Aasim Saeed, MD-MPA

Blue Health Intelligence, a data analytics and software company, undertook an evaluation of almost 170,000 unique GLP-1 users for weight loss, notes less than half of those prescribed stay on the medication for 12 weeks or more. Younger adults were less likely to continue the drug, whereas those who were prescribed the medication by an endocrinologist or obesity medicine specialist were more likely to continue for longer. Indeed, this data states 30% of patients dropped out of treatment after the first four weeks, and 58% at 12 weeks. Those who dropped out are unlikely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss.  The likelihood of continuance was further exacerbated for those with health inequities or who lived in underserved health regions. The data comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association members participating in Plans that provided coverage of these products, from 2014 through to end of 2023. Razia Hashmi, vice president for clinical affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to ‘…paint a clearer picture of what makes somebody successful.’ The missing piece here is why the patients stopped – side effects, failure to achieve initial weight loss, stigma and discrimination, or coverage issues related to cost and access. My longtime friend, colleague and bariatric surgeon at Stanford University, Dr. Dan Azagury rightly states ‘…The goal is for patients to stay on this for a significant amount of time. Most likely… beyond 12 weeks.’ https://lnkd.in/ediQskQx

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“I think it’s important that the person running the organization understands the core thing that the company does.” - Ben Horowitz, GP at a16z. Totally agree, but we actually see the opposite in healthcare. As care delivery businesses are mostly run by people who have no prior knowledge of how to deliver care. The ACA actually prohibits doctors from even owning hospitals. Which completely enables MBAs and other non-clinical administrators to influence how patients receive care. Call me old fashioned but shouldn’t the people trained and licensed to provide care delivery services be the ones running businesses where care services are delivered? 🤷🏽‍♂️ —— Hi, I'm Dr. Mario Amaro, Founder and CEO Ease and I talk about all things starting, running, and growing a private practice with AI. Follow me, if you are planning to start one or are currently figuring out creative ways to grow one. #PrivatePractice #SelfEmployment #HealthcareOnLinkedin #HeyEase #IndependentTogether

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Very thoughtful piece! "Value" in healthcare extends beyond the monetary aspect care—it encompasses the equitable delivery of quality care that prioritizes patient well-being and affordability. We often see transactional relationships in healthcare, but VBC requires holistic, meaningful partnerships. Collaborative care that more heavily emphasizes data interoperability and value-based contracts to optimize patient outcomes and drive down costs can help ensure accessible and sustainable healthcare for all! #Healthcare #ValueBasedCare #VBC

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Investing in companies that fill needs for health systems is a growth opportunity for both delivery organizations and start ups. Some systems are jumping in on their own, while others are partnering with like minded systems or with established VC firms. While this is a relatively new trend for systems, health plans have been making similar bets for many years. The benefits of becoming a health system portfolio company can be significant. Data, access to beta populations and real world coaching can be extremely beneficial. Start ups get mentoring and systems have to ability to leverage outside resources to solve relevant business problems. I predict a booming business!

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It's wild to think in 2024 we're FIRST seeing the DOJ accuse telemedicine conglomerates of criminal drug distribution. How long have we known about these practices in brick and mortar care...? Answer: decades! Take it from someone who prescribed stimulants and other psychotropics to kids over the years - painstakingly measuring and documenting the need and impact - these appalling abuses by Done and Cerebral mean we need more calls for thoughtful pause when it comes to working with startups. Particularly about funding's role - my favorite topic! 🤑 How did we end up with venture capital and PE financing in healthcare that risk the safety of kids in the name of exorbitant returns? Not that all VC or PE dollars are bad, of course, but they're certainly key drivers who shouldn't be in that seat. Did we underestimate these funders as 'barbarians at the gate', much like the pharma reps of the 90's and early 2000's heyday? Have we not learned from Purdue Pharma's aggressive and deadly Oxoycontin marketing? Purdue pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid $600 million in fines in 2007. Or TAP Pharmaceutical Products's Lupron kickback scheme for the prostate cancer drug? TAP also pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid $875 million in fines in 2001. Or Pfizer marketing Neurontin, an anti-seizure drug, for off-label uses, such as treating pain and bipolar disorder, even though the drug was not approved for these purposes, and paying physicians kickbacks. In 2004, Pfizer pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid $430 million in fines. Cerebral and Done's playbooks were practically the same thing, just with a modern mid-pandemic, low-regulatory scrutiny, digital-platform twist. Will appropriate regulation ever outpace American venture greed? Is it even possible to ensure patient safety AHEAD of tragedies driven by the intersection of innovation and venture funding? If you're keeping score, healthcare regulatory reactivity: 1 million. Healthcare ounces of smartly preventive policy: 3. Blech. 😖 When will we finally own that prevention in-house? #healthcare #overdoseprevention #suicideprevention

