Dr. Claude Bouchard and Monique Chagnon pledge $1M to support postdoctoral fellows

BATON ROUGE, La., June 1, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Former Executive Director Dr. Claude Bouchard and his wife, Monique Chagnon, were recently celebrated for their generous gift to enhance the postdoctoral researcher experience at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

"I became very conscious that postdocs are critical to the success of the scientific research enterprise. They work hard, they master the latest technologies, they are eager to succeed and passionate about science. One could argue that they are the actual driver of research in a laboratory. They are not passive recipients; they challenge their mentors and everyone becomes wiser in the process," said Dr. Bouchard.

In order to enhance the postdoctoral researchers' experiences at Pennington Biomedical, Dr. Bouchard and Chagnon pledged $1 million to create the endowed Claude Bouchard-Monique Chagnon Fund to support postdoctoral fellows in basic research, as well as in clinical and public health and population science. 

They hope that their gift represents only the launch of the fund and that others who understand the value that postdoctoral fellows bring to science, specifically to the mission of Pennington Biomedical and Baton Rouge, will contribute to the enhancement of the fund over time.

Under Dr. Bouchard's leadership, Pennington Biomedical created a Division of Education, whose mandate included supporting the training of postdoctoral fellows and networking with relevant units of the National Institutes of Health and the National Association of Postdoctoral Fellows. The effort led to Pennington Biomedical being recognized as one of the top 10 postdoctoral programs in the nation. 

"This generous gift is part of a much larger legacy Dr. Bouchard has given to Pennington Biomedical," said Pennington Biomedical Executive Director Dr. John Kirwan. "As the former executive director, he significantly shaped this institution, greatly increasing the number of postdoctoral researchers, increasing the impact of basic research, and enlarging the physical footprint of the campus. In addition, his own research career is second to none and he continues to rank among the most cited researchers in the world."

Rebecca Schutte, President/CEO of Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation, noted that his legacy also extends globally through the scientists who trained under him as postdoctoral researchers and are now conducting their own cutting-edge science all over the world.

"We are so grateful to Claude and Monique for this gift that will greatly amplify our ability to recruit the best and brightest postdocs in the world," she said. "Through their generosity, they are making a historic addition to Pennington Biomedical's commitment to create a welcoming place for postdocs to train. We hope that many others will consider contributing to the growth of this fund entirely devoted to the success of the next generation of scientists."

To contribute to the fund, visit https://pbrf.org/giving/.

Contact Information:
Ernie Ballard
Senior Director of Communications & Marketing
[email protected]
225-763-2677


Original Source: Postdoctoral Research Experience Gets Major Boost at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge

Smile and HealthLX collaborate to expedite FHIR-based CMS compliance and enterprise interoperability solutions.

TORONTO, June 1, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Smile Digital Health (Smile), a leading Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) health data fabric and exchange solutions provider, today announced a partnership with HealthLX™ to bring FHIR solutions to payers and providers looking to solve CMS compliance mandates and long-term enterprise interoperability needs.

Pairing Smile Digital Health's HL7® FHIR standard-based Health Data Fabric (HDF) platform with the Composable Automation™ platform and advanced ingestion engine from HealthLX results in a powerful alternative to traditional "check-the-box" CMS mandate integration.  

The first solution, CMS Mandate Acceleration, offers cost-effective compliance with CMS interoperability final and proposed rules, including CMS-9115-F, CMS-0057-P and CMS-9123-P. It is ideal for payers and providers starting their compliance efforts or those looking to replace legacy solutions or unsuccessful implementations. 

The second solution, FHIR First™ Enterprise, offers the foundation for an FHIR-based strategy to address operational needs such as care management, administration, claims and an endless number of other use cases that benefit from repeatable design patterns and complex data orchestration.

Both solutions provide the foundational infrastructure that allows organizations to mature into a standards-focused enterprise environment at a pace that allows each organization to innovate at their own speed, building on their foundational FHIR investments.

"HealthLX has an exceptional platform that will accelerate and simplify the creation of value for our shared clients. Our combined offering, matching Smile's health data fabric and HealthLX workflow automation, is uniquely flexible. Our clients will benefit significantly from the combined offering, getting services to market quickly and sustainably," said Duncan Weatherston, Chief Executive Officer, Smile Digital Health. 

"Our product focus is on the automation needs of interoperability for healthcare stakeholders and is recognized for the composable approach that our solution delivers," said Will Tesch, Chief Executive Officer, HealthLX. "Best-of-breed solutions are optimal to address the wide array of interoperability challenges in the healthcare marketplace. With our strategic alignment with Smile Digital Health, we believe combined offerings meet a market need desperate for compliance now, but built for organizations recognizing the need to adapt to a FHIR-First future."

To learn more about these new solutions provided by Smile and HealthLX, email [email protected] and [email protected].

