Title: Hypertension Therapy Devices: In-Home and Patient-Centered

Abstract:

The opportunity to introduce hypertension therapy devices arises from three challenges: 1) the inability of some patients to tolerate current pharmacological therapies for hypertension, or their non-compliance with antihypertensive medications; 2) the development and availability of device-based therapies for patient home-use; and, 3) the use for monitoring as well as for actual treatment, such devices for both modalities can transmit remotely for data storage and evaluation. Increasingly, long-term side effects from pharmacological therapies are recognized as well as simple preference for another regime prompt, another alternative. On the physiological level there always are the alternatives of weight reduction, exercise, and dietary adjustments such as reduced sodium intake. This is especially relevant when the condition is one of three initial stages: prehypertension, mild hypertension, or moderate hypertension. When pharmacological therapies are in use for these stages, there are the downsides to such therapies which can present differently for different patients. Additionally, non-compliance by some patients has its effects. Ease of monitoring by the patient in the home or when mobile has efficacy. Such is the patient-operated device. This can be the traditional upper-arm cuff as well as the hypertension-specific wrist monitor. This latter device may be prone to less accuracy than the arm cuff. In the same vein, a wearable device (fitness-type multi-purpose) can be expected to emerge.

Biography:

Bill Boerum is in his fourth term on the Board of Directors of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, the governing board for Sonoma Valley Hospital. Currently serving as Board Secretary, he previously served twice as Board Chair and as Treasurer including as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee. Currently, he is Chair of the Governance Committee. He is an advocate for medical tourism as well as for medical cannabis having spoken at state, county, and city hearings including before the Medical Board of the State of California. He was Chairman of the Northern California Health Care Authority, a consortium of five hospital districts. Also, in the healthcare domain, he was a member of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and Vice Chairman of the Association of California Healthcare Districts and its related workers compensation insurance affiliate, the ALPHA Fund, both Sacramento-based. Boerum’ s interest in healthcare extends to the international sphere where he has toured hospitals in China, Egypt and India with a special focus on cardiology departments and patient through-put. He is an international conference speaker, having spoken at the “Healthy Life Forum – Toward 80+” held in Sochi, Russia, and has spoken on “Digital Healthcare Transformation Drives Quality of Life.” He is Chairman Emeritus of Sister Cities International, Washington, D.C., a citizen diplomacy organization with 2,200 partners in over 140 countries. Previously in the risk management domain, he had more than 15 years of experience in the decision technology industry and a 20-year career in banking. He holds an MBA degree from Cornell University and a BS degree in Economics.