An interview with Dr. Richard Awdeh about his activities with CheckedUp and Cirle.
Dr. Richard Awdeh is featured in the first installment of an occasional series where Dr. David Goldman speaks with ophthalmologists who have moved outside the clinical setting while still working to advance the eye care industry.
Dr. David Goldman (DG): What lead you to become an entrepreneur outside the clinic and what have you been working on?
Dr. Richard Awdeh (RA): With their experience at the front lines of healthcare, forging and strengthening relationships with patients every day, doctors are the ideal candidates to catalyze change in the healthcare industry. Combining my passion for patient-centric care and innovation, I have dedicated my career to strengthening the healthcare industry by creating CheckedUp, a mobile health platform that educates patients and fortifies the relationships between each stakeholder, and by founding Cirle, a biotechnology incubator, advancing the needle in ocular research that ensures the progression of technologies in the field of eye-care.
DG: How did CheckedUp come about and how does it work?
RA: The most pressing issue in healthcare is “slaying the cost beast”, but the ideal solution is one that not only decreases costs for all stakeholders, but one that simultaneously augments the quality of services offered to patients. CheckedUp, the mobile health platform we have developed, allows doctors to provide an executive level of concierge medicine to each and every patient, while maintaining, if not enhancing, the efficiency of their clinic.
Initially, CheckedUp was conceptualized as a response to the unmet need physicians face daily—particularly after the passage of the Affordable Care Act—which has resulted in a large influx of patients into private clinics. More than an educational platform for patients, in which doctors customize and filter the information their patients see, the platform assists doctors in managing patient care and developing a relationship with patients that transcends the boundaries of their clinic. The solution has evolved from the ground up, in response to the feedback of physicians and hundreds of patients in our clinical trial, ensuring its adaptability and thus, sustainability.
DG: How can this platform benefit clinicians, patients and the healthcare industry?
RA: For us doctors, the main focus has always been the quality of care we offer each patient, regardless of the time or number of patients we have in total. But to improve the industry, I believe we must strengthen the connections between each entity. The CheckedUp platform has reinvented the paradigm of how patients, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies interact with each other. Empowering patients to become their own advocates enhances the doctor-patient relationship, leading to higher medication adherence and better health outcomes.
The results from CheckedUp’s clinical trial indicate that post-implementation, patients showed a higher rate of information retention, a higher rate of care satisfaction, and less anxiety concerning upcoming procedures. Additionally, a significantly lower percentage of patients declared they wanted more chair-time with their doctor.
DG: What lead you to create Cirle as a separate project?
RA: In addition to the focus on patient-centric care, to improve ophthalmic care one must support research and the commitment to ocular conditions and technologies, which is one of the reasons we teamed up with the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and formed our Miami-based incubator Cirle.
This project was created to foster ideas on how to improve the field of ophthalmology. We support and conduct research as well as develop and help test the efficacy of newly created transformative technologies. Cirle is based out of the University of Miami's Life Science & Technology Park, a community that nurtures the development of life sciences, technology and biotechnology innovations.
The advancements in ocular technological range from those who have focused on building diagnostic technologies for developing country contexts such as EyeNetra and EyePhone, to larger pharmaceuticals such as Nicox which has committed to increasing research and awareness of Sjögren's Syndrome amongst both patients and burgeoning eye-care professionals.
DG: Why is it important for these projects to connect with practicing ophthalmologists?
RA: I find the involvement of every-day physicians in research to be critical and rewarding. Without feedback, progress remains stagnant. Who knows more about unmet needs or patient opinions? As doctors, we are uniquely positioned to provide integral feedback to technology and pharmaceutical companies. It is the core element of our profession, the deep relationships we foster with our patients that gives us the insight and knowledge to instigate change in our medical fields.
DG: In order to push the industry forward do more physicians need to follow in your footsteps?
RA: Not every physician must become an entrepreneur – many of the most influential ophthalmologists are my colleagues who have written papers on the groundbreaking research or who have joined advisory boards, ensuring the ethical viability of companies. Among us, there have been patient advocates, lecturers, and innovators – each of us plays a unique role in advancing the field of ophthalmology, none more important than the other. I encourage each and every one of you to find your unique strength and interests and combine them into yet another service that betters the lives of those around us.