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BOSTON--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- I-PASS , the gold standard for reducing preventable medical errors and patient harm through improved clinical handoffs, announced today the appointment of Bob Hanscom as a Strategic Advisor. Hanscom will collaborate closely with the I-PASS leadership team to develop and deliver strategies to help healthcare providers drive a culture of safety through communication. Presently, communication failures like those found in unstructured handoffs can lead to medical errors in hospitals and health systems and are the third leading cause of death in the United States, approximately 251,000 annually. Research demonstrates that I-PASS’s structured patient handoffs can dramatically reduce these adverse events by nearly 50%. “Bob has achieved great success during his career in risk management across healthcare organizations, and we’re excited to bring his wealth of knowledge and experience to aid in our clients’ journey to a culture of safety,” said William Floyd, CEO of the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute. “We’re confident that Bob’s experience working within and with providers, payers, insurance carriers, and risk managers, will expedite our team’s efforts to reduce preventable patient harm on a national scale.” Hanscom brings more than 25 years’ experience in healthcare risk management and a deep focus on claims data. He most recently retired from his role as Vice President of Risk Management and Analytics at Coverys. During his nearly decade-long tenure, he oversaw the company’s national risk management services and led enterprise-wide initiatives to strengthen Coverys as a data-and-analytics driven organization. “There are so many theories, ideas, and institutions around what will work to improve healthcare—and I’m incredibly pleased to join an organization that is rooted in proven experience. We know that the I-PASS methodology is effective and efficient; my role here is to help others see the value of this successful solution,” said Hanscom. “I-PASS has a tremendous opportunity to serve as a catalyst of change, bringing together teams and organizations throughout the healthcare ecosystem, and unifying them around a very achievable goal: to reduce patient harm through better clinical handoffs.” Prior to joining Coverys, Hanscom was Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention and Patient Safety at CRICO, an insurance program covering all of Harvard’s medical institutions and affiliates, providing coverage to 35 hospitals, 16,000 physicians and more than 325 additional healthcare organizations and 140,000 clinicians and employees. Additionally, Hanscom led CRICO’s external consulting division, CRICO Strategies. Previously, Hanscom was Vice President of Clinical Services at Lahey Clinic. For more information about working with I-PASS, please email info@ipassinstitute.com . About I-PASS The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute is a clinical leader in patient safety, enabling a standard of care for patient handoffs and closed-loop communication. Founded by clinicians in 2016, the I-PASS Institute leverages expert mentorship paired with technology and digital tools to scale the I-PASS methodology. The I-PASS Institute's solution, the I-PASS Bundle, consists of three core technical components—I-PASS Training, I-PASS Assessment and Improvement, and I-PASS­ eVIEW. When used in unison and with the guidance of an expert coach, institutions can reduce patient harm caused by miscommunication. I-PASS is currently implemented in more than 100 healthcare institutions across the continuum of care. Learn more at www.ipassinstitute.com .

