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
Janae Sharp, Founder The Sharp Index
Wecome 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.
Janae Sharp 0:30 Welcome, five good things. I'm Janae sharp, and I'm introducing us today. I'm the founder of the sharp index, and I'm thrilled to sit down with Megan Antonelli, my friend and the founder of health impact live to talk about five good things.
Megan Antonelli 0:45 Hi Janae, hi everyone. It's great to be here. It's a wonderful time to be talking about five good things because, well, there's not that much good happening. As far as I can see. The election has cast a bit of a shadow over my optimism and my feminism and women's health in general. But we're going to do this anyway, and we're going to look for the bright spots, the good things. And there are, as there always are, even though it might take us a little bit longer to cut through some of the headlines good things in healthcare this month, and I just got back from the American Heart Association meeting, which was such, such a good thing, and I love to do it. Every year the health tech competition, we had five amazing finalists who are all working in, you know, saving lives and cardiovascular heart health. The winner was a group called powerful medical with a incredible ability to assess using AI powered tools. EKG is, you know, whether they're paper or electronic, and to be able to, you know, assess and predict heart failure. Very, very early on, we had Star, star judges, which included Star Jones this year. Super fun. And she pretty. She offered the gave the awards with Nancy Brown, who's the head of course of the American Heart Association. So that was super cool. And then heck, health, who actually attended our meeting in New York in June? Yes, them the value based care play and cardiovascular heart health. So really great competitors, and we they also had flow medical, which was exciting. They were a finalist. They are a device that clears pulmonary embolisms, which, of course, is near and dear to my heart because, oh yeah, did not have the tool.
Janae Sharp 2:57 My sister tried to drive herself home from the hospital when she was having one.
Megan Antonelli 3:01 Oh, gosh, that's no good, yeah, but, but overall, just a great event. They get so many and I've said it so many times that I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but I just love going to it so much because the physicians are so excited about healthcare and technology. They're so excited about new tech and innovation, and they all sit in the pavilion and watch Pat Dunn's amazing sessions. He put together three days of full programming. We had a lot of the past winners. It was super fun. So it's just great. And to see that, you know, I mean these physicians who are cardiovascular surgeons, and we just have in our head, we have that their ivory tower, but they're not, and they're excited about technology, and they're innovative, and there's a diverse group of them, and it's nice to see. And I think the American Heart Association is a very in itself, diverse group with lots of, you know, lots of things going on. And of course, I'm working for health technology and innovation on the competition. But there is also another good thing,
Janae Sharp 4:05 yeah, I also like heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, and I've been able to go to some events here in Charlotte with Casey kalpin from premier Inc. They invited some of the people here and like just to watch some of that work and how much people care about it, and the energy is great.
Megan Antonelli 4:23 So Red For Women initiative is great. And of course, they've just brought in a couple months ago now, I guess one of your favorites, yes, a digital health and you know the founder of the sweetener mentor program for women, so a huge Women's Health proponent.
Janae Sharp 4:45 And our second good thing is Lisa, well, it's the $75 million venture capital fund specifically for women's cardiovascular and brain health function. And there's a big. Parity in how much funding happens for women versus men. So I think we should always bring attention to it, like we need more people who are just going to share that, like there are already 55 million can like and committed the Go Red For Women. Fund aims to bridge capital critical No, to bridge critical gaps in health care and talk about women's unique challenges. So the initiative really works, and it complements the social impact thing, and it complements the technology that that is being innovated there.
Megan Antonelli 5:34 Yeah, I mean cardio cardiac arrest and heart attacks was so long a, you know, a sort of a men's disease and so much focus was there. And certainly, I mean, if you've ever tried to wear one of these devices that you're supposed to, you know, track how things are going, you know that they're not designed for anyone who doesn't have a completely flat chest. So
Janae Sharp 5:53 widowermaker just doesn't sound as good. No, right? No. It doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same, right?
