There are many new technologies swirling around the gastroenterology space. Bill Snyder, CEO of Vivante Health, a digital health company, spoke with Becker's on May 25 about the most influential of these technologies and more.
Vivante Health is the creator of GIThrive, a GI telehealth platform.
Editor's note: Responses have been edited lightly for length and clarity.
Question: What GI technologies do you believe are or will be the most influential?
Bill Snyder: There's a couple that I think are really exciting. There's some really unique innovations in general when I think about things like capsule endoscopies and [artificial intelligence]-based precision medicine. So using AI in the endoscopy process to identify polys more accurately. Those are some things that I see in the market that I'm familiar with that are being utilized more and more.
In terms of the telehealth aspect of GI, there's a ton of opportunity there. We're just starting to really see a movement in some really good advancements in the telehealth space. When I think about what will be most influential, I always bucket it into three key things:
1. Longitudinal monitoring and novel habitual biomarkers. That ability to get more precise information on patients over a period of time that we otherwise would have access to.
2. AI and machine learning. The ability to utilize technology to evaluate all that data and to predict the onset of different conditions and their progression.
3. Information sharing. As we're capturing all that information and [using it] to inform clinical decisions, it's the ability to share that information back with all of the different care members that work with the patient.
Q: Where does GIThrive fit in the tech space?
BS: [Vivante Health] is a digital first platform, so we utilize our app and web platform and work with individuals on that continuous monitoring approach. Our focus is capturing that information on an ongoing basis from our members, then utilizing technology and a remote care team to intervene and create some behavior change with the member to reduce their symptoms and get them feeling better. A big piece of what we do is try to be additive to the care ecosystem. We're really trying to reinforce that relationship that a member may have with a primary care physician or gastroenterologist. So we want to give them more information on the member and give information back to the patient so that they have a better idea of what's going on with their condition or what their symptoms might be.