157 PUB L I C S E C TOR These certified providers have the option to communicate with HUED‘s patient population through a web application directory and patients are able to find certified medical professionals that specifically understand their cultural, physical and mental needs. Warrior Centric Health Another organisation that is using training to improve health equity is Warrior Centric Health (WHC). WCH trains providers in how to care for US military veterans, reservists, National Guard, and their families more effectively. Contrary to popular belief, more than 90 per cent of these service and family members get the majority of their healthcare outside of the Department of Veteran Affairs and military health system. However, commercial healthcare providers are often unprepared to treat members of the military because they don’t know about the patient’s service background. In fact, most don’t even ask patients if they have served. This leads to less-than-optimal care for the warriors and their families, as the armed forces are exempt during deployment and training from traditional safety regulations, established by the US Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It’s not unusual for members of the military to have unique physical, psychological and emotional stresses not typically experienced by civilians. This results in a population with higher-than-average propensity for many chronic conditions. WCH is on a mission to provide exactly what the warrior community needs by offering fully accredited education and training to enable providers and staff to deliver clinically and culturally competent care. This learning management system, WCH Education & Training, is augmented by their data analytics platform which identifies, assesses and tracks population health data for the warrior community, and an outreach programme that helps attract more valuable Warrior Community members to authorised facilities. Sonavi Labs Sonavi Labs is on a mission to use advanced technology to listen to sounds in the body to detect and manage respiratory diseases and infections. Through the smart application of augmented auscultation, Sonavi Labs creates medical devices and software rooted in artificial intelligence and is driven by a commitment to save lives by making accessible, user-friendly assessment tools that can be used by clinicians of all skill levels as well as patients anywhere. Feelix, developed by Sonavi Labs, is the world’s first digital stethoscope designed for clinicians and patients that employs proprietary classification algorithms to detect and grade the severity of abnormalities in lung and body sounds. Feelix delivers high-fidelity remote monitoring supported by integrated apps and a secured, HIPAAcompliant cloud system, while being designed to be affordable, user friendly and accessible. The FDA-approved device has certain features that help democratise the diagnosis of respiratory ailments like pneumonia. For example, a field health worker in a remote area can use the device as the algorithms function without a direct connection to the internet. There is on-device storage to retain the readings, which can then be transmitted once a connection is re-established. The extended battery life of the device ensures that the health worker can complete multiple exams for numerous patients over a longer period of time. While the models are undergoing regulatory approval, the vision is to replace wet diagnostics and expensive x-ray confirmations with this lower cost, easier to use alternative so that treatments can start sooner, no matter where the patient is located. Start-ups like these are helping to improve healthcare equity for all. Find out more about how Microsoft is involved at: https://startups.microsoft.com/ Sally Frank is worldwide lead for health and life sciences at Microsoft for Startups Sonavi Labs are helping to improve health equity by supporting global health workers with easy-to-use digital stethoscopes
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