Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Originally published on Bristol Myers Squibb News & PerspectivesNORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / December 18, 2024 / This year brings renewed hope to the fight against lung cancer because the public health community has the tools they need to turn the tide - and they are already seeing the results in action.Early detection through screening is key to improving lung cancer survivorship - when lung cancer is discovered early enough to be surgically removed before spreading, a patient's chance of surviving five years jumps from 4% to 55%. Yet, only a small minority of eligible patients are currently being screened.The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMS Foundation), an independent charitable organization, is working to change that. Through an expanding network of innovative, community-based programs and research initiatives, the BMS Foundation aims to increase access to screening in underserved communities and better understand who may be at risk. Together, these efforts are designed to improve health outcomes and enable more patients to benefit from early detection."Early detection saves lives. But far too many Americans, especially people in underserved communities, face barriers to accessing lung cancer screening," said Catharine Grimes, president of the BMS Foundation. "Through our capacity-building lung cancer screening grants, we are empowering local healthcare providers and researchers, improving health outcomes and bringing this life-saving modality to communities across the country."One example of the BMS Foundation's current work builds on the remarkable success of Kentucky LEADS (Lung Cancer Education, Awareness, Detection and Survivorship). Launched in 2014 with a $7 million grant, this initiative helped Kentucky - once the state with the highest lung cancer mortality rate - achieve a 10% decline in late-stage diagnoses and rise to the second-highest lung cancer screening rate nationally.With a new $6.8 million grant from the BMS Foundation, the same team of researchers at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and the University of Colorado Cancer Center are leading QUILS™ (Quality Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening) to bring similar results to Mississippi and Nevada - states chosen for their high lung cancer burden and low screening rates."Our experience in Kentucky has taught us that improving lung cancer screening rates requires a collaborative, quality-focused approach," said Jennifer Redmond Knight, co-principal investigator of Kentucky LEADS Collaborative and an assistant professor in the UK College of Public Health. "This funding will allow us to apply what we've learned in Kentucky to help create targeted solutions for Mississippi and Nevada, potentially setting a new standard for lung cancer screening nationwide."Building on successful efforts to expand screening access in rural communities, the BMS Foundation is also addressing similar challenges in high-risk urban areas. In Los Angeles County, where screening rates hover at just 5-6%, they recently awarded a $2.5 million grant to UCLA Health to lead CAL-PALS (California Partnerships to Increase Access to Lung Cancer Screening). The program will expand access to lung cancer screening for ethnically minoritized and low-income groups through collaborations with community hospitals."Unfortunately, many high-risk individuals face barriers to accessing lung cancer screening and our hope is that this initiative will demonstrate how a high-resource institution like UCLA can help community hospitals not only save more lives in the short term but also pave the way for lasting improvements in lung cancer outcomes across the region and entire state of California," said Dr. Drew Moghanaki, professor and chief of thoracic oncology in the Department of Radiation Oncology and principal investigator for the grant.Beyond expanding access to screening, the BMS Foundation, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is supporting groundbreaking research to better understand who may be at risk for lung cancer and inform future guidelines. Led by Dr. Jennifer Lewis, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Division of Hematology-Oncology, the MAS-EXPAND study will examine whether veterans aged 50 and older who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes and have additional risk factors, including military exposures, should be considered a high-risk population for lung cancer.This comprehensive approach - from implementing proven screening programs to investigating screening criteria - demonstrates the BMS Foundation's commitment to advancing early detection for at-risk populations.Through strategic partnerships and sustainable solutions, the BMS Foundation is helping to write a new chapter in the fight against lung cancer, one community at a time.About the Bristol Myers Squibb FoundationThe Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, an independent charitable organization, works to improve global health by empowering local communities and health systems to create lasting impact in regions of the world that are underserved and heavily burdened. The BMS Foundation embraces innovative approaches that have the potential to reshape healthcare systems by engaging in partnerships that build capacity in the geographies where they work. Through these strategic partnerships, the BMS Foundation can transform how care is delivered and help to ensure improved health now and in the future. For more information, visit bms.com/foundation. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Bristol Myers Squibb Company on 3blmedia.com.Contact Info:Spokesperson: Bristol Myers Squibb CompanyWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/bristol-myers-squibb-companyEmail: [email protected]SOURCE: Bristol Myers Squibb Company

