Detecting lung cancer for early treatment has come a long way in just a decade since the development of the low-dose CT scan, a more effective procedure than traditional chest X-rays. Thanks to this scan, “lung cancer deaths can be decreased by 20 to 62 percent in the screened population,” said radiologist Dr. Joey Bargo. “Unfortunately, less than 3 percent of the eligible patient population is currently being screened. Onerous reporting requirements, patient eligibility and provider education combined with ineffective outreach are likely to blame.”
While improved technologies have helped provide better outcomes for those receiving early screenings, the tedious process for recording, analyzing and submitting that data has not kept pace.
Enter Thynk Health. Bargo and fellow radiologists Kevin Croce and Harold Reedy founded the company, then called MedMyne, in 2016. The platform harnesses artificial intelligence to optimize data-driven workflows and helps automate what is currently a manual process for radiologists as they collect and enter data, conduct patient communications and submit results to the American College of Radiology’s Lung Cancer Screening Registry.
Thynk Health co-founder Joey Bargo, M.D. (left), and CEO Jeffrey Markowitz
“For about one hour of true patient interaction, there are approximately two hours of related administrative work,” Bargo said. “Both Kevin and I were acutely aware of limitations in reporting out of the current EHR system.”
EHR stands for electronic health records, a system in use since the mid-1960s. While computer technology has advanced in the past six decades, standard reporting hasn’t. In a typical EHR scenario, radiologists review X-rays on large computer monitors, voice their interpretations into a system that records the information as a block of text, which is then sent to another doctor to read, and then deliver results to the patient. “In essence, these reports are unstructured to a computer,” Bargo said.
“For about one hour of true patient interaction, there are approximately two hours of related administrative work. Both Kevin and I were acutely aware of limitations in reporting out of the current EHR system” — Dr. Joey Bargo
The Thynk Health software-as-a-service model reads radiologists’ reports and indexes information into databases, transforming what would require hours of manual compilations into automated data abstraction, which can then be used by researchers to identify trends and ultimately lead to improved methods and earlier detection. The software can also help identify patients who are likely good candidates for lung-cancer screenings.
Thynk Health’s primary customers are health care organizations, particularly program directors of radiology and lung-cancer screening programs, oncology executives and chief medical information officers. A year-one beta client reported saving an estimated 83 employee workdays of manual collecting, reviewing and entering data.
Jeffrey Markowitz, a transplant from New York, joined Thynk Health at CEO in November 2018. In four months, he helped grow the company from five employees to 10, and there are plans for five or six new hires by fall. In addition to developers and engineers, Thynk Health is looking to add a nurse navigator and implementation manager familiar with the health care industry.
Initially funded by the founders and another local physician, Thynk Health received a recent round of funding led by the Bluegrass Angels investment group that included more than a dozen private investors. Thynk Health also got approval for a 10-year jobs loan from the city tied to the hiring of five new employees.
“The city of Lexington has been and continues to be very supportive,” Markowitz said. “They want to see the startup community continue to blossom.”