Pillo Health, a Boston-based technology company for patients managing their health at home, announced that is has secured $11 million in funding from leading venture investors to complete its Series-A round. The capital will be used to drive growth and innovation as Pillo Health builds out its voice-enabled medication and care management platform for the home.
Six in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic condition, a leading driver of healthcare costs across the country. Medication non-adherence amounts up to $289 billion in wasted costs annually and leads to a higher mortality rate in the United States.
Pillo Health offers partner organizations an engaging in-home interface and HIPAA-compliant technology platform to create customized voice-first health and wellness experiences; empowering them to deliver better care into the home, enhancing patient connections to their care teams, and aligning with the growing trend of voice-enabled technologies in the healthcare industry.
This round of funding was led by Stanley Black & Decker’s corporate venture capital arm with significant participation from Samsung Ventures. Existing investors, including BioAdvance, Hikma Ventures – the corporate venture capital arm of Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LSE:HIK) – Hackensack Meridien Health System’s Innovation Center Fund and Civilization Ventures, also participated. Pillo Health will use the funds to continue development of its HIPAA-compliant technology platform and to develop additional voice-first experiences for partners to deliver digital health solutions into the home. The company is also currently hiring in its Boston, MA and Genoa, Italy, offices.
“We look forward to the continued evolution of the Pillo Health platform as we work with organizations addressing the management of chronic conditions for patients at home,” said Emanuele Musini, Co-founder and CEO of Pillo Health. “Stanley Black & Decker and Samsung have made a strong commitment to the health and wellness of millions of Americans looking to remain independent longer, with a focus on tailoring voice-first technologies for their customers and revolutionizing the way healthcare is delivered into the home.”
Pillo Health and Stanley Black & Decker are also jointly launching Pria by BLACK+DECKER in the U.S. later this year. Pria is powered by the Pillo Health platform and will be available for consumers to purchase in late summer online, with additional distribution channels to follow.
Larry Harper, vice president of Stanley Ventures, stated that “Pillo and Pria represent an important and growing strategic focus for our organization as we continue to find ways to help seniors age in place at home and enjoy their later years in familiar surroundings. The partnership between Pillo Health and Stanley Black & Decker is strong, and together we expect to have a large impact on the senior healthcare market with more innovations on the horizon.”
Forescout Technologies, Inc. announces insights from 75 real healthcare deployments with more than 10,000 virtual local area networks (VLANs) and 1.5 million devices contained within the Forescout Device Cloud, with a specific focus on 1,500 medical VLANs with more than 430,000 devices. Launched in July 2017, the Forescout Device Cloud is one of the world’s largest crowdsourced device repositories and now contains more than eight million devices from more than 1,000 customers who share anonymized device insights.
“The Forescout Device Cloud provides us with game changing data from millions of devices around the world, and what we are releasing today is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Elisa Costante, head of OT and Industrial Technology Innovation at Forescout. “Our findings reveal that healthcare organizations have some of the most diverse and complex IT environments, which are compounded because of compliance risks. Every time a patch is applied, there is concern around voiding a warranty or impacting patient safety. These organizations are dealing with lifesaving devices and extremely sensitive environments.”
The convergence of IT, IoT and OT makes it more difficult for the healthcare industry to manage a wide array of hard-to-control network security risks. IoT and OT devices are rapidly increasing in numbers, but traditional IT still represents the most vulnerable attack surface. Forescout uses the Device Cloud data to analyze more than 150 attributes per device to bring increased device intelligence and improved auto-classification to its customers. Forescout will leverage the increasing amount of data and intelligence gathered from the Device Cloud to generate future insights on the characterization and risk posture of connected devices across industries.
Forescout researchers found that the most common devices on medical networks are still traditional computing devices (53 percent) followed by IoT devices (39 percent), including VoIP phones, network printers, tablets and smart TVs. OT systems, including medical devices, critical care systems, building automation systems, facilities, utilities and physical security, comprise eight percent of the devices on medical networks.
Within the OT device category, the three most common connected medical devices found were patient tracking and identification systems (38 percent), infusion pumps (32 percent) and patient monitors (12 percent). Considering the growing number of vulnerabilities in OT environments, we can see an increase in the attack surface in healthcare environments.
Healthcare organizations riddled with devices running legacy Windows operating systems
The Forescout Device Cloud Report highlights that 71 percent of Windows devices within these healthcare deployments are running Windows 7, Windows 2008 or Windows Mobile, with Microsoft support planned to expire on January 14, 2020. Running unsupported operating systems poses a risk that may expose vulnerabilities and has the potential to impact regulatory compliance.
