Vitagene Named a Finalist for 2016 Innovations in Healthcare™ ABBY Awards

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For the 17th time in as many years, nine of healthcare's most innovative companies have been selected to present their health IT, diagnostic, and medical device solutions, along with novel approaches for reducing the cost of quality care, at the ABL Organization's Innovations in Healthcare™ Awards Event, on October 26, 2016, in Long Beach. The event, which is presented by the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization, is widely recognized for assembling and presenting organizations from across the country whose approaches and technologies are making dramatic inroads in the quest to improve health outcomes - while reducing its cost.

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Among the Finalists for the 2016 Innovations in Healthcare™ ABBY Awards is San Francisco, California-based Vitagene, which is leveraging genomics science to offer physicians a platform for data-driven care, delivering highly customized products and services for optimal health. Vitagene's first product is a highly personalized supplementation regimen for its members, offered through partnering physicians, and generated through Vitagene's web-based dashboard and proprietary algorithm, which utilizes patient DNA, lab results, and lifestyle information, as well as a vast knowledge base of research data. Individuals receive a membership subscription for monthly supplements, tailored to their unique health profile, and their physicians receive actionable reports.

The ABBY Awards were inaugurated in 1999 (before "Value" was a dominant word in the healthcare world), in recognition of the fact that healthcare was simply getting too expensive. Clearly, if medical trends were to continue to escalate, quality healthcare would be out of reach for all but the country's wealthiest citizens. And, even though today more Americans have health insurance, without innovations that enable the medical equivalent of "better, faster, cheaper," medical spend will continue to spiral out of control, and tough medical problems will continue to go unsolved.

Mimi Grant, President of ABL, and creator of the Innovations Awards Event 17 years ago, commented: "This year's nine ABBY Finalists are truly exceptional, with companies that span diagnostics, medical devices, health IT, and service solutions that address a wide range of significant health issues. As a requisite, all the nominees' devices have been approved by the FDA for use in the U.S. market. And all the solutions, even if they didn't require regulatory approval, demonstrated significant metrics that they are improving clinical outcomes, and reducing the cost of providing quality care. Increasingly, it will be innovative companies like these that will not only win ABBY Awards, but will be big winners as the healthcare industry continues its shift from 'volume to value,' and prepares for the costly onslaught of the 'silver tsunami.'"

At the October 26 Event, following the nine live presentations made by the leaders of the Finalist companies, the audience will cast their secret ballots to determine the three Winners who will take home the coveted ABBY Awards. Also at the Event, Joe Kiani, Chairman and CEO of Masimo Corporation, will make a keynote presentation and receive the annual "Leadership in Innovation" Award. Attendance at Innovations in Healthcare™ is open to all ABL Members, as well as non-Member senior executives of healthcare providers, payers, health IT, medical technology, and services firms.

In addition to Vitagene, the 2016 ABBY Award Finalists are:

Dallas, TX's Bloodbuy's patent-pending technology connects hospitals and blood centers nationwide, to ensure the efficient distribution of lifesaving blood products to patients in need. The company has created an open exchange where suppliers of blood throughout the nation can be matched with buyers of blood at any point in the country. By providing direct access to a diversified base of industry-leading blood centers, Bloodbuy ensures that acute care facilities avoid overpaying for blood products or encountering supply shortages. Bloodbuy also enables blood centers to seamlessly reach and serve a broader base of hospitals and blood centers across the country, thereby increasing inventory turns, reducing wastage, and accelerating growth in this challenging environment.

Irvine, CA's GD Biosciences' PULS Cardiac Test is a simple blood test that identifies individuals who are at risk of experiencing a heart attack, and for whom early intervention can help. The PULS test measures the body's immune response to arterial or endothelial injury that leads to formation and progression of cardiac lesions that can become unstable and rupture, which is the most common cause of heart attack (causing up to 75% of all cardiac events), contrary to the commonly held mistaken belief that narrowing of the arteries causes most heart attacks. The PULS Cardiac Test provides physicians with this information so that, with patients, they can take preventative action early on, when it is most effective, to improve patient care and potentially prevent death or disability.

Tukwila, WA's Genoa Healthcare's integrated care model, that features onsite pharmacies within community mental health centers, produces higher medication adherence rates than community pharmacies, as well as lower rates of hospitalization and lower emergency department utilization for the patients that use Genoa's onsite pharmacies. Millions of individuals with mental illness do not take their medications as prescribed, limiting their ability to overcome often debilitating symptoms and leading to higher healthcare costs, while centralizing clinical and pharmaceutical care for mental illness results in higher rates of medication adherence, which helps people live productive lives and reduces healthcare spending.

