With more than $20 million from NIH https://www.nih.gov plus other sources both public and private, Northwell Health www.northwell.edu in New York will be pioneering discoveries by using cutting edge technology and big data to work for patients at their new $20,000 square foot $15 million facility called the “Center for Health Innovations and Outcomes Research”, a part of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research www.feinsteininstitute.org.
“The new Center is an incubator for innovation,” said Michael J. Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health. “It will identify and nurture new ideas to improve patient care which can be rapidly implemented across and beyond Northwell Health.”
The scientists’ goals are to use technology, big data, along with creative new ways of thinking about healthcare outcomes to measure and improve healthcare delivery. The team at the Center includes leaders, experts, and rising stars in healthcare information technology, biostatistics, behavioral and medical economics, and public health. A full range of practicing healthcare providers such as physicians, nurses, and psychologists will participate in the program,
The scientists are going to examine the wealth of information in patient EHRs in real time to develop ways to use massive big data to measure outcomes, in addition to processes, and procedures. This should enable better health decisions and treatments plus reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions.
The scientists will provide information to patients on their smartphones and the internet by developing apps. Presently, they are developing an app that will help female cancer patients evaluate their fertility and family-building options, an app that manages decisions associated with prostate cancer treatment, and another app to help people with HIV manage their medication regimen.
Bioelectronic Medicine and Biomedical Science are the newest and exciting areas being studied at Feinstein. Bioelectronic Medicine uses technology to treat disease and injury by letting the nervous system use electrical signals to communicate information throughout the body.
Virtually every cell and organ of the body is directly or indirectly controlled by these neural signals. Researchers are learning the language of these neural signals to listen for signals of disease or injury.
The scientists think that in the future using bioelectronics medicine will change the way we treat diseases, injuries, and conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, paralysis, and even cancer.
It was announced that the Feinstein Institute is conducting a clinical trial supported by the John & Marcia Goldman Foundation to evaluate the use of bioelectronics medicine to treat pain associated with lupus by stimulating the inflammatory reflex.
Scientists and physicians anticipate that this treatment will inhibit the body’s production of the molecule responsible for the inflammation associated with lupus. This pilot study will test the effect of an innovative, proprietary device which emits electrical pulses through the patient’s ear five minutes a day for four days to reduce pain.
According to Chad Bouton Vice President of Advanced Engineering for Northwell Health and Director of the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine, “By intercepting and manipulating the millions of electrical messages that the body sends itself, we hope to produce therapies that are safe, efficient, and cost effective to help the body heal itself.”