Session Description: Digitalization of Clinical Trials from End-to-End – The Right Time is Now to Jump in - there are many hype words thrown around in the healthcare sector in an effort to place the impetus on the need for change. – “disruptive,” “innovation,” “breakthrough” and more- Put aside the hype – the lukewarm approach to embracing digital technologies for clinical trials is over. The fever pitch of emerging technology applications impacting clinical trials are providing solutions for trial sponsors to combat the mounting challenges of cost and delays in bringing medicine to the market. The time is right to jump in to digitalizing the process if you want to get ahead of the curve in efficiency and efficacy to enhance patient safety and accelerate drug development. The reality is simple - cutting-edge technologies can revolutionize the clinical trials model not only by optimizing the processes but delivering more value for patients and all the critical stakeholders. This session will feature an interactive panel discussion addressing the following key points:

1. What is the roadmap for an end-to-end digitalized clinical trial? What are the limitations? What are the opportunities?

2. Debunking the myth that digitization is digitalization of clinical trials

3. Identifying all potential areas where technologies like Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence can digitize Clinical Trials

4. Can digitalization meet all the expectations of all stakeholders – regulatory, patients, pharma and others?

5. The combination of AI and Machine learning for “data-driven” decision models -what are we looking to solve, what will it change?

Session Description: BUYSMARTER is a transformative, data-driven initiative leveraging the collective purchasing power ($24B/year) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to secure lower prices, achieve operational efficiencies, and generate cost savings on goods and services.

 
BUYSMARTER ‘s proof of concept used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) technology to analyze departmental requirements based on current HHS-wide spend data. This helps identify opportunities to consolidate contract vehicles across agencies within HHS to leverage overlapping requirements at a significant cost savings for the federal government.
 
BUYSMARTER is positive initiative that is driving cultural change in support of HHS Reimagine. It is intended to focus on utilization of new and emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and robotics, to analyze spend across HHS to make better informed decisions about price conscious purchasing in order to achieve:
•    Collaborative, collective, and coordinated forecasting across HHS that leverages buying power to generate savings through bulk purchasing and effective spend tracking
•    Organizational alignment that eliminates waste and risk through improved transparency and accountability
•    An acquisition organizational structure that is cohesive across HHS and operates in an efficient and effective

Session Description: Privacy laws like GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have created a much more regulated environment in which enterprises need to operate in regards to consumer data permissions. Built on hyperledger fabric, HealthVerity Consent is an enterprise-level platform that allows organizations to aggregate and manage all existing touchpoints across the organization in one central location to comply with evolving privacy requirements.

In this session we'll review what it took to deliver an enterprise blockchain installation where we drove business process change across departments and companies to better manage rights to data access and use. We’ll cover: 

• 5 key lessons learned you can apply to future blockchain implementations
• How to integrate into a non-blockchain ecosystem
• What challenges were faced in order to drive business process change with blockchain
• How to manage existing barriers when migrating from legacy systems and business process to distributed ledger technology

Session Description: ACCELERATE is a transformative program in support of HHS ReImagine Acquisition.  It is designed to empower the workforce in a decentralized manner and create a flexible capability for HHS to change and implement policy. Accelerate addresses the acquisition workforce process challenges, and improve the value derived from HHS expenditure on acquisition support systems. It is architected to combine the power of four proven emerging technologies to address these fundamental challenges, and to provide a transformational enhancement to HHS Acquisition capabilities.  This program also helps align HHS with the President’s Management Agenda, the Modernizing Government Technology Act and the DATA Act.

The core of this solution is a blockchain based data layer.  This data layer utilizes data from all core HHS acquisition systems, and other external sources of acquisition data (e.g., SAM).  Machine Learning is used to cleanse this data for use by artificial intelligence based algorithms.  These algorithms are used to extract insight from the large volumes of data.  Robotic process automation is then used to power dramatic improvement in acquisition workflow and processes by eliminating repetitive tasks currently performed by the acquisition workforce.  The approach to this program minimizes business and technology risk: an agile framework is utilized to ensure flexibility; human centered design techniques provide full alignment with the OpDivs; microservices are the basis of capability delivery; existing acquisitions systems remain operational while new capability is rolled out. 

Thank you for taking the time to Converge2Xcelerate today. We thank you all and hope the experience you take away is one of value, and one you will share with others, in moving planning and initiatives forward.

