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PTS Pulse Q2 2022

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pulse Q2

Oh, the places you’ll go… 2022 Spring Conferences

Customer Corner: All About Corporate Accounts

Product Highlights

Quarterly Question

Healthcare conference

Oh, the places you’ll go… 2022 Spring Conferences

By Kelley McClain, Senior Marketing Manager and Jon Deal

To say that the PTS Diagnostics Domestic Marketing and Sales team have been here, there and a little bit everywhere is an understatement during most of Q2. However, this is a welcomed sign of the world transitioning back to a familiar sense of normalcy. One of the main business drivers our company focuses on is live, face-to-face meetings. These events span national medical professional association meetings and national distributor sales meetings throughout the year with the purpose to engage and interact with customers. To learn more about the roadshow the PTS team has been on, read below!

American Pharmacists Association March 18-21 || San Antonio, TX

Our “Why?”:

  • Pharmacists utilize our products to bring business into their stores in addition to helping patients. They provide valuable health services, such as testing for cholesterol and A1C, outside of the traditional healthcare setting and closer to the patients.
  • Traditionally, this business has been mostly done on a cash basis, but legislation is opening pharmacists’ services for reimbursement as well.
  • Pharmacists have an excellent opportunity to further evolve their role via point-of-care testing (POCT), especially considering the pressure that COVID-19 has placed on the health care system. Proper training, certification, and advances in testing technology enable POCT to occur in any setting.
  • Pharmacists using collaborative practice agreements based upon CLIA-POCT results have shown to provide efficacious and safe disease management. To get started, the pharmacy must enroll as a CLIA-waived testing site through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS 11612 form is an application that is mailed to the pharmacy’s state agency.
  • The pharmacy continues to be an ideal place for health care advice, and pharmacists will continue to be sought out for recommendations of OTC treatments.
  • The role of the pharmacist is evolving in patient care and using CLIA-waived tests in the community pharmacy setting is an opportunity to advance the profession and aid in disease management during COVID-19.

American College of Cardiology April 2-4 || Washington, DC

Our “Why?”:

  • PTS Products are perfectly suited for in-office testing during visits for a wide range of medical specialties that include but are not limited to Family Practitioners, General Practitioners, Pediatricians, and Cardiologists.
  • Cardiologists have shown strong interest in the CardioChek products as they can quickly get a baseline for patients that may not have been to their regular physician in a while for annual exams. Other patients simply forget to bring their numbers to their appointments or don’t know how to access their results via online hospital portals, etc.
  • About 1 in 5 adolescents have an unhealthy cholesterol reading, and nearly 93 million U.S. adults aged 20 or older have high cholesterol. But since high cholesterol doesn’t have symptoms, many people don’t know their levels are high.
  • When cholesterol testing should be done:
    • Every 5 years for people aged 20 or older who are at low risk for cardiovascular disease.
    • More frequently than every 5 years for people with cardiovascular disease risk factors.
  • Point of care testing for cholesterol, related lipids, and blood glucose can serve as a diagnostic tool that provides information for immediate risk assessment and therapeutic monitoring of heart disease and diabetes.
  • Healthcare providers use lipid panels for both children and adults to evaluate the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart disease, heart attack (myocardial infarction), and stroke.
  • Who Benefits?
    • Patients requiring primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
    • Management of patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease.
    • Patients with a history of familial hypercholesterolemia.
    • Children can also have high cholesterol, which may require a lipid panel blood test.
  • Reasons a provider may order a lipid panel include:
    • As a routine test to determine if the cholesterol level is normal or falls into a borderline-, intermediate- or high-risk category.
    • To monitor the cholesterol level if you had abnormal results on a previous test or other risk factors for heart disease.
    • To monitor the body’s response to treatment, such as cholesterol medications or lifestyle changes.
    • To help diagnose other medical conditions, such as liver disease.

Henry Schein National Sales Meeting March 22 || Virtual Meeting

Our “Why?”:

  • Henry Schein is one of our main national distribution partners
  • PTS provides Henry Schein branded CardioChek Plus analyzers and private labeled Lipid+eGLU Smart Bundle test strips.
  • This year was a virtual meeting format due to covid concerns.
  • The virtual format consisted of 12, 10-minute sessions with different Henry Schein teams rotating through, mostly grouped by geography.
  • The virtual meeting was beneficial, but all will be looking to get back to in-person meetings.
  • As our national distributors carry thousands of products, it is important to have dedicated time to connect with their sales teams and keep our products top of mind.
  • This includes product details and benefits, key features to promote, how to handle any objections, and how we compare to the competition.
  • As Covid has started to diminish in many parts of the country, our national distribution partners are looking to revitalize revenue streams beyond covid testing and vaccinations.
  • Henry Schein recognizes the value of our products as they promote the Henry Schein branded PTS Diagnostics product line; it is important to continue to work with their sales teams as there are many products fighting for their attention to present to end-users.