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I’m excited to share what we've been obsessing over for the last six months! Introducing Threshold Health, a unique patient engagement platform that puts healthcare operators in the driver's seat of modern care gap closure campaigns. Shockingly, only 1 in 20 US adults is up to date on their recommended preventive care, such as cancer screenings or blood pressure testing. This statistic is paradoxically low, especially given the increasingly direct financial incentives tied to increasing population-level care quality. When my longtime friend and now cofounder, Dr. Doug Murad, and I started exploring why patient engagement is so low, we quickly discovered a recurring pattern. Time and again, we heard from passionate operators across diverse healthcare organizations who struggled to mount effective patient engagement campaigns, often waiting until the last few months of the contract year to close important care gaps in their patient populations. In almost every case, these operators seemed to be building campaigns from scratch, deploying blunt tools like bulk SMS, physical gift cards, and manual call centers, and relying on lagging indicators of success. Unsurprisingly, these efforts were operationally expensive and often fell short of their targets. Dr. Doug and I aim to empower healthcare operators level up their patient engagement with campaigns that are cheaper, better, and faster than building something themselves. To do this, we’re building a self-serve platform that makes it easy for operators to rapidly launch and iterate on modern campaigns that integrate well with their existing care coordination workflows. If we’re successful in this first step, we will have a vehicle to deliver an increasingly sophisticated library of campaign templates and next-generation patient engagement technology. So far, we’ve developed a prototype that allows operators to go from zero integration to a modern deployed campaign in fewer than 10 clicks. We’re excited to run our first pilot in mid-July and continue developing the product with 2-3 launch partners through the rest of this year. There's a lot left to learn -- I plan to post regular updates and lessons here. Reaching this level of conviction took a lot of time—not just from me and Dr. Doug, but from numerous experts across various fields who have been extremely generous in sharing their expertise and feedback. I especially want to thank our network of advisors: Daniel Croymans, MD, MBA, Benjamin (Benny) Axt, Indira Gowda, Ivo Vlaev, Suruchi Kothari, MD, Melissa G., Christian Spier and many others; our investors Jane Wang and Saumitra Thakur at MedMountain Ventures; and our first full-time employee Joe Bonneau. Also, shout-out to Shirley Mao and rvnway for designing and building our new website: https://threshold.health With all that said, we’re open for business! Let’s chat :)

