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Return of the House Call

April 10, 2016 by CW

Health Connect South

Return of the House Call

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Return of the House Call

We sat down with Sam Zebarjadi of Medicast on this week’s show. This company is using technology to facilitate the return of the house call as model of healthcare delivery. Founded in 2013, Medicast is a healthcare technology company that enables hospitals and health systems to deliver care in a patient’s own home. Medicast’s platform, Virtual Practice, is used by organizations to send nurses and doctors to patient’s homes as an alternative to traditional primary or urgent care visits in a clinic—often in 2 hours or less from the time a visit is requested.

Medicast is a Techstars and StartUp Health company, and was recently recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the top disruptive healthcare companies to watch in 2016.

Check back soon for more information!

Surviving With Incurable Breast Cancer – Top Docs Radio

April 9, 2016 by CW

Top Docs Radio

Surviving With Incurable Breast Cancer - Top Docs Radio

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Surviving With Incurable Breast Cancer

This week I sat down with breast cancer specialist, Dr. Amelia Zelnak, of Atlanta Cancer Care. We talked about patients dealing with incurable breast cancer or they have a malignant recurrence. Pfizer, maker of several medications used to treat various cancers, have launched an initiative, “Breast Cancer: A Story Half Told”.

This effort aims to expand the breast cancer conversation on multiple fronts. As the website states, “Earlier this year, Pfizer unveiled the results of two complementary studies that uncovered gaps in the breast cancer conversation within society at large and between patients and physicians in the doctor’s office, and along with leaders in the breast cancer community issued a public call-to-action to expand the breast cancer dialogue to include metastatic disease. Breast Cancer: A Story Half Told – Supporting Workplace Conversations aims to identify gaps in the current conversation about breast cancer and the workplace, and encourage healthcare professionals and employers to join together with women with breast cancer to better address their unique workplace needs.”

We talk about this and more. Check back soon for more info!

Cobb County Chamber of Commerce

April 5, 2016 by CW

Midtown Business Radio

Cobb County Chamber of Commerce

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Cobb County Chamber of Commerce

I am pleased to launch a monthly episode featuring the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and businesses serving the Cobb County business ecosystem. Cobb CC’s Event Manager, Ashley Warner, joined me in the studio and brought with her several cool entrepreneurs, several of them members of the chamber.

Jeff Curtis, of OfficeZilla, came by to talk about how their office supply company combines a personal, relationship-driven focus through their service representatives, with a helpful ecommerce platform through which they conduct their business.

OfficeZilla was founded in 2012 with the belief that the Office Supplies industry was ready for a fun,

flexible and customer-obsessed way of doing business. In fact, OfficeZilla was founded by some of the

original founders of Cold Stone Creamery, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Inc 500 company Flip Flop Shops!

He explained that the “big box” stores only account for ~30% of the office supply market, something I found surprising. Given the remaining potential client base out there, the OfficeZilla folks engage their customers and help them optimize their office supply procurement process to be as efficient and lean as can be to maximize the client’s business.

Georgia Crafted was started by Erin Zwigart and her husband after a growing desire to have a business of their own. After having spent ~13 years working for a marketing firm, she was ready for something new. Erin shared how she and her husband had had numerous conversations about the fact they wanted to start a business but could not decide how they wanted to go about it.

She explained that after a particularly long evening of discussion (and a beverage or two) ~three years ago, they decided they would start a company that focused on selling products from Georgia-based companies. Some digging revealed there were no significant competitors in that niche and so Georgia Crafted was born.

Their ecommerce site provides custom gift baskets and items, all manufactured in Georgia. Erin introduced us to one of her suppliers, Austin and Hunter Johnson, who founded Sinclair’s Sauce, makers of a variety of condiment sauces from homemade recipes Austin developed.

Austin, a recent University of Georgia graduate, began getting into cooking to impress the ladies. (much like my own inspiration that led to me being a foodie) Austin shared how he began experimenting with creating sauces to serve with food he was preparing. As he shared them with people around the dorm, he was getting more and more requests for more.