NDC (National Distribution & Contracting) April 11-13 || Nashville, TN (Corporate Office Location)

Our “Why?”:

  • Even though NDC is a national distribution partner of PTS Diagnostics, it consists of hundreds of small, independent health care distributors that utilize NDC’s membership to help provide efficiencies and support.This includes group buying power, distribution and logistics, contracts & rebates, and promotions & incentives.
  • From a manufacturing perspective, NDC partners with over 700+ manufacturers including PTS Diagnostics to save both time and money through their custom supply chain solutions that maximize efficiencies for distribution members.
  • This year’s event was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.
  • The annual conference is always held in Nashville where the corporate offices are located.
  • Not all NDC distributors specialize and call on the same customer base. Some may specialize in lab equipment while others may focus on consumables for example.
  • This year’s conference was in a roundtable format as opposed to a traditional trade-show concept.
  • Attendees were able to pre-schedule personal, dedicated one-to-one meetings with us at the show.
  • PTS met with several distributors that were looking for new opportunities to carry our products, further expanding our presence in the market.

McKesson National Sales Meeting May 17-19 || Las Vegas, Nevada

Our “Why?”:

  • As of 2021, McKesson is the 7th largest US corporation in the Fortune 500.
  • McKesson works with biopharma companies, care providers, pharmacies, manufacturers, governments, and others to deliver insights, products, and services.
  • McKesson is another national distribution partner of PTS Diagnostics that we have worked with for years.
  • Due to Covid, this was the first time to reconnect in person with their sales team and management in a few years on a large scale.
  • The PTS booth had hundreds of interested sales and marketing team members visit the booth and had just under 100 individuals looking for more information and interested in a follow-up conversation with a PTS sales team member.
  • Like Henry Schein, McKesson sales members and management are eager to find additional revenue paths post-Covid and see PTS Diagnostics’ products as a potential solution.

IMCO (Independent Medical Distributors) June 12-15 || Lake Buena Vista, FL

Our “Why?”:

  • IMCO is like NDC in that it is made up of independent distribution members.
  • PTS exhibited to the nearly 200 member distributors representing veterinary, dental, home health, acute care, etc.
  • PTS visited with familiar faces and continued to promote our CardioChek and A1C product lines.

Customer Corner: All About Corporate Accounts

Thanks to the amazing versatility of our products, we get to interact with many different types of healthcare customers. But, if you’re new to the organization, understanding the who, what, when and why of our diverse array of clients can be overwhelming. That’s why we asked Bridget Melland and Don Bellissimo, both directors of corporate accounts, to answer a few questions about their clients.
Employee helping customer

1. What are corporate accounts?

Corporate accounts are made up of high-volume end-user clients who have a nation-wide footprint. They include major retail pharmacy chains, major grocery store chains, home health, and wellness screening customers. All operate under CLIA licenses to meet regulatory requirements which vary state by state, and in some cases, even county by county!

2. How are corporate accounts different from distributor accounts?

Here at PTS Diagnostics, we specialize in manufacturing products. Distributors typically specialize in shipping a manufacturer’s products to end users—physician’s offices, home health agencies, etc.

Our corporate clients are end users, but they are unique in the scope of their business and the volume of product that they need. For example, one of our retail pharmacy partners has 4,300 locations across the United States! So, we work closely with each corporate client and and their preferred distribution partner to help facilitate a cohesive plan and ongoing dialogue between all three companies. Together, the group works through contract negotiations, product forecasting, regulatory support needs, technical support needs, clinical support needs, and product training.

3. What are some things that corporate customers value about our products and services?

Many of our corporate customers rely on our products as an integral part of their business. They value our products ease of use, accuracy, speed, and supply availability. But perhaps what they value most is our all-hands-on-deck approach to customer service which drives true partnership.

The little things make a big difference: understanding their forecast, responding to their requests and questions very quickly, having enough flexibility to customize a solution based on their business model, and having the right product ready for them at the right time.

All corporate accounts are VIPs due to their overall impact on revenue, and due to their ability to offer the valuable services our products help provide to large numbers of patients. Continuing to build their trust in us is critical. It helps us navigate occasional challenges— like product availability or product performance concerns—more smoothly. Because they know us to be reliable and accommodating, they are more willing to work with us to seek mutually beneficial resolutions.

4. Have corporate customers’ needs and expectations changed in the wake of COVID-19?

There is now an increased focus on home- and self- testing. The general population of consumers are now more comfortable with performing medical tests in their home.

Insurance providers (a.k.a. payors) have increased their focus on closing gaps in care and are seeking alternative lab testing solutions since their members have gotten out of the habit of going to routine wellness appointments.

Our biometric screening clients are seeking home testing solutions due to the impact of on-site employer testing.

Working from home is now more broadly accepted by some companies and employees. That means that employers need help from screening clients in offering remote biometric screening options for off-site employees.

