Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc. has received FDA clearance for the Aquilion Exceed LB™ CT system, giving clinicians the opportunity to see more during radiation therapy planning for accuracy, precision and speed. As cancer cases continue to increase in the U.S., providing clinicians with the latest technology for accurate simulation across treatment plans remains critical.

The Aquilion Exceed LB supports fast and efficient radiation oncology workflows without compromising on patient position, image quality, or reproducibility. Features include:

Accuracy even in complex simulations through industry-leading capabilities, like the largest bore opening (90 cm), edge-to-edge extended Field-of-View (90 cm) reconstruction and wide detector coverage (4 cm).

Better contouring powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) with sharp, clear and distinct images from Canon Medical’s Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) Deep Learning Reconstruction (DLR) technology.

Expanded capabilities – the Exceed LB is also uniquely designed to meet the needs of radiology departments requiring the flexibility to handle bariatric patients and challenging patient positioning, and with patient access and technology designed to streamline CT interventions.

“The Aquilion Exceed LB was designed to push the boundaries of traditional simulation,” said Erin Angel, managing director, CT Business Unit, Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc. “Deep learning reconstruction will give radiation oncology teams the confidence they need for accurate and precise planning across patients.”

About Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc.

Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc., headquartered in Tustin, Calif., markets, sells, distributes and services radiology and cardiovascular systems, including CT, MR, ultrasound, X-ray and interventional X-ray equipment.

About Canon Medical Systems Corporation

Canon Medical offers a full range of diagnostic medical imaging solutions including CT, X-Ray, Ultrasound, Vascular and MR, as well as a full suite of Healthcare IT solutions, across the globe. In line with our continued Made for Life philosophy, patients are at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is to provide medical professionals with solutions that support their efforts in contributing to the health and wellbeing of patients worldwide. Our goal is to deliver optimum health opportunities for patients through uncompromised performance, comfort and safety features.

At Canon Medical, we work hand in hand with our partners – our medical, academic and research community. We build relationships based on transparency, trust and respect. Together as one, we strive to create industry-leading solutions that deliver an enriched quality of life.

If you are interested in healthcare, earning a graduate degree in medicine can open up several career options. Once you have your undergraduate degree, you are only scratching the surface of what there is to learn in the field. A graduate program allows you to focus on a particular area of interest that will lead to a rewarding, and well-paying, career.

For those who are considering continuing school for a medical degree without a science-based undergraduate, you may need to do some prep work before being admitted to a program. While there is no need to return for a second bachelor’s, your program will have some specific classes you may need to take to ensure you can keep up once class starts. Likewise, if you have been out of school for more than five years, many programs will require you to retake or test out of certain classes.

Paying for School

After earning your undergraduate degree, paying for additional schooling may be the last thing on your mind. Before deciding this isn’t the right idea for you, look at the career opportunities it will open up. Competition is fierce for the high-caliber jobs you may be interested in, and higher education, even if not mandatory, can open many doors. Taking out a student loan from a private lender allows you to pay for your graduate degree by shopping around and choosing a loan with the interest rate and repayment terms that makes sense for your financial situation. Whether you are a student or are planning to cosign the loan, private lenders can provide an affordable option.

Finding Focus

The medical field is very broad, but to do solid work, you need in-depth knowledge. You only touched the very surface of many areas when working on your bachelor’s degree. When considering a master’s, it is time to find some focus. If you enjoy staying up to date on the latest technology, many career options combine the two, if you prefer working around others and providing educational services, public health is a good choice. For people who find the human body and how it works fascinating, medical school isn’t the only choice. Master’s programs in nutrition or dietetics provide training for an in-demand career.

There Will Always Be a Need for Healthcare

Even if you don’t think working directly with the public is right for you, there is a place for you in the medical community. A master’s degree will provide the background needed to pursue work as a medical researcher, to manage clinical trials, and even to work in emergency preparedness. Continuing your education will open the door for many careers that will only become more important in the future.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Many people hesitate when considering graduate school because they fear struggling academically. If you found your biology classes interesting as an undergraduate and were able to keep up in chemistry, you should have no trouble continuing. The many areas of concentration you can focus on making it easier to gravitate toward your strengths. Healthcare education often includes many opportunities to work as an intern, allowing you to explore options that you otherwise wouldn’t be aware of.