About HealthLX

HealthLX™ (Healthcare Language Exchange) solves interoperability and data exchange challenges by providing repeatable data transformations at scale. Our Composable Automation™ platform gives payers and providers the flexibility to support FHIR translation with other data standards (HL7 V2, EDI, CCDA) to automate workflows whether to comply with federal regulations or create operational efficiencies through application integration. We are a founding member of Health Level Seven International's (HL7) Da Vinci Project and built several reference implementations for these CMS compliance use cases. For more information, visit HealthLX.com. 

About Smile Digital Health

Smile Digital Health is a health information technology company focused on delivering better global health through open standards. Our enterprise-grade, open framework data fabric and integration platform fuels healthcare's digital transformation and accelerates value creation across all patient journeys at scale. Powered by our HL7® FHIR® standard-based clinical data repository (#SmileInside), our platform enables collaboration and allows organizations to ingest, transform, store, enrich, analyze, aggregate and meaningfully share the health information to power digital transformation. We prepare healthcare providers, payers, researchers and life sciences organizations for a connected future beyond legacy systems, adding new value through the intelligent use of information, and ultimately delivering better patient outcomes. For more information, visit SmileDigitalHealth.com. 

Contact Information:
Victoria Valladolid
Director of Marketing, Smile Digital Health
[email protected]
(877) 537-3343 x 728


Original Source: Smile Digital Health and HealthLX Announce Partnership and Provide Two Innovative FHIR Solutions

Focus is on Bridging the Gap for Long-Term Care Facility Residents

TACOMA, Wash., June 1, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Sound Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM), part of Sound Physicians, is pleased to announce its partnership with Spectrum Medical Partners to enhance and streamline patient care throughout the U.S.

SLTCM is a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Enhanced Track Accountable Care Organization (ACO) focused on caring for Medicare beneficiaries who are residents of long-term care facilities. Spectrum Medical Partners is a physician-founded and led organization committed to providing excellent acute and post-acute patient care. It also provides behavioral health, podiatry, wound care, and house calls.

Working together on value-based care since 2021, both Sound and Spectrum — who share a collaborative mindset and desire to meet the needs of long-term care patients — saw joining forces on SLTCM as a natural progression of their commitment to high-quality care.

"They reach across the aisle for the benefit of the community," said Dr. Thomas Kim, associate chief medical officer for SLTCM. "They're always looking out for the best interests of their patients."

Kim is part of SLTCM's dedicated physician leadership team, which also includes Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Dickey. Together with Mike Camacho, president for accountable care with Sound Physicians, they drive better care for patients — and build meaningful relationships with organizations moved to do the same.

As a primary care provider for long-term care patients — with a team dedicated solely to post-acute care facilities — Spectrum is focused on driving better outcomes and quality of life for these patients. 

"Long-term care patients are often overlooked when it comes to any kind of population health program," Kim said. "The ACO is an opportunity to bring resources to the patients and avoid disruption to their quality of life."

Spectrum's strength is its team of physicians and advanced practice providers who offer both transitional care for patients in between leaving the hospital and seeing their primary care provider, and care for patients who permanently reside in nursing facilities.

"We're excited to continue our partnership with Spectrum to deliver the best possible patient outcomes through Sound Long-Term Care Management," said Mike Camacho, president for accountable care with Sound Physicians. "Spectrum is a unique partner in that they employ providers across the continuum of care. Having that breadth of support for patients transitioning from one care setting to another provides efficiency, better coordination of care, and an overall better experience for the patient." 

About Sound Long-Term Care Management

Sound Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM) is a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organization focused exclusively on Medicare beneficiaries living in long-term care facilities. With strong, dedicated physician leadership and deep roots in value-based care, SLTCM is committed to bringing better quality of care and satisfaction to our patients. And we're focused on bringing better financial performance through deep investments in our people, partners, and technology — including telemedicine as a key component to connect patients with the care they need. Our participating physicians, practitioners, and long-term care operators earn shared savings of up to 25 percent with no downside risk.

About Sound Physicians

Physician-founded and led, our national, multi-specialty medical group is made up of more than 4,000 physicians, advanced practice providers, CRNAs, and nurses who practice in 400-plus hospitals across 45 states. With specialties in emergency and hospital medicine, critical care, anesthesia, and telemedicine, our partners have benefited from Sound's 22 years of experience innovating and leading through an ever-changing healthcare landscape — with patients at the center of our universe.

About Spectrum Medical Partners

Spectrum Medical Partners, a physician-founded and led organization based out of Florida, is committed to achieving the highest level of patient care. Its pillars of care are based on excellent patient care delivery, a scalable operations model, transparent and efficient communication, and advanced technology tools.

Contact Information:
Anni Lange
Vice President of Communications and Marketing
[email protected]


Original Source: Sound Long-Term Care Management, Spectrum Medical Partners Join Forces to Improve Patient Care