From a production standpoint, most customers have stopped ordering large quantities of product months in advance, opting to order a few days or weeks before the event, thanks to the unpredictability of event cancellations due to COVID outbreaks. This has an impact on our forecasting and production schedules.

5. Is PTS well-positioned to meet new needs and expectations?

We have been partnering with other companies to help meet our corporate clients need to provide more at-home testing. Currently, most at-home tests include dry blood card testing, which have some drawbacks for our clients in terms of timing, logistics, and patient adherence. By partnering with companies like Reperio, which provide robust home-testing kits, we will be able help our clients overcome challenges with blood cards by replacing them with PTS Panels test strips!

We have also been able to take feedback from Corporate Accounts and customize our products; CardioChek Plus v1.12 is a direct result of feedback we received from our top biometric screening partner.

We are also working on ways to improve our forecasting so we can be ready to accommodate just-in-time orders from our corporate clients. Making sure we have product readily available when customers order will continue to be a priority.

It takes a village to secure, maintain, successfully partner with corporate accounts. And thanks to the all-hands-on-deck approach of the entire PTS team, we are the number 1 point-of-care testing partner for mass retailers, food chains, and biometric screening organizations in the U.S. With a team as talented and dedicated as ours, we’re sure to continue building our relationships with corporate accounts for years to come.

Product Highlight

CCPlus product highlights

PTS Employee Spotlights

Janice Keeney
Regulatory Affairs Specialist I

Janice Keeny

When did you join PTS?
2013

Name three hashtags that describe you.
#Crafty #GetThingsDone #Nice

Favorite place to “get away.”
DISNEY!

Best part about your job at PTS?
I love what I do in Regulatory, especially reading and interpreting regulations to help stay in compliance.

Secret Talent?
I can sing. Was a singer in my church Praise and Worship team.

Favorite part about working at PTS?
Helping to get a product in the market to help monitor various conditions including diabetes, which is a personal issue for me.

One thing you can’t resist?
Board games and Disney (which mostly get combined as well)

Best advice you have ever been given?
Always be ready to help wherever needed and focus on completing your work

Scott Lee
Associate Graphic Designer

Scott Lee

When did you join PTS?
February 2018

Name three hashtags that describe you.
#BBQFoody #Nostalgic #Love4Music

Favorite place to “get away”.
Surrounded by trees. A stream makes it all the better.

Best part about your job at PTS?
The variety each day presents.

Secret Talent?
I was mentored to be an airbrush artist early in my career.

Favorite part about working at PTS?
The good-hearted peeps.

One thing you can’t resist?
The sound of a drumline. I will veer to find them.

Best advice you have ever been given?
We are blessed, so that we may be a blessing.

Heidi Strunk
Sr. Director, Quality & Regulatory Affairs

When did you join PTS?
April 2015

Name three hashtags that describe you.
#NotShy #LightHearted #DoingMyOwnThing

Favorite place to “get away.”
Anywhere with trees and my favorite people.

Best part about your job at PTS?
My team is amazing!  They are talented and dedicated, and a whole lot of fun!

Secret Talent?
I spot patterns easily. I frequently find four-leaf clovers just as I walk along in the yard. They just “look” different, and it is like they are floating above the normal ones. If something like an earring is lost, I am the one that finds it.   

Favorite part about working at PTS?
The people.

One thing you can’t resist?
A good slice of homemade pie.

Best advice you have ever been given?
The best advice I ever received was from my mom – “Don’t forget where you came from.”

Bridget Melland
Sr. Director, Corporate Accounts

Bridget Melland

When did you join PTS?
January 2018

Name three hashtags that describe you.
#Meticulous #Outgoing #MamaOfTeens

Favorite place to “get away.”
Anywhere surrounded by family/friends, cold drinks & live music…disconnected from technology.

Best part about your job at PTS?
Getting to work with all business units at PTS; driving corporate account solutions takes an agile village.

Secret Talent?
Interior Decorating.

Favorite part about working at PTS?
I take pride in driving collaborative solutions and a positive PTS Diagnostics brand experience for some of our largest clients. Creating a win-win is motivating!

One thing you can’t resist?
Fries.

Best advice you have ever been given?
Always, always, always be overprepared. Make every client feel like they are your only priority. People won’t remember exactly what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.

Quarterly Question

“What was your FIRST concert,
and what was your BEST concert?”

First: 1983 after a Pacers/Bullets game – The Beach Boys. Best: Early 2006 – Roger Waters, Dark Side of the Moon.

— Jason Morrison, Finance & IT

First: Tool – 10,000 days.
Best: Tool – Fear Inocculum.

— Larry Smith, Operations

First: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Coming Out of Their Shells Tour: Market Square Arena 1991. Last: Silversun Pickups: Cincinnati maybe 2009?

— Sean Beach, Customer Service

First: Van Halen with David Lee Roth, in 1984. Best: Styx, Foo Fighters, Elton John in Las Vegas.