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Transforming Healthcare System: How Supply Chain Innovation Drives Health Equity and Bridges Disparities — Bright Chimezie Irem In the ongoing effort to bridge health disparities, reduce health gaps/inequities while increasing health equity, optimizing health and pharmaceutical supply chains emerges as a crucial strategy. Bright Chimezie Irem looked into how these supply chains, integral to healthcare delivery, can be effectively managed to enhance health equity, particularly in the last-mile population & hard-to-reach regions. In my work on - https://lnkd.in/dT-2A748 - I began by examining the challenges in health and pharmaceutical supply chains and their direct impact on #healthequity . Inefficiencies in these systems often lead to medicine shortages and inaccessible healthcare, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. Highlighting the role of government and policy-making, I explored how governmental interventions, through policy frameworks and regulations, can streamline supply chain processes and foster public-private partnerships. These collaborations are critically essential in leveraging private sector efficiency for public health benefits. A focal point of my presentation is the innovative model of AfriPharm Medicals Group, which exemplifies how private sector strategies can address public healthcare challenges. AfriPharm's approach in tackling supply chain inefficiencies showcases a scalable and sustainable model, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in enhancing health equity for better health outcomes. Furthermore, I discussed the strategies for successful last-mile delivery, ensuring that essential healthcare services and products reach the most remote areas. This is vital for achieving true health equity. Measuring the success and impact of these initiatives is crucial. I looked into various #metrics and methods used to evaluate #supplychain optimizations, highlighting their significance in continuous improvement efforts. Looking ahead, I discussed future directions and innovations in #supplychainmanagement, emphasizing the role of emerging technologies and digital transformation. Optimizing health and pharmaceutical supply chains is a collaborative journey. By integrating innovative strategies, governmental support, and private sector efficiencies, we can significantly advance towards equitable healthcare access for all. #Read my full article on: https://lnkd.in/dT-2A748 Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity #ExchangeAlumni - Alumni Affairs - State Dept.#ExchangeAlumni U.S. Department of State | Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy Mandela Washington Fellowship YALI Network #HealthEquity #SupplyChainOptimization #PublicHealth #Pharmaceuticals #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalTransformation #GlobalHealth #HealthPolicy #SustainableHealthcare #LastMileDelivery

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At Medium, public health isn’t just another vertical. It is something all of us are really passionate about. And we think of an engagement in public health as an opportunity to address some of the extremely difficult, but crucial, challenges in healthcare across the world. We are driven by a deep desire to make an impact at scale to help create healthier families, more efficient healthcare eco-systems, and communities empowered to manage their own health. That’s the future we strive to build with our clients: be it foundations, donor agencies, impact funds, governments or CSR initiatives of large business houses. We have proven capabilities in Identification of Impact Opportunities, Public Health Data & Analytics, Research & Insights, Programme Design, Impact Assessment, Strategic Planning, Health Communication, Digital Health Innovation and Emerging Technologies. Here is a glimpse of some of our most exciting work in public health: >>  Helped a global not-for-profit organization focusing on innovation in diagnostics with insights to develop diagnostic solutions aimed at febrile illness. We conducted in-depth interviews with a diverse range of stakeholders across the country to arrive at some rare and high-impact insights >>  Conducted a comprehensive assessment of digital initiatives addressing maternal malnutrition aimed at lower-income households and applied strategic framework to help our clients identify the ones with high scaling potential >>  Helped develop public health information strategy for a group of countries by leveraging international benchmarks for disease surveillance and data management and conducting comprehensive assessment of current policies and capabilities. >>  Based on available data and insights from on-ground research, we conceptualised a service delivery model to improve healthcare outcome at community level in two specific regions in Eastern and North India for the CSR initiative for a large corporate house >>  Backed with insights and our core expertise in healthcare delivery, we conceptualized a chain of primary care clinics specifically focused on the urban poor as a hybrid model leveraging brick-and-mortar physical outlets and AI-backed technology. Interested in learning more about how we can support your public health initiatives? Contact us today! Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation PATH FIND World Health Organization UNICEF IFC - International Finance Corporation Clinton Foundation USAID Jhpiego Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) NITI Aayog Official Sight and Life AVPN India Health Action Trust AVPN Tata Trusts Piramal Swasthya Cipla Foundation Acumen Omidyar Network Villgro Aavishkaar Capital #PublicHealth #HealthcareConsulting #PopulationHealth #SocialImpact

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Physicians and other health care professionals must be engaged about the use of AI. We can't have a "wait and see" approach. Please check out the recent position paper by American College of Physicians (ACP) on how we should use AI in clinical practice. Honored to be part of the committee putting out this report. https://lnkd.in/eUKWY6xm #artificalintelligence #aihealth #ai #augmentedintelligence

