Five Good Things with Janae Sharp and Megan Antonelli: A rapid-fire segment highlighting positive developments in digital health. Janae and Megan share insights on recent innovations, successful implementations, and emerging trends that are driving progress in healthcare technology.
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT Live
Janae Sharp, Founder, The Sharp Index
Welcome 0:01 Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't. As we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:29 Hi everyone. Welcome to Health Impact, digital health talks. This is Megan Antonelli, and I am here with my friend and colleague, Janae sharp, Hi, Janae, hello. How are you? I'm good. We are here one week before health impact, a couple weeks into the month. But yet, it is almost the third Thursday. In fact, it is the third Thursday of January on only just the 16th day. I don't even know how that happens. Really, it's math. I can't even fathom.
Janae Sharp 1:01 Yeah, it still feels like 2018 to me. So I feel like time is a construct, but we get to talk about good things.
Megan Antonelli 1:09 It is a construct, and it is not our friend this month, this week, or maybe even this year. But, you know, we had a great show today. We've had a lot of good interviews. And you know, we're here to talk about five good things, but you know, I can't really begin to talk about what's going on and the good things until we at least talk a little bit about the fires here in California. And of course, I had a great conversation with Ray Lowe from altamita Health System. And you know, they have, you know, had a clinic that shut down was lost in the in the Eaton fire. And of course, so many of us have friends and loved ones who are being impacted. So our hearts are with them and and really just appreciate all of the first responders and healthcare organizations and individuals who are just doing so much to help all the people here in Southern California. So,
Janae Sharp 2:07 yeah, that's right, you're in your neighborhood, so, and we will be sharing resources of things people can do to help. I know you've posted about that, about some things and and we have a lot of connections and colleagues who are, who are really in the thick of it, and in healthcare, providing services and helping people who are who've lost their homes, and thinking, Yeah,
Megan Antonelli 2:32 I mean, it's, you know, it is so hard to fathom. And obviously, as you begin to think about, you know, which is, they're still burning so, you know, thinking about rebuilding and all of that, but the you know, I just think about the kids who's lost, who have lost their schools, and the mental health ramifications there. And of course, we spoke to our friends and and charity partner for health impact road recovery today about, you know, they're already initiating programs with you know, musicians here in Southern California to help those kids as they, you know, kind of deal with the stress and the emotions from this. Because it is, you know, not only you know, I know it's been five years since the pandemic, but let's face it, it's still, it's still fresh in our memories. It's still really been impacted by that. Yeah, and the kids were so dramatically impacted. And now and now this and, you know, and it's not just, I mean, this fire is is huge and significant, but there's just been so much of these types of, you know, tragedies happening. So it's just, it's a lot for those kids to deal with, especially since we can, we can barely deal with it ourselves, right? So thankfully, we have a lot of mental health and healthcare resources to support that. But as we look at, you know, you know, and then just to talk about also that, what on the session that we have this week, which I would, you know, we're excited to get plans around kind of sustainability and the environment and the importance of that, so all the hospitals that are working toward towards that, and we've got our friend Kamal Bajaj and some other folks speaking about that at health impact. So, you know, it's such, you know, it touches every part of of healthcare. And you know, luckily, there's a lot of people doing good things around it. And as the quote is, you know, look for the helpers in all of this. So we continue to be grateful for that. Yeah. So as we look at our five good things, which we didn't, you know, the world didn't have much time to put them together, because we are only two weeks into the month, really. But I'll tell you, HHS was very busy at the end of the year. So they have made, made, you know, our top, our top two or three here, most recently,
Janae Sharp 4:53 they're big changes. And yeah, we want to thank Mickey Tripathy and say we will miss. You. We have to keep this updated and what comes next.
