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 Vitamin C and OBMedical Company

On this episode of Health Connect South Radio we hosted the CEO and co-founder of Vitamin C and President/CEO of OB Medical Company.  These two companies are creating technology innovations that help two distinct groups, physician practices and expectant mothers in the birthing process, respectively.

Vitamin C’s Osama Hashmi realized that increasing focus on population health management measures meant a need for greater engagement with particular patient groups.  In order to effectively manage chronic diseases such as diabetes or even regular wellness follow up, practices often need to interact with patients to get these visits scheduled.  In many cases, patients won’t take initiative to schedule them themselves.

Hashmi and his colleagues decided to create a platform that interfaces with existing EMR’s that allows providers to ID target populations and create a variety of pre-created content for distribution to patients.  In some cases, it’s a pre-recorded automated phone call that can encourage the scheduling of a follow up visit.  In others, it may be an automated call that queries the patient for particular data such as vitals or blood sugars, quantity of exercise, etc.

In still others, it may be a text or email generated that goes to the patient.  In this way, the providers are able to more effectively “scale” their resources to be able to reach what is often hundreds or even thousands of patients with necessary contact to facilitate follow up.  The end result is better patient outcomes as well as increased revenue for the practice due to scheduling of necessary, yet high-Revenue visits (based on time/acuity).

OBMedical Company saw an opportunity to improve upon monitoring technology used in the OB delivery room.  As I spoke with President/CEO, Weaver Gaines, he explained the technology for the fetal heart rate, contraction frequency/intensity, etc. have not really changed in roughly 40 years.

Today, mothers are tethered to a monitor by wires leading to sensors that are held in place by elastic velcro straps that encircle the mother’s abdomen.  They are challenging to keep in position and can provide limited accuracy in cases where the mother is particularly obese.

OBMedical Company has designed a monitoring device that uses wireless electrodes that measure electrical current through the patient’s skin rather than having to rely on skin tension.  This allows the mother to be able to ambulate in the room during labor while continuing to be monitored.  Additionally, it allows for greater accuracy when the mother is obese.

Osama Hashmi, CEO/Chief Product Officer, of VitaminC        

• Doctor of Medicine, College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University
• Master of Public Health, University of Georgia
• Previous Policy Director, Roosevelt Institute, University of Georgia
• Former Research Assistant, Stanford University

Weaver Gaines, President/CEO of OBMedical Company  

• Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
• Director and Treasurer, Dance Alive National Ballet
• Chairman, Board of Directors, Florida Research Consortium
• Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia School of Law