Medtronic has announced the launch of a study to address racial, ethnic, gender and geographic disparities in heart disease treatment. The study, called ALERT (for “Addressing undertreatment and heaLth Equity in aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation using an integrated ehR plaTform”) and sponsored by health technology company Tempus, will use AI to identify patients with severe aortic stenosis or mitral regurgitation who could benefit from minimally invasive therapies like transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The trial seeks to improve outcomes for patients with these conditions and provide insight into why many individuals, particularly in underserved communities, are not receiving guideline-recommended care. “Through our collaboration with Tempus, we are able to use artificial intelligence to equip heart teams with a more efficient way to identify patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis,” Nina Goodheart, SVP and president of the Structural Heart & Aortic business in Medtronic’s Cardiovascular portfolio, said in a news release. “Ultimately, our goal is to provide a pathway to patients who are currently underserved, so they are one step closer to heart valve clinic care and access to lifesaving TAVR treatment.” Addressing disparities in heart valve disease Structural heart diseases such as severe aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation are often underdiagnosed and undertreated, particularly among minority populations. According to existing data, 91% of TAVR procedures in the U.S. are performed on white patients, leaving significant gaps in care for Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other racial groups. Without timely intervention, symptomatic severe aortic stenosis can lead to heart failure and death. Similarly, mitral regurgitation poses serious health risks when untreated, Medtronic said. “Undertreatment of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis can be devastating for patients’ recovery and potentially fatal within two years if intervention does not happen. The goal of this study is to move towards better solutions for more equitable and timely care and eliminate barriers to treatment,” said Dr. Wayne Batchelor, director of the Interventional Heart Program, Inova Health System in Fairfax, Virginia, and the ALERT study steering committee chair. Earlier this year, Medtronic announced survey results that found that only 30% of women aged 50 and older had heard of aortic stenosis. Awareness levels were even lower among Black and Hispanic women, at 10% and 21%, respectively. Despite their increased risk, many women face significant barriers to care, including fear of medical visits and concerns about symptom dismissal by healthcare providers. Using AI to improve outcomes and move toward equitable care The ALERT study will use the Tempus Next platform, which combines electronic health record (EHR) notifications, automated patient identification, and care pathway management. The platform aims to increase access to interventions such as TAVR and facilitate clinical visits with heart valve centers by identifying patients who meet treatment criteria but lack a care plan. “We are excited to be one of the first sites activated in this critically important study. We look forward to working to address health disparities to bring more equitable and timely care to patients with valvular heart disease in our community. I am encouraged by the potential impact of this initiative as additional sites are activated around the country,” said Dr. Brian Lindman, medical director at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Structural Heart and Valve Center.

A Utah-based healthcare startup named Orion Innovations has released two studies this month demonstrating that its product helps nurses access medication lines faster and with less mental effort than standard labeling. The product, called MedLite ID, is a device that quickly attaches to hospital IV lines. It uses light to assist nurses with the identification and tracing of medication infusion lines, with the aim of reducing the risk of errors. MedLite ID addresses hospitals’ “infusion confusion” problem, said Orion CEO Rodney Schutt. Consumer / Employer Health Executives on Digital Transformation in Healthcare Hear executives from Quantum Health, Surescripts, EY, Clinical Architecture and Personify Health share their views on digital transformation in healthcare. By MedCity News “The technology explosion over the last 30 years has not addressed [the problem],” he stated. “When you think about your average ICU patient, they have, on average, eight infusion lines going into them — many times it’s 10, 12, 14 or 16. Only one of those lines is considered the safe line, the carrier line, the keep-vein-open line. It is the only line that the nurse can come in and push another drug into without potentially causing, at a minimum, an adverse drug event, or at worst, a wrongful death.” Today’s standard of care stipulates that nurses have to distinctively separate all these lines, Schutt noted. This results in nurses putting tape or other labels on each line that is significant to them, he said. Having to do this labeling process for multiple patients adds to a nurse’s workload, Schutt pointed out. “We simply go after identifying this critical line — the saline bag line — so that the clinician who comes in 17+ times a day to push another drug, besides all those drugs flowing through all those lines into your body, can see that this is the only line they can do that safely with,” he declared. Exclusive Heard at HLTH 2024: Insights from Innovative Healthcare Executives Executives from Imagine360, Verily, BrightInsight, Lantern, and Rhapsody shared their approaches to reducing healthcare costs and facilitating digital transformation. By MedCity News It typically takes nurses two or three minutes to find the correct bag, trace the line and match the correct port to administer a drug, Schutt noted. He said that this process takes just less than 10 seconds with MedLite ID. Orion, which was founded in 2018, announced on Wednesday that it has published a study in partnership with Wake Forest University that proves the merit of MedLite ID. The study, published in the Journal of Infusion Nursing, highlighted the device’s potential to prevent infusion errors — especially in low-light ICU conditions, where MedLite ID had zero errors compared to standard methods. The study also found MedLite ID to be 24% faster in accessing the medication port and 40% less mentally demanding for nurses. Earlier this month, Orion announced successful results from a different study, this one conducted in partnership with a Houston-based VA hospital. The research found that MedLite ID improved nurses’ medication access times by more 400% — taking just 1-7 seconds compared to 19-58 seconds with standard methods. One of Orion’s main goals is to prevent situations like the RaDonda Vaught homicide case, Schutt pointed out. In 2022, Vaught — who was a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center — was convicted of criminally negligent homicide after she accidentally administered the wrong drug to a patient, leading to the patient’s death. She had used the hospital’s automated medication dispensing system and had mistakenly selected a paralyzing agent instead of a sedative. Busy nurses can’t be expected to get it right every single time when they’re dealing with multiple patients who all have various infusion lines, which is why hospitals could benefit from products like MedLite ID, Schutt declared.