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90% of startups fail. So why do healthcare initiatives at large corporations fail at about the same rate? Many of these were launched with great fanfare but announced closures a few short years lateer. A few reasons might be: 1. Mission but no strategy: it's not enough to have a mission to treat a specific population or group of employees, you have to be in it for the long haul with a strategy that will evolve over time. 2. Misunderstanding of healthcare complexity: many executives believe they understand the problem and use tools from other industries to solve healthcare issues. You can't always bring things that work in banking, finance, retail for example. 3. Execution: rarely does leadership hire people who have a track record of execution in healthcare. I'm talking about people who have been able to gut through the losses. This is probably the biggest misstep. You agree with these reasons? What would you add to these? #healthcare #failures https://lnkd.in/etzZywnK

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Healthcare in the U.S. is in crisis but value-based care estimated to add $1 Trillion in value. You nailed it. Irem Rami, Sam Lesser, Suraj Shah, Unmesh Srivastava #healthcare #medicare #healthequity

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We need to highlight more bootstrapped healthcare companies. I rarely see founders of these small businesses profiled at conferences or in the media. The chances of building a $100M+ revenue healthcare company are very slim. But that’s the expectation once you accept VC funding (especially Series A and beyond). Let me remind you, most healthcare companies do lower revenue than total capital raised. And you can build a wonderful life and help your community with much lower revenue / growth, if you take minimal or no funding. And believe it or not, most VC-backed founders are fascinated by founders and business models that didn’t require external capital. Do you agree? Or would you prefer media and “influencers” to focus on venture-backed and publicly traded companies? Sometimes I feel like I’m shouting out into the void. Because majority of content is focused on the unicorn chasers. Would love to hear from founders of bootstrapped companies in the comments?

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Walmart is exiting healthcare. This doesn’t surprise me. Walmart was never designed for healthcare, it was designed for retail. Everyone wants a piece of the $4T pie, but it’s a pie full of indigestible ingredients that would make the biggest companies choke. Especially companies that were never built for healthcare. - fee-for-service doesn’t work, especially with very low fees - relying on legacy payors doesn’t work - using insurance for primary care doesn’t work - not paying providers enough doesn’t work - having a clinic next to gardening supplies doesn’t work Throwing millions at healthcare doesn’t automatically work with a large base that comes to you for something else. I believe a properly built and well-executed healthcare startup that “thinks differently”, will eventually move the needle on improving the American healthcare experience. It’s coming, and will surprise everyone.

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You’d probably have to spend thousands of dollars to learn the skills I share here, for free. ------- I’ve written messaging and content strategies for countless healthcare startups, 100+ healthcare stakeholders – at all different growth stages. And, about a year ago, I decided to share much of what I've learned here. I do this to sharpen my expertise and remind myself of what works and doesn't. But, I also do this because I know that not everyone is ready, interested or able to hire the support. So, I share what I know, connect with those I wouldn't have otherwise, and sometimes gain new clients in the process. Here are a few healthcare communication topics I tend to cover: 💉 Aligning messaging to your growth stage 💉 Framing data in a nuanced, ethical way 💉Crafting a inspiring, forward-looking narrative 💉Communicating through my "Trifecta" lens 💉 Protecting brand reputation 💉 Bridging gaps between stakeholder preferences 💉 Crisis comms expertise These tips will help you successfully communicate your vision and get in front of the people who will cut you a check. Here are 4 ways you can gain access to my expertise: 1) Sign up here 👉🏻https://lnkd.in/daGUeB3e for my free quarterly newsletter, The Check-Up. (and make sure to sign up before the next release tomorrow, July 9th – I’m so excited to share this one with you!) 2) Keep following me here on LinkedIn and look out for information about my FREE webinar in August - on identifying and engaging with the right stakeholders for business growth. 3) Join my Digital Workbook waitlist to build your own messaging foundation with a step-by-step manual, 25+ templates to keep you on track and communication insights based on 15 years of client expertise https://lnkd.in/dtfm7wxg 4) Book a 30-minute call for complementary, personalized expertise on organizing your company's communication strategy https://lnkd.in/dRwCMA8c #ContentEngineer #HealthcareMessaging #Communication #Founders