— Gary Johnson, Sales

First: Genesis, “Mama” tour. I won tickets on the radio. (Everything about this answer dates me) Best: Any of the U2 shows I’ve been to. Either the Joshua Tree tour or the Vertigo tour (where we got right next to the stage).

— Issa Emeish, Finance & IT

First: Jesse McCartney. Best: Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line! VIP in college!

— Brittany Dobson, Quality & Regulatory

First: Beach Boys, 1983.
Best: Van Halen, 1983.

— Don Bellissimo, Sales

First: Beach Boys after a Baltimore Orioles baseball game when I was just a little kid. Best: Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium.

— David Brandt, Sales

First: Van Halen, 1980, Cow Palace in San Francisco. Best: Coldplay in Santa Clara.

— Jennifer Cua, Operations

First: Cheetah Girls.
Best: Maroon 5.

— Adrianna Masterson, Global Product Development

First: Jerry Reed.
Best: Garth Brooks.

— Cameron Dobson, Marketing

First: The Monkees.
Best: The Who.

— Carolyn Schmitt, Quality & Regulatory

First: Chubby Checker, Bay City, MI, 1991. Best: I’m going to have to cheat a bit and split it up a few different ways…it’s so hard to choose an absolute best: Best for talent, sound, and production: Paul McCartney, Lollapalooza 2015. Most fun: In the pit while Rob Zombie performed White Zombie’s “Astro-Creep: 2000” album in full at Riot Fest 2016. Best for humblebragging: James Brown at Woodstock ’99 (it was pretty amazing).

— Joel Kerbleski, Quality & Regulatory

First: NKOTB, Louisville, 1990-ish. Donnie was the best new kid. Don’t @ me. Best: I can’t really choose a “”best.”” Too many good memories. Instead, I will choose one that I fangirled out over almost as much as NKOTB– Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Indianapolis, 2002-ish. (Again, don’t @ me)

— Andrea Sauceda, Marketing

First: B96 Summer Bash in Chicago – (N’Sync and Ricky Martin were the headliners lol!). Best: Green Day at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago (we stood in the balcony so we didn’t get crushed in the mosh pit below!)

— Kelley McClain, Marketing

First: Kelly Clarkson (I saw her while I was still in college. I would have loved to have seen NKOB when I was younger though!) Best: It’s a toss-up for best concert overall, which for me is between Kelly Clarkson and John Mayer.

— Latasha Little, Marketing

First: Styx with special guest Billy Squier. Best: Pink Floyd – Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour.

— Cliffe Allen, Sales

First: Peter Frampton. Best: Tie between Maroon 5 and Lady Gaga.

— Laurie Gutzwiller, Marketing

First: Cheap Trick.
Best: Tie between Eagles & Moody Blues.

— Ann Fausset, Operations

First: Elton John.
Best: Eric Clapton.

— Gretchen Robertson, Sales

First: Chicago.
Best: Lenny Kravitz.

— Michelle Deal, Quality & Regulatory

First: Ratt and Poison in the early 90s. Best: It’s impossible to say what the best concert was. I have been to hundreds of shows and all have brought me happiness, excitement, sadness, and tears (in a good way!).

— Amy Howell, Customer Service

First: Three Dog Night.
Best: Above & Beyond Acoustic.

— Kyle Nelson, Marketing

When I was in grade school and my Dad took his 4 oldest children to see the Beatles.

— Margo Enright, Quality & Regulatory

First: KISS.
Best: Bruno Mars!

— Erika Peltz, Shipping & Receiving

I wasn’t allowed to go to concerts as a teenager! LOL! As an adult, I loved the Paul McCartney concert and the Eagles (before Glenn Fry died).

— Beth Russell, Sales

First: Kansas.
Best: Car Seat Headrest.

— George Spoerl, Operations

First: My first concert was at Market Square Arena and I saw Leif Garrett. (I know…. Who is Leif Garrett!?)
Best: I worked at Universal Music Group for 27 years and I’ve seen many concerts and met many artists! By far, my favorite concert was sitting in the Universal Music Group Boardroom in Santa Monica, CA listening to Sting sing live to us!

— Amy Kersey, Finance & IT

First: Saw The Who and Kansas in Boston’s government center. Best: Best concert or most memorable anyway was Puscifer in Indy. It definitely was unique.

— James Willis, Operations

First: Frank Zappa (Philadelphia Spectrum) 1978 (I was 3). Best: Too hard to say (I’ve seen a lot; I was in the Rock N’ roll business for a long time.) 3 that come to mind: ZZ Top Eliminator Tour- Worcester Centrum-1983 (super-hot set, had an amazing laser light show, before they were outlawed for putting people’s eyes out) OR South Side Johnny and the Asbury Jukes from backstage at the Living Room in Providence RI- 1986 (maybe the world’s greatest party band) OR Styx, REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent- Gilford NH (the crowd was the worth the price of admission alone)- 2015.

