Decode Health Launches Eight-Person Strategic Advisory Board Chaired by Dr. Alan Spiro

Board members advise on applications of the company’s AI solution and strategic partnerships

Nashville, Tenn. – July 20, 2020 – Decode Health, a predictive analytics company focused on early identification of healthcare risk from both chronic diseases and COVID-19, today announced the launch of its strategic advisory board, a group of eight professionals with extensive technical, clinical and business experience in healthcare and related industries. Chaired by Dr. Alan Spiro, the board also includes Lauren Bell, Amy Gleason, Don Hardison, Anika Heavener, Jeff Pate, Jean Rush and John Singer.

“Our new strategic advisory board is a phenomenal group of experts whose knowledge and experience will be invaluable to the growth and success of our company,” said Dr. Chase Spurlock, CEO of Decode Health.

Decode Health applies data science to the science of health by combining the expertise of immunologists and data scientists with multiple data sources, including public health information, healthcare claims databases and social determinants of health data.

Decode Health’s predictive machine learning solution provides actionable insights for care teams, and in chronic disease, identifies patients trending toward a diagnosis, those who are about to experience a costly adverse event and those who are potentially misdiagnosed that may be receiving incorrect care. The company is now applying its technology to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by identifying and predicting evolving risk patterns to better target education, intervention and testing.

“We’ve spent many years combining our clinical and machine learning experience with various types of data to predict healthcare risk, and now we’re able to adapt our technologies and methodologies to address the challenges of COVID-19. We’re glad to have these eight accomplished professionals to help us negotiate the challenges and opportunities that are arising during this unique, transformational period,” Spurlock said.

The company selected advisory board members because of their significant experience across many aspects of healthcare delivery and technology. The board will provide guidance on positioning the company within the evolving healthcare industry. Decode Health believes it can deliver innovative solutions that enable value-based outcomes and support the growth of consumer-driven, retail healthcare.

“These individuals have varied backgrounds that cover virtually every aspect of healthcare, spanning analytics, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, government-provided healthcare and care delivery,” said Julia Polk, Decode Health’s chief strategy officer. “Creating a strategic advisory board adds to our already-strong team and is the next step in our evolution,” Polk added. “We’re fortunate to have a diverse, experienced and esteemed group advising and working with us.”

The advisory board members are:

Alan Spiro, MD, MBA – whose company, Alan Spiro Solutions, helps healthcare companies become more effective, efficient and caring organizations – is a leader in health strategy, analytics, data science, health care delivery, managed care and medical policy and practice. Among his many professional accomplishments, Spiro was chief medical officer and co-founder of Accolade, Inc. He also served as senior vice president of strategy and growth and chief medical officer at Blue Health Intelligence (BHI), an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Lauren Bell is the founder and managing director of LaCire, which provides operations consulting and strategy development for companies experiencing growth. She has worked in the public and private sectors both within the U.S. and internationally, providing subject matter expertise in public health planning and capabilities analyses and has created meta-analyses for cross-border pandemic preparedness studies. She has served as a subject matter expert to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Navy Bureau of Medicine on issues such as exercise planning, pandemic preparedness and disaster relief.

Amy Gleason is a digital services expert with the United States Digital Service at the White House. She is currently working inside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supporting critical decision-makers during the COVID-19 crisis, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where she is supporting projects that provide valuable claims data to patients and providers. She is also the founder and principal of Gleason Strategies, which helps healthcare technology organizations maximize their market offerings. Previously, she was a co-founder and chief strategy officer at CareSync, a care coordination company focused on helping patients with chronic disease.

Don Hardison has more than 40 years of executive leadership experience in both emerging and Fortune 500 companies and has expertise in diagnostic laboratory management, sales, marketing, strategy, operations and broad reimbursement expertise. Currently, he serves as president, CEO and director of Biotheranostics, Inc. in San Diego. He was previously the president, CEO and director of Good Start Genetics, Inc. and served in a similar capacity at EXACT Sciences Corp., where he was actively involved in taking the company public. Hardison has held multiple senior leadership positions at companies such as LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and SmithKline Beecham Corp.

Anika Heavener is the executive director of the Enterprise Data & Digital Health Program at Mass General Brigham (MGB), formerly Partners HealthCare, the nation’s largest academic research enterprise. Heavener developed the strategy and funding plans for the program, which aims to improve the patient experience, boost digital innovation and transform clinical care across the MGB hospitals. Previously, she worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers’s (PwC) Healthcare Advisory division and spent several years in the United Kingdom working in the U.K. Department of Health, where she co-led the development and launch of the Dementia Discovery Fund, a $350 million public-private venture capital fund.

Jeff Pate is an equity principal and chief development officer of PYA, a national advisory services firm for the healthcare community. With an extensive background in starting, growing and managing businesses, he led the startup of a company that became a leading provider of patient engagement solutions and also served as president of a third-party provider of ancillary healthcare services for long-term care residents. Pate’s strength is in building organizations and driving new business growth through creating and expanding relationships.

Jean Rush is a former CEO with extensive experience in dramatically increasing business, profit and market-share growth for several companies within multi-billion dollar corporations. She was recently the executive vice president of government markets at Highmark and previously served as senior vice president of complex care and senior vice president of health plan operations for Centene Corporation. She also served as the CEO and plan president of Kentucky Spirit, a start-up health plan, and as the president of CIGNA Government Services.

John Singer brings more than 30 years of experience in business strategy, innovation consulting, policy and communications across the healthcare spectrum, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology and payer and provider clients. He leads Blue Spoon Consulting, the pioneer of “big design” as a methodology to drive large-scale system change. He previously served as chief strategy officer, healthcare for Cognizant Technology Solutions and global head of health market strategy, innovation and technology for Wipro. He led the U.S. Healthcare Practice at RAPP, where he drove the digital strategy and consumer experience design for the launch of Solvadi, Gilead Sciences’ cure for Hepatitis C and one of the biggest-selling drugs in pharmaceutical history.

About Decode Health

Decode Health is a Nashville-based AI solution provider. Using multiple data sources including public health information, claims databases and proprietary social determinants of health data, Decode Health deploys unique data modeling techniques and machine learning to impact care on two critical healthcare fronts: COVID-19 mitigation and chronic disease management. Decode Health’s technology provides actionable insights early, enabling proactive care, better outcomes and significant cost savings. For more information, visit https://www.decodehealth.ai.