Mira Virtual Care

With a budget of $50 per patient, a $5M grant could help 100,000 patients manage care at home, lifting the burden off of the emergency department and contain the Coronavirus outbreak at the doorstep.

NEW YORK (PRWEB)
March 27, 2020

HIGHLIGHTS

• 
  Mira, an NYC-based company, is leveraging its digital platform and a network of brick-and-mortar clinics to help low-risk patients manage care outside of the hospital, ameliorating the testing and protective equipment shortage.
• How it works: individuals will go through a 2-step screening program involving a 1-minute questionnaire and a face-to-face virtual consultation with a licensed medical provider. From then on, the patient will receive a personalized care plan or get referred for in-person testing only if determined appropriate.
• Scaling nationally: currently, 9,000-20,000 people are going through the Mira platform every day. The company is urgently seeking state and federal fundings to scale its clinical team and serve 100,000 uninsured patients in the coming weeks.

MIRA HELPS THE PATIENT ANSWER “WHERE DO I GO FOR CARE AND SHOULD I GET TESTED?”

As cases of COVID-19 peak in the United States, health systems are stretching their capacity to take in high-risk patients. As of March 25th, the NYC Department of Health no longer recommends testing for non-hospitalized and asymptomatic individuals due to a shortage of protective equipment.

Mira is creating one of the first end-to-end care delivery solutions to help individuals manage COVID-19 symptoms at home instead of seeking care at emergency departments.

• “Having been both a patient and an administrator, I am seeing a huge gap in how different parts of the healthcare system respond to this pandemic. Companies are coming up with innovative testing solutions and that’s great, but care delivery requires a lot of coordination in between and patients are looking for a continuum of care that yet to exist in the market — that’s where Mira comes in. Not only do we have the ability to screen and facilitate virtual care, but we could also send the patient to a clinic the same hour if need be.” – said Khang Vuong, Founder & CEO of Mira.

Mira entered into a strategic partnership with the Urgent Care Association last November and has over 125 in-network clinics nationally. Aside from COVID-19, members can also get affordable copays for preventative care, urgent care, mental health, lab tests, and prescriptions – services that are equally needed but inaccessible to those without healthcare coverage in this time of crisis.

GETTING PROFESSIONAL CARE FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR COUCH

For 1.4 million people without insurance in the NYC metro area and over 30 million nationally, the emergency room is often the first and last resort for seeking healthcare.

Mira’s engineering team developed a 1-minute assessment to screen for COVID-19 symptoms and risk factors, based on the guidelines and protocols published by the local Department of Health. Based on the results, you will have an opportunity to virtually speak to a medical provider and determine the best next steps – whether it be home care or getting tested. The whole process could happen in less than an hour, without breaking self-quarantine.

The assessment is completely free for everybody. The virtual consultation will cost between $30-$80, without insurance. Testing is free for eligible New Yorkers, according to the NY Department of Health. For those who absolutely can’t afford the consultation cost, Mira will be able to provide a discounted rate or offer care completely free.

• “The real value Mira delivers isn’t telling people where to go for testing because the test result doesn’t change how care is managed since there is no treatment available. What we are trying to accomplish here is to build a tech/human hybrid platform and help folks manage care most appropriately and affordably – that’s how good medicine should be.” – said Mira’s Founder and CEO.

Mira is working with commercial labs to arrange affordable pricing for uninsured patients who are not able to access State-sponsored test sites. The company is also looking for innovative home testing solutions to add another layer of convenience for the patients.

EMPOWERING INDEPENDENT PROVIDERS TO JOIN THE FIGHT

Despite the high demand for care, smaller and independent providers are still in wait and see mode due to limited resources. On top of that, because of the “Shelter-At-Home” mandate, the majority of non-emergency providers already saw a decline in revenue due to patient cancellations. “This causes a huge disruption in financial stability for providers in the coming months” – said a physician based in New York City.

By unlocking supply and demand, Mira allows independent providers in areas yet to be impacted by the outbreak to join force and service patients across state lines where there is a shortage.

All Mira providers are licensed medical professionals and have received training in family medicine, emergency medicine, or related fields.

Considering the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that is not only affecting New York but the whole country, Mira is looking to scale its response team to more than a dozen providers. Interested providers and clinics can contact taskforce@talktomira.com to join Mira COVID Taskforce.

• “Now more than ever, we need real-time and accurate medical information pushed out to the general public. Mira platform allows the patient to very quickly determine if their symptoms are consistent with that of someone who should be tested. The ability to speak to a medical provider helps either rule in or rule out the need for testing. The goal is to keep low-risk patients out of the hospital and get them high-quality information so they can manage care at home.” – Vivek P. Sinha, MD – Family Medicine, Board Certified – Cofounder of Belleview Medical Partners.

MIRA IS SEEKING STATE AND FEDERAL FUNDINGS IMMEDIATELY TO HELP 100,000 PATIENTS STAY HOME AND CONTAIN THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

As of March 26, there are more than 23,000 cases across the five boroughs in New York City. New Orleans is expected to become the next epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak. While pricing is already affordable, many people who come to Mira have recently lost their jobs and have to choose between putting food on the table or getting healthcare.

Mira is urgently seeking to establish a public-private partnership where patients who cannot afford to pay could be subsidized by a grant sponsored by the state or federal government. The company is also looking for health system partners to create a referral channel for lower-risk patients.

With a budget of $50 per patient, a $5M grant could help 100,000 patients manage care at home, lifting the burden off of the emergency department and contain the Coronavirus outbreak at the doorstep.

ABOUT MIRA

Mira is an innovative health benefits solution helping uninsured and underinsured individuals access affordable copays for everyday healthcare. The company was named Accenture Health’s one of 11 innovation finalists in 2020 and HLTH one of 15 top startups in 2019.

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Unacast Launches Social Distancing Scoreboard

Our goal in developing this and our COVID-19 Toolkit is to empower organizations to unearth reliable and valuable information to guide critical decision making and planning in relation to COVID-19 containment.

NEW YORK (PRWEB)
March 27, 2020

Unacast, an award-winning location data and analytics firm, launched a Social Distancing Scoreboard this week as the first component of its COVID-19 Toolkit. Unacast created this pro bono offering, powered by its Real World Graph® data engine, to help public health experts, policy makers, academics, community leaders and businesses in retail and real estate gain accurate insights into current public behavior and unearth trends for future scenarios related to the spread of COVID-19.

In the wake of the global pandemic, the World Health Organization and the CDC have advised social distancing as a containment method to slow the spread of the disease.

Unacast applied geospatial human mobility insights with its proprietary tools to create an interactive map showing mobility trends by county or by state as a way to raise awareness of and reinforce the importance of social distancing in relation to slowing the spread of COVID-19. The Scorecard assigns a letter grade of A through F to all states and counties in relation to social distancing behavior. Using the change in distance traveled prior to COVID-19 in comparison to present day, areas that observe at least a 40% decrease in average distance traveled are assigned a grade of A, while those that exhibit less than 10% decrease or increase are assigned an F. Letter grades are then compared to the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in those areas to help users draw conclusions between social distancing behavior and virus spread over time. Unacast will be adding more features to the Social Distancing Scoreboard in the coming days and weeks to further nuance the output.

“The public response this week has been remarkable and validates our belief that presenting aggregated information on social distancing behavior will help organizations and businesses better understand public behavior in a post COVID-19 world, and is a powerful tool to help mitigate the pandemic spread. Our goal in developing this and our COVID-19 Toolkit is to empower organizations to unearth reliable and valuable information to guide critical decision making and planning in relation to COVID-19 containment,” said Thomas Walle, CEO and Co-founder at Unacast. “We are updating the Scorecard and enhancing this COVID-19 Toolkit to provide the most timely and accurate information possible, with the hope of ultimately saving lives.”

Other components of Unacast’s COVID-19 Toolkit that will be available shortly include a Value Impact Tracker that compares traffic patterns in specific places of interest to the news cycle; Origin-Destination Flux, which measures changes in human mobility patterns of larger geographic areas; and Custom Data Analysis for organizations that require specific datasets.

Unacast is developing the Covid-19 Toolkit with public datasets, as well as aggregate mobility and anonymous device data from tens of millions of devices. Unacast’s proprietary technology then extrapolates the results to show trends by county and by state. As with all Unacast technology, the Toolkit follows GDPR and CCPA guidelines.

About Unacast

Unacast is an award-winning human mobility data company that harnesses anonymous device location data, map data, and strategic intelligence to tackle business challenges for the retail, real estate, tourism, transportation, and marketing industries. With its flagship product “The Real World Graph®”, it provides innovative solutions and insights to operational challenges for companies of any size or shape. Unacast was founded in 2014 with offices in New York and Oslo, Norway. In 2019, Unacast was awarded the #1 small company to work in NYC by Built In NYC and received Street Fights’ Most Innovative Use of Geospatial Technology award.

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No matter how well-meaning their intentions, untrained people without the proper safety equipment are exposing themselves to safety and health hazards.

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (PRWEB)
March 27, 2020

Well meaning family, friends and property owners often volunteer to clean up a home or business after someone has suffered a prolonged illness or a traumatic death. No matter how well-meaning their intentions, untrained people without the proper safety equipment are exposing themselves to safety and health hazards, and Mark Powers, SERVPRO of Orcutt water damage specialist, has detailed the reasons that cleaning up after any trauma or tragedy is best left to the experts.

Blood and other biohazard contaminants at a trauma or crime scene can pose a serious health risk to people who are not trained in the appropriate procedures, safety and disinfecting practices for removing all traces. In additional those not trained might not properly clean and disinfect the area, exposing themselves and others to dangerous pathogens and hazardous materials.

Trauma scenes are sometimes crime scenes, requiring another layer of training and knowledge that is needed to clean away all the remnants of detection tools such as fingerprint powder, or illegal and toxic substances. Examples of matter that needs to be thoroughly removed from a crime or trauma scene are:

• 
  Fingerprint powder and other chemicals used to gather evidence
• Pepper spray, tear gas
• Fire extinguisher residue
• Blood, tissue remnants and bodily fluids
• Blood-borne pathogens
• Drugs and chemicals used in drug manufacturing
• Contaminated needles and syringes
• Volatile chemicals that require special handling
• Odors
• Potential water and fire damage

There are a variety of California and Federal regulations that address the procedures for cleaning up and disposing of biohazards and chemicals. These regulations specify safety procedures that protect the technicians doing the cleaning as well as the neighborhood. Regulations also specify the proper disposal of items such as chemicals, human tissue and blood soaked materials, including upholstery, carpet remnants, and other materials that are too contaminated to be cleaned.

The process for cleaning a crime or trauma scene is very thorough, requiring protective clothing that includes respirators, eye protection, gloves and protective footwear and head covers. The appropriate biohazard containers must be on site and disposal arrangements need to be scheduled so that hazardous and contaminated materials are transported directly to the appropriate disposal locations. Supplies need to include very high quality disinfectants and solutions that are capable of destroying blood-borne pathogens, compounds that neutralize chemicals, industrial quality deodorizers. Much of the protective clothing is disposed of after the job is finished. Many cleaning tools are also disposed of at the end of the job.

Any repairs to the premises that might be necessary can be started as soon as everything is clean, sanitized and deodorized. The technicians from SERVPRO of Orcutt follow OSHA and EPA protocols to help return an unsafe trauma scene to a clean location. After the police and other emergency crews have finished their work, the cleaning and restoration process can begin.

SERVPRO of Orcutt will respond immediately to any call for assistance with water damage, fire damage, mold removal, trauma and crime scene clean up and a variety of other services.

SERVPRO of Orcutt

1279 W. Stowell Road, Suite C

Santa Maria, CA 93458

(805) 922-5457

This press release is by Santa Maria Internet marketing and SEO company Access Publishing, 806 9th Street, #2D, Paso Robles, CA 93446, (805) 226-9890.

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Tony O. Elumelu

This is a time when we must all play our part. This global pandemic must bring citizens, governments and business leaders together – and quickly.

NEW YORK (PRWEB)
March 28, 2020

MARCH 28, 2020 – United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) announced a donation of $14 million USD (5 billion Naira), through the UBA Foundation, to catalyze a comprehensive pan-African response to the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

The donation will provide significant and much-needed support to Nigeria and 19 other African countries, by supplying relief materials, critical care facilities, and financial support to Governments. The UBA support program will be allocated as follows:

• 
  $2.8 million USD (N1 billion) to Lagos State Government in Nigeria
• $1.4 million USD (N500 million) to Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja
• $2.8 million USD (N1 billion) to the remaining 35 states in Nigeria
• $4.2 million USD (N1.5 billion) to UBA’s presence countries in Africa
• $2.8 million USD (N1 billion) for Medical Centers with equipment and supplies
• Free Telemedicine call centre facility

The pan-African bank will fund a medical centre immediately in Lagos, Nigeria, with beds for isolation and ICU facilities, managed and operated in partnership with Heirs Holdings’ healthcare subsidiary, Avon Medical Hospital.

In addition, UBA is providing a free telemedicine platform, that is physician-led, to provide direct access to medical advice to citizens, in compliance with social distancing requirements.

UBA Group Chairman Tony O. Elumelu, stated ‘This is a time when we must all play our part. This global pandemic must bring citizens, governments and business leaders together – and quickly. As we see a rapidly increasing number of cases of the coronavirus in Nigeria and Africa, the private sector has to work hand in hand with various Governments, in stemming the spread of the global pandemic.

We commend the efforts of governments and we are keen to partner and contribute our resources to the collective effort, that will ensure the response to the pandemic is swift and effective’.

Operating in 20 African countries and globally in the United Kingdom, the United States and France, the United Bank for Africa has a strong record of supporting its communities, through challenging times.

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Everest Group

Today’s new models of healthcare delivery, including telemedicine and telehealth, offer great potential for enabling remote healthcare management and better access to care, both during the current crisis and henceforth.

DALLAS (PRWEB)
March 27, 2020

Healthcare providers, historically slow to pursue digital transformation, are being forced to jump on the digital bandwagon. According to Everest Group, the surge in telehealth to meet the demands being placed on the healthcare ecosystem by COVID-19 will accelerate healthcare providers’ investment in digital technologies.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Everest Group predicted that healthcare providers would increase spending on digital IT services by more than 15% by 2025. The firm now expects higher investment and a shorter timeline.

“The digital adoption levels in the healthcare provider market had been relatively low, but healthcare response to COVID-19 will accelerate digital adoption,” said Chunky Satija, practice director at Everest Group. “The pandemic is a forcing function, necessitating that healthcare providers future-proof their technology estate—led by investment in analytics, automation, IoT, and cloud infrastructure—to enable distributed and scalable care models such as telehealth and telemedicine.”

Healthcare providers historically have been mired down by their legacy and disintegrated IT systems and by regulations that have had the unfortunate consequence of incentivizing them to maintain the status quo. But that’s not an option anymore, particularly as healthcare providers scramble to meet the unprecedented needs of a world disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today’s new models of healthcare delivery, including telemedicine and telehealth, offer great potential for enabling remote healthcare management and better access to care, both during the current crisis and henceforth. However, these new models of care delivery require more widespread digital adoption. Automation, analytics and IoT are the biggest areas of opportunity.

Other opportunities likely to emerge in the healthcare provider space in 2020 include the following:

• Data monetization. The emergence of a data exchange platform is likely to spur revenue generation for companies holding data assets.
• Cloud adoption to improve clinical data handling. The use of cloud-based platforms for management of disparate data sources allows for seamless collaboration across multiple stakeholders.
• Rising stringency of healthcare policies. Due to regulatory changes (such as CMS hospital price transparency requirements recently announced and effective January 1, 2021), providers must establish efficient channels and methods to disclose cost and price-sharing information to patients.

Everest Group shares these findings in its recently published report, Healthcare Provider State of the Market – Trends, Service Provider Performance in 2019, and Outlook for 2020. This report examines existing trends in the healthcare provider space and how they are impacting providers’ decisions. It also provides a snapshot of the PEAK Matrix® healthcare assessments that Everest Group carried out in 2019.

The report includes an overview of the marketplace pressures impacting the strategic decisions of healthcare providers, such as:

1.    BigTech claiming space in healthcare. BigTechs such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are invading the healthcare market, bringing technologically advanced solutions that aim to drastically improve overall physician and patient experience.

2.    Providers adopting value-based care (VBC). The shift to align healthcare provider incentives with quality of care and health outcomes of patients requires an unprecedented level of data sharing and usage.

3.    The advent of business models of coexistence. To improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, hospitals and health systems are joining forces, providers are partnering with payers, and accountable care organizations (ACOs) are on the rise. These new business models require integration of infrastructure, data and IT management and spur uptake of technologies such as IoT for remote healthcare, analytics to guide interventions, and mobility for intuitive patient portals and information exchange.

4.    Rise in consumerism. Patients increasingly expect healthcare to be delivered as a digital service, but also expect their healthcare information be secure and protected.

***Download a complimentary abstract of the report***

About Everest Group

Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. Our clients include leading global enterprises, service providers, and investors. Through our research-informed insights and deep experience, we guide clients in their journeys to achieve heightened operational and financial performance, accelerated value delivery, and high-impact business outcomes. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com.

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