— Ken Kimker, Sales

Class of 2022 Photos / Life Events

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PTS Pulse Q1 2022

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pulse Q1

CardioChek Reaches Underserved People in Peru Alyssa Q&A Reaching Out to Pediatricians in 2022 Product Highlight: Trividia Health

CardioChek Reaches Underserved People in Peru

Cardio Chek Peru Header image

By Jonathan Deal, Sr. Marketing Manager

When you picture one of our products in the hands of a customer, what do you see? Maybe you imagine a doctor’s office, a community health outreach event, an annual wellness event at the headquarters of a large corporation, or the home of a chronically ill person.

These are all great examples of places where our products have a tremendous impact. But you also might be interested to know that our products often find themselves in some fascinating programs and locations around the world.

One such example is the Ohio University Global Health (OUGH) study abroad program. Ohio University is a state university of 28,000 students. Its main residential campus is in Athens, Ohio, about 65 miles southeast of Columbus.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Drozek, Associate Professor of Specialty Medicine, led a group of selected students majoring in medical professions on an annual trip to Lima, Peru. Dr. Drozek has a long history of missionary work in clinics and hospitals abroad. He spent a year in Costa Rica, followed by seven years in Honduras.
He returned to Ohio 17 years ago and soon after began his annual trips abroad with students.

While in Peru, OUGH partners with the Center for the Complete Development of Children (CEDEINFA), and with local churches and community organizations, to provide hold free community clinics in impoverished communities.

At the clinics, students provide medical care, conduct research, and offer preventive health education in the villages near Lima.

Ultimately, the work done by Dr. Drozek and the program is about helping improve the overall health of the people and their communities. Cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Peru, behind respiratory disease. To help gain insight and understanding into the prevalence of heart disease in the community, program participants have collected data during their annual trips to Peru and have shared their findings through published studies, presentations at conferences, posters, and more.

For one study, program participants used CardioChek analyzers and lipid panel test to better quantify the level of cardiovascular risk in the resource-poor communities of Peru.

Dr. Drozek selected CardioChek for its portability, battery-operated power, room temperature test strip storage and quick results that can be shared immediately with study participants.

Based on CDC standards, data collected showed that:

  • 57% of participants met the criteria for dyslipidemia
  • 7.6% had high total cholesterol
  • 16.6% had elevated triglycerides
  • 16.6% had elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
  • 51% had low high-density lipoprotein (HDL)
  • 47% met the criteria for diabetes

The study concluded that cardiovascular disease risk factors are prevalent with alarming percentages. The study’s conclusion states that lifestyle modification focused on plant-based diets might be an affordable, cost-effective approach to reducing the cardiovascular risk.

The study abroad program to Peru not only benefits the communities being served, but the program provides a meaningful and valuable experience for the students. Dr. Drozek states that many students apply for grants to fund their personal research and program travel.

As the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be waning, it’s important to refocus on population health and the management of chronic diseases. Our products allow us to be a valuable partner in these types of settings.

If you are familiar with the idea of six degrees of separation, all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. Programs such as Dr. Drozek’s demonstrate that our products touch and connect us to people far beyond the walls of Whitestown and Sunnyvale.

Customer Corner:
Q&A with Alyssa Williamson, President at US Wellness

Customer Corner image

1. How long have you been at US Wellness and what is your role there?

I’ve been at US Wellness for 19 years as of this month. My role has evolved from Sr. Director of Operations to COO to President, a promotion that was announced in January 2022.

2. How would you describe the importance of what your organization does to better serve your clients?

US Wellness has always been focused on quality. Our team understands the importance of managing to the details and everyone working together to deliver the best service. Over the past few years especially, US Wellness has harnessed this quality and expanded it to new and different services beyond traditional biometric screenings. We are taking what we do best – quality, communication, and service – and applying that to support our employer clients in a variety of population well-being services.

3. What has US Wellness done to adapt to the post-COVID environment?

I would not say that we as a global economy and society are exactly in a POST COVID environment quite yet. US Wellness was there, helping our clients gain access to testing and risk management services. As we finally start to see the pandemic slow, we continue to be there to help our clients transition back to the workplace with added risk management services. We also engage our clients in far-reaching employee well-being solutions to help people cope with the changes in their lives.

4. What do you see as the outlook for the health and wellness industry?

So many exciting changes! Science and technology are bringing us rapid advancements in genomic and preventive testing that help people understand their risk factors and control their well-being in ways that we have not had before. Health and wellness are finally taking a customized approach. We have the tools now to tailor services and support to individuals’ unique needs. When combined, these individuated wellness care plans will blend into true population health.

5. What notable impact has the PTS Diagnostics solutions made to better assist your organization? How do they stand out?

PTS has been an outstanding partner to US Wellness for nearly 20 years now. Together, we have not only watched but helped the health and wellness industry evolve to better serve the needs of all the people we reach. PTS listens to the market and reacts with solutions that address the need and help the market evolve. PTS blends its own business goals with the needs and goals of its clients. As a client of PTS, we have benefited so much from the partnership and look forward to what’s next health and wellness together.

