anybody we believe has an opportunity that, with technology and early adoption of price transparency and adherence, could benefit them and the members they serve." "What's interesting is that, like most things, the earlier you have information, the easier it is to make actionable change, things with long-term impact. So if you have price transparency and you have it early on, a prescriber can make more informed decisions. A patient, rather than showing up at a pharmacy counter, can make decisions earlier on. So again, it's kind of like the earlier you have anything in making a decision, the easier it is for you to make a really actionable change all the way up through a PBM or health plan. If they see gaps in coverage and they have that information, they can make changes early on as well." #BuzzHealth #PrescriptionDrugs #Pharmacies #HealthcareIT #PriceTransparency #PrescriptionAffordability #PharmacyTech #MedicationAccess #HealthcareTransparency #PrescriptionPricing #PatientCare #HealthTech #PharmacyBenefits #HealthcareInnovation #PatientOutcomes #MedicalTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994350

Providing Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing with Joseph Kleiman Buzz Health 04/30/2026

Providing Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing with Joseph Kleiman Buzz Health Joseph Kleiman, President of Buzz Health, is working to improve price transparency and affordability of prescription drugs. He states that providing price transparency as early as possible in the prescription process is critical for prescribers, patients, and health plans to make better, more cost-effective decisions. To achieve true transparency, all parties in the ecosystem must cooperate and share data, moving beyond pricing visibility to fully integrate systems and use real-time information to improve patient adherence and lower costs. Joseph explains, "Buzz Health really focuses on improving the process behind the scenes, developing technologies that sit within the prescription ecosystem, creating opportunities to improve price transparency, early adoption, and integrated benefits for members." "We work with everybody from pharmacies to PBMs to payers to employer groups. Anybody we believe has an opportunity that, with technology and early adoption of price transparency and adherence, could benefit them and the members they serve." "What's interesting is that, like most things, the earlier you have information, the easier it is to make actionable change, things with long-term impact. So if you have price transparency and you have it early on, a prescriber can make more informed decisions. A patient, rather than showing up at a pharmacy counter, can make decisions earlier on. So again, it's kind of like the earlier you have anything in making a decision, the easier it is for you to make a really actionable change all the way up through a PBM or health plan. If they see gaps in coverage and they have that information, they can make changes early on as well." #BuzzHealth #PrescriptionDrugs #Pharmacies #HealthcareIT #PriceTransparency #PrescriptionAffordability #PharmacyTech #MedicationAccess #HealthcareTransparency #PrescriptionPricing #PatientCare #HealthTech #PharmacyBenefits #HealthcareInnovation #PatientOutcomes #MedicalTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994335

Advanced Precision Diagnostics Accelerate Cancer Mutation Analysis with Dr. Bill Kerr Avalon Healthcare Solutions TRANSCRIPT 04/30/2026

Advanced Precision Diagnostics Accelerate Cancer Mutation Analysis with Dr. Bill Kerr Avalon Healthcare Solutions TRANSCRIPT Dr. Bill Kerr, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalon Healthcare Solutions, highlights the critical role of advanced precision diagnostics and how these tools are driving true precision medicine, where therapies are targeted to specific genetic mutations. There have been significant innovations, such as less invasive liquid biopsies and the application of AI to interpret medical images and complex lab results, which provide faster analysis and make it easier to monitor disease over time. The future of diagnostics includes more routine tests and imaging to enable earlier interventions and more effective treatments by overcoming the logistical and physical challenges of traditional tissue biopsies in cancer care. Bill explains, "At Avalon, we believe that if you don't get the diagnosis right, the rest of healthcare is wasted, and time is wasted on getting a patient better. So our number one focus is getting the science of diagnostics deployed into the healthcare ecosystem. I think a lot of people know that there's been a lot of innovation in lab testing, as well as in advanced diagnostic imaging. And historically, it takes 17 to 20 years to get new science evenly adopted, and we want to accelerate that process. So that's really our focus. We say sciences are True North, and our goal is to get that science deployed into the healthcare system." "I think, unfortunately, we used the phrase precision medicine too early. When it was really precision diagnostics, and I'll separate the two out. For over a decade, we've been able to measure, let's say for instance, in cancer, what mutations might be in the cancer cells, but we didn't have any new therapies to offer. So while the phrase precision medicine was used, all we did was identify the mutations, build up an understanding of the disease, but offer the same cancer therapy. Now we actually have therapies that target some of those specific mutations." "We truly have reached the era of precision medicine. But I think getting people to understand that now it's not just measuring the mutation, it's measuring the mutation and selecting the chemotherapy based on that. That's the new reality, and that's what we're trying to get people to understand. And that's why I think undertesting still happens, because people aren't maybe aware that now there are therapeutic decisions you can make off those results." #Avalonhcs #PrecisionMedicine #Diagnostics #HealthcareInnovation #LiquidBiopsy #Healthtech #DiagnosticIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #PersonalizedMedicine #Oncology #HealthcareProfessionals #MedicalTechnology #PatientCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994285

Advanced Precision Diagnostics Accelerate Cancer Mutation Analysis with Dr. Bill Kerr Avalon Healthcare Solutions 04/30/2026

Advanced Precision Diagnostics Accelerate Cancer Mutation Analysis with Dr. Bill Kerr Avalon Healthcare Solutions Dr. Bill Kerr, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalon Healthcare Solutions, highlights the critical role of advanced precision diagnostics and how these tools are driving true precision medicine, where therapies are targeted to specific genetic mutations. There have been significant innovations, such as less invasive liquid biopsies and the application of AI to interpret medical images and complex lab results, which provide faster analysis and make it easier to monitor disease over time. The future of diagnostics includes more routine tests and imaging to enable earlier interventions and more effective treatments by overcoming the logistical and physical challenges of traditional tissue biopsies in cancer care. Bill explains, "At Avalon, we believe that if you don't get the diagnosis right, the rest of healthcare is wasted, and time is wasted on getting a patient better. So our number one focus is getting the science of diagnostics deployed into the healthcare ecosystem. I think a lot of people know that there's been a lot of innovation in lab testing, as well as in advanced diagnostic imaging. And historically, it takes 17 to 20 years to get new science evenly adopted, and we want to accelerate that process. So that's really our focus. We say sciences are True North, and our goal is to get that science deployed into the healthcare system." "I think, unfortunately, we used the phrase precision medicine too early. When it was really precision diagnostics, and I'll separate the two out. For over a decade, we've been able to measure, let's say for instance, in cancer, what mutations might be in the cancer cells, but we didn't have any new therapies to offer. So while the phrase precision medicine was used, all we did was identify the mutations, build up an understanding of the disease, but offer the same cancer therapy. Now we actually have therapies that target some of those specific mutations." "We truly have reached the era of precision medicine. But I think getting people to understand that now it's not just measuring the mutation, it's measuring the mutation and selecting the chemotherapy based on that. That's the new reality, and that's what we're trying to get people to understand. And that's why I think undertesting still happens, because people aren't maybe aware that now there are therapeutic decisions you can make off those results." #Avalonhcs #PrecisionMedicine #Diagnostics #HealthcareInnovation #LiquidBiopsy #Healthtech #DiagnosticIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #PersonalizedMedicine #Oncology #HealthcareProfessionals #MedicalTechnology #PatientCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994200