The topics covered today spanned an array of themes. Moving forward, let us consider the following to delve deeper to understand:

1. Disintermediation – the effect on clinical trials, the drug supply chain, and moving information  thru a multi-stake holder processes, in real-time, to reduce costs
2. Concepts such as universal basic income, a one party payer system, and how the world can truly transform toward unity and equity
3. Keeping value and benefit to patients at the core of policy and systems initiatives
4. How will we educate patients to be better purveyors of their own health data, and partake in a new ecosystem where they become shareholders and owners

We congratulate the 2nd Annual  Innovation Ignition Competition Winners:

• 1st Place: Happify Health
• 2nd Place: BitMED
• Honorable Mention: WillChain

Thanks to:

William Baker, debate moderator, from NYU Global Debate. Thanks too, student volunteers from Columbia, New York, and Tulane Universities.

Special Thanks to:

Platinum and Blockchain Track Sponsor, Consensys Health

Bronze Sponsor, Boehringer Ingelhiem

Sponsors:  HealthVerity, Izzy, Cadent,Burst IQ, Nonnatech, 1800PR

Partners: Healthcare Informatics, Health Data Management, Pharmacy Podcast, and all our friends

In addition, thanks to:

• John Halamka
• Frank Ricotta, CEO BurstIQ,
• Matt Bird and Stella, at 1800PR
• Tiffany Delorenzo, Conference Director, calm, cool, and perpetually “on it”
• The Charles Group
• John Russo, BHTY Managing Editor, who could not join us today
• Board members, moderators, volunteers, Columbia staff, and most all – panelists and participants with an eye on the future of better health and equity, for all citizens

 
Join us and become part of the dialog.  To subscribe to BHTY, submit a manuscript, or commentary/opinion article, go to https://blockchainhealthcaretoday.com/index.php/journal/user/register

Blockchain in Healthcare Today Peer Review Journal

Building Trust Through Truth...

Session Description: Significant portions of usable, and funded research never make it through the data funnel, getting lost as "dark knowledge." Blockchain technology offers new ways to bring this dark knowledge to light.  The panel will discuss how blockchain technology impacts research and scholarly outputs including attribution, reproducibility, immutibility and peer review. Discussions will include how the technology can promote more knowledge, abbreviating time to market. Emerging use cases will be highlighted to demonstrate how the technology has dislodged traditional academic publishing practices including the ability to mine dark knowledge for potential scientific break throughs.

Session Description: In a healthcare landscape that is increasingly shifting to value-based care, some patients are finding the amount of time their primary care physicians have for them dwindling and look for other methods of healthcare delivery to increase communication with their doctors. Many have turned to concierge medicine to address these problems. Here, patients pay an annual membership fee to be part of a concierge medicine model. Doctors will have fewer patients, but spend more time addressing medical concerns and preventing disease among their set of patients.

The session will address how concierge medicine can solve some of the biggest problems around traditional healthcare payment options. Does this model reduce costs in the short- and long-term? What apps are being developed in tandem?

What’s the physician and patient perspective toward concierge medicine?

Session Description: Billions of dollars are spent annually on provider data management, yet provider directories often contain inaccuracies that dramatically increase the cost of care while reducing its quality. This session will provide an overview of why Humana, MultiPlan, Optum, Quest Diagnostics and UnitedHealthcare have formed the Synaptic Health Alliance to explore the use of blockchain technology in tackling the challenge of accurate and efficient provider data management and sharing. It will highlight the current challenges and state of provider data exchange and the goals and approach of the initial pilot project for the alliance.

Learning Objectives :

• Define the current state of provider data exchange
• Evaluate the use of blockchain technology to address healthcare challenges
• Explore how healthcare organizations can work together to leverage blockchain technology to provide more effective patient care

Session Description: Mississippi understands the challenges and costs of a patient population with chronic diseases. The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s (UMMC) Center for Telehealth has a mission to bridge the gaps in the healthcare delivery system in order to improve the health of all Mississippians. Telehealth is able to connect rural residents to the specialists at the larger tertiary centers in the state, thus increasing access.  In August 2014, the UMMC Center for Telehealth launched The Mississippi Diabetes Telehealth Network to pilot an advanced healthcare model on patients with uncontrolled diabetes living in the Mississippi Delta.  The model employs evidenced based practice, multidisciplinary teams, and individualized nursing interaction in an effort to empower patients to better manage their diabetes. Our program focuses on decreasing health disparities; managing chronic diseases; reducing emergency room visits, hospital admissions and readmissions; and improving health quality while reducing the overall cost of care.

Topics include:
-        Clinical outcomes from pilot and how it paved the way for reimbursement in Mississippi
-        Cost effective care model for chronic disease management for patients living in under served areas.