Diversity of operating systems and vendor sprawl creates headaches
The diversity of device vendors and operating systems present on medical networks adds to the complexity and increases security challenges. Forescout’s research found that 40 percent of healthcare deployments had more than 20 different operating systems. When looking at the different types of operating systems found on medical VLANs, 59 percent were Windows operating systems and 41 percent were a mix of other variants, including mobile, embedded firmware and network infrastructure and many more.
Measles continues to spread in the United States as health officials seek to stem the worst outbreak of the disease in decades. More than 700 cases have now been reported, about half if them involving children under the age of five.1
James D’Arezzo
James D’Arezzo, CEO of Condusiv Technologies, says, “It is the job of our healthcare database networks to map a situation like this in order to help caregivers control it.” D’Arezzo, whose company is the world leader in I/O reduction and SQL database performance, adds, “Unfortunately, some pieces of this network are missing, and a number of others don’t work very well.”
Experts in the field agree. According to a recent report by team of scientists led by the National Institute of Health, while analysis of data derived from electronic health records, social media and other sources has the potential to provide more timely and detailed information on infectious disease outbreaks than traditional methods, there are significant challenges to be overcome. Big data offers a “tantalizing opportunity” to predict and track infectious outbreaks, but healthcare’s ability to use it for such purposes is decades behind that of fields like climatology and marketing.2
Nonetheless, progress in data sharing has been made. State, local, and territorial health departments now have access to healthcare-associated infections data reported in their jurisdictions to the Center for Disease Control’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia now use NHSN for that purpose.3
However, D’Arezzo notes, this data has its origins in a multiplicity of far-flung healthcare organization IT systems. To be usable, it must be pulled together through millions of individual input-output (I/O) operations. The system’s analytic capability is dependent on the efficiency of those operations, which in turn is dependent on the efficiency of the computer’s operating environment. The most widely used operating system, Microsoft Windows, is in many ways the least efficient; the average Windows-based system pays a 30 percent to 40 percent penalty in overall throughput capability due to I/O degradation.4
When you hear the words “cancer treatment,” you probably think of things like chemotherapy, radiation or even hair loss. While many cancer patients go through painful procedures that create uncomfortable and life-changing side effects, there might be new ways to help them deal with the disease and their care.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are technology trends in healthcare that have recently taken the industry by storm. While many researchers have been interested in this technology for some time, it’s only been in the past few years that studies have started to prove its usefulness in helping cancer patients undergoing care. Here are the essentials you should know to understand the use of VR and AR for cancer patients.
What are VR and AR?
Virtual reality is an immersive technology that closes the user off from the real world. Using a headset and video screen, the user can feel the experience of being transported to new locations. If you’re unfamiliar with this technology, do a quick online search to find videos of people who feel they are falling or that things are moving toward them in such a way that they instinctively shift their body to avoid contact. These videos are amusing, but this technology is so much more than just fun.
Augmented reality, often called AR, uses a camera or smartphone to add digital elements to the real world. Typical uses are lenses on the popular app Snapchat or the ever-intriguing game of Pokemon Go. AR has many applications in healthcare as well.
Use of VR and AR in healthcare
Medicine and other treatments are both palliative and curative. However, all medicines and procedures have limitations and at times create negative effects that patients must adapt to or learn to overcome. Researchers continually look for new ways to impact patient care with immersive technologies and other cutting-edge advancements. Both AR and VR have received acclaim for their role in the healthcare industry.
Not only can this tech help patients, but it can improve healthcare as a whole. A few of the ways VR is impacting healthcare can be seen in the treatment of chronic pain, the restoration of low vision in older patients or those with damaged vision, and the expedited recovery of patients after traumatic brain injury.
By Michelle Davey, CEO and co-founder, Enzyme Health.
Michelle Davey
Today, our healthcare system is changing, and it’s changing quickly.
What’s leading the way for the remarkable shifts we’re seeing in our industry? Record-breaking investments into digital health (more than $14 billion in 2018 alone). Every day, we see digital health leaders working toward more affordable and accessible care for patients everywhere.
However, as we evolve and advance, we can’t ignore the glaring problem that still plagues the industry: clinician burnout. It’s a terrible symptom of a system that’s no longer working. Clinicians are 15 times more likely to experience burnout compared to any other working professional, and they’re killing themselves at alarming rates — the highest of any profession.