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Here’s your recap of last week’s health IT news 🗞️ Notable partnerships 🤝 • Kaiser Permanente is partnering with Innovaccer to incorporate their population health and AI platform        • MUSC Health adopted Andor Health’s ThinkAndor in its ED to reduce wait times and “leaving without being seen” rates.      • Upperline Health is partnering with Navina to improve clinical workflows and improve the accuracy of patient histories.      • Intermountain Health deployed Nuance Communications DAX Copilot, an AI ambient scribe solution.      • PA Clinical Network is partnering with Guidehealth  to improve outcomes and care quality while improving physician efficiency. Product updates 👩🏼‍💻 • Klara released a new patient intake product for athenahealth users.    • Baton Health released Universal Primary Source, giving users access to hundreds of primary source databases for credentialing.    • InsightRX released InsightRX Apollo, an analytics platform that provides insights on clinical performance.    • Trovo Health launched with a $15 million seed round, offering specialty-specific AI combined with clinical experts to help practices add to their capabilities.    • Quest Diagnostics acquired PathAI’s diagnostic laboratory business (PathAI Diagnostics) to improve Quest’s oncology services.    • GenHealth.ai launched its Automated Prior Authorization platform.    • Veradigm® is partnering with MedEvolve, Inc. to make its suite of products available to Veradigm users.    • CLEW announced availability of a newly FDA-approved patient surveillance platform. Posts we enjoyed 👏 • Eric Topol, MD shared a compelling piece reviewing the state of research on AI in medicine. In short, we’re seeing our first early evidence that AI can reduce mortality as a research endpoint, but large language models are not yet the panacea we’ve been promised. (https://lnkd.in/e6hK-4mr)    • Nikhil Krishnan of Out-Of-Pocket shared a deep dive on Stedi, which converts X12 EDI into JSON-based APIs for healthcare tech developers. (https://lnkd.in/eqS9V5zW) --- Want to stay in the loop? Sign up for the Elion Briefing to get all of the latest healthcare tech news delivered to your inbox 📬 👉 https://bit.ly/49z6AUW

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The vicious cycle in healthcare is as follows: Health insurers decide to lower reimbursements (thanks CMS) and add more hoops to jump through in order for a physician to get paid for the work that they've done. The physicians now seeing their reimbursements go down, and more requirements for "billing" start to try and regroup by hiring more billing/coding/prior authorization specialists. The new staff/infrastructure that is required to bill/collect costs money, so the physician now tries to see more patients to make it up. More patients require a larger space with more staff This keeps happening over and over again, to where now the physician is seeing as many patients as possible while being as efficient as possible. Eventually they come to a point where they have maxed out their patient load and efficiency, and are still losing money due to decreased reimbursements and increased overhead. In comes hospital systems and private equity to scoop it all up. The physician sells their practice. Now the physician is employed with full loss of autonomy while still having to maintain the same work load. Burnout city. Or you can get out of the vicious cycle by doing direct care and cursing it all back down to hell where it came from. How? I poured all of my knowledge into my insurance free medical practice course. I wish I had it before I started, it would have saved me a lot of time and money! #healthcare #medicine #businessofmedicine #directcare

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What does the health tech landscape look like at present? We were delighted to answer that question and share our views with HTN - Health Tech News on the critical issues currently shaping the industry. Along with the other contributors, we discussed various challenges and offered practical solutions for overcoming them. This is an insightful exchange that highlights the importance of collaboration and innovation in addressing these pressing concerns. 📈 Key Themes Were: - AI & Workforce Management: How AI can alleviate burnout and improve scheduling. - The role of AI: How AI plays a part in optimizing healthcare operations. - Market Consolidation: Understanding opportunities and challenges in a competitive market. - Data Security: The importance of securing patient data and improving interoperability. - Patient Engagement: Leveraging digital tools to enhance patient care. And a recurring theme is the need for collaboration and innovation, which is certainly close to our hearts. When we work together and share knowledge, we drive progress in the industry. This also includes working with healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders to develop solutions that meet their specific needs, not through guessing but through checking, collaborating, and using real-time data. Have a read to understand how these trends impact healthcare efficiency and patient outcomes... 👉 Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3xBpF7m #HealthTech #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare #AIinHealthcare #DigitalHealth

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