To start this series, I interviewed Bill Snyder, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Vivante Health. First, about his experience at the 4th annual HLTH Conference. More importantly, we discussed how his company’s product can help GI patients thrive between doctor visits.
HLTH attracts more than 6000 attendees from across diverse sectors of healthcare. It has emerged as a conference that features an impressive list of speakers as well as a rich networking environment. Thus, I was delighted to be a media representative at the HLTH Conference from October 27 to October 30, 2019.
Bringing my usual four thought-leader lenses (business consultant, analyst, practitioner, patient), I sought out innovative companies and ideas to share. I spoke with many interesting people at the conference. Out of these interviews I developed a series of blog posts on cool people and novel products that have potential to enable personalized autoimmune care. See for example, this post on SonarMD as well.
Highlights of HLTH
For Bill, it wasn’t the brilliant lights of Las Vegas that caught his eye. It was the brilliant individuals and ideas that drew him to the HLTH conference.
“HLTH did a great job bringing in so many diverse viewpoints about the future of our industry. The atmosphere at HLTH provided the opportunity for thought leaders to openly discuss the many challenges and opportunities ahead. It serves as a great reminder that we should always be striving for new ways to improve the health of people everywhere.” – Bill Snyder
I certainly agree with Bill. He emphasized how HLTH created a space in which entrepreneurs with different angles on the health industry could converse and exchange novel ideas.
These new ideas emerge with potential to change the health landscape for the better. Therefore, the question posed by Bernard Tyson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, “How will history remember us?” was particularly fitting. Tyson’s session was a personal favorite for Bill. But he also took away many meaningful messages from other speakers. Such speakers challenged him to contemplate and reflect on Vivante Health’s position and impact on the industry.
Let’s return to the question of “How will history remember us?” My team and I often think about how we can work with companies now to help future generations thrive. In our search for companies that align with our mission, we were particularly thrilled to come across Vivante Health.
Thrive with Vivante
Vivante Health is an innovative digital healthcare company reinventing how to manage chronic diseases and conditions. By applying the best of technology their product can serve users where they are today. Vivante understands that each person is unique. But all require support for both mind and body, in and out of provider appointments.
To realize this mission, they have created a cutting-edge gut health program called GIThrive®. It includes various components: proprietary devices, nutrition plans, support tools, and educational information. GIThrive shows us how to approach care from more than one perspective.
Our gut instincts tell us…
Vivante Health’s all-in-one digital gut health program, GIThrive, has the potential to make a difference for many individuals.
With more than 70 million Americans who live with some sort of digestive disorder (twice the number of diabetes patients)1, we need fresh approaches to gut health. Ones that are less expensive, less confusing, and more effective. Approaches that manage the unpredictable course of GI diseases better than the current system. One that advances beyond generalized treatments, awkward care coordination, frustrated, suffering patients and growing system costs.
GIThrive does just that. It integrates eight components into a multidisciplinary approach. The platform applies advanced science and technology to offer support and personalized treatment to improve overall quality of patient care.
Filling the gaps
Together, these eight components give users much-needed support between doctor visits. Backed by human care teams, educational information and 24/7 Gut-Side Assistance™, GIThrive ensures users are never alone in their health care journeys.
Features such as the GutCheck at-home microbiome test kit and the GIMate® breathalyzer device put scientific insight and health data in its users’ hands, no lab visit required. Not only does this empower better self-care, but it also enables a truly personalized approach to health and nutrition. Vivante Health knows there are individual differences that must be recognized and accounted for. These include not only variation between patients with different diagnoses, but also subtle differences between people with the same diagnosis. It even tracks changes within individuals undergoing flares. GutCheck and GIMate® gather additional information from the patient that is integrated into the other components to fine tune care plans to each individual.
This product features many useful tools that permit patients to spend less time feeling sick and more time living life. At least as important, it produces significant cost savings for health plans and self-insured employers. It does this by closely monitoring patients to reduce the number of costly doctor visits, drugs, tests, and surgeries. This is a win-win for both patients and payers.
Future of Vivante: More autoimmune diseases, please!
Bill said Vivante Health wants to “first make sure we are doing right for the patients we are serving today.” They are also continually making improvements. For example, ensuring that the GIMate is a reliable and accurate device while improving their user interface to make it more useful. Not just useful, but enjoyable and seamlessly integrated into their users’ daily lives.
At Your Autoimmunity Connection, we believe that patients need better care collaboration and coordination, especially between doctor visits. We want autoimmune patients to access the best of conventional, functional and digital medicine. With an expanded and personalized toolkit, patients with IBD can maximize their well-being on any given day. We like the way Vivante meets the needs of people struggling to manage their chronic GI diseases. We would love to see them expand their approach to other diseases to serve the needs of Lupus and Rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Sources
- National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Opportunities and Challenges in Digestive Diseases Research: Recommendations of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health; 2009. NIH Publication 08–6514.