Are you in the process of enrolling in Medicare? If yes, you must also be looking into Medicare supplement plans or Medigap plans.

In a word, Medigap plans help people save their hard-earned dollars. You don’t need to fret about out-of-pocket fees related to your diagnostic tests, doctor consultations, or other healthcare procedures when you avail them. As a result, it’s simpler to access the type of medical treatment you need.

To give you a better idea about this healthcare coverage, this article will discuss why it’s important to understand Medicare supplement plans.

What Exactly is Medicare Supplement or Medigap?

Medicare supplement plans are healthcare insurance policies that can help people lessen their out-of-pocket expenses when consulting doctors or availing medical treatments.

Here are some expenses that the plan covers:

• Coinsurance fees: An obligatory fee one needs to pay as a contribution to the service cost. It’s usually in the form of a percentage and charged after paying the deductibles.
• Deductibles: The fee charged for one’s medical service or prescriptions before any insurance, medicine plan, or Original Medicare.
• Co-payment: A set fee one needs to pay as a contribution for the cost of services, such as outpatient procedures, doctor consultation, or prescription medicine.

Here are the 10 Medicare supplement plans available, each of which has varied costs:

• Plan A
• Plan B
• Plan C
• Plan D
• Plan F
• Plan G
• Plan K
• Plan L
• Plan M
• Plan N

Keep in mind that these plans are standard, which means that you’ll get similar policy coverage regardless of which insurance carrier or state you purchase your plan.

However, an exception is Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, which have their individual Medigap plans. If you want to learn more about these plans’ features, such as those offered by United World Life Medicare, you can try reading websites that are dedicated to reviewing these companies.

Who Can Purchase Medicare Supplement Plans?

Individuals who are qualified to avail of Medicare can purchase Medigap plans. Take note of the requirements below:

• Medicare supplement plans work to augment the Original Medicare (Part A & B) policy. You must have traditional Medicare insurance before purchasing Medigap plans.
• Also, you can’t buy Medigap plans if you have Medicare Advantage insurance. Understand that Medicare Advantage policies are a replacement for the Original Medicare. If you intend to purchase Medigap plans, you’ll need to change coverage.

Why It’s Important to Understand Medigap Plans?

Since you’re now familiar with Medicare supplement plans, you may be wondering why are they important to understand? First of all, you need to have an understanding of this type of plan so you’ll know which policies are suitable and available for you.

They’re likewise valuable to understand for the following reasons:

1. Know The Enrolment Period

In understanding Medigap plans, you’ll need to learn when is your Medicare enrolment period and when you’re initially eligible to avail your insurance. The reason is that this is the phase you’ll have more policy choices and better prices.

When applying during your enrolment period, you have the right to purchase any Medigap plans an insurance company sells, even when you have health issues. You can buy them for an equal price that healthy people purchased them.

On the other hand, if you buy Medicare supplement plans after your enrolment period, companies can utilize medical underwriting to determine your health qualifications and decide your policy’s fees. There’s no guarantee that you can avail the insurance policies if you fail to meet the medical underwriting criteria unless you qualify for guaranteed issue rights.

2. Won’t Clash With Company Coverage

Furthermore, if you have a job or your spouse is presently working, understanding Medigap plans will make you aware that it’s best to enroll in Part B after your company coverage ends. The reason behind this is because company benefits are often the same as Part B, and you wouldn’t want to pay for similar medical insurance.

It’s essential to know that people will have the opportunity to apply for Part B coverage when their company’s benefits end without having to pay penalty fees. Their Medigap enrolment will begin once they’re ready to avail them.

If you’re working and want to understand how Medicare can work around your existing policy, you may consult your benefits administrator or employer.

Final Thoughts

In the long run, Medicare supplement plans or Medigap plans can help you minimize healthcare expenses during unforeseen circumstances. These plans can settle out-of-pocket fees that your Medicare policy may not cover. Take note though that Medigap plans don’t include coverage for eyeglasses, hearing aids, dental or eye care, or long-term treatment.

If you want to get more information about Medigap plans, you can consult your state’s insurance department to help you decide which coverage is best for you.

