For the first time, Surfing NASH takes a deep dive into the prospect of digital therapeutics, their ability to drive outcomes and the critical success factors for proper use and deployment. This is an increasingly apt topic which intermittently surfaces on the podcast but has never featured at the center of conversation. The Surfers are joined by Naim Alkhouri and two new guests with prominent focus in this space: Joe Rubinsztain, CEO and Co-Founder of ChronWell, and Mark Berman, CMO of Better Therapeutics.
In this conversation, Joe details the inception of ChronWell and the company’s mission of assisting providers and insurers to deliver optimal care beyond the medical practice with teams empowered by scalable technology. These compounding ideas originate in the advent of electronic health records in the 90s. At the time, many failed to understand the utility in transitioning from paper to digital. Today, the potential of digital health burgeons with opportunity. Joe envisions a future where “computers are treating simple, delimited diseases in a well designed pathway which is augmenting the ability of a doctor to deliver.” He goes on to discuss the role of insurers in this future and explains the nuances which align ChronWell’s identity as a digital platform. Jörn Schattenberg commends the term “augment” because of the need to leverage all tools available in identifying the swathes of unmet patients.
Joe highlights that ChronWell is partnering with both primary care providers and specialists to build understanding around the full spectrum of disease. When considering new generation tools to treat conditions like NAFLD and NASH, he asserts that “we need to think broadly about activating the ecosystem” and removing any friction for the health care provider to utilize. This leads Naim to comment on the importance of still striving to find solutions for all Fatty Liver patients and not just those with clinically significant fibrosis.
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