Evolution of Healthcare IT Management with Zack Tisch and Molly Kalinowski Pivot Point Consulting TRANSCRIPT 04/29/2026

Evolution of Healthcare IT Management with Zack Tisch and Molly Kalinowski Pivot Point Consulting TRANSCRIPT Zack Tisch, Partner of Portfolio Services, and Molly Kalinowski, Vice President of Managed Services at Pivot Point Consulting, describe how the role of IT in healthcare has evolved from a reactive, support function to a central strategic component of business. As AI becomes more important, healthcare systems are navigating a challenging environment and recognizing the need for managed services partners to handle day-to-day operations so they can better focus on big-picture goals and priorities. Zack and Molly emphasize the need to drive incremental changes to streamline provider data capture and clinical documentation, which could lead to broader changes in workflows and patient outcomes. Zack explains, "A lot of what we're doing today is really helping health systems of all shapes and sizes navigate this challenging environment. Whether it's financial pressures, dealing with cybersecurity and risk, or having to implement new technologies every day. Whether it's AI or technologies in the cloud, and really helping them navigate this new normal of healthcare, putting together five- to 10-year strategic roadmaps and plans." Molly elaborates, "I would say there's a shift in that many organizations are very heavy on the strategic priorities, with AI being one of those. So we're seeing more of our clients needing to support those projects and long-term initiatives. And then they need a partner like a managed services group to really support the day-to-day breaks and fixes, and maintenance types of activities so that they can focus on those AI strategic initiatives." #PivotPointConsulting #Healthcare #PatientExperience #ManagedServices #TalentSolutions #AI #CompanyCulture #WorkerBurnout #WorkforceTransformation #CostPressures #AIGovernance #HealthcareIT #AIinHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthTech #ManagedServices #ClinicalWorkflow #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994115

Evolution of Healthcare IT Management with Zack Tisch and Molly Kalinowski Pivot Point Consulting 04/29/2026

Evolution of Healthcare IT Management with Zack Tisch and Molly Kalinowski Pivot Point Consulting Zack Tisch, Partner of Portfolio Services, and Molly Kalinowski, Vice President of Managed Services at Pivot Point Consulting, describe how the role of IT in healthcare has evolved from a reactive, support function to a central strategic component of business. As AI becomes more important, healthcare systems are navigating a challenging environment and recognizing the need for managed services partners to handle day-to-day operations so they can better focus on big-picture goals and priorities. Zack and Molly emphasize the need to drive incremental changes to streamline provider data capture and clinical documentation, which could lead to broader changes in workflows and patient outcomes. Zack explains, "A lot of what we're doing today is really helping health systems of all shapes and sizes navigate this challenging environment. Whether it's financial pressures, dealing with cybersecurity and risk, or having to implement new technologies every day. Whether it's AI or technologies in the cloud, and really helping them navigate this new normal of healthcare, putting together five- to 10-year strategic roadmaps and plans." Molly elaborates, "I would say there's a shift in that many organizations are very heavy on the strategic priorities, with AI being one of those. So we're seeing more of our clients needing to support those projects and long-term initiatives. And then they need a partner like a managed services group to really support the day-to-day breaks and fixes, and maintenance types of activities so that they can focus on those AI strategic initiatives." #PivotPointConsulting #Healthcare #PatientExperience #ManagedServices #TalentSolutions #AI #CompanyCulture #WorkerBurnout #WorkforceTransformation #CostPressures #AIGovernance #HealthcareIT #AIinHealthcare #DigitalTransformation #HealthTech #ManagedServices #ClinicalWorkflow #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40994100

Hybrid Pediatric Healthcare Model Provides Medical and Behavioral Services for Children with Special Needs with Dr. Patricia Hayes Imagine Pediatrics TRANSCRIPT 04/28/2026

Hybrid Pediatric Healthcare Model Provides Medical and Behavioral Services for Children with Special Needs with Dr. Patricia Hayes Imagine Pediatrics TRANSCRIPT Dr. Patricia Hayes is the Chief Medical Officer of Imagine Pediatrics, which has developed a hybrid care model for children with special needs. Imagine Pediatrics provides 24/7 virtual and in-home care, which integrates medical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy services to support families and existing providers and help prevent unnecessary emergency room visits. The organization uses technology and predictive models to identify at-risk children and proactively target interventions to increase the number of safe days at home for children with complex conditions. Patricia explains, "Imagine Pediatrics is a 24/7, 365 virtual and in- home care for children and youth with special health care needs and medical complexity. We offer integrated medical, behavioral, and social services, inclusive of also pharmacy services, social services, as I mentioned, behavioral health therapy. It's just really an amazing form of wraparound care supporting these kids and supporting the providers that care for them outside of Imagine Pediatrics as well." "We are in multiple states, and we can provide those services in the states where we're practicing from border to border. So because we're virtual first, we're able to see kids in rural areas, urban areas, wherever they may be, and offer in-home services to them as well when they may have any sort of difficulty, either need additional services that we can't provide virtually, or they may have difficulty going to an emergency room or difficulty seeing their primary care pediatrician or their specialist. We could offer that support in home as well." "It's a very wide spectrum. We have anywhere from children who have extreme medical complexity, who may be dependent on equipment, who may have a tracheostomy, be ventilated, have a G-tube, all the way to children who may just have severe asthma or be seen and utilize the hospital quite a bit for their asthma. See a wide range of behavioral health conditions as well, anywhere from severe depression to bipolar or anxiety, and early schizophrenia. And so it's an extremely wide range of really our care that we provide." #ImaginePediatrics #pediatrics #PediatricHealthcare #ComplexCare #ValueBasedCare #VBC #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #VirtualHealth #SpecialNeeds #ChildHealth #HealthTech #PatientCare #MedicalHome #HealthcareAccess #PediatricMedicine #TeleHealth #IntegratedCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40993885

Hybrid Pediatric Healthcare Model Provides Medical and Behavioral Services for Children with Special Needs with Dr. Patricia Hayes Imagine Pediatrics 04/28/2026