Redwood City, CA's HeartFlow, Inc.'s HeartFlow FFRct Analysis is a web-based platform that aids clinicians in diagnosing coronary artery disease, and provides personalized, actionable information to physicians to manage each patient. The technology solves millions of complex equations simulating blood flow in the coronary arteries to provide mathematically computed fractional flow reserve (FFRct) values. The result is a personalized color-coded model of the patient's coronary arteries that aids physicians in determining, vessel-by-vessel, if sufficient blood is reaching the heart. The innovative technology has been proven to reduce the need for invasive and costly procedures previously performed to diagnose patients suspected of having coronary artery disease.

San Francisco, CA's Honor provides its clients with family-quality care and companionship in their own homes, giving the client and their family the support and tools to manage care from anywhere. Every Honor Care Pro is vetted, screened, qualified, and paid significantly more than the industry average, enabling Honor to attract and keep the best of the best. Honor also utilizes an Honor Family app, which provides real-time notifications and details about who's coming when, and allows contact with Care Pros before, during, and after visits. Honor Care Pros are equipped with an app that allows them to record notes from each visit to share with family members, other aides, and doctors. Honor offers flexible pricing, from one hour to 24-hour care.

Mountain View, CA's Livongo has developed a new approach for diabetes management that combines the latest technology with coaching. By offering the right information, tools, and support, at the right time, the Livongo for Diabetes Program provides its members with real-time, personalized insights and support to make diabetes management easier. Livongo members demonstrated a reduction in HbA1c, a common test used to measure blood glucose over three months and an important indicator of how well it has been managed. This substantial improvement reduces the likelihood of long-term complications. Livongo's approach is leading to better financial and clinical outcomes, while creating a better experience for diabetic patients, and their care team of family, friends, and clinicians.

El Segundo, CA's Medical Tactile Inc.'s SureTouch offers a painless, radiation-free, screening clinical breast examination with immediate and accurate digital results. The SureTouch device incorporates proprietary tactile sensor technology formed into a high-resolution, handheld pressure sensor array used in conjunction with processing algorithms to identify masses in breast tissue. This digital enhanced sense of "touch" allows SureTouch to dramatically improve upon the limit of lesion size and depth detectable by conventional manual palpation techniques. The exceptional portability of the device combined with the ability of a nurse to perform exams without needing a physician present allows screening to be delivered in the community, removing common barriers of inconvenience and access.

La Palma, CA's The Innovation Institute is focused on transforming healthcare through the development of innovative new products, services, and ideas. The Institute is an incubator that helps nurture ideas and brings them to market to improve care delivery, eliminate waste, and extend human life. Its "Advancing Healthcare Innovation Through Collaboration" initiative facilitates innovation among health system physicians, nurses, and employees, giving them the resources they need to turn a thought for improvement into an actual, tangible, implementable medical product. Innovations submitted, which have so far ranged from software to medical devices, are evaluated based on their capability to provide a better solution that can lower costs.

Past ABBY Award Winners: 

Previous ABBY Award Winners include numerous companies that have made breakthroughs and transformative advances in medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, information technology, and electronic solutions, as well as organizations that have applied innovative systems and technology to providing care and coverage, decreasing the numbers of uninsured, and engaging healthcare consumers more actively in their care and health status - all with a view to reducing the cost of quality care.

About the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization: 

Since 1983, the Adaptive Business Leaders Organization (ABL) has networked its Members to help them grow great companies through its Healthcare and Technology CEO Round Tables. Each month, Members leverage each other's skills, expertise, and connections, in a confidential, personal advisory board setting. During each session, Members share best practices with their non-competitive peers as they share "What's Up?" and tackle topics like: "Profiting from the Golden Age of .Gov Health Programs," "How to Avoid Being the Next Ransomware Attack Victim," "Launching New Growth Initiatives: What Works?," and "New Care Approaches for the Fragile Elderly." Also, each session has a Featured Member or Guest Speaker who makes a Strategic Advisory Board presentation, imparting valuable insights and in return receiving leveraged feedback from the Group.

ABL Members are also encouraged to attend frequent ABL Workshops and Conferences. The largest of these is the Innovations in Healthcare™ ABBY Awards event. Other events held in 2016 include the 13th annual Top Tech Trends; Meet the Money: What Investors Want Now (held in both Newport Beach and San Francisco); Positioning to Win with MACRA; and a Member Social. In addition to the Members' peer mentors, each Round Table's professional facilitator serves as an objective business advisor, offering executive and industry insights.

ABL's Healthcare Round Tables are held in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento. ABL's separate Technology Round Tables are held throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

ABL Contacts: Laura Grant, Events Director, at 714/245-1427, or Janet Rich, Publications Manager, at 509/481-7461

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SOURCE ABL (Adaptive Business Leaders) Organization