I believe the very technology we’re creating to better serve patients can also save clinicians — as long as we’re mindful of how we bring forth change. Here’s how we can do it.
Tech is helping clinicians prioritize flexibility, autonomy and career mobility
Our most recent generation of clinicians are approaching work very differently than their predecessors. Studies show that more Millennials are choosing to stay at home than Gen X before them. Many attribute this to our current economic climate and a changing attitude towards work-life balance.
In healthcare, technology is keeping pace with this cultural shift by empowering clinicians to live on their own terms. How? Currently, one in five physicians use telehealth. That number is expected to triple to more than 60 percent by 2022, with many stating that they plan to adopt new technology because they’re experiencing burnout and want more flexibility.
What does this new work-life balance look like for clinicians? A level of career mobility that hasn’t been available to them until now. For example, with asynchronous medical assessments, the days of darting from exam room to exam are behind us. These software-enabled questionnaires mirror a clinician-patient interaction, so clinicians can review responses on their own time to diagnose and develop a treatment plan in a matter of minutes.
Technology is alleviating the pressure felt from a growing physician shortage
Burnout is intensifying another crucial problem in the healthcare industry: our physician shortage. Recent findings suggest that by 2030, the United States will have a shortage of 120,000.
What does burnout have to do with this? Many clinicians are reducing hours at work to alleviate their feelings of burnout. This is especially true for young clinicians who are starting families. Female clinicians in particular take on a disproportionate share of child care and family responsibilities. To manage this new chapter in life, they’re often faced with taking a “career detour.”
New digital health solutions are shifting this reality, offering options that allow clinicians to work when and where they want. This is a significant win for the healthcare system. We get to retain highly qualified clinicians who might otherwise have no other option but to leave the profession–temporarily or permanently. It’s also a huge win for our clinicians. They no longer have to ask, “is it possible to work,” and instead get to decide “when and how am I going to work.”
Clinicians’ jobs are becoming more and more efficient
One reason we’re seeing the fast adoption of telehealth technology among clinicians is because it’s making their jobs more efficient–not more difficult. We might think it’s a no-brainer that technology should make our lives easier, but in healthcare, that hasn’t always been the case. For example, with past advancements like electronic health records, a common complaint was the cumbersome administrative tasks that came with them.
By Beth Haenke Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, founder and CEO, and Karen Proffitt, MHIIM, RHIA, CHP, vice president of industry relations/CPO, Just Associates, Inc.
Beth Haenke Just
The introduction of overlays into a medical record system can be so subtle that they often go unnoticed until one causes an adverse event, HIPAA violation or billing error—making them a primary source of patient errors, expenses and lost revenues in hospitals today.
Caused when the information of two patients is co-mingled within one medical record, the dangers of overlays have intensified with the proliferation of electronic health record (EHR) systems, which accelerate the rate at which multiple internal and external systems can be infected with dirty data. Compounding the problem is an overreliance on technology-centric solutions to resolve possible duplicates.
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) puts the average duplicate rate at between 8 percent and 12 percent. A more recent survey by Black Book found an average of 18 percent. Meanwhile, an analysis of EMPI cleanup projects Just Associates completed between 2012 and 2016 showed that as many as 1.3 percent of these possible duplicates are actually potential overlaid records.
Karen Proffitt
When it comes to overlays, there are three challenges facing health information management (HIM) professionals tasked with maintaining the integrity of patient records: 1) identifying and resolving existing overlaid records, 2) determining the root cause(s) and 3) implementing policies and procedures that will prevent the creation of new ones.
The birth of an overlay
The most common way an overlay is created happens at the time of registration when an incorrect patient record is selected, core demographic information is changed, and a new visit is added. Occasionally, the records of two different patients are erroneously merged during the duplicate resolution process.
Overlay creation can also be traced back to multiple departments. A study in the Journal of AHIMA involving an eight-hospital, multi-state healthcare organization found that most of the errors happened in the emergency department (ED) and, to a lesser extent, in registration, scheduling and ancillary areas such as lab and radiology.
The hospital system that was the subject of the study had been tracking and keeping detailed statistics on overlay errors for five years, beginning with the implementation of an EHR system. This provided researchers with the rare opportunity to analyze a considerable sample size of 555 errors, from which they determined an error rate of one in every 10,734 admissions. That is the equivalent to more than nine errors per month, of which 97.5 percent were caused by user oversight. The study also identified an upward trend in overlays attributed to growth of the health system and higher utilization of error identification tools that reveal more issues than manual methods.
