How Data Drives Innovation In Healthcare

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I recently spoke with Victor Brown, founder & CEO of Xcellent Life Inc. In this interview, we explore Victor’s journey to founding Xcellent Life and how with what Xcellent Life does, Victor believes the use of data will drive innovation in healthcare.

Gary Drenik: Victor, can you share with me a description of your business?

Victor Brown: Xcellent Life is a digital health company that provides AI-powered software and mobile app platforms to empower human health. Our software and app collect information from wearable devices, other software applications and directly from users, which we analyze to provide insights to where a person’s health is vs where it should be. We help to identify and avoid health risks.

Drenik: What led you to founding Xcellent Life?

Brown: Well, it was not a straightforward path. Rewinding 26 years, I was comfortable growing my career in the energy sector where I spent 20 years in various capacities (Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Executive) and of course was compensated well. Approximately 9 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with type II diabetes, which led me to start getting involved with his care. It was that experience that helped me realize healthcare was completely broken. This was alarming given my background in the energy sector, where things work in the exact opposite fashion, but in a very effective way. Let me explain. If I told you, we have this nuclear reactor that we were going to let start melting down, and then try to fix it, would you consider that a good idea? Well, most if not all people would say “No” and they would be absolutely right. If we took that approach, it would cause catastrophic failure and loss of life. That approach sounds ridiculous in that context. However, I realized that approach is the standard mode of operation in healthcare. Healthcare is completely reactionary. Additionally, there is very limited use of comprehensive and granular data to protect human life. That said, I founded Xcellent Life to be a champion for wellness and bring about an area of more advanced solutions dedicated to protecting human life.

Drenik: Well, I suspect you did not count on a global pandemic being a part of the equation so, how has the pandemic changed healthcare?

Brown: Covid-19 has highlighted inefficiencies and inadequacies by stress testing the system in a sudden and intense way. Covid-19 has a greater impact on those who already have a chronic illness. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics Survey, 27% of Gen-Xers and over 46% of Baby Boomers are suffering from high blood pressure. That same research shows that between Asthma, Allergies, or COPC, 32% of the population are affected by those respiratory illnesses. Given the strain Covid-19 puts on the respiratory system and heart, people with those conditions were really prone to see intensified symptoms, sending many to the hospital which overwhelmed the system. The impact has been the broader realization of the need to modernize the system and in particular use digital health solutions as a greater part of the mix. This has resulted in greater levels of investment into digital health companies and companies that are offering technologies that serve to modernize the delivery of care. As bad as the Covid-19 pandemic has been in the lives of so many people, it has accelerated the adoption of innovative technologies that are powered by data.

Drenik: How can the use of data bring innovation to healthcare?

Brown: In general, decisions are enhanced when more factors are evaluated. Moreover, the faster you can evaluate those factors, the faster you can arrive at an informed decision that gets the desired outcomes. This reality is the foundational piece to innovation in healthcare. For decades, healthcare has been reactionary in that the model has been to respond to symptoms and respond in a way guided by a diagnosis based on sparse and generalized data. The future is centered around proactively monitoring human vitality using granular data that leads to the highly personalized real-time protection of human health. This approach and utilization of technology provides a foundation for many innovative applications within healthcare. As an example, Xcellent Life takes this approach with our Real-time Human Diagnostics (RtHD) technology to empower applications centered around wellness. We are seeing that the coupling of historical data with highly granular personal data allows for more accurate predictions of health risks and more personalized ways to avoid those risks. Imagine having an OnStar-like system for the human body. We believe that this type of approach will one day become the standard of care. This example only scratches the surface of opportunities of the applications that are going to transform healthcare and disrupt the existing business models in the process. Revenue has always been generated based on treating sickness vs developing cures. I believe we are arriving at a time where technological advancement powered by data will transition the primary business model to one where revenue is generated for lengthening life and quality of life.

Drenik: What specific future innovations powered by data will transform healthcare?

Brown: One very specific innovation will be real-time monitoring of human vitality. Imagine if every moment of your life, your health was being protected by artificial intelligence analyzing the level of functionality of all your core body functions. Another innovation will be precision-care treatments that will target the specific areas of concern in a very specific way for the individual being treated. In essence, when we truly tap into the power of data coupled with many of the other advancing technologies, the future will not resemble the present day system based on reactionary care.

Drenik: It sounds like we are going to have great innovations that play a role in advancing society. Is there anything else you would like to highlight about Xcellent Life?

Brown: There is a lot going on right now within Xcellent Life, but I would like to note our recent collaboration with Sky High For Kids. Sky High For Kids is a great non-profit organization doing some amazing work in the fight against pediatric cancer and I feel great to have Xcellent Life collaborate to further support their mission. We welcome others to support this effort here.

Another piece of exciting news is an agreed joint venture between Xcellent Life and Our Community Health System to enhance wellness across underserved communities. This joint venture will serve to highlight how the power of data will be used to drive greater health across the population and get more people access to the care they need.

Drenik: Victor, that sounds like you folks have some very exciting things going on at Xcellent Life, so I know you are very busy. That said, I would like to thank you for providing these insights on how data will drive innovation in healthcare, and I look forward to watching Xcellent Life improve wellness across the population.

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