Conversa Health, a leading virtual care and triage platform, has expanded its Series B financing to $20 million during a year in which the company experienced sixfold growth of its platform. With the closing of the Series B round, Conversa has raised a total of $34 million. The Series B round, first announced at $12 million in June, was co-led by Builders VC and Northwell Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider with 23 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities.

“Northwell has been successfully using Conversa to scale our communications and patient engagement initiatives which include thousands of COVID-19 patients,” said Michael J. Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health. “Conversa has become a critical collaborator in achieving our vision for virtual health, helping Northwell to engage, monitor and manage patients more efficiently than ever before.”

Investing to catalyze the shift to digital first

The COVID-19 pandemic compressed years of virtual care tool adoption into months. Conversa was perfectly positioned to meet this need. Conversa’s Automated Virtual Care and Triage™ platform enables health systems to remotely monitor, analyze and communicate with patients and healthcare consumers at high frequency and scale—for chronic care, acute discharge, perioperative, oncology, OBGYN, prevention and wellness, and more. The platform automates care where possible, identifies at risk patients, and provides digital triage to higher levels of care for those patients – e.g. phone calls, telehealth, e-visits, scheduling in-person consults – when necessary.

In addition to co-leads Builders VC and Northwell Ventures, the investor syndicate includes UH Ventures, the venture arm of University Hospitals, an 18-hospital health system in Ohio; and venture capital firms P5 Health Ventures, Genesis Merchant Capital,, J-Ventures, Epic Ventures, StartUp Health, and Nassau Street Ventures.

“Conversa links providers’ EHRs and other patient data to best-of-breed interactive digital care pathways and clinical analytics engine to automate care management 24×7. This improves care plan adherence pre and post visit, reducing costs and generating better outcomes for patients,” said Mark Goldstein, Builders VC partner and Conversa board member. “Conversa’s enterprise platform and library of digital pathways are used by providers to care for patients across their populations, as opposed to one-off point solutions. It fills an enormous gap in the market.”

By automating remote management of vulnerable populations with Conversa, health systems gain significant clinical and operational benefits, including:

Improved patient satisfaction and engagement—97% of patients feel Conversa helps them manage their care and 87% feel better able to follow their care plan;
Lower total cost of care—hospital readmission rates 32% lower in patient cohorts using Conversa;
Increased revenue—over 70% reduction in procedure no show/cancellation rates; and
Enhanced care team coordination and productivity—82% of care team members using Conversa would recommend it to a colleague to help them deliver care.

Innovating with health systems

Innovative healthcare companies are partnering with Conversa to create a new care delivery model based on automated, evidence-based digital pathways. Conversa was one of the first digital health companies to develop a suite of COVID-19 Virtual Care Solutions, helping hospitals increase capacity by automating the outreach to and monitoring of vulnerable patient and employee populations. Northwell, UCSF Health and UNC Health were among the first health systems to adopt these solutions to educate patients about COVID-19, direct them to care when needed, deliver COVID-19 test results and provide daily quarantine check-ins.

Conversa and UCSF Health rapidly launched Conversa Employee HealthCheck last spring to enable UCSF to effectively and efficiently comply with a city of San Francisco mandate to screen all workers daily before entering their hospitals and clinics. Analyzing the data helps employers spot burgeoning hot spots and respond to potential workforce needs more quickly. Prisma Health in South Carolina and SCL Health in Colorado, as well as other employers, such as retailers and universities, also adopted Employee HealthCheck. Northwell recently began offering HealthCheck to employers and schools working to create and maintain a safe environment throughout New York.

Conversa integrates remote patient monitoring (RPM) and other devices to incorporate vital signs and biometrics into its automated digital pathways where needed. Seeking to care for lung transplant patients better at home to avoid exposure to coronavirus, UCSF integrated a Conversa chat program with a home spirometry kit to detect early signs of declining lung function.

Conversa has also extended its COVID-19 response to help with vaccine education, outreach, appointment scheduling and post-shot monitoring. Healthcare workers at UCHealth in Colorado have their vital signs monitored by a stick-on sensor, made by Conversa partner BioIntelliSense, starting two days before receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations and continuing for seven days after. Conversa collects temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate data from the BioButton and integrates the data with insights from a daily automated vaccination health conversation.