Megan Antonelli 6:00 One of the companies that I think I was, maybe it was the first year, was bloomer tech, which was actually it's a basically a bra that you can wear post, you know, sort of surgery or post an incident, so that you can measure and design for women and and by women. So it's, I'm excited to see the companies and innovators that they, you know, they find no there's no one better to do it than Lisa. So we're excited to to see what comes from that. And along the same funding thing, there were a couple articles in around women's health from Forbes, uh huh, and kind of the the just where money is going and that there's a lot of attention. I think, I feel like we talked about the M movie, the menopause movie, in our last segment. But of course, that came went public, you know, and it's gotten a lot of press, and, you know, there's lots of money going into femtech and women's health,
Janae Sharp 7:01 right? It's great to know that people are realizing that women exist. Also,
Megan Antonelli 7:07 we're not going to vote for them, but we exist.
Janae Sharp 7:10 Yeah, and, like, I really wanted to share things like, Emmy, we've interviewed them before. Like, they don't share your data. Think about that. Ladies. Floyd released a report about how this was covered in the article from Forbes, talking about the market, and how people are realizing that this exists and you can make money there, like we should invest there. And the market, the femtech market, is expected to hit 100 billion by 2032 according to that report. And some of those that momentum. It's, it's been started and supported by First Lady Jill Biden and Melinda French gates. We hope that will be a bipartisan issue that you know, women, both, both of us can, all of us can care about women.
Megan Antonelli 7:58 I hope, I hope I take care of women's health. Sure, yeah, like, it would be good.
Janae Sharp 8:04 And people, people did ask, the article does ask that, like, what, what's going to happen next and, and those outlooks, those matter. And I think a lot of women that I know, they're asking, like, what's going to happen next for women, and what's going to happen to funding?
Megan Antonelli 8:18 And then there was, there was another one too, the pivotal open call by pivotal had a action for women's health. I think they have a two, $50 million global call, you know, looking for applicants for funding. So, you know, we'll put the link in the chat, and you can, you know, explore that too. So lots of opportunities. Let's get to it. Let's focus on women's health and making sure you know, progress doesn't stop there, right,
Janae Sharp 8:51 right? I feel like women, women can really move things forward. And it's nice to see some of those things. They also release the Peterson Health Technology Institute purchasing report, so we can see, like, are people just talking about it, or people spending their money like, you know,
Megan Antonelli 9:08 right? And you know, to sort of transition to another thing we like to talk about a lot, which is evidence for digital health and digital health, digital health working. And another fabulous woman in health IT, which is Meg Baron, who's over there at the Peterson Health Institute. And they are, you know, released a couple controversial studies. There's definitely
Janae Sharp 9:31 people that like it, like, yeah, necessarily, Peterson helped the overlap there. It was honestly interesting on LinkedIn. I mean, thank you both for making LinkedIn interesting for me that day, like, there's a good thing discussions where they are important, because we wonder, why, if it's so logical and it's so good, why are people not doing it? So I was glad that that was brought up. Like. Have another one?
Megan Antonelli 10:02 Well, I do. I mean, I think to go in a little bit there, I think what's interesting is, you know, and we've talked about this today, we talk about it with a lot of our guests around, you know, digital health point solutions, and how well can they work when they work in isolation, and you evaluate them and and, and, you know, the payers and employers are coming at it from a different place than, you know, what an individual might be looking at from a value paradigm. And so, you know, we have to take all of those studies, and we have to take all of it to sort of look at it, you know, again, holistically, to see what does really work, and how we're going to connect it all. Because I think so much of the, well, it doesn't quite work here, and it's not working there is because we're looking at it, you know, in the vacuum that it's being tested in. And that's just not how healthcare is. It's not how the human body works. And not only is it just, you know, our bodies, but the environments that we're in. And there's so many, so much, you know, so much impacting that. But I do think that the work that they're doing is shining a light on how to, you know, validate and assess these technologies, and that's what's really, you know, that's the, that's what, what's important, and then figuring out, of course, how to work with health plans and employers and health systems to figure out, you know, what is it that they're measuring and what they what do they care about? Right? So it's good. Good work. Mega Baron, good work, pH, T, I, and there are a few more on evidence, right?
