Q&A with Simon MacGibbon of Myia Health: Supporting patients across the care continuum

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.

Myia Health’s data-driven operating system supports patients and clinicians across the care continuum, including inpatient monitoring, hospital at home, 30-day readmission avoidance and traditional remote patient monitoring. The Myia platform offers device-agnostic and deviceless remote data collection, utilizing predictive analytics and machine learning to support clinical decision-making, facilitate smart triage and combat “alert fatigue” that can contribute to clinician burnout. Established in 2017, Myia has some notable partners–Mercy Virtual, the nation’s first “hospital without beds,” adopted the platform for its own virtual care model, which monitors more than 10,000 patients each day.

 
 

Co-founder and CEO Simon MacGibbon has more than two decades of experience delivering complex enterprise platforms in consumer and B2B settings. Prior to founding Myia Health, he co-founded the Boston Consulting Group’s Digital Ventures global team, where he led teams that built new technology platforms for Fortune 500 customers. MacGibbon also worked for McKinsey & Company as an associate partner and led CRM and analytics transformations at IBM. He hails from New Zealand and holds degrees from Otago University and the University of Canterbury.


Q: Can you tell us about your company and the challenges you are solving within the remote monitoring space?

A: Our mission is to consistently elevate the standard of care in the remote monitoring space. We work with our customers to optimize patient outcomes, clinical operations and the economics of delivering virtual care at scale. We are also eliminating barriers to efficiency and clinical capacity and providing a quality patient experience. Myia does not limit remote care to traditional RPM and CCM. We support your patients’ journey across the continuum of care, starting in the inpatient setting and including hospital at home care, traditional RPM and CCM.

Q: How does your company differentiate from other remote monitoring vendors?

A: Myia partners with customers to provide end-to-end services, including: 

  • Patient identification and stratification

  • Patient activation and onboarding

  • Patient prioritization and compliance

  • Clinical protocols and operations

  • Multi-parameter alarming to reduce alarm fatigue

  • Asynchronous communication and video calling

  • Risk scoring

  • Data-driven continuous improvement using advanced analytics and machine learning

Q: What are some of the biggest changes your company has seen around how health systems are approaching remote monitoring since 2020?

A: Iterations of virtual care have been around for years among health systems, but since 2020, we have seen a significant increase in the number of health systems that are really embracing and funding virtual care initiatives. We have also seen a continued shift as more healthcare systems embrace value-based care and at-risk contracts. Remote monitoring will be a key component in reducing healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes by reducing barriers to care that many patients face.

Q: What does an ideal client look like? How are health systems best organized for success in remote monitoring?

A: Myia’s ideal client is one who is seeking to meet the challenge of delivering virtual care at scale. Whether they are new to remote monitoring or have a program up and running, Myia’s remote monitoring platform helps unlock clinical insights that deliver improved patient outcomes. Organizations who staff a virtual care team to manage patients at varying degrees of risk are best organized for success in remote monitoring. Health systems that are ready to embrace value-based care with a partner who will work to continuously improve the delivery of remote monitoring to their patients are an ideal partner for Myia.

Q: What measurable outcomes have you seen from your clients who have prioritized remote monitoring?

A: Myia powers the country’s first virtual hospital, Mercy Virtual. They are a national leader in virtual care innovation and realized that their old remote monitoring technology could not scale to keep up with their need to reach more patients. Since they have transitioned to Myia, they have experienced: 

  • 50-70% reduction in avoidable hospitalizations

  • 20% reduction in medical costs

  • 80% increase in clinical capacity

  • 90% longitudinal daily engagement 

  • 88% Net Promoter Score

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: Myia has been responsive to the demands of health systems who want a better monitoring experience for patients. We have partnered with BioIntelliSense to provide a continuous monitoring experience for patients that could potentially begin in the hospital and seamlessly transition to monitoring in the home. Healthcare organizations are also concerned about the accessibility and affordability of delivering remote care. This drove the development of our Health Connect mobile app, which provides a lower cost solution but continues to deliver a superior patient experience. Finally, we know that alert fatigue is a challenge for many clinicians. Our multi-parameter alerting and closed-loop learning reduce the burden on clinicians and surface the patients that need their attention the most.

Q: How is your company partnering with clients as reimbursements and use cases shift?

A: Myia partners with each of our clients to deliver on our continuous improvement methodology. We understand that everything in healthcare is evolving and technology partners must evolve in partnership with the health systems they support. Once an organization has stood up their remote monitoring program, Myia continues to engage, expand and evolve with the needs of the organization. That may include reporting tools for reimbursement, developing content for new use cases or discovering opportunities for new clinical and operational efficiencies.

Q: What are the biggest opportunities health systems should be thinking about this year when it comes to remote monitoring?

A: CMS continues to drive value-based care models and health systems should be preparing for this change. They should think about how technology can help them deliver better care more efficiently–remote monitoring will absolutely be a component of that. Health systems should also consider how they can support health equity and increase access to quality healthcare. Once again, remote monitoring can help break down barriers to care and improve not just patient outcomes, but the patient experience, too.

Q: How do you see remote monitoring evolving in 2022 and beyond?

A: First, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen how sensitive healthcare organizations are to relying on a fee-for-service model of healthcare delivery. Healthcare organizations are realizing the importance of shifting away from the fee-for-service model to value-based care. Remote monitoring can help them take on that challenge, deliver preventative care and scale their efforts. Second, Myia sees remote monitoring as a key component to managing the health of all patients, no matter their acuity or risk. Remote monitoring adoption and widespread use will continue to grow, and remote monitoring vendors must be able to deliver easily scalable solutions to meet these demands.

 

AVIA Connect helps healthcare providers make informed decisions about digital health companies and solutions. With the vast library of accurate, unbiased information available in the AVIA Connect Marketplace, providers can search and compare vendors, review Match Scores, and identify the companies and products to fit their unique needs.