He ultimately found a cold packing company and began to have it produced in bulk. Austin recruited his younger brother, a junior at Chamblee Charter High School, Hunter, to become Brand Ambassador. While the young men are able to sell a good amount of their product via channels such as Georgia Crafted, they are focusing their efforts on forming relationships with condiment makers and the food industry to provide their sauces as licensed products there.

Beth Summers heads business development for Roam–Galleria, an innovative work space that places emphasis on the look and feel of their shared office facilities and conference rooms. The founders, having done much of their telecommuting at previous jobs in coffee shops, decided they wanted to create a comfortable, visually-inviting space that offered a feel along those lines.

The company has four Atlanta area locations and offers a range of options for the small business or executives who work remotely but want to have access to an office space, meeting room, or conference space. They provide reception and access to all amenities one would expect in a well-appointed office.

Special Guests:

Ashley Warner, Events Manager, Cobb County Chamber of Commerce

Jeff Curtis, Principal, OfficeZilla

Erin Zwigart, Founder, Georgia Crafted

Austin Johnson, Founder, Sinclair’s Sauce

Hunter Johnson, Brand Ambassador, Sinclair’s Sauce

Beth Summers, Director of Corporate Sales, Roam–Galleria

Halyard Health Provides Alternative To Opioid Pain Meds

April 3, 2016 by CW

Health Connect South

Halyard Health Provides Alternative To Opioid Pain Meds

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Halyard Health Provides Alternative To Opioid Pain Meds

The current opioid abuse epidemic has been called the worst drug crisis in American history. Death rates now

rival those of AIDS during the 1990s, with overdoses from heroin and other opioids now killing more

than 27,000 people a year. People across the country are asking themselves: why? What are the forces

causing this issue, and what can lawmakers and the healthcare community do to curb it? At the heart of

the epidemic is the shift in opioid prescribing practices: in 1991, doctors wrote 76 million prescriptions

for painkillers.

In 2012, that number tripled, with healthcare providers writing 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers – enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.1 Most addicts aren’t introduced to opioids through the black market; they are far too often prescribed by their doctors as part of standard treatment protocols for treating postoperative and chronic pain.

On this episode we were joined in studio by Kevin Friedman, medical director at Alpharetta, Georgia-based Halyard Health. The company manufactures two non-narcotic alternatives – COOLIEF Cooled Radiofrequency and the ON-Q* Pain Relief System – for chronic and post-operative pain, respectively. Kevin shared actionable steps to address the opioid crisis and how patient/provider education, coupled with non-opioid therapies such as these for pain management, play a critical role in reducing the rate of occurrence of opioid addiction due to prescription use.

Halyard Health is a global medical technology company focused on preventing infection, eliminating pain and speeding

recovery. Just as a halyard fuels forward movement, Halyard Health’s clinically-superior products and remarkable

service help to advance health and healthcare worldwide. Halyard sells its recognized brands and products in more

than 100 countries, and holds leading market positions in multiple categories across the portfolio. Formerly part of

Kimberly-Clark, Halyard became an independent company on November 1, 2014.

For more information, visit

www.halyardhealth.com.

Special Guest:

Dr. Kevin Friedman, DO, Medical Director, Halyard Health

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, Nova Southeastern University
MBA, IU Kelley School of Business
Former Flight Surgeon, US Navy

Telemedicine – Top Docs Radio

April 3, 2016 by CW

Top Docs Radio

Telemedicine - Top Docs Radio

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Telemedicine

Today’s technology, particularly internet, communications, and mobile platforms, is empowering disruption in the traditional healthcare delivery model. Telemedicine is an emerging trend that shows no sign of slowing and my guests on this episode focus on this platform for delivering high quality care.

In some ways, mobile technology is bringing us full circle. The “House Call” is back and being seen by a physician and/or other health professional in our home or other location outside of a doctor’s office, urgent care, or ER will likely be as common as it was decades ago, if not even more so.