-        The need for collaborative approach to managing chronic disease 

The competition invited entries focusing on the following areas:

• Reducing health systems and patient out-of-pocket costs
• Designing for the level of a patient’s mobility
• Educating patients on new technology, use, application, and outcomes
• Enhanced standard of care for care-giving, remote care, elderly care, and urban care  

Applicants were asked to demonstrate how products and services directly impact the telehealth and blockchain health technology sectors. Products/services had to be GDPR and/or HIPAA compliant. Contestants submitted detailed applications from which judges selected eight (8) finalists for a 5 minute lightning round pitch conducted at ConV2X.   

The Finalists, in alpha order, by company are:

1. AmericanTelephysicians (ATP)
2. BitMED_io
3. Cohealth
4. Debut mHealth's Debut Protocol
5. Digipharm's Reimburse
6. Happify
7. Health Innovation's WillChain
8. Knowmadics  

We congratulate the 2nd Annual Innovation Ignition Competition Winners:

1st Place: Happify Health
2nd Place: BitMEd

Honorable Mention: WillChain 

Judges used six criterion to select winners:  (1) identification of medical problem, (2) technical solution, (3) relevance to healthcare sector and technology, (4) ability to monetize, (5) caliber and expertise of team, and (6) overall impression. 

Judges:

Bryan Arkwright Managing Consultant / Professor, Schumacher Clinical Partners / Wake Forest University School of Law

Fennie Wang COO and Chief of Regulatory, OpenWater Capital

Anton Decker President, Health Innovation, Bon Secours Mercy Health

Gary German Founder, and CEO, Nonnatech

Gil Alterovitz, PhD Faculty, Harvard Medical School/Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School

John D. Halamka, MD, MS John D. Halamka, MD, MS, CIO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Chairman, New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), Co-Chair, HIT Standards Committee, Professor, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess System

Karim Babay CEO & Chief Investment Officer, Intrinsic Value Investment Partners

Session Description: What does the future look like if blockchain is the foundation of the future economy? Join us to explore the culture, economics, and inner dynamics of this burgeoning industry. Who is leading the charge? What are the values and ideologies driving the growth of this technology and how might that impact the nature of the global economy five, ten, twenty years from now?

Finally who is using these new decentralized tools? How does a tech-heavy enterprise like blockchain enable the average non-tech consumer to maximize its utility? What are the barriers to mainstream adoption and how can we best bridge them? 

In a decentralized industry what would it mean to come together? How might we pool resources to build the non-technical infrastructure necessary to meaningfully advance mainstream blockchain adoption?

Session Description: This session will provide an overview of the “fit-for-purpose” framework that is applied to blockchain and healthcare education at UC San Diego in professional and continuing education offerings and as planned through future graduate course offerings.  The presentation will outline how blockchain healthcare use cases need to be “fit-for-purpose” within the context of blockchain design principles and expected outcomes.  The three primary use cases used in this course design are:  (1) pharmaceutical supply chain; (2) medical device; (3) clinical trials.  We will also describe how this educational content is taught in different ways through lectures, case studies, and applied group work that is then subject to presentation and judging by outside experts.  This general education approach to blockchain that differs from the majority of online offerings is currently being used and expanded at UC San Diego but also has the potentially to be applied in other settings. 

(no abstract or summary available)

Session Description: “The rights, safety, and well-being of subjects participating in clinical trials are most important considerations [E6 (R2) Good Clinical Practice]”. The objective of this session is to discuss the value proposition of blockchain technology for various stakeholders in the complex clinical trial ecosystem, barriers that limit the adoption of blockchain technology in clinical trials, and opportunities to overcome those challenges.

Thank you , Bronze Sponsor, Boehringer Ingelheim

Session Description: Today’s healthcare industry is unapologetically data-driven. From virtual biotech start-ups to big pharma and independent research agencies, making data available to the public, whether positive or negative, is an integral component of any research and development effort. Among all the means available for scientific communications, peer-reviewed publications remain the gold standard platform for the public release and vetting of biomedical data, from preclinical to advanced-stage clinical studies. And behind most effective peer-review communication strategies and efforts, there is craft, knowledge and a mix of experience, intuition and resourcefulness.

Our session will focus on the rules and norms shaping the peer-review publication ecosystem, discussing best practices and industry guidance, providing you with a comprehensive understanding of the approach, the standards, the development, and ultimately the publication, of biomedical manuscripts. Topics to be covered include: conceptualization: how different types of studies make it into manuscripts; steps to publication; industry guidance and authorship criteria: GPP3 and ICMJE; defining manuscripts: whitepaper vs peer-review publication vs editorial; journal selection; and management of the peer-review process.

As publications professionals in the pharmaceutical industry, we have provided strategic and executional support to clients around the world. Our goal is always the same: to excel as publication partners, from concept to print. We look forward to seeing you on October 24, 2018, for an informative and insightful session on best practices in peer-review publications.