Hybrid Pediatric Healthcare Model Provides Medical and Behavioral Services for Children with Special Needs with Dr. Patricia Hayes Imagine Pediatrics Dr. Patricia Hayes is the Chief Medical Officer of Imagine Pediatrics, which has developed a hybrid care model for children with special needs. Imagine Pediatrics provides 24/7 virtual and in-home care, which integrates medical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy services to support families and existing providers and help prevent unnecessary emergency room visits. The organization uses technology and predictive models to identify at-risk children and proactively target interventions to increase the number of safe days at home for children with complex conditions. Patricia explains, "Imagine Pediatrics is a 24/7, 365 virtual and in- home care for children and youth with special health care needs and medical complexity. We offer integrated medical, behavioral, and social services, inclusive of also pharmacy services, social services, as I mentioned, behavioral health therapy. It's just really an amazing form of wraparound care supporting these kids and supporting the providers that care for them outside of Imagine Pediatrics as well." "We are in multiple states, and we can provide those services in the states where we're practicing from border to border. So because we're virtual first, we're able to see kids in rural areas, urban areas, wherever they may be, and offer in-home services to them as well when they may have any sort of difficulty, either need additional services that we can't provide virtually, or they may have difficulty going to an emergency room or difficulty seeing their primary care pediatrician or their specialist. We could offer that support in home as well." "It's a very wide spectrum. We have anywhere from children who have extreme medical complexity, who may be dependent on equipment, who may have a tracheostomy, be ventilated, have a G-tube, all the way to children who may just have severe asthma or be seen and utilize the hospital quite a bit for their asthma. See a wide range of behavioral health conditions as well, anywhere from severe depression to bipolar or anxiety, and early schizophrenia. And so it's an extremely wide range of really our care that we provide." #ImaginePediatrics #pediatrics #PediatricHealthcare #ComplexCare #ValueBasedCare #VBC #PediatricCare #HealthcareInnovation #VirtualHealth #SpecialNeeds #ChildHealth #HealthTech #PatientCare #MedicalHome #HealthcareAccess #PediatricMedicine #TeleHealth #IntegratedCare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40993855

Real-World Data Collection Platform Enables Pharmaceutical Companies to Accelerate Drug Development with Shashi Shankar Novellia TRANSCRIPT 04/27/2026

Real-World Data Collection Platform Enables Pharmaceutical Companies to Accelerate Drug Development with Shashi Shankar Novellia TRANSCRIPT Shashi Shankar, CEO of Novellia, focuses on enabling patients with serious medical conditions to consolidate their medical history into a single record using a free app. The business model provides anonymized real-world data to pharmaceutical companies for research, clinical trial recruitment, and the acceleration of new therapy development. Artificial intelligence is used to help patients make sense of their fragmented medical records, identify clinical trials, and better understand drug safety profiles and therapeutic effectiveness. Shashi explains, "In a nutshell, what we do is we help folks living with serious and complex medical conditions find access to and then collect all of their medical records going back 20 plus years across different physicians, sites of care, labs, and insurance into one always continuously updated record that then helps them manage and navigate their course of care." "I actually spent months of my career working at Genentech and Roche, working on a number of different cancer therapeutics, and it was an amazing opportunity, and you get to meet so many different patient communities. But one of the most difficult parts, I think, for anybody who's working on developing new medications and new therapies, is that you need to really understand the communities that you hope to serve one day. And unfortunately, a lot of data that exists right now doesn't actually capture the true patient journey. And it's not very representative of the communities that are dealing with and trying to navigate all of these different conditions." "The benefit of being able to share this data with researchers in a way that's anonymous and de- identified, so patient data is always totally secure and always held private by Novellia. The benefit of this is that researchers are able to finally understand the full journey of patients and think through how their therapies can actually help those who are trying to navigate their care." #Novellia#HealthcareInnovation #PatientEmpowerment #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #MedicalRecords #AIinHealthcare #PatientCenteredCare #HealthcareData #ClinicalTrials #Oncology #PharmaceuticalResearch #HealthIT /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40993620

Real-World Data Collection Platform Enables Pharmaceutical Companies to Accelerate Drug Development with Shashi Shankar Novellia 04/27/2026

Real-World Data Collection Platform Enables Pharmaceutical Companies to Accelerate Drug Development with Shashi Shankar Novellia Shashi Shankar, CEO of Novellia, focuses on enabling patients with serious medical conditions to consolidate their medical history into a single record using a free app. The business model provides anonymized real-world data to pharmaceutical companies for research, clinical trial recruitment, and the acceleration of new therapy development. Artificial intelligence is used to help patients make sense of their fragmented medical records, identify clinical trials, and better understand drug safety profiles and therapeutic effectiveness. Shashi explains, "In a nutshell, what we do is we help folks living with serious and complex medical conditions find access to and then collect all of their medical records going back 20 plus years across different physicians, sites of care, labs, and insurance into one always continuously updated record that then helps them manage and navigate their course of care." "I actually spent months of my career working at Genentech and Roche, working on a number of different cancer therapeutics, and it was an amazing opportunity, and you get to meet so many different patient communities. But one of the most difficult parts, I think, for anybody who's working on developing new medications and new therapies, is that you need to really understand the communities that you hope to serve one day. And unfortunately, a lot of data that exists right now doesn't actually capture the true patient journey. And it's not very representative of the communities that are dealing with and trying to navigate all of these different conditions." "The benefit of being able to share this data with researchers in a way that's anonymous and de- identified, so patient data is always totally secure and always held private by Novellia. The benefit of this is that researchers are able to finally understand the full journey of patients and think through how their therapies can actually help those who are trying to navigate their care." #Novellia#HealthcareInnovation #PatientEmpowerment #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #MedicalRecords #AIinHealthcare #PatientCenteredCare #HealthcareData #ClinicalTrials #Oncology #PharmaceuticalResearch #HealthIT /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40993605

Novel Precision Gene Therapy for Friedreich’s Ataxia with Dr. Gabriel Brooks Solid Biosciences TRANSCRIPT 04/23/2026