Accelerating the transformation of healthcare

Conversa will use the additional Series B funds to continue to scale its technology platform, expand its library of automated virtual care digital pathways, and fuel growth with new and existing customers. The new investment comes after a year that saw an acceleration of Conversa’s business and market recognition of its platform, including being named “Best Remote Diagnostics Company” for 2020 at the UCSF Digital Health Awards

“In the future, much of healthcare will be done remotely. Conversa’s automated platform helps care teams practice at the top of their license to deliver high-quality care at much lower cost. Our technology continually analyzes health data, using the resulting “signals” to navigate patients along personalized journeys down evidence-based pathways. This data plus behavioral science approach maximizes engagement and drives positive behaviors while reducing variability of care,” said Conversa CEO, Murray Brozinsky. “We’re honored to partner with our visionary customers and investors in our crusade to transform healthcare.”

Biobeat, a global leader in continuous remote patient monitoring solutions for the healthcare continuum, has launched a new home-based remote patient monitoring kit. The solution allows healthcare providers to remotely monitor patients’ vital signs and receive updates and deterioration alerts, helping to alleviate hospital overload, reduce costs and improve patient care.

Based on the same hospital-grade wearable monitoring sensor technology used in hospitals and care facilities around the world, Biobeat’s home monitoring kit includes chest-monitors, compatible adhesive units and a user-friendly manual. Patients will utilize an accompanying intuitive mobile app (compatible with IOS and Android devices) to share the data with providers and view their own health status. Moreover, the patient data is analyzed by Biobeat’s AI-powered cloud-based patient management system, giving health care staff a continuous view of patient health and predictive patient deterioration alerts.

“Our new hospital-level home-based patient monitoring kit is essential in today’s socially distant pandemic climate,” said Arik Ben Ishay, CEO of Biobeat. “As hospitals continue to grapple with over flooded COVID wards and increasing rates of infection, it is crucial to empower health staff with trusted clinical-grade wearable AI-powered patient monitoring tools that will allow them to provide hospital-level care from a distance. In this way, providers can better manage patient influx, reduce facility expenses and most importantly, improve patient outcomes. We expect to see hospital-level home-based remote patient monitoring solutions become the standard of patient care in 2021 and beyond, strengthening the Hospital at Home concept.”

Biobeat’s FDA-Cleared and CE Marked chest-monitors utilize proprietary non-invasive reflective photoplethysmography monitoring technology to automatically and continuously track multiple vital signs and health parameters. The wireless solutions connect to a cloud-based patient management system to provide medical staff with real-time data and alerts, enabling early identification of clinical deterioration. The management platform includes an integrated automated, customizable early warning score system that incorporates advanced health-AI-based algorithms that analyze aggregated patient data to identify deterioration more accurately and provide predictive analytics. This platform could help patients, their family members, and healthcare providers in multiple settings, allowing to optimize care of patients in the post-discharge and outpatient settings, as well as hospital-level home care of oncology patients, COVID-19 patients, and more.

About Biobeat

Biobeat is a med-tech company with unique health-AI abilities in the patient monitoring space. The company’s remote patient monitoring (RPM) health-AI platform includes a disposable short-term chest-monitor and a long-term wrist-monitor, both of which utilize a photoplethysmography-based (PPG) sensor to continuously provide accurate patient readings of 15 health parameters, including cuffless blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, temperature, stroke volume, cardiac output, one lead ECG (only chest-monitor) and more. Leveraging its automatic, continuous and noninvasive RPM AI platform, Biobeat has generated the biggest vital-sign database in the world, which it utilizes to identify early deterioration of patients via its proprietary big-data and health-AI tools.

Aggregated patient health data is viewed by medical staff via Biobeat’s secure HIPPA and GDPR compliant cloud-based patient management platform, which utilizes an automated real-time early warning score (EWS) system that incorporates advanced AI-based algorithms to provide alerts on patient health status and potential deterioration. These capabilities allow Biobeat to support medical teams with tailored patient care such as adjustment of therapeutics and early prevention of specific disease exacerbations. Biobeat’s wearable devices are the first devices to be FDA-Cleared for cuffless non-invasive blood pressure monitoring and are also CE Mark certified. Founded in 2016, Biobeat is headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel.