How Effective Are Global Infectious Diseases Solutions?
Despite heroic efforts to stem the tide against global infectious diseases (ID), ID outcomes are not improving.
ID ranks as the second leading cause of death globablly and the third in the U.S. And, globalization is driving faster transmission of diseases.
The U.S. is facing runaway ID costs, ID treatment challenges (example: Sepsis cases increase by 8% a year), 25% of antibiotics are unnecessary or wrongly prescribed, 1 in 31 patients (acute) has a hospital-acquired-infection (HAI), and over 10 million patients a year see providers about infections.
Access Limits to Infectious Diseases Providers Is A Growing Concern
We are bringing together infectious disease physicians and life sciences entities to provide a clinical destination to accelerate development of innovative treatments and solutions.
Access Limits to Infectious Diseases Providers is a Growing Concern
With 80% of U.S. counties lacking a local ID physician (affects 208 million of U.S. population), access to ID providers is getting worse. Wait times for new patients to see an ID specialist are 210% greater today versus 2014 and headed higher given a 7% reduction in ID providers expected by 2030. Lack of ID access in rural areas results in increased hospitalizations and a higher mortality rate.
Demand for ID physicians is booming, with the U.S. population over age 65 growing 38% from 2020-2030. Senior citizens use specialty care 3-4x more than the general population, further exasperating the supply / demand balance for all ID stakeholders.
Drug Development and Clinical Trials Face Hurdles
The ID drug development process appears broken. New drugs can take 10-15 years to release and cost around $2 billion each.
At the same time, in the last decade, new strains of viruses appeared while human resistance to certain antibiotics is on the rise. New drugs are needed at a faster pace.
A recent survey of 150 drug developers worldwide, revealed that drug devopment challenges include: (a) patient recruitment, (b) increased complexities of clinical trials and (c) talent shortages (ID physicians who can take on the role of principal investigator for clinical trials).
What Are The Root Causes and What Can Be Done?
We believe the root cause of these problems lies in fragmentation: (a) fragemented providers, (b) fragmented care delivery (resulting in variable care), and (c) fragmented data (data silos with a lack of real-world evidence). Solving fragmentation is the first step to turning the tide against unyielding ID growth.
Fortunately, technology can extend the reach of infectious diseases providers to combat access limits.
| ID Stakeholders | Access Painpoints | |
|---|---|---|
| Patients | New patient wait times are 210% higher than 2014. Patients face risks from hospital-acquired infections. ID drug innovations are delayed. | |
| Skilled Nursing Facilities | 75% of the 15,000 SNF lack consistent access to a full-time ID provider. | |
| Hospitals | 80% of rural hospitals (1,800) lack consistent access to an ID professional. 75% of U.S. hospitals are penalized by CMS (many due to infections). | |
| Providers | ID is #1 specialty with most admin time for visit notes (up to 20 hrs / week). CMS does not reimburse many ID peer-to-peer consults, resulting in ID docs having third lowest compensation among specialties | |
| Payors | 25% of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals are unnecessary or wrongly prescribed. Length-of-stay for sepsis is 75% more than the average LoS. |