Novel Precision Gene Therapy for Friedreich’s Ataxia with Dr. Gabriel Brooks Solid Biosciences TRANSCRIPT Dr. Gabriel Brooks is Chief Medical Officer at Solid Biosciences, a precision molecular genetic medicines company focused on rare cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases, including Friedreich's ataxia. Currently, there are very limited treatments for this rare, progressive neurologic disease caused by a genetic deficiency. Solid Biosciences' novel gene therapy uses dual-route administration to deliver directly to the heart and brain and to replace the missing frataxin gene, which is critical for energy production. Dr. Brooks explains, "Our flagship program is our DMD program, where we have two clinical trials, a first-in-human INSPIRE study, and a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled phase three trial for the SGT-003 DMD medicine. And for Friedreich’s ataxia, we have the SGT-212 program, which uses a novel dual route of administration to target not only the cardiomyopathy, but also uses direct injection into the dentate nucleus. We're trying to address the central pathophysiology of the ataxia that patients live with every day." "So Friedrich's ataxia is a rare and devastating neurologic disease that afflicts around 5,000 patients in the United States and much more actually in Europe. There is a genetic predisposition. And Friedrich’s ataxia is really a disease where the patients experience difficulty in moving, what's called ataxia, which you could think of as poor coordination, where when they try to move, their brain is sending a signal to their muscles, let's say to grab that cup of coffee or climb the stairs." "In fact, there are specific neurologic tests in terms of looking at nerve conduction and other things that can make the formal diagnosis. And certainly, we can get there with genetic testing. And what you're picking up on is absolutely something that's important with rare disease, is that oftentimes there's a lag between when a patient first manifests symptoms and when they ultimately have the diagnosis. In Friedrich's ataxia, like other genetic diseases, it is horrible. And so, for patients who do make the diagnosis of Friedreich's ataxia, there is often what we call cascade screening, where we look for the disease gene in relatives. Oftentimes, it's then that siblings are identified, and eventually they start manifesting the disease as well." #SolidBiosciences #GeneTherapy #GeneTherapyResearch #RareDiseases #FriedreichsAtaxia #PrecisionMedicine #Neurology #Cardiology #ClinicalTrials #MedicalInnovation #HealthcareInnovation #SolidBiosciences /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926620

Novel Precision Gene Therapy for Friedreich’s Ataxia with Dr. Gabriel Brooks Solid Biosciences 04/23/2026

Novel Precision Gene Therapy for Friedreich’s Ataxia with Dr. Gabriel Brooks Solid Biosciences Dr. Gabriel Brooks is Chief Medical Officer at Solid Biosciences, a precision molecular genetic medicines company focused on rare cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases, including Friedreich's ataxia. Currently, there are very limited treatments for this rare, progressive neurologic disease caused by a genetic deficiency. Solid Biosciences' novel gene therapy uses dual-route administration to deliver directly to the heart and brain and to replace the missing frataxin gene, which is critical for energy production. Dr. Brooks explains, "Our flagship program is our DMD program, where we have two clinical trials, a first-in-human INSPIRE study, and a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled phase three trial for the SGT-003 DMD medicine. And for Friedreich’s ataxia, we have the SGT-212 program, which uses a novel dual route of administration to target not only the cardiomyopathy, but also uses direct injection into the dentate nucleus. We're trying to address the central pathophysiology of the ataxia that patients live with every day." "So Friedrich's ataxia is a rare and devastating neurologic disease that afflicts around 5,000 patients in the United States and much more actually in Europe. There is a genetic predisposition. And Friedrich’s ataxia is really a disease where the patients experience difficulty in moving, what's called ataxia, which you could think of as poor coordination, where when they try to move, their brain is sending a signal to their muscles, let's say to grab that cup of coffee or climb the stairs." "In fact, there are specific neurologic tests in terms of looking at nerve conduction and other things that can make the formal diagnosis. And certainly, we can get there with genetic testing. And what you're picking up on is absolutely something that's important with rare disease, is that oftentimes there's a lag between when a patient first manifests symptoms and when they ultimately have the diagnosis. In Friedrich's ataxia, like other genetic diseases, it is horrible. And so, for patients who do make the diagnosis of Friedreich's ataxia, there is often what we call cascade screening, where we look for the disease gene in relatives. Oftentimes, it's then that siblings are identified, and eventually they start manifesting the disease as well." #SolidBiosciences #GeneTherapy #GeneTherapyResearch #RareDiseases #FriedreichsAtaxia #PrecisionMedicine #Neurology #Cardiology #ClinicalTrials #MedicalInnovation #HealthcareInnovation #SolidBiosciences /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926610

Omnichannel Healthcare Model Providing Care When Needed with Dr. Payam Zamani MY DR NOW TRANSCRIPT 04/23/2026

Omnichannel Healthcare Model Providing Care When Needed with Dr. Payam Zamani MY DR NOW TRANSCRIPT Dr. Payam Zamani, Founder and CEO of MY DR NOW, is directly solving the challenge of access to healthcare by creating a hybrid model that includes convenient walk-in clinics with extended hours, house calls, and virtual visits. This approach is consistent with modern on-demand expectations and attracting patients in dense urban areas as well as rural communities. Patient acquisition is driven by word-of-mouth and relationships with payers and hospital systems, to improve outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions. The model is also attractive to physicians by minimizing administrative tasks and flexible scheduling, leading to less burnout and higher retention. Payam explains, "The big issue with healthcare, as we've seen it and that MY DR NOW has taken on, one of the most challenging issues of healthcare is accessibility. For far too long, there's been this discrepancy between what we believe and what we know as healthcare practitioners to be important versus reality, versus what actually happens. We have a tendency to focus on all the right things and give patients all the right instructions and directions, as far as focusing on prevention, cancer screenings, and annual wellness visits. And we tell them to manage their chronic conditions because it's important, and to take their medications. But in reality, what ends up happening is that patients have to take time off work just to be able to see their healthcare provider. They have to wait weeks or, in many instances, months in advance just to be able to get in to see someone." "What MY DR NOW really set out to solve is how to deliver healthcare services in a manner that's more consistent with our daily lives, with what our expectations are. In a manner that makes more sense for working people, for working families, for moms and kids and for parents, and in a way that delivers better outcomes. And that's MY DR NOW in a nutshell." "Well, along those same lines of accessibility and convenience, what we set out to do was first of all, build an omnichannel network. And what that means is having multiple modalities by which you can obtain healthcare services. So there are clinics, and we like to make sure that those clinics are ubiquitous, and we can expand on that here in a little bit. But we have clinics that are open seven days a week. They're open early and late, on weekends and holidays. They're open when you expect them and need them to be open. But more importantly, you can not only schedule an appointment for those clinics, but also walk in whenever you want. And just as importantly, you can walk in for anything you go to your family medicine office for. So it's not an urgent care where you're only going in for acute and episodic issues." #MYDRNOW #HealthcareInnovation #PrimaryCare #PatientCentered #HealthcareAccessibility #DigitalHealth #ValueBasedCare #HealthTech #PhysicianWellbeing #HealthcareDelivery #MedicalInnovation #AccessToCare #HealthcareInnovation #OmnichannelCare #HealthcareTransformation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926575

Omnichannel Healthcare Model Providing Care When Needed with Dr. Payam Zamani MY DR NOW 04/23/2026

Omnichannel Healthcare Model Providing Care When Needed with Dr. Payam Zamani MY DR NOW Dr. Payam Zamani, Founder and CEO of MY DR NOW, is directly solving the challenge of access to healthcare by creating a hybrid model that includes convenient walk-in clinics with extended hours, house calls, and virtual visits. This approach is consistent with modern on-demand expectations and attracting patients in dense urban areas as well as rural communities. Patient acquisition is driven by word-of-mouth and relationships with payers and hospital systems, to improve outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions. The model is also attractive to physicians by minimizing administrative tasks and flexible scheduling, leading to less burnout and higher retention. Payam explains, "The big issue with healthcare, as we've seen it and that MY DR NOW has taken on, one of the most challenging issues of healthcare is accessibility. For far too long, there's been this discrepancy between what we believe and what we know as healthcare practitioners to be important versus reality, versus what actually happens. We have a tendency to focus on all the right things and give patients all the right instructions and directions, as far as focusing on prevention, cancer screenings, and annual wellness visits. And we tell them to manage their chronic conditions because it's important, and to take their medications. But in reality, what ends up happening is that patients have to take time off work just to be able to see their healthcare provider. They have to wait weeks or, in many instances, months in advance just to be able to get in to see someone." "What MY DR NOW really set out to solve is how to deliver healthcare services in a manner that's more consistent with our daily lives, with what our expectations are. In a manner that makes more sense for working people, for working families, for moms and kids and for parents, and in a way that delivers better outcomes. And that's MY DR NOW in a nutshell." "Well, along those same lines of accessibility and convenience, what we set out to do was first of all, build an omnichannel network. And what that means is having multiple modalities by which you can obtain healthcare services. So there are clinics, and we like to make sure that those clinics are ubiquitous, and we can expand on that here in a little bit. But we have clinics that are open seven days a week. They're open early and late, on weekends and holidays. They're open when you expect them and need them to be open. But more importantly, you can not only schedule an appointment for those clinics, but also walk in whenever you want. And just as importantly, you can walk in for anything you go to your family medicine office for. So it's not an urgent care where you're only going in for acute and episodic issues." #MYDRNOW #HealthcareInnovation #PrimaryCare #PatientCentered #HealthcareAccessibility #DigitalHealth #ValueBasedCare #HealthTech #PhysicianWellbeing #HealthcareDelivery #MedicalInnovation #AccessToCare #HealthcareInnovation #OmnichannelCare #HealthcareTransformation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40929175

ACOs Using Value-Based Care to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Dr. Tom Kim Sound Long-Term Care Management TRANSCRIPT 04/22/2026

ACOs Using Value-Based Care to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Dr. Tom Kim Sound Long-Term Care Management TRANSCRIPT Tom Kim, Chief Medical Officer at Sound Long-Term Care Management, discusses the role of accountable care organizations, ACOs, in improving healthcare for the long-term care population. The unique complexities and challenges of these patients include multiple medical conditions, frequent hospitalizations, and fragmented care. By using predictive analytics, telemedicine, and value-based care principles to deliver more coordinated care, patients are avoiding hospitalizations, receiving higher-quality care, and experiencing reduced costs. Tom explains, "So, in essence, an accountable care organization (ACO) is a group of healthcare providers that come together with a commitment to Medicare to improve the quality of care for the Medicare beneficiaries they serve and to decrease the cost of care for that population. And it's a way to really better coordinate care for those residents or for those Medicare beneficiaries to really receive the best outcome possible." "Yes, so in the fee-for-service world, there is a lot of focus, at least from a provider standpoint, on volume. So you're really focused on seeing as many patients as you can. In a value-based care model, we're really moving away from the volume model toward one focused more on quality. So, instead of being rewarded for high volume, you're being rewarded as a provider for the quality of care you provide. And not only is this beneficial to the provider, but it's also beneficial to the patients. So, there's having more time with their provider, receiving better care, and hopefully avoiding unnecessary or avoidable care. And so it's really a win across the board, from both a provider and a patient standpoint." "Our patient population tends to be more complex with more medical problems. They tend to be hospitalized more often. They tend to rely on others to make healthcare decisions and closer to the end of life. And so, care is really different from those who are still living at home and in the community. And on top of that, in terms of the long-term care space, and why it's so challenging is that you just kind of mentioned it a little bit, is that the population is aging." #SLTCM #ACO #AccountableCareOrganizations #AccountableCare #LongTermCare #ValueBasedCare #HealthcareInnovation #Telemedicine #SeniorCare #HealthcareLeadership #PatientCare #HealthTech #Medicare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926460

ACOs Using Value-Based Care to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Dr. Tom Kim Sound Long-Term Care Management 04/22/2026

ACOs Using Value-Based Care to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Dr. Tom Kim Sound Long-Term Care Management Tom Kim, Chief Medical Officer at Sound Long-Term Care Management, discusses the role of accountable care organizations, ACOs, in improving healthcare for the long-term care population. The unique complexities and challenges of these patients include multiple medical conditions, frequent hospitalizations, and fragmented care. By using predictive analytics, telemedicine, and value-based care principles to deliver more coordinated care, patients are avoiding hospitalizations, receiving higher-quality care, and experiencing reduced costs. Tom explains, "So, in essence, an accountable care organization (ACO) is a group of healthcare providers that come together with a commitment to Medicare to improve the quality of care for the Medicare beneficiaries they serve and to decrease the cost of care for that population. And it's a way to really better coordinate care for those residents or for those Medicare beneficiaries to really receive the best outcome possible." "Yes, so in the fee-for-service world, there is a lot of focus, at least from a provider standpoint, on volume. So you're really focused on seeing as many patients as you can. In a value-based care model, we're really moving away from the volume model toward one focused more on quality. So, instead of being rewarded for high volume, you're being rewarded as a provider for the quality of care you provide. And not only is this beneficial to the provider, but it's also beneficial to the patients. So, there's having more time with their provider, receiving better care, and hopefully avoiding unnecessary or avoidable care. And so it's really a win across the board, from both a provider and a patient standpoint." "Our patient population tends to be more complex with more medical problems. They tend to be hospitalized more often. They tend to rely on others to make healthcare decisions and closer to the end of life. And so, care is really different from those who are still living at home and in the community. And on top of that, in terms of the long-term care space, and why it's so challenging is that you just kind of mentioned it a little bit, is that the population is aging." #SLTCM #ACO #AccountableCareOrganizations #AccountableCare #LongTermCare #ValueBasedCare #HealthcareInnovation #Telemedicine #SeniorCare #HealthcareLeadership #PatientCare #HealthTech #Medicare /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926435

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Goes Digital With Lisa Israelovitch AssistIQ TRANSCRIPT 04/21/2026