Megan Antonelli 5:03 I know no longer a Vassar, Vassar grad at the top of ONC or astp, as it may now be called. Do you think they're caught? Is it what are they going asked P or astp,
Janae Sharp 5:16 we can call whatever we want. It's gonna be like me dead naming Twitter,
Megan Antonelli 5:23 you know, right? We can ask Stephen or Stephen, depending on who you are and what it is, yeah,
Janae Sharp 5:28 we'll ask both. I'm glad that we I'm honestly glad that we have both represented in government right now. So that is one good thing. But, I mean, we can also talk about, they hired three new women. There are a lot of things that that we'll be able to talk about for good news from HHS and from from that group. Why don't you start
Megan Antonelli 5:48 So Megan Dirks is their chief AI officer. So they've hired a Chief AI officer, which I always find to be an exciting title, and she's got a great background. And Kristen honey, chief data officer. And, of course, Steve, Steve is going into the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. I'm not sure if that's been his role, but he is up there in the top of the leadership now and then the new CTO, who is her name, another woman, which is very exciting. Alicia wrote, I think I don't know how you pronounce her last name. I'm not winning on my pronunciations today, but great new additions, really great experience, and we're so excited to see what they do. But of course, I think prior to their getting there, there were even, you know, they had their release their AI strategic plan, sort of the roadmap for the use in AI at HHS and public health. So that was a, you know, great thing to see, yeah,
Janae Sharp 6:56 and I think that's significant for healthcare, like finding guidelines and an important guidance about AI with the acceleration and how things are heading in healthcare that's that's going to be significant to our lives. It's already impacting patient lives now, and it's impacting us day to day. So I think some of that the challenge in that we're seeing right now is the speed of development of those and like the challenges and threats that that can face to people's privacy, their health, to every aspect of their lives. So FDA has tentatively approved some devices, so maybe we should start. Should we start with devices like the, yeah,
Megan Antonelli 7:44 release their draft guidance for developers, for AI enabled medical devices too. So in addition to the kind of the strategic plan, they've got this guidance that's open for public comment through April 7, you know, around, you know, that really touches on the entire product life cycle, I think, or, you know, of of medical devices, you know, going into transparency, bias, risk management, all of that so really important stuff you know, that we talk about all the time at health impact. And I think a lot of people have been waiting for that, right? And there's so many organizations that are coming up with kind of voluntary guidances and things like that. But at the end of the day, you know, the FDA is, you know, and their, their word on it is, is going to drive how, how folks are, are able to bring these to market,
Janae Sharp 8:36 yeah. So we'll ask people, they do ask people to leave comments. Also, on February 18, they will have, like, a webinar to talk about AI guidance. So if you're in healthcare, you should attend that it and I think it really talks and and is relevant for our topic of the hospital at home and the expanding nature of healthcare, as each hospital room might have as many as 20 connected devices, and then when we expand to our homes, you can have lots of different devices and and your the security of your information and your healthcare is critical. So I'm glad to see them really prioritize this space, and I think it's something that our audience really can speak to. There's also a session next week where, if people want to learn more, they could come to it
Megan Antonelli 9:28 absolutely. And we will have some folks from HHS attending, and certainly there. So yeah, and you know, and to go back to Mickey, and I, you know, if anything, the sort of legacy that he's left, other than all of these roadmaps and plans for around AI, you know, certainly was, you know, is tefca, and I think we've seen a lot of activity there at the end of the year, particularly around prioritizing AI and tefca to, you know, in. Sure that healthcare is is moving in the, you know, most efficient manner and and the data infrastructure and interoperability is there so lots of good things from HHS and, you know. And
Janae Sharp 10:14 speaking of last year, at the end of the year, they had the acute hospital care at home waiver that dealt with tele tele health and being able to give people care in their homes, and that waiver was extended. So this is something that's really relevant, being able to give people care in their homes, being able to bill for the care that you're already giving, and being able to provide the best care and the best place that hasn't always been reimbursable. So the extended waivers are extended. I think through 2029 is that correct?