For example, 54 percent of overlays were found by registration users while data integrity change reports that made use of EHR tools found 31 percent. Clinicians were a distant third, identifying just 6 percent of errors. Patients also found overlay errors via patient portals, which could have allowed them inappropriate access to highly-sensitive protected health information (PHI) — access that could lead to HIPAA violations.
Proactive EHR tools found most overlays within 10 days of their occurrence, and most were corrected in 30 days. This is important because the longer an overlay goes undetected, the less likely it will be found. When it is found, the older overlaid record is much more time-consuming and expensive to correct.
The high cost of overlays
To determine just how costly overlays are, it is necessary to cast a wide net, as few studies have been done to establish industry averages. Factors contributing to the full financial impact of an overlay include denied and delayed claims, lost revenues and resources required to identify and correct the error.
Time is a huge factor in the costs associated with overlay correction resources. For paper-based overlays, it can take between 60 and 100 hours, while EHR-based errors can take months depending upon system complexity. A survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) further found that respondents typically had at least two people dedicated to “data cleansing,” including overlay correction.
Imagine for a second: you’re walking through the busy halls of your local hospital, only to notice that the doctors and nurses around you are constantly checking their phones and tablets. It strikes you as odd, and you can’t help but think: Isn’t anyone getting any work done around here?
Actually, they are.
With over 70 percent of examined patients using at least one health app to manage their diagnosed condition, and more than 318,000 mobile healthcare apps available in top app stores worldwide, the picture of doctors and nurses relying on their devices as literal “mobile assistants” is becoming a highly sought-after reality.
While this perspective is often bolstered by positive reviews of hand-held computer use by healthcare professionals – where digital assistant devices improved physician effectiveness during patient documentation, patient care, information seeking and professional work patterns — the mHealth industry still has a lot of room to grow in terms of digital health infrastructure.
Not to be put off, mHealth developers have nevertheless continued to advance their compliance, security, accessibility, and efficiency practices in the face of wide-scale transformative change. And when asked, most mHealth developers (myself included) will tell you that what motivates us to keep going has to do with the massive potential these technologies have to literally transform the field of medicine as we know it.
And what exactly is thatpotential? Every day our news feeds are inundated with articles promoting the latest in mHealth technology – from mobile apps that can perform an ultrasound, to apps that help patients track their own symptoms – so it can be hard to navigate the ever-widening world of mobile healthcare.
In light of such a big subject then, I’ve often taken to cementing my own understanding of mobile health by thinking about the ways in which these applications are already affecting physicians, clinicians, and other practitioners at every stage of their medical career.
Put differently, from the time that an aspiring healthcare professional begins their educational journey, to their first-accepted payment for needed treatment, mobile health apps are helping doctors transform the field of medicine before our very eyes. Here’s how:
Medical Education
In a lot of our popular media, physician education is represented as an arduous journey from beginning to end. With long nights studying, cadavers to examine, and an infinite amount of medical information to digest, med students are flocking to (mobile) medical education applications that can help them test their own knowledge in a way that suits their learning style.
Medical billing is process of handling and managing claims, processing payments, and generating revenue. It entails various tasks – coding claims correctly, tracing them, following up and much more.
The medical billing task is challenging and demanding too. But, it can be made easy by integrating the billing system with an EHR software.
Let’s have a look at the integrated electronic health records benefits in medical billing process.
Improve efficiency
When the billing process is integrated with an EHR, it becomes a comprehensive platform. You don’t need to input the data manually and repeatedly.
The integrated system also removes the need to fax or photocopy every billing sheet. This not only saves time and boosts productivity, but also minimizes human error during data transfer, saves paper and money.
Enhance comprehensiveness
EHR becomes a comprehensive platform to perform a number of activities. Accessing data from a single place makes your process highly cost-effective and accurate.
Build trustworthy relationships
Integrating your EHR and the billing system brings in transparency in the medical billing process. The EHR software seamlessly integrates with billing system to submit cleaner claims and schedule appointments more easily.
Pillo Health, a Boston-based technology company for patients managing their health at home, announced that is has secured $11 million in funding from leading venture investors to complete its Series-A round. The capital will be used to drive growth and innovation as Pillo Health builds out its voice-enabled medication and care management platform for the home.
When you hear the words “cancer treatment,” you probably think of things like chemotherapy, radiation or even hair loss. While many cancer patients go through painful procedures that create uncomfortable and life-changing side effects, there might be new ways to help them deal with the disease and their care.