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Goes Digital With Lisa Israelovitch AssistIQ TRANSCRIPT Lisa Israelovitch, Co-Founder and CEO of AssistIQ, is addressing the challenges in healthcare supply chain management caused by a lack of accurate data on supplies used across the care facility, which leads to operational inefficiencies and financial losses. The previous methods of tracking have often been manual and unreliable, involving product stickers, barcode readers, and manual data entry. Using computer vision and AI to automatically see, track, and document every product used is improving data accuracy, saving clinicians' time, enabling inventory tracking and product expiration management, and delivering significant financial benefits. Lisa explains, "What really took us from building this inside one hospital to a market solution was spending time across dozens of systems in the US and Canadian landscape. And we found that three things were predominantly happening. Either there was a lot of manual entry searching and typing into the electronic health record system, such as Epic, or others. Often, barcode scanners worked only a portion of the time when the product was in the hospital's ERP system, but they often weren't. And so the barcode scanners only worked for a portion of the time. And then, honestly, the thing we saw a bunch of was nurses with product stickers on their sleeves, and they would basically post those stickers on paper. And so it was really a combination of waste to try to get to that documentation." "So everything from implants to staplers to glue and things are typically hundreds to thousands of dollars. And just the accuracy was simply not there. In most hospital operating rooms, it's a huge revenue center in US hospitals, but for all markets, it's a huge cost center in terms of just the supply chain in general across the system, which is the largest cost category that the health team has after wages from their labor. And the OR, it's often the leading cost factor. So the supplies can be pretty expensive, as you said." "The key became really figuring out how we could automate that work so that the clinicians, the nurses, the technicians were truly focused on the patient. Focused on assisting the physician for the case and making sure that they weren't having to do any of this extra sort of administrative work. Ultimately, it is their responsibility to document what gets used, but it has to be much more automated to get to that level of data accuracy and quality." #AssistIQ #HealthcareAI #ClinicalSupplyIntelligence #HealthTech #HospitalOperations#SurgicalIntelligence #SupplyChainInnovation #HealthcareSupplyChain #HealthTech #PatientSafety #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareInnovation #AI #ComputerVision #OperatingRoom #HealthcareLeadership #QualityImprovement #CostReduction /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40927460

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Goes Digital With Lisa Israelovitch AssistIQ 04/21/2026

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Goes Digital With Lisa Israelovitch AssistIQ Lisa Israelovitch, Co-Founder and CEO of AssistIQ, is addressing the challenges in healthcare supply chain management caused by a lack of accurate data on supplies used across the care facility, which leads to operational inefficiencies and financial losses. The previous methods of tracking have often been manual and unreliable, involving product stickers, barcode readers, and manual data entry. Using computer vision and AI to automatically see, track, and document every product used is improving data accuracy, saving clinicians' time, enabling inventory tracking and product expiration management, and delivering significant financial benefits. Lisa explains, "What really took us from building this inside one hospital to a market solution was spending time across dozens of systems in the US and Canadian landscape. And we found that three things were predominantly happening. Either there was a lot of manual entry searching and typing into the electronic health record system, such as Epic, or others. Often, barcode scanners worked only a portion of the time when the product was in the hospital's ERP system, but they often weren't. And so the barcode scanners only worked for a portion of the time. And then, honestly, the thing we saw a bunch of was nurses with product stickers on their sleeves, and they would basically post those stickers on paper. And so it was really a combination of waste to try to get to that documentation." "So everything from implants to staplers to glue and things are typically hundreds to thousands of dollars. And just the accuracy was simply not there. In most hospital operating rooms, it's a huge revenue center in US hospitals, but for all markets, it's a huge cost center in terms of just the supply chain in general across the system, which is the largest cost category that the health team has after wages from their labor. And the OR, it's often the leading cost factor. So the supplies can be pretty expensive, as you said." "The key became really figuring out how we could automate that work so that the clinicians, the nurses, the technicians were truly focused on the patient. Focused on assisting the physician for the case and making sure that they weren't having to do any of this extra sort of administrative work. Ultimately, it is their responsibility to document what gets used, but it has to be much more automated to get to that level of data accuracy and quality." #AssistIQ #HealthcareAI #ClinicalSupplyIntelligence #HealthTech #HospitalOperations#SurgicalIntelligence #SupplyChainInnovation #HealthcareSupplyChain #HealthTech #PatientSafety #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareInnovation #AI #ComputerVision #OperatingRoom #HealthcareLeadership #QualityImprovement #CostReduction /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926390

Shape-Shifting Device Extends Stroke Treatment to Smaller Brain Vessels with Ronen Eckhouse Rapid Medical TRANSCRIPT 04/20/2026

Shape-Shifting Device Extends Stroke Treatment to Smaller Brain Vessels with Ronen Eckhouse Rapid Medical TRANSCRIPT Ronen Eckhouse, Co-Founder and CEO of Rapid Medical, identifies the limitations of current stroke treatments, which are primarily effective for large vessel occlusions. The Rapid Medical TIGERTRIEVER device is designed to safely and effectively treat strokes and remove clots in smaller vessels deeper in the brain. The unique adjustability of the device allows physicians to control the size and force during a procedure, allowing for precise and safer clot removal in complex anatomies. Ronen explains, "So the quicker or the less time there is between the stroke and the ability to open the occlusions and resupply the brain with oxygen, the better. There are two types of treatments. One is a drug called TPA. It's a clot buster, and that can be administered up to four and a half hours. And then there's what's called thrombectomy, which is basically using a catheter to get to the clot and then removing the clot with a catheter or stent, kind of in mechanical terms. But today, that's only applicable to what's for the bigger arteries in the brain, what's called large vessel occlusions. And these account for about 15% or 20% of the population. So there are good solutions, but they are limited in when they can be used." "That's exactly where we come in. The reason it's difficult to treat these kinds of smaller vessels in the brain, or what we call the medium-vessel occlusion, is that the deeper you go into the brain, on the one hand, the complexity of the procedure increases. So the vessels are a little bit more fragile. There are more turns and tortuosity. So getting to the clot is a little bit harder, and pulling it out as well." "At the same time, the benefit is a little bit smaller. So now we're not saving half of the brain. Maybe we're saving 30% of the brain, which is still very significant, but the benefit is a little bit smaller. So the risk-benefit ratio, which is critical and everything we do in medicine, changes when you're going deeper into the brain. And as a result, you need new tools." #RapidMedical #DMVO #MeVO #Stroke #StrokeCare #Neurology #MedTech #DISTALS #Neurovascular #MedicalDevices #HealthcareInnovation #Thrombectomy #PatientCare #MedicalTechnology #StrokeAwareness #HealthcareProfessionals /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926895