Janae Sharp 11:37 Digital dime the evidence.
Megan Antonelli 11:40 Correct? Another greatlibrarian, another great woman, Jennifer golds, the director, executive director of digital medicine society, also an Olympic swimmer. What she is amazing. And they are releasing finally. You know, I was waiting for some organization to do this, but they've put together kind of a database and a seal to really evaluate trustworthy digital health solutions. So they've got a group of experts and and, you know, they're doing that to get some transparency through through the digital health market, which is great. So and both Meg Baron and Jen goldsat are going to be at health impact in January.
Janae Sharp 12:25 I love that we're going to love having them. And elevance health also did. Is that related to this? It
Megan Antonelli 12:31 for sure, is, I mean, elevance being a payer, but they've just launched a social needs investment lab around the community health workers and, you know, kind of bringing those interventions and medical tailored meals, and they have an evidence assessment library. So it again, the focus and effort coming from all different parts of the organization, or all stakeholders within healthcare to, you know, assess evidence and bring those digital health tools making an impact to market that
Janae Sharp 13:08 speaking, there's another woman and a bipartisan issue that I happen to care a lot about. The Lorna Breen act is up for refunding, and there are tools, and Stephanie Simmons is the chief medical officer there, she's physician, and she's shared some great news, which is that 34 licensure boards have taken out stigmatizing questions for physicians in licensure so, so
Megan Antonelli 13:35 for our audience members who might not understand the significance of that, Janae, why don't You tell us a little bit more about
Janae Sharp 13:41 that? That's a great question. So there are different different levels of licensure. Physicians are leveled at the state level, and then a lot of times their identities and their credentialed at the individual level, the healthcare system level. Sometimes those those questions included questions about your entire health history, like your entire mental health history, and they asked some pretty stigmatizing questions, like, if you had ever had a baby and had, like, postpartum depression, like your entire health history would be included there. And you know, the American Medical Association advised against it, and other groups as well, and it was really something that a lot of people came together on to say, this isn't something that should be here, not all. I think it was like even the attorneys agreed. So, like, we don't want to get sued for violating the ADA. So states, there are states, are coming out to say we won't ask those questions on their medical licensure exams. And I like that. That's great.
Megan Antonelli 14:49 It is good
Janae Sharp 14:50 and and really, with some of that funding, like it's up for re support today, just this year, to refund. The Act which improves reasons. Those are two different things, like one, we're making some progress here. You know, people are agreeing that, yeah, we will, we will remove the stigmatizing questions. We're going to make it better. And then people are also saying, you know, we also should invest more and know more to about protecting our healthcare workers and about protecting mental health. So, right?
Megan Antonelli 15:24 Because it's not just about, you know, the the individual, so much as is what it says about our stigma with mental health, right? Why should that be a, you know, disqualifying or qualifying question on this, you know, on this type of thing, and it, you know, getting rid of that is moving, you know, the needle and in the right direction, and getting to a place where it's less stigmatizing, you know, for healthcare workers to manage their mental health appropriately, which, you know,
Janae Sharp 15:55 is, yeah, and we want to protect them, and we want to protect patients. So I think that's great news. Like, we can share stuff about how to get involved with that. I think through a lot of the frustration people have, like, all all the Facebook fights with everybody, it's nice that people care about mental health. You know, people can agree this is something we need to work on, and that's a nice place to be, to realize that there are still people who want to do this work and who are going to do great work, right? That's my good thing, right?
Megan Antonelli 16:30 Well, and that's a good reminder, I think, in in the context of this, and having talked to Dr Matthews today and Abby levy about their good things as we look at what good things are coming, and it may seem a bit grim, you know, well, I liked Dr Oz for for many years, until
Janae Sharp 16:51 I was on the Oz show. You knew I wasn't going to be able to resist. You brought it up and it's your fault. Like, okay,
Megan Antonelli 17:00 Why, Janae, were you on the Dr Oz show?
