Re: New technologies that may be useful

[Guest guest]

Oh and I'm leaving, I'll see you in a few.. LOVE YAAA SMOOOCHHH

On Jan 22, 2008 3:00 PM, loaded_vasdeferens <no_reply >

wrote:

>

> Below is an news article about a firm that records doctors visits for

> research. Imagine it is used to research endo visits and how patients

> are complaining and doctors are ignoring the complaints; and, what works

> and what doesn't.

>

> http://www.philly.com/philly/business/13761417.html

> <http://www.philly.com/philly/business/13761417.html>

>

> Listening to doctors and patients talk

>

> A Fort Washington firm offers health-care clients a chance to hear what

> they say to one another.

>

> By Loyd

>

> Inquirer Staff Writer

>

> When Zaccary Newsham-Quinn, 4, visits his pediatrician in Levittown, the

> doctor, Zankman, asks if he would be willing to have their

> conversation recorded for use in medical research.

>

> Zaccary's mother, le, agrees, and signs a consent form, and the

> doctor turns on a small digital recorder that captures every word

> between the physician and patient behind the examining-room door.

>

> Later, Zankman sends the recording via computer, along with others he

> made that day, to a Fort Washington start-up technology company,

> Verilogue Inc.

>

> Verilogue has software that analyzes the real-time patient-physician

> interactions, compiles a verbatim transcript, and puts the recording and

> transcript in a database that Verilogue clients in the health-care

> industry will use to learn what doctors and patients actually say to

> each other about diseases and medicines.

>

> These exchanges are kept confidential and anonymous, with the names,

> ages and any identifying information, even a location and city, removed

> to meet strict federal privacy standards, in a law known as HIPAA,

> governing personal health information.

>

> Capturing real physician-patient interactions is new to pharmaceutical

> market research. The idea came from Verilogue's two young founders, Jeff

> Kozloff and Jamison Barnett, both 31, who had worked in pharmaceutical

> market research, and who saw a need to go beyond traditional recall

> methods, such as focus groups and interviews based on memory after the

> fact.

>

> " The idea is, by increasing access to information where it's truly

> happening, at the point of practice, you are increasing knowledge, and

> will be able to come up with better support and communication materials

> for physicians and patients because they shared their experience, " said

> Kozloff, Verilogue's president and chief executive officer.

>

> Verilogue has been up and running since late 2006, and has nine large

> pharmaceutical clients and a network of participating physicians

> nationwide.

>

> The company maintains a database of thousands of patient-physician

> conversations, which are scrubbed of names and other identifying

> information.

>

> Doctors record their interactions with patients during two days each

> month, and are paid what Verilogue said is a nominal fee for their time.

>

> Last year, Verilogue had revenue of between $1 million and $5 million.

> In December, the firm was named " technology start-up company of the

> year " by the Wayne-based Eastern Technology Council.

>

> Verilogue recently raised its first venture capital, $4 million, from

> Edison Venture Fund in Lawrenceville, N.J.

>

> " This is unique. No one is doing it in quite this way yet, " said Carolyn

> Choh Fleming, a professor of pharmaceutical marketing at St. ph's

> University. " That doesn't mean there won't be fast followers, when

> something is a good idea and profitable. But being the first to market

> with the idea is a big plus. "

>

> Zankman, a pediatrician for 44 years in Levittown, said he received a

> fax in October from Verilogue about the technology and thought it

> sounded " interesting, fascinating, really. "

>

> " I do it a couple days a month. I choose the days, " the physician said.

> In the three months since he began recording patient visits, Zankman

> said he has concentrated on four medical conditions, chosen by

> Verilogue. They are fairly common pediatric ailments: allergic rhinitis,

> asthma, persistent asthma in a child less than 4 years, and

> attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

>

> Because the patients are children, their parents must give consent, and

> Zankman said so far he has not been turned down.

>

> When Zankman asked le Newsham, 29, if she would be willing for

> Zaccary's office appointment to be audio-recorded and used for research

> by companies, she quickly said yes.

>

> " We're here quite frequently. I look at it as helping medical research, "

> said Newsham, a single mom who lives in West Bristol and owns a daycare

> center.

>

> Zaccary has persistent asthma and several other medical issues, she

> said. " I'm a firm believer in science and technology. If companies could

> learn something from conversations about my son's condition, maybe it

> could help someone else. "

>

> Verilogue's technology allows pharmaceutical and biotech firms to hear

> first-hand from customers, get a glimpse of the patient's state of mind,

> progression of disease, and what is said about the company's medications

> - or a competitor's drug.

>

> " It's marketing 101, " said Kozloff, a graduate of the Wharton School.

> " Listen to your customers, in their natural environment, without any

> outside influences. "

>

> Verilogue says a growing number of health-care companies are buying the

> information, including major pharmaceutical firms. " We don't share

> specific names, " Kozloff said. " You could throw a dart and probably

> guess who they are. "

>

> To attract physicians, the company sent e-mails and faxes, targeting

> specialty doctors, such as oncologists and psychiatrists who are paid

> for their time. The company said the fee is similar to stipends paid to

> medical investigators in other clinical research.

>

> son, founder and managing partner of Edison Venture Fund and

> a Verilogue board member, said the company has about a dozen clients and

> several hundred physicians participating across the country.

>

> " We've not seen anything at all like this, " he said. " They use fairly

> straightforward recording technology, but very sophisticated analysis of

> that. "

>

> Barnett, Verilogue's vice president, said the real patient-physician

> conversations are often " eye opening " in what they are not about. They

> sometimes don't discuss the patient's condition at all, but rather talk

> about family, or about sleeping habits. Sometimes a product, or a

> medicine, isn't even mentioned.

>

> Verilogue's customers pay for access to the information on the Web.

>

> The company said its eventual goal is to make the data available to the

> broader health-care industry - and to the physicians and patients who

> participate.

>

> " We are not the next Google, but we are revolutionizing our own segment

> in the industry, " Kozloff said. " The physician-patient conversation

> behind closed doors is the epicenter. The long-term value of what we are

> doing has tremendous upside potential for everyone in the health-care

> continuum. "

>

>