Shape-Shifting Device Extends Stroke Treatment to Smaller Brain Vessels with Ronen Eckhouse Rapid Medical 04/20/2026

Shape-Shifting Device Extends Stroke Treatment to Smaller Brain Vessels with Ronen Eckhouse Rapid Medical Ronen Eckhouse, Co-Founder and CEO of Rapid Medical, identifies the limitations of current stroke treatments, which are primarily effective for large vessel occlusions. The Rapid Medical TIGERTRIEVER device is designed to safely and effectively treat strokes and remove clots in smaller vessels deeper in the brain. The unique adjustability of the device allows physicians to control the size and force during a procedure, allowing for precise and safer clot removal in complex anatomies. Ronen explains, "So the quicker or the less time there is between the stroke and the ability to open the occlusions and resupply the brain with oxygen, the better. There are two types of treatments. One is a drug called TPA. It's a clot buster, and that can be administered up to four and a half hours. And then there's what's called thrombectomy, which is basically using a catheter to get to the clot and then removing the clot with a catheter or stent, kind of in mechanical terms. But today, that's only applicable to what's for the bigger arteries in the brain, what's called large vessel occlusions. And these account for about 15% or 20% of the population. So there are good solutions, but they are limited in when they can be used." "That's exactly where we come in. The reason it's difficult to treat these kinds of smaller vessels in the brain, or what we call the medium-vessel occlusion, is that the deeper you go into the brain, on the one hand, the complexity of the procedure increases. So the vessels are a little bit more fragile. There are more turns and tortuosity. So getting to the clot is a little bit harder, and pulling it out as well." "At the same time, the benefit is a little bit smaller. So now we're not saving half of the brain. Maybe we're saving 30% of the brain, which is still very significant, but the benefit is a little bit smaller. So the risk-benefit ratio, which is critical and everything we do in medicine, changes when you're going deeper into the brain. And as a result, you need new tools." #RapidMedical #DMVO #MeVO #Stroke #StrokeCare #Neurology #MedTech #DISTALS #Neurovascular #MedicalDevices #HealthcareInnovation #Thrombectomy #PatientCare #MedicalTechnology #StrokeAwareness #HealthcareProfessionals /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40926880

Short RNA Therapy Targets Survival Genes in Treatment for Multiple Cancer Types with Robert Schickel NUAgo Therapeutics 04/16/2026

Short RNA Therapy Targets Survival Genes in Treatment for Multiple Cancer Types with Robert Schickel NUAgo Therapeutics Robert Schickel, Chief Executive Officer at NUAgo Therapeutics, is developing a cancer therapy using short RNAs to target and disrupt interconnected survival genes in cancer cells. The therapy has been shown to be non-toxic to healthy cells, which have high levels of microRNAs, whereas cancer cells downregulate microRNAs to become metastatic. This is a systems-biology therapeutic approach that targets the entire survival network of a cell, making it independent of specific mutations or pathways and potentially applicable to the vast majority of solid tumors. Robert explains, "NUAgo is a technology company. We are developing what we define as short RNAs, and these are going to be cancer therapies that really target the survival system of a cancer. This survival system keeps the cancer alive. And instead of going after single components, pathways, or mutations as targeted therapies do, we're using short RNAs to reduce the expression of multiple essential survival genes. And when you get enough of these genes disrupted, the cancer cells can no longer maintain the system that keeps them alive. And at that point, the cell will activate a death response that eliminates the cancer cell by activating several cell death pathways simultaneously. So this is really a unique area in science, and we're developing this. It's a new modality. You see a lot of promise of this in the solid tumor patients." "The platform that we're building has the potential to go across solid tumor markets. The recent IP that we're filing is for the 11 largest tumor markets from breast and lung, kidney, liver, and all the way down to the smaller, more lethal cancers in pancreas, ovarian, and other small cancers as well. So right now we think we can apply this to about 85% or 90% of the market." "What we're doing is we take a step back. We're in fundamental biology. So this mechanism really goes back almost a billion years. I mean, fungi have the same mechanism. And so when we go after what are called survival genes, and they are essential for the survival of a cell, they deal with all kinds of cellular functions." #NUAgoTherapeutics #CancerResearch #Oncology #Biotechnology #PrecisionMedicine #RNATherapeutics #SystemsBiology #MedicalInnovation #HealthcareBreakthrough #CancerTreatment #SurvivalGenes #BiopharmaDevelopment /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40804475

Nuclear Oncology and Advanced Molecular Imaging Transforming Prostate Cancer Treatment with Dr. Babak Saboury United Theranostics TRANSCRIPT 04/16/2026

Nuclear Oncology and Advanced Molecular Imaging Transforming Prostate Cancer Treatment with Dr. Babak Saboury United Theranostics TRANSCRIPT Dr. Babak Saboury, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer and Physician Founder of United Theranostics, discusses the emergence of nuclear oncology as the fourth pillar of cancer care. United Theranostics is combining advanced molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapies to identify a cancer cell's unique fingerprint and then delivering targeted radiation, reducing side effects by sparing healthy cells. Molecular imaging can serve as a unifying map for guiding a collaborative, multimodal approach to treating a range of cancers. Babak explains, "I can just very quickly tell you that there are four pillars of treating cancer. Traditionally, when we approached cancer, we wanted to cut it out. That was surgical oncology. Whatever could not be cut out was treated by giving a medication. That was medical oncology. After a while, there was just a modality to the things that were difficult to cut out, but that was a localized hit from outside. That was the radiation oncology. And right now, we are at the beginning of a new horizon. You treat patients systemically, which means all the lesions everywhere. However, you are really there, a magical radiopharmaceutical that goes to find the cell and kills it by radiation. That's a nuclear oncology. So nuclear oncology is the fourth pillar of cancer care." "So you can imagine that in the past we tried to attack cancer cells. We didn't know what shape they had, which proteins were expressed, or what their characteristics were. So we kind of went blindly and tried to attack them. Imagine that we have a way to find a fingerprint of those cells and go there first to find that fingerprint. And if the fingerprint exists, then go after those cells as a targeted attack. That is where molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapy come into play. So molecular imaging profiles the cancer cells to see what their fingerprint is and whether a certain fingerprint exists. Radiopharmaceutical therapy uses this information to target just those cells and not other cells. And that is the principle of Theranostics, which is a combination of diagnostics and therapeutics, finding and then destroying in a very precise manner." #UnitedTheranostics #NuclearOncology #PrecisionMedicine #Radiopharmaceuticals #CancerCare #MolecularImaging #Theranostics #OncologyInnovation #PatientCare #HealthcareInnovation #CancerTreatment /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40804435