Megan Antonelli 10:52 I think actually only 90 days, but I am not sure. I thought it was March of 2025 but I think the okay, you know, again, it's another, it's a silver lining of the pandemic, right? Is that we came away with all this. You know, a lot the framework for telehealth reimbursement. And you know, we want everything else to go away, but we really want those to stick around, because we like healthcare at home. We like those programs, the hospital at home. Programs in particular around Medicare, you know, are really showing value. And the hospital, you know, the hospitals are, you know, building out departments to support that. We also have sessions on that next week at health impact and, you know, and there's a whole, there's an entire market of devices around remote patient monitoring, that it that are developing, you know, and that are doing incredible things. So to, you know, turn the book back and to go backwards when we've made so much progress on this would be, would be a real shame, but it what, you know. I think there's, you know, this was, in fact, part of, you know, part of the bills at the end of the year to keep things open around the government and financing. And it kind of this slipped in. So
Janae Sharp 12:08 hopefully slipped it in. Yeah, right. Hopefully
Megan Antonelli 12:11 it's the prior. It's prioritized and certainly extended through much longer than Mars? Yes, it is a good sign. And, you know, yeah,
Janae Sharp 12:25 we have these temporary measures. We also have a lot of groups that are moving towards leading in that area, towards improving digital health. So one of our things for good news was rice and Houston Methodist developing the center. Was it? Center for neural restoration and some initiatives about digital health?
Megan Antonelli 12:48 Yeah. I mean, I think we've seen a lot coming out of Houston Methodist with their innovation center. And, you know, I think towards, I forget when the news came out, but a digital health institute around that was 2022, deep in the heart of
Janae Sharp 13:01 Texas. They're doing some things, besides just having lots of hurricanes and doing whatever it is. People in Texas do really big. They're doing digital health. Really big.
Megan Antonelli 13:12 Yes, absolutely. And so, you know, I think they've and this, you know, it's always good to see partnerships in collaboration, so with rice and Houston Methodist down there at the Texas Medical Center, although I think that, well, I know that the ion is not not there, but that it's not far, but those two health systems are part of that, and they've launched this program, which is, you know, around expertise in engineering and AI to enhance patient care. So it'll be exciting to see what comes through and what comes out of there with all of our friends down in Houston, in that Texas area.
Janae Sharp 13:54 Yeah, I'm thrilled to see people with better outcomes, and we need them.
Megan Antonelli 13:59 We sure do.
Janae Sharp 14:01 Let's talk about other good news. What else is good?
Megan Antonelli 14:06 So another conversation we had today with Nora latore from eat, real about food is medicine. We will also be talking about that at Health Impact next week, which is amazing. And RJ biscone and a few others, we have Megan Reed from Northwell, who are going to talk about the programs that they have in place. But today, just today in the news, the FDA has banned the use of red dye number three in foods. So I talked to Nora about that, and she was, you know, their group has been actively involved in that, and just you know, in general, getting processed garbage out of school lunches and away from our kids. And here we go. Some good news again from the FDA. The government seems to be busy. I think they might be trying out.
Janae Sharp 14:54 They've been working. They've been working during the weird dead zone between Christmas and New. Years, maybe it looks like it. And I think this is thrilling news, like, I have a kid who has an allergy to food coloring, so I've learned really early that there it's in so many weird foods that you wouldn't think, like, I didn't know they put red food coloring into meat, like, I didn't know how many things we're just putting dyes in there so they look better without thinking about the health impacts. And this is great news, like it's great news.
Megan Antonelli 15:26 It is. It is. And I, you know, the work that Nora is doing over with Eat Real, around the Eat Real certified program, and getting those types of, you know, good foods in schools, I encourage everyone to kind of reach out to her and go visit their website to learn more about how you can get your school involved. I certainly am planning to do it once people are paying attention to that again, instead of everything else that's going on here in California so well,
Janae Sharp 15:54 it's important to pay attention when everything burns down. But long term, it's also important to have healthy foods and and to talk about how our environment and healthcare impact our health, and
Megan Antonelli 16:05 to plan for that, it can't be emphasized more how connected all of that is, right? And so good stuff. And then there was also news, I think, some proposed rules out of out of the FDA around food labels as well as,
Janae Sharp 16:25 yeah, just imagine it. You walk into the store and you look at your favorite box of Lucky Charms, and it says right on there, just how much sugar is on in that box. And you know what my mom, she told us every time. But not everybody has the mom who's gonna tell their kids exactly how much sugar is in it. My kids don't have that mom, but now labels will be available for everyone to see. Yeah.
