San Diego, California Jul 30, 2023 (Issuewire.com) - Oatmeal Health, a technology-enabled virtual nodule cancer clinic and patient engagement startup providing high-quality lung cancer screenings for high-risk underserved Americans, today announced a partnership with El Rio Health, an FQHC with 13 locations in Tucson Arizona.
Doug Spegman M.D., MSPH, FACP, Chief Clinical Officer for El Rio Health
“Partnering with Oatmeal Health on this proof-of-concept project is important in terms of advancing lung cancer screening as a public health initiative. Equally important is bringing this opportunity to the patients we serve within the community health center movement who frequently suffer disproportionately, barriers to healthcare and lack of access to innovations in healthcare screening”
We plan to close the care gap by leveraging technology as a service to efficiently identify and screen underserved patients in Arizona for cancer, starting with lung, year after year.
Improved Patient Care and Access to Services
Through this partnership, patients at El Rio will have access to a wide range of healthcare services offered by Oatmeal Health. These services include conducting shared decision-making visits, CT scan logistics such as transport and SDOH incentives for patients to attend appointments, AI nodule risk assessments from Oatmeal’s virtual nodule clinic, and culturally sensitive educational material and videos specifically designed for each language, ethnicity, accent, and gender.
Co-Founders of Oatmeal Health, Ty Vachon M.D. and Jonathan Govette are on a mission to prevent millions of deaths from chronic disease by addressing the $3.7T market in the FQHC and health plan market. The sad fact is each year, more people die of lung cancer than of breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined, and that is why Oatmeal plans to focus on lung cancer before expanding into other cancer screening services in the future.
Having watched firsthand as the founder’s families and friends died of cancer, Oatmeal Health was launched as a resource to deliver white-glove, concierge care to underserved Americans. With backgrounds in radiology, machine learning, computer vision, and data privacy, Vachon, a Navy veteran, and Govette, prior CEO of a digital health e-consult/referral platform, decided it was time to make a dramatic difference in how patients are screened for cancer.
Ty Vachon M.D. Co-Founder and CEO of Oatmeal Health
“Improving outcomes for underserved communities drives the importance of partnership and collaboration among health systems,” said Ty Vachon M.D., Co-Founder, and CEO of Oatmeal Health. “We are excited to partner with a best-of-breed institution like El Rio Health that wants to improve patient access and engagement for its patients and address the health equity gap that exists for 15M patients nationwide.”
1 in 2 Men and 1 in 3 Women Will Develop Cancer in Their Lifetime with Lung cancer being the leading cause of cancer-death & 4th ranked in funding
- 84% of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at a late stage
- > 50% of people diagnosed at a late stage with lung cancer die within one year
HEALTH CENTERS ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO SCREEN PATIENTS FOR LUNG CANCER
FQHCs are facing significant challenges due to being overworked and understaffed, which leaves little time for managing preventative lung cancer screenings. On average, clinics have only 13 minutes per patient visit, making it difficult to provide thorough preventative care.
THE RESULT IS THE UTILIZATION OF EPISODIC CARE AS PRIMARY CARE
As a result, these seniors wait until their condition is exasperated and use the Emergency Room for care. The average doctor visit costs Medicare $50, while a hospitalization costs $45K, and lung cancer costs $282K (lifetime).
About El Rio Health:
El Rio Health’s mission is to provide our patients with integrated comprehensive quality of care with the ongoing vision to optimize their overall health and quality of life. We are dedicated to providing health care for all people. Since El Rio Health began in 1970, we have grown from 10,000 patients to over 125,000 people served. We are proud to be one of the most innovative, highly-regarded, non-profit health centers in the United States. We focus on positive outcomes, treating the whole person. Our health care is delivered by compassionate, professionally trained, integrated health teams who give from their hearts to provide world-class care. “Your Health is Our Passion.” please visit www.elrio.org
About Oatmeal Health:
Oatmeal Health is an AI-enabled specialty cancer screening clinic focused on providing early-detection, health equity, and care coordination services for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Health Plans. We are fundamentally changing the lives of underserved patients through early identification, preventative screening, and comprehensive high-touch value-based care services, starting with lung cancer.
- If interested in a discussion about Oatmeal Health, please contact Ty Vachon M.D., Ty@oatmealhealth.com
Media Contact
Oatmeal Health jonathan@oatmealhealth.com 4154041919 650 CASTRO STREET https://oatmealhealth.com
