F071 Why is St. Louis a hidden digital health ecosystem gem in the US and the latest about digital health efforts for COVID-19

When Europe became the new epicentre of the Covid-19 spread, and with the steady rise of infected in the US, tech companies offered their knowledge to curb the pandemic: from Covid-19 apps, the rise of telemedicine use in the US, 3D printing in Italy and more efforts to curb the Coronavirus crisis.

COVID-19 spread based on WHO data on 19/3/2020.

Apps: how to navigate what’s good and what not?

Many direct to consumer apps offer triage and self-diagnosis options, however, no matter the good intentions, some caution needs to be taken into account when looking at digital health apps and solutions. On March 14th Apple restricted publishing of Covid19 related apps to recognized entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, companies deeply credentialed in health issues, and medical or educational institutions. The British based Organisation for the Review of Care & Health Application ORCHA, which has in place a high-standard review process, warned on March 13, that app stores are unregulated, and 85% of apps do not meet ORCHA’s quality threshold. ORCHA published a list of apps they do find safe to use. Categories include applications supporting self-care and managing anxiety, apps for managing respiratory and heart condition symptoms, apps to manage diabetes and apps helping to reduce pressure on the NHS.

Telemedicine is showing it’s benefits

In the US, the demand for telemedical solutions surged, as Medicare expanded telemedicine coverage nationwide to help seniors with health problems stay home to avoid the coronavirus.

Carolinas HealthCare System — Atrium Health saw a 500% of an increase in virtual visits last week.

NODE.Health (Network of Digital Evidence in Health) is hosting a number of webinars to discuss support digital health solutions can bring. Ashish Atreja, member of the executive board of Node Health and a practising gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai in New York made an important remark that the best care takes place at home. To better monitor immunosuppressed patients with IBD, Mount Sinai offered almost 6000 IBD patients a Covid-19 digital triage tool, and 40% opted in and are now in an active surveillance program.

Virtual assistants, direct to doctors apps and 3D printing

Orbita, which provides award-winning voice and chat solutions for healthcare and life sciences sectors, has introduced new #COVID19 Virtual Assistant, filling two purposed: education and access. The virtual assistant enables patients to have up-to-date and easy-to-find information related to the outbreak and can be used as a triage tool to help patients understand their own health.

Israeli based DreaMed Diabetes, the developer of a personalized, cloud-based AI diabetes management solution, set up virtual clinics that require no physical interaction, where patients affected by this chronic disease can be evaluated by an endocrinologist, receive prescriptions, insulin titration optimization, and personal management tips for improving sugar balance. For the first time, patients will be given a safe, easy, and reliable treatment in the comfort of their own home.

In Italy, according to the BBC, a 3D-printer company designed and printed life-saving respirator valves — which connect patients in intensive care to breathing machines. And a Slovenian company Mediately, present in eight European countries, offering doctors an app with a country-specific drug registry and decision support tools, executed a survey between their 100.000 users about the greatest fears and needs doctors treating COVID-19 face at the moment. Based on the results, they are adding relevant information and tools to aid doctors on the ground.

AI support can play an important role in better management of COVID-19

Another interesting fact is that, in China, when the Covid crisis was at its high, AI leader in healthcare Yitu, in collaboration with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center released its cutting-edge AI diagnosis system to help doctors carry out quantitative analysis and evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of new coronavirus lesions based on CT images. It was the first AI-equipped diagnostic assistant, which significantly improves efficiency in identifying coronavirus through automatic detection and quantitative analysis within 2–3 seconds, and eases the burden of Chinese doctors.

#NotJustCough

A study from The American Journal of Gastroenterology Revealed that Diarrhea is a Prominent Symptom of COVID-19. A descriptive, cross-sectional multicenter study from China by investigators from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Expert Group for COVID-19 showed that digestive symptoms are common in COVID19, occurring as the chief complaint in nearly half of patients presenting to hospital.

Hopefully, all these efforts, on top of governmental measures and urgent innovative approaches to healthcare re-organisation, will flatten the curve.

F071 St. Louis as the hidden innovation gem in the USA

St. Louis is a regional health care powerhouse in the US, home to the largest non-profit hospital system in the U.S — Ascension., Washington University/BJC Healthcare, the #1 pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S. Express Scripts.

BioSTL is one of the important local players which has laid the foundation for St. Louis’ innovation economy with a comprehensive set of transformational programs that elevate St. Louis’ leadership in solving important world challenges in agriculture, medicine, health care, and other technology areas.

Luke Blackburn.

Luke Blackburn — Business Developer at GlobalSTL — a section of BioSTL says the reason St. Louis is under the radar in the US, is simply because the ecosystem participants don’t promote the ecosystem well. Compared to many other innovations leading cities such as Boston, Chicago or Nashville, St. Louis has a competitive and St. Louis has more buying power of payors, providers and PBMs compared to many other large cities.

GlobalSTL is engaging with 15 countries around the world, looking at companies across the world that are solving any of the problems their partners are faced with.

To mention the most inspiring healthcare entrepreneurship environment, Blackburn is fascinated by Israel, which has a thorough database of healthcare information about individuals, which is freely available to startups to innovate and find new healthcare solutions.

NHS England runs the clinical entrepreneur training programme offers clinical, NHS staff and wider health professionals opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial aspirations during their clinical training period. Companies are potentially scaled to the US, says Blackburn.

With the strong ecosystem, St. Louis and GlobalSTL can be an entering point from countries around the world to enter the US market. Areas they are looking for are innovative care models, social determinants of health solutions to improve population health, senior health solutions, value-based contracting and more. The list changes based on the needs.

Tune in, to learn more:

Some questions addressed:

Missouri’s health system is the eighth-worst among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, a New York-based policy foundation said in a report released in December. Comment?
Medicaid expansion seems to be a hot topic in Missouri these days with Healthcare for Missouri — a statewide coalition of voters, patients, medical professionals, business leaders and organizations committed to expanding Medicaid through a ballot initiative in the November 2020 election — actively promoting the expansion. Commonwealth suggested that states should expand Medicaid access under the Affordable Care Act, if they haven’t already — in part to limit health disparities between low-income people and others. Thus far, Missouri lawmakers have not expanded Medicaid, which was made optional by a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Thoughts?
Despite the problems, innovation is flourishing in Missouri, especially St. Louis. St. Louis is a regional health care powerhouse, home to the largest non-profit hospital system in the U.S — Ascension., Washington University/BJC Healthcare, the #1 pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S. Express Scripts, and the fastest-growing insurance company in the country. What’s driving the ecosystem?
What is the role of Global STL in all this? A brief explanation of the GLobal STL Story.
What kind of initiatives do are you working on in rural communities?
Starting with Israel in 2014, and expanding steadily into Europe, Asia, and South America, the GlobalSTL team is connecting St. Louis to leading innovation hubs worldwide. What do you see if you compare the US system to the world, based on 15 international countries you are engaged with? I’m sure Brazilians, Chinese, Israeli, the Dutch or Swedes all differ a lot?
How do you choose innovative companies to work with? What metrics do you use?
What do you see as the ecosystem’s weakness? Where do you feel you want to improve?
Who do you look up to in your development?