Janae Sharp 17:03 I got to talk about John dying. It was interesting. There was, like, some miscommunication, like, so the story got a little bit changed. But I will tell you something. I got to share the story about about John dying, and He's so charismatic, and his staff had been with him for nine years. I don't necessarily have, you know, similar political views, but I that man is pretty charismatic, and I hope that people are able to care, you know, and there's a lot of good work
Megan Antonelli 17:41 to, I think, you know, Gita nares, you know, sort of, I think she posted about it a little bit. I mean, charisma is leadership, and, you know, it is a good leadership quality, and it can, it can help in a lot of ways, and bring attention to good things and good work being done, and there's certainly no shortage of work that needs to be done in Medicare and Medicaid. Whether it's the only qualifier you need, you know, that is debatable, but it is not.
Janae Sharp 18:13 That's not, that's not on the good thing.
Megan Antonelli 18:16 Is there a staying with the good things. But to that end. You know, there is a lot of work to still be done. And I think, you know, one of the good things that that came through the election, and the the brief election series that we had was the group of women online, Missy Krasner, and that group, you know, sort of women. You are in it too, Women for Women for Kamala. And they've just released a noticing that, you know, they're going to continue to organize, Lori McGraw, and that group will will continue to do things, and that's a good thing, because things need to be done. And you know, there's no shortage of that, and that gives us purpose as as Doctor Matthews from city block health, said there's no shortage of things to be done, and you know, we can organize and continue to focus. So yes, so
Janae Sharp 19:10 we're excited for good things, we hope you you better share our podcast. Everybody who's listening and message us. Tell us what your good thing is, and if you're frustrated, that's also something you can message us. And
Megan Antonelli 19:22 my my last good thing, which, of course, we have, another one we're excited about, is we have confirmed our keynotes for health impact in January. Good thing, it's a big deal. And I had the pleasure of meeting Chelsea Clinton at an AHA meeting, and again at health and she is, you know, a fantastic public health advocate and investor with through her metrodora Ventures. So she will be interviewing three of her founders on stage at health impact in January. So we are super excited about that among the you know. Number of amazing speakers and keynotes that we have, I mean, so
Janae Sharp 20:03 and what's the nonprofit that's involved? Because they're a big deal too. Oh, my
Megan Antonelli 20:07 God, also a good thing. We are partnered with road recovery, who is a nonprofit founded by Gene Bowen in based out of New York, but national programs for mental health teens in recovery and mental health programs where they use music to, you know, help these kids through through tough times. And they they have an incredible story around when they were in the pandemic, because they were based in outpatient facilities, and they had to take the whole thing virtual. And so we have, we are, we have a few charity opportunities available, and things in the works, and we may even be getting a surprise concert and guest happening. So I can't speak to that, but it might happen. So maybe that will be our good thing in December.
Janae Sharp 20:57 I think there's, there's just such great work like and it's so nice to see how people are using their using their celebrity, or using their platform to do good things for kids, kids with addiction and kids who have had mental health challenges. I'm thrilled to be part of the event in January, and everybody better come and you know, I don't know. Learn about the sponsorship things. Ask Megan, she knows everything. And I'm thrilled to see our friends there. That is a great thing to close out on, a good thing,
Megan Antonelli 21:32 it is. And everybody enjoy your Thanksgiving. Um, you know, relish in the gratitude and the turkey. Yes,
Janae Sharp 21:40 I love turkey. So thank you so much, and this has been another month of good things.
Thank You 21:50 Thank you for joining us on digital health talks, where we explore the intersection of healthcare and technology with leaders who are transforming patient care. This episode was brought to you by our valued program partners, automation anywhere, revolutionizing healthcare workflows through Intelligent Automation, netera, advancing contactless, vital science monitoring elite groups, Delivering strategic healthcare IT solutions, sell point, securing healthcare identity management and access governance. Your engagement helps drive the future of healthcare innovation. Subscribe to digital health talks on your preferred podcast platform. Share these insights with your network and follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive content and updates. Ready to connect with healthcare technology leaders in person. Join us at the next health impact event. Visit Health Impact forum.com for date and registration. Until next time, this is digital health talks, where change makers come together to fix healthcare.