Kevin Lasser and
David Solomon
Healthcare On The Go
'Jewish Geography' leads to innovation in health care delivery.
Ruthan Brodsky
Special to the Jewish News
T
he business relationship started
when David L. Solomon, Ph.D., of
West Bloomfield decided to attend
the Xconomy's Mobile Madness Motor
City forum this past January. He wanted to
find out if there were mobile technologies
in the local market that could benefit his
clients. Solomon is managing partner of
the Southfield firm International Caregiver
Network (ICN).
"We started out as a company that
designed and developed training for family
and professional caregivers:' says Solomon.
"With my background in instructional
technology, helping home health and hos-
pice care agencies improve their efficien-
cies through user-friendly technologies
was a logical next step in our evolution:'
Detroit's Motor City mobile forum
showcased some of the top investors,
entrepreneurs and executives developing
the next big idea in mobile computing.
"I specifically attended this event
because Mobile Health (mHealth) was
on the agenda: Solomon says. "That's
where I met Kevin Lasser, CEO of JEMS
Technology in Lake Orion. He was one
of the forum speakers, and I was very
impressed with what his company was
doing in the health care industry:'
Accountable Care
Organizations
Solomon asked the question: "How
has the formation of Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs) affected telemedi-
cine and JEMS overall?"
28 July 11 • 2013
ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals
and other health care providers who come
together voluntarily to give coordinated
care to their Medicare patients. Their pur-
pose is to ensure that patients, especially
the chronically ill, get the care they need at
the right time while avoiding unnecessary
services and preventing medical errors.
When an ACO succeeds in delivering
high-quality care and spending health care
dollars sensibly, it shares in the savings it
achieves for the Medicare program. The
guidelines for ACOs were first proposed
under the Affordable Health Care Act.
Solomon wanted to know whether there
are more ACOs adopting his company's
technology compared to the traditional
fee-for-service systems.
"David's question was great because it
got to the heart of what JEMS does:' Lasser
says. "I responded that ACOs created a
greater need for telemedicine by making
remote diagnostics necessary. This has
the potential to lower the cost of medical
care because patients don't need to be at
a hospital or specialist because a medical
decision can be made rapidly, remotely
and affectively. When David called me fol-
lowing the forum, we met for lunch and
started talking:'
Jewish Geography Cements
Business Relationship
It was over lunch that a very special
kind of networking took place — Jewish
Geography. This is the networking Jews
practice when they meet each other for the
first time and try to identify people they
know in common.
Lasser and Solomon discovered they
both attended high school in Southfield,
they are a year apart in age, and they know
many of the same people both socially and
in business. Their business relationship
was cemented.
Lasser's JEMS mobile health platform
connects patients to specialists using video
and smart device technology without hav-
ing to transport the patient to the special-
ist or have the specialist travel any distance
whatsoever.
For example, by allowing a doctor to
broadcast video over a secure network, a
medical specialist can see a patient's condi-
tion and advise the appropriate next step.
Because the technology is sent in real-time
over live streaming video, diagnoses and
recommendations can be implemented
quickly, which is often critical during
emergencies.
"One of our first projects in Michigan
was working with Sparrow Hospital in
Lansing and its satellite hospitals:' Lasser
says. "It gave stroke patients instant access
to neurologists and gave neurologists the
ability to consult with emergency room
doctors in real time. More recently, the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in
Ann Arbor contracted for the Technology
Disaster Relief Telehealth System, the
JEMS Rugged Unit. It connects medical
professionals and first responders in the
field to specialist physicians:'
Mobile Technology
And Home Health Care
According to Solomon, by using the JEMS
Technology platform, a home-based care
provider can send live, streaming video to
a mobile device where a doctor or nurse
can offer medical guidance.
"Remote monitoring enables home
health agencies to use their resources more
efficiently so that skilled workers can assist
more patients and spend less time on the
road traveling; Solomon says. "These
agencies provide health care support to
patients with multiple chronic conditions
who are often homebound but frequently
require visits to medical specialists.
"JEMS technology works for ICN's home
health clients because it's easy to use and
they don't need teams of IT experts to
implement it:' Solomon continues. "JEMS
is also HIPAA-compliant and compatible
with iPhone and Android devices. It's a
plug-and-play solution that stands alone or
can be fully integrated with existing com-
puter systems7
With JEMS technology, long-term care
facilities are also better able to keep their
patients healthy because they can easily
transmit health information to health care
providers, adds Solomon.
"This will not only reduce the number
of visits to the emergency department at
hospitals, but it also reduces the number
of patients who are readmitted within 30
days of discharge, especially in post-acute
settings. The technology also provides
comfort for family members and those
homebound patients in palliative care or
using hospice services:'
Solving The Doctor
Shortage Problem
The Affordable Health Care Act focuses
on prevention and primary care to help
people stay healthy and manage chronic
medical conditions before they become
more complex and costly to treat.
One of the obstacles to achieving
that goal is that with 29 million more
Americans partaking in the health insur-
ance program, the current national
shortage of primary care physicians and
medical specialists presents a challenge.
Mobile health technology is one solution
to resolving that problem.
"There are other companies who have
technologies competing for the same dol-
lar:' Lasser says. "None of them, however,
work like JEMS. Doctors can simply take
out their iPhone or Android and get access
to live streaming video on a WIFI or
3G/4G network. Other technologies cannot
operate on the 3G/4G network and/or they
aren't mobile.
"I've been in business for myself since
I was 30, but this is the coolest thing I've
ever done:' Lasser adds. "Our company is
able to utilize mobile technology to help
other people.
"JEMS technology is very important in
that one specialist can serve more people
because it saves time, particularly when
specialists don't need to travel long dis-
tances. I feel very lucky that I can contrib-
ute to the economy and, at the same time,
save lives:'
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