Digital Content

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. We’ll assume you’re ok with this, but you can opt out if you wish. See our 

Footer

Column Name Goes Here

Footer V2

2024 Event

Event Global

New HLTH Insights Programs

Become a Hosted Buyer

Become a Sponsor/Exhibitor

Apply for Media Pass

Promote Your Presence

2023 Event

Event Global Footer

Startup Opportunities

Hotel

2022 Event

LLC Global

2021 Event

LLC Menu Official

LLC Menu

Chief Strategic Innovation Officer

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our team will be interviewing experts from across the ecosystem to bring the HLTH community timely facts and updates. About Rich Roth:  Mr. Roth leads CommonSpirit Health’s innovation efforts, which seek to create and test novel services, programs, partnerships, and/or technologies – from within and outside of healthcare – that challenge the status quo and have the potential to reduce the cost of care, improve quality, and/or increase access to services. ﻿Working in concert with CommonSpirit Health employees and physicians, Mr. Roth works to anticipate emerging trends and technologies with the goal of incubating, studying, and scaling efforts to improve care.

COVID-19 Updates with Rich Roth

Blog - 0042

To the HLTH Community,  In our last communication to the HLTH community, we stated that during this period of dynamic change, you can depend on us, to be honest, responsive and transparent. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our attendees and uphold the values of the health community that we serve.  After critical and thoughtful consideration, and with the support and guidance from our <a href="https://www.hlth.com/hlth-matters/blog/An-Update-from-the-CEO-of-HLTH" target="_blank">Advisory Committee</a>, we have made the decision to transition HLTH 2020 to an entirely virtual event. <a href="https://www.hlth.com/virtual" target="_blank">HLTH VRTL 2020</a> will take place, October 12-15, 2020. The year everything changed - we are facing a global health pandemic, a cultural crisis and will have one of the most important Presidential elections of our time. Now more than ever, it’s essential for us to gather together to spark true change and discuss the impact that this past year will have on the industry going forward. We’re developing a brand-new virtual agenda that will focus on the history-altering events of 2020 that have affected our hearts, minds, and forced us to question our current policies and business models. <a href="https://www.hlth.com/virtual/agenda-overview" target="_blank">See the agenda overview here.</a> While we may not be able to meet in person this fall, you can still expect an exceptional virtual experience, bringing together leaders from across the health ecosystem to help solve some of the industry’s largest problems and to bring to life some of the most promising opportunities to improve health.  You’ll be able to attend sessions from top health &amp; political leaders, listen to startup pitches, meet with key solutions providers and sponsors, and build new partnerships and connections through 1:1 networking opportunities; including our virtual <a href="https://hlth.com/virtual/hosted-buyer" target="_blank">Hosted Buyer program</a>, <a href="https://hlth.com/virtual/funding-founders" target="_blank">Funding Founders program</a>, and <a href="https://hlth.com/virtual/table-talks" target="_blank">Table Talks</a>. Also, get ready to be surprised with some amazing entertainment! We’re so excited for you to see what we have in store. Right now, our mission has never been more important and we&#39;re so excited for the potential that a virtual experience has to bring us all together in new ways. We can’t wait to be able to connect virtually with you all. - The HLTH Team