Reaching Out to Pediatricians in 2022

Reaching out Image

Pediatricians are seeing more children present with new-onset diabetes after having COVID-19.[1]

PTS products have been used by pediatricians to gauge their young patients’ heart disease and diabetes risk for some time; however, there is plenty of room for growth as the focus on childhood chronic diseases such as diabetes regains attention.

This summer, the Marketing team will coordinate and execute a comprehensive pediatric brand awareness campaign in partnership with domestic and international distributors.

For example, as part of the 2022 Henry Schein GEMS program, the Marketing team will produce a series of ads to be featured in key publications. CardioChek Plus ads will appear in Henry Schein’s Back to School Product Guide in July and on the Henry Schein website. These ads will coincide with a social media campaign to be run on both Henry Schein and PTS Diagnostics channels throughout June and July.

Other Marketing collateral will include a pediatrics informational sheet to share with healthcare providers and a training presentation specifically produced for Henry Schein sales representatives. The training presentation will be featured on Henry Schein’s employee portal and will help Henry Schein better understand our products and how to position them in the marketplace.

Our NDC distribution partners will also provide opportunities for increased visibility because we supported their annual national conference. The 2022 conference takes place in Nashville, April 11-13. We will place pediatric web and email banner ads targeted to NDC distribution members in June and July. These will be accompanied by a landing page within the NDC member website in July.

These are just two examples of the number of focus pediatrics will have for PTS Diagnostics in 2022. Pediatrics will also be targeted by the newly formed Inside Sales team. Specific pediatric leads will be loaded into Salesforce campaigns and tracked as the campaign progresses. A comprehensive social media campaign will support all these messaging opportunities to deliver a consistent and persistent message to the pediatric market.

The goal is to increase awareness and generate new opportunities for our sales teams. We are excited about this initiative. It will be interesting to see how the efforts pay off as the program unfolds.

Product Highlight: Trividia Health

Trividia Product Information
Ann Fausset

When did you join PTS? April 5, 2021

Name three hashtags that describe you: #Strong #Committed #Funny

Favorite place to “get away”: Anywhere that doesn’t involve work and is warm!

Best part about your job at PTS? I get to collaborate with multiple departments and PTS sites.

Secret Talent? I can wiggle my nose and ears.

Favorite part about working at PTS? The teamwork and support everyone provides. Everyone truly wants to make each other successful, and that is hard to find! It’s a ‘How can I help you’ mentality.

One thing you cannot resist? Chocolate!

Best advice you have ever been given? Never stop learning. Every job, every person you meet is an opportunity to learn something.

PTS Employee Spotlights

Candace Shaefer

When did you join PTS? April 2018

Name three hashtags that describe you: #CatMom #Determined #Fun

Favorite place to “get away”: I look for new places that include adventure and history.

Best part about your job at PTS? I get to interact with tons of different people.

Secret Talent? Strategy board games.

Favorite part about working at PTS? Lovely coworkers.

One thing you can’t resist? Chocolate and coffee!

Carolyn Schmitt

 When did you join PTS? February 2020

Name three hashtags that describe you: #Dependable #GoodForComedyRelief #Cheerful

Favorite place to “get away”: Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, Indiana.

Best part about your job at PTS? Exploring the ins and outs of the many aspects of regulatory affairs.

Secret Talent? I played the flute in middle school and high school.

Favorite part about working at PTS? Working with different parts of the organization on a daily basis.

One thing you can’t resist? Greek food! Opa!

Best advice you have ever been given? After a set back in college, I was struggling with my perspective on the event. During that time, my dad told me the event was “just a small dot in the big picture of my life; and that I shouldn’t let that dot become the whole picture.” I’ve carried that with me to this day, and it helps.

Jonathan Deal

When did you join PTS? Various Marketing positions from 2010-2014 and returned in August of 2021.

Name three hashtags that describe you: #DogLover #DadJokes #Family

Favorite place to “get away”: Anything involving travel by land, air, or sea. Madrid is my favorite city.

Best part about your job at PTS? The ability to wear many different hats and provide meaningful input. Getting to interact with all the great individuals both inside and outside of PTS.

Favorite part about working at PTS? Without a doubt the people. Not only PTS employees, but individuals in the industry in general.

One thing you can’t resist? Smiling at every dog I see while driving, walking, etc. and of course saying hi to the ones that I can.

Best advice you have ever been given? Just breathe and try to enjoy life.

Quarterly Question

If every activity were an Olympic sport, in what event would you win the gold?

Downhill skiing/ racing…I used to be a great skier.

— Beth Russell, Senior Manager, Sales

Oh Andrea, there are so many things for me to choose from on this one. But I think I will have to go with cooking.

— Carolyn Schmitt, Manager, Regulatory Affairs

Shopping online is my cardio!

— Kelley McClain, Senior Manager, Marketing

Singing – maybe not for skill, but definitely for enthusiasm and volume.