Megan Antonelli 16:51 And another good thing that, of course, hits my heart and probably, you know, my body and a little bit of a
Janae Sharp 16:58 bad way was I'm sitting here with a snack, right?
Megan Antonelli 17:01 Well, though, no, that's not a good snack. Shenay, there's red guy number five, yeah, this has red dye and sugar. Yeah. She's for those who are not watching us on video, she is holding up a pack of nerds. Red, nerve red. They will be worth money in a little bit. You'll
Janae Sharp 17:18 be Yeah, you guys, I have a couple more. I'll be able to sell those on the black market, on the
Megan Antonelli 17:23 black market, to my kids soon. But the the other good thing to to think about, or, you know, is it a good thing? It's a good thing because it makes people do the right thing and hopefully drives behavior change in the right way. It was the announcement around our you know, other favorite topic is alcohol and how it, you know, causes cancer and shouldn't really be something that we're drinking. And I think that education is an important part of I missed
Janae Sharp 17:50 that announcement. I don't really, you know, doesn't really apply.
Megan Antonelli 17:55 Wait, they've said alcohol is bad for you did. Can you imagine? I mean, who knew,
Janae Sharp 18:02 but Google that'll get weird ads for the rest of the year.
Megan Antonelli 18:05 Yeah, don't google that. It's not necessary, but it is. You know, there's a lot of good focus being placed on what we put in our bodies and how we need to be a little bit more aware of some of the things that aren't very good for us that we do anyway. I mean, there was, there was an interesting article, I think it was in the New York Times around, make America healthy again. And it was basically like, when was America healthy? We've been a group of drinking, smoking, whiskey, drinking, Marlboro men for a very long time. When? What time are we talking about? When were we healthy? And I think it's a very, very valid point, but education is the first step in getting us to a place where we are not a bunch of drinking marble men and women. So moving in the right direction. Well, I have all the panel schedule, panel prep calls scheduled, and I've started talking to folks. And you know, we have Chelsea Clinton coming and interviewing three of the companies that are part of her, VC firm, metrodora, which will be a great session. Then, of course, we have Ed marks and our friend Grace Cordova, who will be talking about the patient patient experience. And you know, where that what we can do to improve patient experience, because we give it a lot of lip service, but what can we do as healthcare executives to really make an impact on that experience. And then what I may you know last, but certainly not least, but I am very excited about, is we have Simon Kirk, who's on the board of road recovery, who will be doing a performance and a giving us a talk and talking about his experience with road recovery. Every and working with these teenagers and helping them on their journeys in mental health through music and also singing some songs to us there in the Microsoft facility in New York City. So I hope everyone will join us there for what promises to be another great health impact. Yes, I think it'll be great. I'm looking forward to it. That's our biggest big news. Next week, we will be in New York. And the thing that I like about our good news and about next week is seeing people, including with road recovery, seeing people that are making positive changes in a practical way. And I think some people get caught in the trap of all these horrible things that are happening, and forget their individual power. We are all able to do great things. And there are a lot of people in healthcare who are doing real
Janae Sharp 20:56 and repeatable things that help children who are in crisis, they help us have better and more responsible artificial intelligence and better health care.
Megan Antonelli 21:08 And I think that's it for
Janae Sharp 21:11 Yeah, I think that's even more than five good things. So we're looking forward to seeing all of you next week and to make a positive impact?
Megan Antonelli 21:21 Yes, well, absolutely. And thank you, Janae, and thank you to our listeners. We look forward to welcoming you at health impact and certainly tune in next time for our next Health Impact live and digital health talks. That's Megan Antonelli, signing off.
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