HLTH 2020 Has Gone Virtual

Blog - 0056

I have participated in several group training discussions focused on reducing racism and bias in healthcare. At some point in the training everyone is asked to turn to their neighbor and share how their childhood experiences and family’s viewpoint shaped their perspective on racism. After a few minutes of discussion participants are asked to share a little about their conversation. I know from my own experience that people are very reticent to dig deep to share their real story and want to present the best version of themselves to the group, so I haven’t found the discussion particularly insightful.  Never in those trainings has anyone said that they came from a racist family or that during childhood they wouldn’t sit next to another child who didn’t look like them. In fact, the comments most often heard are, “my family treated everyone the same” and “I don’t see color, I see people”. At first, I didn’t realize the dismissive nature of those comments or how they serve to create inequality.   The light bulb moment that changed the way I think occurred when a wise training facilitator advised that to not see color, and to treat everyone the same is not the goal, nor is it even the right thing to do. The right thing is to appreciate each other for our differences and meet each person where they are to ensure each person has what they need to thrive.   This is a start toward building equity in healthcare. When we don’t attend to important differences between us, and we don’t intentionally create structures which meet each person where they are, we perpetuate systems and policies which are built on a foundation of inequality.  Breakthroughs that bring hope can happen in the darkest of times. Our response to COVID has illuminated the pervasive inequities in healthcare in an unprecedented way, because it came on as an isolated event with enormous data analyzed in real time. This gave us pause to ask, ‘Why?’ Why are Black patients 5x more likely than other races to test positive for COVID? Why is the COVID mortality rate more than 2.5 times higher for Black people than white people? Why are low-income and minority children more than twice as likely than white children to test positive for COVID?  COVID-19 brought focused attention to differences in health outcomes between different populations of people. We must now look beyond the pandemic to the rest of healthcare to understand the harmful impact of implicit bias, racism and disparities brought on through the many social determinants of health.  Healthcare must work to eliminate “systematic differences in health outcomes which arise from the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” (Health inequities and their causes, 2018) To eliminate inequalities in healthcare we must attend to those very things that make us different and ensure care considers those differences. Until healthcare has equity at the center, some people will be left out.  Our experience fighting COVID has demonstrated that safe, high-quality, patient-centered care is limited by inequities in how care is delivered. We are fortunate to have technologies focused on improving care delivery. But we must pay close attention to how we design, test, develop, and deploy these new technologies. Take the pulse oximeter, one of healthcare’s most used medical devices. In the few times that I have had to go to the emergency room, such as when I had an anaphylactic allergic response to a dye used during my MRI or when I tore the ACL on my right knee, one of the first steps in my care was the nurse placing the pulse oximeter on my finger to gauge the oxygenation of my blood. Healthy blood oxygenation should fall between 95-100 mm Hg. Anytime blood oxygenation falls below about 95 mm Hg is cause for concern and if it falls below about 90 mm Hg it may be time to receive life-saving oxygen at the hospital.   Pulse oximeters use infrared and red light shined through your finger to measure the oxygenation of your blood. Well oxygenated blood is bright red, while blood depleted of oxygen is dark purple-red in color. Bright red blood absorbs infrared light and allows more red light to pass through than deoxygenated blood. This information coupled with your pulse determines the oxygenation of your blood.   Simple, right? But not so fast, because to “see” your blood the light must pass through your skin. But pulse oximeters are calibrated for light skin, not darker skin, and as a result they may overestimate saturation levels by several critical points. A 2020 study from University of Michigan Hospital found that oxygenation levels were significantly overestimated by the pulse oximeter when compared with the more accurate arterial oxygen saturation in 11.7% of Black and 3.6% of white patients. This device is an important tool for use at home to help COVID patients know when they have reached a level of illness that requires them to go to the hospital. It is also used by clinicians to help assess when it is time to be placed on supplemental oxygen. What happens when the information is not accurate? What decisions are made about patient care based on that information?  This isn’t the first time this problem has been identified. In fact, there are several technologies that depend on color sensing which can contribute to racial bias, including the health monitoring device you may be wearing on your wrist. When we see everyone as “the same” and we aren’t mindful in our development and deployment of medical technologies, we risk perpetuating racism in healthcare.   It is essential that we employ diverse teams of people with different backgrounds including race, gender, age, and culture to research, design and implement new technologies and data informed solutions and proactively ensure the development of unbiased algorithms in AI and ML which appreciate each other’s differences to improve care for all. Silver linings can happen in the darkest of times. What we’ve learned from COVID has opened the door we use to hide structural inequities in healthcare. We need to not only open the door wider, but we must step through the door to fix what is devastating to our communities, our patients, and our workforce.   ReferencesHealth inequities and their causes. (2018). Retrieved from World Health Organization : https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/health-inequities-and-their-causes#:~:text=Health%20inequities%20are%20systematic%20differences%20in%20health%20outcomes,people%20are%20born%2C%20grow%2C%20live%2C%20work%20and%20age. Michael W. Sjoding, M. R. (2020). Racial Bias in Pulse Oximetry Measurement. New England Journal of Medicine, 383:2477-2478. Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2029240 Oxygenation and Ventilation. (2021, December 16). Retrieved from NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines: https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/management/critical-care/oxygenation-and-ventilation/ Yash Mantri, J. V. (2021). Impact of skin tone on photoacoustic oximetry and tools to minimize bias. Biomedical Optics Express, 13(2), 875-887. Retrieved from https://opg.optica.org/boe/fulltext.cfm?uri=boe-13-2-875&amp;id=468620

Technology Must Be Intentionally Designed to Appreciate Our Differences

Blog - 0109

Director

&quot;I&#39;m excited about the science, but if we think about how to keep someone healthy, it takes a massive, multi-disciplinary effort and everyone must do their part. It&#39;s not only development and production, but also understanding who is going to use it and how it’s going to be used.&quot;  -Matthew Hepburn, White House Senior Advisor, Office of Science and Technology Policy at the 2022 BLUE KNIGHT™ Symposium  Global preparedness requires global cooperation. As a global community composed of regional innovation ecosystems, we must work together and lean on each other’s strengths to respond to emerging infectious diseases more readily. Progress continues as we support novel science and technology through our Blue Knight partnership, including the current Blue Knight <a href="https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/quickfire-challenges/blue-knight-tm-quickfire-challenge-next-generation-preparedness-solutions" target="_blank">QuickFire Challenge</a> which seeks solutions to leverage the microbiome, scale manufacturing of vaccines and/or therapeutics, and target the host response with the aim to enhance preparedness towards future known and unknown health security threats. There are still important gaps to fill towards health security preparedness solutions, especially as we look to accelerate solutions and invest in technologies that support the needs of diverse populations, including at-risk, immunocompromised, geriatric, and pediatric populations.  Supporting Innovators to “Leapfrog Progress”  In April 2020, our organizations—Johnson &amp; Johnson Innovation – JLABS and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (<a href="https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/" target="_blank">BARDA</a>), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services— announced the global joint initiative now known as <a href="https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/blue-knight" target="_blank">Blue Knight</a>. The partnership is dedicated to anticipating potential health security threats, activating the global innovation community, and amplifying scientific and technological advancements with the aim to prepare for and respond to our rapidly evolving global health environment. Today, the program supports <a href="https://jnjinnovation.com/JLABSNavigator/search-results?isBlueKnight=true&amp;sort=Alphabetic" target="_blank">a portfolio of 23 companies</a> from around the world and accepts applications on a rolling basis.  In June 2022, we hosted the second <a href="https://blueknightsymposium2022.splashthat.com/" target="_blank">Blue Knight Symposium</a> to discuss the potential of partnerships to accelerate preparedness solutions. Throughout the Symposium, the speakers highlighted the importance of partnerships and support for regional innovation ecosystems to innovate and develop equitable solutions. We heard from both the early-stage companies and the organizations supporting them to bring innovative technologies to patients, such as the work of ENA Respiratory, a Blue Knight company based in Australia, with the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Foundation, to develop pan-antiviral nasal spray.  Thriving innovation ecosystems exist around the world, each region harnessing specific strengths. We have the potential to unlock a global force of preparedness by uncovering and accelerating our regional strengths to operate as one. As Kelly Chibale, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town, noted during the Symposium, &quot;If we harness local innovators appropriately, those innovations are likely to leapfrog progress. This is not something that any region can do on their own. If we couple incentives to entrepreneurs, this is likely that we can co-create the innovation ecosystem.” Our Blue Knight partnership is working to do just that. Health Equity as a Driver for Preparedness for All  Equitable innovation may be key to shielding global communities from emerging disease threats and eliminating the disproportionate impact of pandemics and emerging infectious diseases on diverse and minority populations. Ensuring that all communities are protected and reaching people as far as the last mile, including rural communities and at-risk populations, is essential when developing potential solutions.  This sentiment flowed throughout the day as was highlighted by Lisha McCormick, the CEO of Last Mile Health, “Innovation without equity is inadequate. The orientation around collaboration really needs to be to scale impact, not an institution or individual innovation. Fall in love with solving the problem, not the specific tool with which you’re committed to solving it.” Through Blue Knight, we aim to support the early-stage companies that have done just that—companies solving a problem to address an unmet need.   Developing Next-Generation Solutions  Leveraging partnerships and collaborative opportunities are keys to moving forward towards global preparedness.  As we search to support the technologies that have the potential to create a more secure future from global health threats, BARDA has released their <a href="https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/strategic-plan/" target="_blank">2022-2026 Strategic Plan</a>, which includes supporting an ecosystem of innovation programs, including Blue Knight. The current Blue Knight <a href="https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/quickfire-challenges/blue-knight-tm-quickfire-challenge-next-generation-preparedness-solutions" target="_blank">QuickFire Challenge</a> is one way to connect with our organizations and provides an opportunity to receive award funding, access to JLABS through a Blue Knight residency, and mentorship from The Johnson &amp; Johnson Family of Companies and BARDA.  As we look to the next generation of solutions to be accessible to all and help eliminate disparities that may be exacerbated by global health threats, we are seeking technologies that are easy to administer for the intended indications, including orally, nasally, or topically, if applicable; technologies that have the potential as multi-use solutions (indications as medical countermeasures for specific threat areas and for commercial use) or are threat-agnostic; and with a particular interest in technologies aiming to support the needs of diverse populations, including at-risk, immunocompromised, geriatric, and pediatric populations.  Join Blue Knight and the global discussion on how we can collectively come together to develop equitable solutions towards the known and unknown health security threats of the future. If you’re developing a potential solution to solve a problem, <a href="https://jji.jnjinnovation.com/meetwithblueknight" target="_blank">reach out to us</a> and watch the <a href="https://blueknightsymposium2022.splashthat.com/" target="_blank">2022 Blue Knight Symposium</a> on-demand today.

Spurring Global Connections at the BLUE KNIGHT™ Symposium to Develop Next Generation Preparedness Solutions

Blog - 0121