Telemedicine is taking advantage of these technology capabilities to put patients together with healthcare professionals virtually and in some cases, through a combination of someone sitting with the patient facilitating an exam while another provider is connected to the interaction via video/telephony.

TeleHealth Solutions is a consultancy that works with healthcare organizations and practices seeking to add telemedicine to their delivery model. The company is able to evaluate the client’s goals and determine (hopefully prior to any expenditures on equipment/platforms) the best platform for achieving those objectives.

In some cases they may even advise the client to hold off on adding such a platform, depending on what they were expecting it to do, avoiding large costs for something that will ultimately not be used. Turner Smith explained how there are often unseen pitfalls around launching such a delivery model, so working with experts such as himself and his team can insure desired patient outcomes are achieved while making financial investments in the right technology/service.

Glenn Pearson spent nearly 20 years leading the Georgia Hospital Association. As such, he’s well-versed in the in’s and out’s of how hospitals do business, make decisions regarding technologies they will deploy (or NOT deploy), and factors that can make what seems to be a great idea for a solution that will ultimately fail to be adopted.

He’s leveraging that experience at Pearson Health Tech Insights, providing consulting services for tech companies who are developing (or plan to develop) technology solutions that will serve the hospital/health system space. He and his team can help the tech developer potentially pivot their solution if needed, or in some cases do some redesign before going to market. In this way, just as Turner’s firm helps tech buyers purchase wisely, Glenn’s company helps the developer have greater probability of success in getting their technology adopted.

I met Tanya Mack a couple of years ago on her show Doctors Roundtable here on Business Radio X. She is now leading a company called, Women’s Telehealth, a virtual physician practice comprised of maternal-fetal specialists and high-risk pregnancy OB’s.

These healthcare experts are able to link up with a hospital or group’s existing telehealth technology to provide the medical expertise needed by moms in high-risk pregnancies. With value to both urban and rural areas, Women’s Telehealth is allowing organizations that do not have high-risk OB specialists on staff, to be able to handle many of these patient needs, allowing the organization to simultaneously meet a patient need, while keeping them in their delivery system rather than losing them to a competing hospital.

Special Guests:

Tanya Mack, President, Women’s Telehealth

Turner Smith, VP of Business Development, TeleHealth Solutions

Glenn Pearson, Principal, Pearson Health Tech Insights

Businesses With Integrity

March 30, 2016 by CW

Midtown Business Radio

Businesses With Integrity

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Businesses With Integrity

I continued our series with Life University’s Dr. Gilles LaMarche, focusing on business leaders with integrity. The series is a lead-in to Life University’s Life Talks World Congress event coming up May 12-13. The 2 day event will be featuring numerous subject matter experts on relationships, personal and professional, and various aspects of our lives where we can improve how we experience others and how they experience us. Last year’s event was very popular with its attendees, with many proclaiming it to have made significant impact on their lives for having gone.

Gilles introduced us to Chuck Papandrea, of Life Leadership (unrelated to Life University). His firm works with businesses seeking to increase morale, productivity, and customer satisfaction through improved communication and leadership. He has seen his small- to mid-sized business clients experience major turn-arounds in morale and employee retention, coupled with growing revenues as employees begin to truly personalize their work and the company.

Bo Wilkins of SoundRiver advisors works with business owners and entrepreneurs to help them plan and execute transition of their business through successful sales or migration to heirs/family. He talked about how challenging it can be for a busy owner to effectively manage the business and coordinate what is a multi-person team who needs to be evaluating and in some cases modifying elements of the business’s financial plan and execution.

Bo explained how important it is to begin planning for a transition 3-5+ years ahead of an anticipated move to sell or transfer the company, as it can take that long to have all elements lined out that affect sale value and pay-outs, viability of the business after the owner moves aside, etc.

He introduced us to Steve Hunter, of Greene, Holcomb, and Fisher. With offices in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle and Atlanta, is an investment banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, private placements and financial advisory services for the middle market.

