Q&A with Martha Lawrence of AccendoWave: Harnessing pain data to address health equity
AVIA Connect is the leading online resource for accurate, unbiased information about digital health companies and solutions. Our goal: To empower hospitals and health systems with the information they need to match with vendors who can meet their individual needs. We asked the top remote monitoring companies about their solutions and what they think the future of digital health looks like. No sponsored content or advertorials—just transparency and insights that decision-makers can use.
AccendoWave’s remote pain monitoring solution is intended to do more than facilitate virtual care—the company is working to solve the issue of pain bias in healthcare. The machine learning-powered pain assessment system combines physiological data with patient perceptions to objectively measure pain in patients of all ages and acuity levels. With clinical data to provide actionable insights into pain, healthcare providers can provide better care to all patient populations and deliver on their equity pledges.
Martha Lawrence is a Health Care Executive with more than 25 years of experience in leadership and operations with national health systems including Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). Currently, Ms. Lawrence serves as CEO & Co-Founder of AccendoWave, a machine learning health care technology company that objectively measures and manages pain/discomfort. Previously, Ms. Lawrence served as President of Sequoia Healthcare Advisors, an advisory firm providing strategic innovation and investment advisory guidance. Earlier Ms. Lawrence served in national account sales with Sandoz Corporation (now Novartis) and in sales and marketing roles with National Medical Enterprises (now Tenet Healthcare).
Martha Lawrence has a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ms. Lawrence serves as a board member for AccendoWave, Sequoia Realty Advisors and American Healthcare Finance.
Q: Can you tell us about your company and the challenges you are solving within the remote monitoring space?
A: AccendoWave’s Remote Monitoring Solution objectively measures pain and provides real-time pain data. Pain is one of the primary reasons patients access health care and a primary driver of cost, but since pain data can’t be extracted from electronic health records, health systems don’t have any data or insight about these costs. Additionally, pain has a bias problem: women and pain, ethnicity and pain, seniors and pain. Their number one complaint is often that their pain isn’t believed. If health care systems are serious about their health equity pledges, they must address pain bias with technology to validate patient pain. Retraining the entire clinical workforce just isn’t an option.
Q: How does your company differentiate from other remote monitoring vendors?
A: We’re the only company with a tech solution that can objectively measure pain by correlating your brain waves with your perception of pain. AccendoWave also has the largest global real-time database on pain. Individual objective pain measurement can be compared to benchmarked pain databases by specialty, sex, and age.
Q: What are some of the biggest changes your company has seen around how health systems are approaching remote monitoring since 2020?
A: Health equity. This is a major area of focus in healthcare today. There is a growing body of research that indicates that bias against women and ethnic minorities results in chronic undertreatment of their pain. Pain is one of the most subjective measures in all of medicine and thus often subject to bias. Patients don’t trust healthcare providers and systems that don’t believe them when they report pain. AccendoWave uses objective data to provide a health equity solution. Our technology compares each patient’s brain waves and perception of pain with data from more than 75,000 other patients who have used the technology.
Q: What does an ideal client look like? How are health systems best organized for success in remote monitoring?
A: The ideal hospital client is focused on patient trust and satisfaction and taking action on issues like pain bias and health equity. The health system understands the need to have objective pain data—after all, it’s one of the primary drivers of cost.
Q: What measurable outcomes have you seen from your clients who have prioritized remote monitoring?
A: Health systems that provide second generation remote monitoring--where they remotely measure pain--have better pain data to improve outcomes, reduce readmissions and control costs. First generation remote monitoring does not have this pain data assessment capability.
Q: What major functional enhancements and/or product investments are you making in the near term to keep up with the evolution of remote monitoring?
A: AccendoWave has become a pain data company that provides insights into pain that aren’t available with electronic health records or other digital health solutions. We will continue to expand how we benchmark our pain databases to respond to customer needs and use cases.
Q: How is your company partnering with clients as reimbursements and use cases shift?
A: Pain is not simply the domain of health care providers and systems, so AccendoWave is expanding into other channels. AccendoWave Remote Monitoring technology can be used in a variety of settings. We are seeing significant interest in our objective pain data for mental health use cases. The pain and anxiety loop are closely linked, and pain data can be used to better allocate mental health resources. Our current growth channels include pharma clinical trials, pain care pathways for Medicare Advantage health plans, and pain data analytics for government and employers.
Q: What are the biggest opportunities health systems should be thinking about this year when it comes to remote monitoring?
A: If health systems want to effectively compete in the hospital at home and home care space with the host of new market disruptors, they need to address core bias problems like pain. Accessing pain data can help them reduce their costs and compete more effectively.
Q: How do you see remote monitoring evolving in 2022 and beyond?
A: Beyond 2022, we believe that all health systems will offer remote pain monitoring to better address chronic care management, reduce costs, reduce the pressure on the healthcare system and improve patient outcomes. Patients will have better information about their personal health, with access to remote care that eliminates travel time and expense. Hospitals and health systems need to prove their focus on pain bias and health equity--patients won’t trust a health care provider or system that doesn’t believe their pain. Employers are concerned about the escalation of health care costs and are focused on data-driven solutions to help reduce costs, especially on their biggest health care cost drivers.
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