— Heidi Strunk, Senior Director, Quality and Regulatory Affairs

I would say ordering food on the Chick-fil-A app for sure.

— Cliffe Allen, Vice President, Sales

Well…..I was the Women’s Indiana University Beer Chugging Champion many years ago, and have a trophy in my office to prove it!

— Gretchen Robertson, Senior Manager, Sales

Napping. I’m the king!

— Ken Kimker, Director, Sales Distribution

I could win a gold medal in crafting. My craft room is where I train LOL.

— Janice Keeney, Specialist, Regulatory Affairs

I have 2 categories. Coding & Cold Weather Camping. Last time I went camping it was -5°F over night and a high of 14°F during the day.

— Mark Sweet Jr., Manager, IT

So I would win the Gold in sarcasm… and my son would be next to me with the Silver.

— Ann Fausset, Senior Materials Manager

Drinking Diet Coke.

— Cameron Dobson, Senior Manager, Marketing

I’d have to say… carrying a trunk full of groceries into the house in ONE trip. God forbid I make multiple trips!.

— Jessica Gahimer, Generalist, Human Resources

Overthinking. In fact, I gave one of my all-time best performances in overthinking while trying to come up with an answer to this question.

— Andrea Sauceda, Manager, Content Marketing

Documentary watching.

— Candace Schaefer, Analyst, Finance

Being a smart… aleck.

— Nelson McMahon, Diverse, IT Support

Music.

— Norma Moreno, Senior Supervisor, Production

Being able to cry on demand.

— Kaddy Davis, Associate, Technical Support

Video gaming.

— Manuel Jimenez, Clerk, Warehouse

Answering the phone.

— Amy Howell, Specialist, Customer Support

Befriending dogs.

— Jonathan Deal, Senior Manager, Marketing

I did a poll with some family/friends and the consensus was that I would win the Gold in Event/Party Planning.

— Latasha Little, Product Labeling Manager

Employee Events, Q1 2022

Thank you for helping us celebrate!

Employee Events 2022

 

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Bringing the Hospital, and the Lab, Home

The home health industry had already been growing steadily for years before COVID-19 came along; but the pandemic, and the need for virtual, “socially distanced” health services that came with it, have exponentially accelerated that growth. It not only increased demand for home health services, but also prompted the U.S. to propose changes to government funding of home- and community-based services (HCBS).

At the time of this writing, members of the United States Congress are debating an infrastructure funding package that could include as much as $400 billion for home and community-based services (HCBS). 1 (Globally, U.S spending on HCBS is much lower than that of nearly all other developed countries.1) If that funding is approved, we will likely see much bigger investments in home health programs from both payors and provider agencies. But we may also see changes to policies on reimbursement for home health services that would require agencies to show evidence of improved health outcomes for their patients.

As a result, many home health agencies and hospital systems may need to invest in new tools and resources that will help them deliver high-quality care to the rapidly growing and changing population of home-based patients.

The Picture of Home Health

Many people still think of home health as an option that is only for people who have been discharged from a hospital or nursing home. But today, many home health service providers are tasked not only with helping patients who have left a hospital setting, but also preventing patients from being admitted to a hospital or nursing home

So, who are today’s home health patients? First, according to recent Medicare data, only one-third of patients were assigned to home health care after a hospital or nursing home stay. Two-thirds are referred to home health from the community. 2

Home health patients also tend to be people who need help managing complex comorbidities. Nearly 50 percent of them have five or more chronic conditions, such as asthma, arthritis, diabetes, or heart disease. Only 22.4% of all Medicare beneficiaries must manage that many conditions all at once.2

What Will Today’s Home Health Providers Need to Succeed?

To be most effective in serving the growing complexity of their patient population, home health providers must build a comprehensive system that includes not only hands-on care, but also remote patient monitoring, lab work, radiology, and medication delivery. And, to make the system work, they will need to find ways to enhance their ability to communicate and collaborate with all the members of a patient’s care team.3 Some experts also think that home health agencies may need to become more specialized, with specific programs dedicated to heart disease, diabetes, respiratory health and more. And, as they expand to offer these services and more, home health agencies will want to consider how to best improve quality of care while reducing costs. 3

One health outcome measurement that both government payors (Medicare) and private payers will likely track is hospital admissions and readmissions. There is already some evidence that home-based primary care can reduce ER visits, hospitalizations, and 30-day readmissions for homebound patients. Early results of a 5-year Medicare program called Independence at Home showed not only these reductions in hospitalizations, but also an average annual cost savings of $2,700 per beneficiary.3

How Can Point-of-Care Testing Help?

Some healthcare providers have expressed reluctance over a broad shift to home health. One of the reasons often cited is that patients may not be continuously monitored at home in the same ways they are in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or nursing home. They worry that subtle but significant changes in a patient’s vital signs or biometric measurements might be missed, and along with it, the chance to adjust treatment in a way that could improve and prolong the patient’s life.

But advancements in remote patient monitoring, medical records sharing, and rapid biometric testing can help ensure that a patient’s health status can be closely tracked at home, and that any necessary adjustments to the patient’s treatment plan based on those on changes can be quickly communicated to the home care team and the patient.

One example is in tracking lipid panel and A1C results for home-based patients with heart disease and diabetes. Regularly tracking these two metrics in addition to other vital signs and biometric measurements may help providers identify which patients are at the highest risk for eventual hospitalizations due to less-than-optimal management of their conditions.

Some studies have shown that reducing cholesterol levels that are too high can lessen the risk of heart attack or heart-disease related death4, and optimal control of blood glucose can make a difference in reducing diabetes complications.5 Furthermore, some evidence shows that poor glycemic control in patients with diabetes is associated with an increase hospitalization due to heart disease or any other cause.6

The ability for home health providers to gather accurate lipid panel and A1C results at the patient’s home in minutes, instead of the usual days or weeks it can take to get test results from a lab can make a difference in two ways:

– It can improve overall workflow efficiency, resulting in a related reduction in staff time and costs.

– It gives providers the opportunity to get same-visit feedback on their progress and setback in terms of their glucose and cholesterol control. Prompt feedback can help make new information “stick” and can help motivate patients to act on new knowledge they have gained. 7

When you combine these added efficiencies with better informed and more engaged patients, and with highly-skilled healthcare providers, you have a winning formula for high-value/low-cost service—something that both patients and payors like to see.

While the finer details of home health care policies in the U.S. are not yet certain, there is little doubt that demand for home-based care will continue to grow, and along with it, the need for home-health-friendly tools and services.

If you have any questions about the benefits of point of care testing in home health settings, please reach out to us. We are happy to help in any way we can. Start by visiting ptsdiagnostics.com/contact-us.

Sources

1 https://homehealthcarenews.com/2021/06/senators-advocates-tout-once-in-a-generation-opportunity-for-funding-hcbs/

2 https://homehealthcarenews.com/2021/01/top-home-health-trends-for-2021/

3 https://hbr.org/2019/10/5-obstacles-to-home-based-health-care-and-how-to-overcome-them

4 https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-lower-cholesterol-risk#1-3

5 https://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/16/4/217 

6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11892-018-0989-1

7 https://edume.com/blog/role-of-feedback-in-improving-learning

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No More Telemedicine Tradeoffs: Get A1C Test Results for Virtual Appointments

For many people with diabetes, regular, personal interaction with healthcare providers is key to helping them successfully manage their disease. The opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, and receive support and encouragement from their providers is highly valued by many patients, and can have a real impact on their health outcomes. 1

But what happens when a global pandemic forces most face-to-face appointments to go virtual? And what happens to the quality of virtual appointments in cases where providers need lab quality results to confidently assess a patient’s condition?

Integrating self-testing options with a telemedicine program may be just the thing patients and providers need to enjoy the flexibility of telemedicine without sacrificing the quality of care.

Bridging the Telemedicine Lab Test Gap

Although virtual appointments have increased by 35% since COVID-19 took hold, there are many patients and providers who are reluctant to try virtual appointments due in part to a perceived decrease in the quality of care when it is conducted virtually.2

One reason for that perception is that the kinds of lab tests healthcare providers would typically use to assess the efficacy of their patient’s treatment cannot be performed virtually.2 Since the recent switch to virtual appointments was so sudden, many telemedicine programs have not yet caught up to the world of at-home, self-collection blood tests available on the market today, forcing providers and patients to do without the information they usually rely on to provide the highest quality care.

Patients and providers don’t have to miss out on the valuable insights lab tests can provide when they switch to virtual appointments. For example, people with diabetes can perform A1C tests at home with the A1CNow® Self Check test system. It is easy to use and has been shown to produce results that are as accurate as those from traditional laboratories.3 That means that both patients and providers can trust that they are receiving the same quality results they would likely receive from an office-run or lab-run test.

Personalizing Diabetes Management Through Self-Tests

Even before COVID-19, many patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension struggled to keep up with the number of appointments they needed to attend for help in managing their condition. Bringing the ability to perform simple lab tests and attend appointments from their homes may be a game changer for those who haven’t had full access to care due to time or money constraints. Though many will benefit for the flexibility of telemedicine and at-home testing, patients should ask their healthcare providers whether self-testing and virtual appointments are appropriate options for them based on their own health risks and goals. And, it’s important not to make any decisions about your health based on the results of an at-home test without first consulting a physician. More information on the A1CNow Self Check system is available at https://ptsdiagnostics.com/a1cnow-self-check/.

References

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4545295/

2 https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/preventive-care-dropped-during-covid-19-pandemic-despite-rise-telehealth-visits-study

3 https://ptsdiagnostics.com/2019/07/09/a1cnow-system-abstract-multi-center-accuracy-assessment/