At Greene Holcomb Fisher, experience from nationally prominent investment banks and leading law firms is blended with senior-level attention and entrepreneurial ingenuity to deliver creative services to high quality companies. The firm’s investment bankers specialize in the Consumer, Food & Agribusiness, Healthcare, Industrial Products & Services, Business & Education Services, Technology and Energy & Infrastructure sectors. Greene Holcomb Fisher provides global reach through Clairfield International. For more information, please visit www.ghf.net and www.clairfield.com.

J Cornelius of Nine Labs stopped by to talk about how his company helps companies insure they are effectively projecting their brand across digital platforms such as website and social media, and mobile devices. The company also provides consulting services that seek to clearly identify the client’s true customer base such that messaging will be appropriate to meet the needs of that customer, who is often not who the business initially thought they were.

With a complement of experts in branding, digital media, and web design, J’s team at Nine Labs help companies to know the time and revenue invested in their website and branding is actually achieving the desired goal and allowing it to create the ROI that should come with such efforts.

Sabetay Palatchi, of Just Military Loans shared information about their service, providing active duty and military veterans with access to needed capital through small loans and other options. He talked about some of the challenges military personnel face getting access to loans such as frequently moving and/or being deployed, which occasionally results in negative credit events. Just Military Loans is able to work with military personnel with a personalized approach that helps them re-establish their good credit and take care of personal business in need of funds.

Special Guests:

Dr. Gilles LaMarche, DC, VP of Professional Relations at Life University

Chuck Papandrea, Member, Life Leadership

Bo Wilkins, Partner, SoundRiver Advisors

Steve Hunter, Managing Director, Greene, Holcomb, Fisher

J Cornelius / Nine Labs

Sabetay Palatchi, Partner, Just Military Loans

Metro Atlanta Chamber Driving Bioscience Growth

March 28, 2016 by CW

Health Connect South

Metro Atlanta Chamber Driving Bioscience Growth

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metro atlanta chamber of commerce — Kornelius Bankston of MACC talks bioscience.

Metro Atlanta Chamber Driving Bioscience Growth

The Metro Atlanta Chamber exists for one reason – to help Atlanta thrive. From recruiting businesses to tackling policy issues, MAC’s efforts in metro Atlanta are designed to promote prosperity and growth for you and your business. Georgia’s bioscience and health IT industries are responsible for almost $30 billion in annual reported revenue and 120,000 employees.

The Health IT industry in Georgia already leads the nation with more than 200 companies and more than $4 billion in annual reported revenue and 15,000 employees. The bioscience industry is also firmly rooted in the state, with more than 100,000 jobs and an annual economic impact of $23 billion.

As the national economy rebounds, Atlanta has the potential to create thousands more jobs per year in these two sectors. Whether you’re with a FORTUNE 500 business or putting in sweat equity in a startup, this is the city that can help you create a solid future.

Connect to these vibrant bioscience and health IT communities is through the Bioscience and Health IT Leadership Council. Join peers, including McKesson, Merial, Alcon, CDC, American Cancer Society, CyroLife, CardioMEMs and others who are leading the industry with cutting-edge innovation – tackling common goals. Council subcommittees focus on branding Atlanta as a center for global health and clinical trials as well as marketing the state as the “Nation’s Health IT Capital” to attract even more companies and high-quality jobs.

Special Guest:

Kornelius Bankston, Director of Bioscience, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce

WellCare of Georgia and Diabetes – Top Docs Radio

March 28, 2016 by CW

Top Docs Radio

WellCare of Georgia and Diabetes - Top Docs Radio

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Dr. John Johnson of WellCare of Georgia talks diabetes

WellCare of Georgia and Diabetes

Dr. John Johnson is the Senior Medical Director at WellCare Health Plans, Inc. – which is one of the Medicaid CMOs in Georgia. His areas of responsibility include utilization review, care management, quality improvement and clinical outcomes. Dr. Johnson graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Rutgers. He completed his residency at Emory University Hospital. Dr. Johnson is Board Certified in internal medicine.