Nuclear Oncology and Advanced Molecular Imaging Transforming Prostate Cancer Treatment with Dr. Babak Saboury United Theranostics 04/16/2026

Nuclear Oncology and Advanced Molecular Imaging Transforming Prostate Cancer Treatment with Dr. Babak Saboury United Theranostics Dr. Babak Saboury, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer and Physician Founder of United Theranostics, discusses the emergence of nuclear oncology as the fourth pillar of cancer care. United Theranostics is combining advanced molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapies to identify a cancer cell's unique fingerprint and then delivering targeted radiation, reducing side effects by sparing healthy cells. Molecular imaging can serve as a unifying map for guiding a collaborative, multimodal approach to treating a range of cancers. Babak explains, "I can just very quickly tell you that there are four pillars of treating cancer. Traditionally, when we approached cancer, we wanted to cut it out. That was surgical oncology. Whatever could not be cut out was treated by giving a medication. That was medical oncology. After a while, there was just a modality to the things that were difficult to cut out, but that was a localized hit from outside. That was the radiation oncology. And right now, we are at the beginning of a new horizon. You treat patients systemically, which means all the lesions everywhere. However, you are really there, a magical radiopharmaceutical that goes to find the cell and kills it by radiation. That's a nuclear oncology. So nuclear oncology is the fourth pillar of cancer care." "So you can imagine that in the past we tried to attack cancer cells. We didn't know what shape they had, which proteins were expressed, or what their characteristics were. So we kind of went blindly and tried to attack them. Imagine that we have a way to find a fingerprint of those cells and go there first to find that fingerprint. And if the fingerprint exists, then go after those cells as a targeted attack. That is where molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapy come into play. So molecular imaging profiles the cancer cells to see what their fingerprint is and whether a certain fingerprint exists. Radiopharmaceutical therapy uses this information to target just those cells and not other cells. And that is the principle of Theranostics, which is a combination of diagnostics and therapeutics, finding and then destroying in a very precise manner." #UnitedTheranostics #NuclearOncology #PrecisionMedicine #Radiopharmaceuticals #CancerCare #MolecularImaging #Theranostics #OncologyInnovation #PatientCare #HealthcareInnovation #CancerTreatment /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40804415

Local Drug Delivery Technology Transforming Pancreatic Cancer Treatment with Shaun Bagai RenovoRx TRANSCRIPT 04/15/2026

Local Drug Delivery Technology Transforming Pancreatic Cancer Treatment with Shaun Bagai RenovoRx TRANSCRIPT Shaun Bagai, CEO of RenovoRx, has designed a drug-delivery platform to treat hard-to-reach chemo-resistant tumors such as pancreatic cancer by delivering chemotherapy directly to the tumor site. The RenovoCath device increases the drug concentration in the tumor while significantly reducing systemic toxicities and side effects. The technology is not intended to replace the traditional approach using systemic chemotherapy and radiation, but to achieve better results in tumors with low blood supply that prevent drugs from reaching their target in sufficient concentrations. Shaun explains, "Generally, when we think about oncology therapies, it's really trying to balance the detriment to the patients with the toxicities and hopefully keep the tumor at bay or kill the tumor such that patients live longer. And unfortunately, we often forget about the patient and hyper-focus on the disease. And the challenge we've taken on is, can we take both into account and actually treat both the patient and the disease by limiting systemic toxicities and effects, and then trying to improve survival by keeping the tumors at bay." "So, when we look at certain tumors in the body, like pancreatic tumors, for example, they don't have a high level of blood supply. Generally, when we think about tumors, we think of balls of blood vessels with tumor cells, and of tumors such as pancreatic tumors. They don't have large tumor feeder vessels that end in a tumor. And what this does is create a level of chemo resistance because the blood can't carry the chemotherapy forward. And what we've developed with TAMP is a mechanism where we push the drug across the wall of a blood vessel to saturate and bathe the tumor in chemotherapy, such that we get almost a hundredfold increase in tissue concentration compared to if you just gave it systemically throughout the entire body." #RenovoRx #OncologyInnovation #DrugDelivery #CancerCare #MedicalDevices #PancreaticCancer #ClinicalTrials #PatientCare #Interventionalradiology #Oncology #MedicalTechnology #TAMP #Chemotherapy #CancerTreatment #HealthcareInnovatio#TargetedOncology #InnovativeCancerTherapies #PancreaticCancerAwareness #PrecisionOncology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40804350

Local Drug Delivery Technology Transforming Pancreatic Cancer Treatment with Shaun Bagai RenovoRx 04/15/2026

Local Drug Delivery Technology Transforming Pancreatic Cancer Treatment with Shaun Bagai RenovoRx Shaun Bagai, CEO of RenovoRx, has designed a drug-delivery platform to treat hard-to-reach chemo-resistant tumors such as pancreatic cancer by delivering chemotherapy directly to the tumor site. The RenovoCath device increases the drug concentration in the tumor while significantly reducing systemic toxicities and side effects. The technology is not intended to replace the traditional approach using systemic chemotherapy and radiation, but to achieve better results in tumors with low blood supply that prevent drugs from reaching their target in sufficient concentrations. Shaun explains, "Generally, when we think about oncology therapies, it's really trying to balance the detriment to the patients with the toxicities and hopefully keep the tumor at bay or kill the tumor such that patients live longer. And unfortunately, we often forget about the patient and hyper-focus on the disease. And the challenge we've taken on is, can we take both into account and actually treat both the patient and the disease by limiting systemic toxicities and effects, and then trying to improve survival by keeping the tumors at bay." "So, when we look at certain tumors in the body, like pancreatic tumors, for example, they don't have a high level of blood supply. Generally, when we think about tumors, we think of balls of blood vessels with tumor cells, and of tumors such as pancreatic tumors. They don't have large tumor feeder vessels that end in a tumor. And what this does is create a level of chemo resistance because the blood can't carry the chemotherapy forward. And what we've developed with TAMP is a mechanism where we push the drug across the wall of a blood vessel to saturate and bathe the tumor in chemotherapy, such that we get almost a hundredfold increase in tissue concentration compared to if you just gave it systemically throughout the entire body." #RenovoRx #OncologyInnovation #DrugDelivery #CancerCare #MedicalDevices #PancreaticCancer #ClinicalTrials #PatientCare #Interventionalradiology #Oncology #MedicalTechnology #TAMP #Chemotherapy #CancerTreatment #HealthcareInnovatio#TargetedOncology #InnovativeCancerTherapies #PancreaticCancerAwareness #PrecisionOncology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/40804325

How Patient Tech is Driving Innovation in Healthcare with Suzy Jackson TRANSCRIPT 04/14/2026

Empowered Patient Podcast

TOPICS