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Upward Health, a risk-bearing, in-home medical group, today announced the promotion of Anubhav Kaul, MD to Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Kaul has been a key member of the Upward Health clinical team since 2020 and served most recently as Senior Vice President, Clinical Excellence and National Medical Director focused on Primary Care. In his role as Chief Medical Officer, he will leverage his expertise to further develop and oversee the company’s clinical programs focusing on outcomes, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. “Dr. Kaul joined Upward Health during the heart of the pandemic, jumping into a leadership role to guide our response plan while quickly gaining the confidence of his colleagues,” said Glen Moller, Chief Executive Officer of Upward Health. “He has a deep understanding for the importance of and innovation available in preventive care with a perspective driven by his experience treating patients in both hospitals and clinics. Our provider team leans heavily on his clinical judgment, and above all, Dr. Kaul always puts his patients first and practices medicine with compassion.” Dr. Kaul is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician and holds a Master of Public Health. Prior to Upward Health, he served as the Chief Medical Officer for Mattapan Community Health Center in Boston, MA where he treated underserved patients, managed medical staff and primary care services, and led quality improvement, patient safety, and risk management initiatives. Dr. Kaul practiced as a Hospitalist at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, MA where he had additionally completed his residency and Hospital Management fellowship. He also served as an Emerging Leaders Board Member for Boston Healthcare for the Homeless and led healthcare advocacy initiatives for both the Lown Institute and Doctors for America. “Upward Health’s whole-person model of care aligns well with my passion for integrating physical, behavioral, and social health,” said Dr. Kaul. “I see our work as an avenue to transform the care of complex conditions by bringing it into the patient’s home and adding technology, like remote patient monitoring and other tools, where beneficial. Each member of our team – from our community health workers to our physicians – plays an irreplaceable role in the care of our patients, and I’m proud to oversee a team with such diverse clinical skills.” Dr. Kaul follows in the footsteps of former Chief Medical Officer, Dennis P.H. Mihale, MD, MBA, CHCQM, who joined Upward Health in 2019. Dr. Mihale will now serve as the Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer where he will be responsible for high-priority projects that focus on innovation in patient care and the company’s overall medical strategy. ABOUT UPWARD HEALTH Upward Health is an in-home multidisciplinary provider that partners with health plans and other risk-bearing entities to address the unique needs of the most high-risk, high-need users of the healthcare system today. Using a unique, in-home community-based approach to meeting a patient’s needs, Upward Health facilitates and delivers care that improves outcomes and the quality of life for every patient it serves. Upward Health has a measured Net Promoter Score of 86, among the highest in the healthcare industry. To learn more, please visit www.upwardhealth.com .

Like many technology companies, such as Qventus or Oculus VR, Perspectum named itself after a Latin word. Its name means to see clearly through a cloud, which is what making a clinical diagnosis is like, said Rajarshi Banerjee, the company’s CEO, in a recent interview. Founded in 2012, Perspectum makes medical imaging tools designed to improve the diagnosis of metabolic diseases and cancer. On Wednesday, the company announced the second close of its $55 million Series C funding round, snagging an additional $19 million investment led by Oppenheimer. The new financing brings Perspectum’s total funding to date to about $140 million. The company’s mission has always been to use existing data and medical equipment to deliver a higher standard of diagnosis and monitoring, Banerjee declared. Its flagship product, called LiverMultiScan, is a noninvasive MRI scan that assesses and monitors chronic liver disease. “LiverMultiScan takes a normal MRI scanner, and instead of asking a human to interpret a scan, uses computers to read the scan quantitatively — like painting by numbers — and gives a report on how much fat, iron and disease activity the patient has in their liver,” Banerjee explained. Using existing MRI scanners to deliver higher quality, quantitative reports may eliminate the need for doctors to perform liver biopsies, he said. Perspectum’s research and development takes place in the United Kingdom, but it has it headquarters in Dallas as the company sells most of its devices in the U.S. Several major U.S. hospitals have adopted LiverMultiScan, including Cedars-Sinai, Massachusetts General Hospital and Lahey Health, Banerjee pointed out. According to him, clinicians enjoy using LiverMultiScan because its quantitative metrics help them assess a patient’s current state of liver disease more quickly. They also say that the tool is also easy to explain to patients, and it means they have to do fewer liver biopsies, Banerjee declared. The tool has broad Medicare coverage and commercial insurance coverage, including from Anthem and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. But Perspectum is not the only medical technology company trying to improve the diagnosis of liver disease. One competitor is Echosens, a company that makes non-invasive tests that measure the stiffness of the liver. Banerjee said that Echosens’ technology focuses mainly on detecting late-stage liver disease rather than early, and it does not work as well in patients with a larger body mass. Liver function blood tests, such as the LabCorp’s Enhanced Liver Fibrosis testing, also exist, Banerjee pointed out. But he said he feels they are not good at detecting liver disease in its early, treatable stages. As Perspectum continues to grow its business, the company plans to expand its product pipeline for multiorgan conditions and oncology as well as in chronic conditions. Perspectum has “a great way of looking at the body holistically in systemic diseases,” such as diabetes and long Covid-19, Banerjee declared.