He also has an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. Dr. Johnson owned and operated a practice in Douglasville that cares for patients with acute and chronic medical conditions for more than 13 years. Before joining WellCare in 2014, Dr. Johnson was the medical director for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. While there, he oversaw utilization review and case management for more than 600,000 State Health Benefit Plan patients. Dr. Johnson is a member of MAG, the AMA, and the American College of Physicians. He is a also colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves Medical Corps.

Diabetes is becoming more common in the United States. It afflicts more than 29 million Americans, including more than one million Georgians. One quarter of the people who are affected by it aren’t aware that they have the disease. An additional 86 million people have pre-diabetes, which means that their blood glucose (sugar) is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetic. Estimates project that as many as one in three American adults will have diabetes by 2050.

In addition to its detrimental health effects, the American Diabetes Association reports that the U.S. spends $174 billion a year to treat the disease. The primary risk factors for diabetes include being overweight; sedentary; over the age of 45; and having a family history of diabetes. African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders are at an increased risk for developing the disease.

Diabetes is the nation’s seventh-leading cause of death. It is also a leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, new cases of blindness, heart disease, and stroke. A significant number of Georgians who are struggling with diabetes, particularly those in low-income and medically underserved populations, do not fully understand how to manage diabetes on a day-to-day basis.

WellCare is working to address the needs the diabetic population by collaborating with patients, providers, family members, and the community using a variety of mechanisms, including value-based care, telemedicine, field-based case management, the patient-centered medical home, and advocacy.

Special Guests:

Dr. John Johnson, MD, Senior Medical Director, WellCare of Georgia

Doctor of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Board Certified, Internal Medicine
MBA, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Colonel, US Army

Donald Palmisano, CEO, Executive Director of Medical Association of Georgia

JD Law, Loyola School of Law
Board of Directors, Physician Advocacy Institute
Medical Payment Subcommitte Member, State Board of Workers’ Compensation
Treasurer, Board of Directors, Physicians’ Institute for Excellence in Medicine
Former Director, Government Relations/General Counsel/Director, GAMPAC

Orange Theory Fitness of Georgia

March 22, 2016 by CW

Midtown Business Radio

Orange Theory Fitness of Georgia

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Orange Theory Fitness of Georgia

I hosted the Area Developers for Orange Theory Fitness of Georgia, Laura Salatino, and Stacie Vaillencort. These two entrepreneurs brought the fitness concept to the Atlanta area and they’ve grown rapidly in the metro and in Georgia.

Orangetheory Fitness (www.orangetheoryfitness.com) is the energizing group personal training, interval fitness concept that is sweeping the nation. Backed by the science of excess post-‐exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)

, Orangetheory Fitness is a 60-‐minute workout broken into intervals of cardiovascular and strength training. Participants burn from 500 to 1000 calories per 60-‐minute training session (individual results vary), using a variety of equipment including treadmills, rowing machines, TRX suspension training™ and free weights. I burned 818 calories in my workout session at OTF.

The physiology behind the Orangetheory Fitness workout involves heart-‐rate -‐monitored training designed to keep heart rates in a target zone that stimulates metabolism and increases energy. The result is the Orange Effect– more energy, visible toning and extra calorie burn for up to 36 hours post-‐workout. Orangetheory Fitness studios are designed to motivate.

Highly qualified personal trainers inspire participants to beat plateaus and stick to their goals. The dynamic created by working out in a group setting has proven benefits– support, energy, endurance and accountability. This is the

psychology behind Orangetheory Fitness. Each modern studio welcomes participants with upbeat music, state

-‐of-‐the -‐art equipment, contemporary lighting and art. Studios are spacious and clean, with separate men’s

and women’s locker rooms and showers.

And, if you are a business owner or executive, OrangeTheory Fitness offers corporate group rates that allow you to simultaneously provide a terrific benefit to your employees while enjoying decreased healthcare benefits costs as your employees become more and more fit!

Special Guests:

Laura Salatino