Spotlight AZ: axialHealthcare

By Sierra Ciaramella and Nick Serpa

axialHealthcare takes a unique approach to combat opioid misuse while addressing the undeniable pain many people face.
“axialHealthcare is a healthcare technology and care solutions company focused on combating the opioid epidemic,” John J. Donahue, Chairman and CEO of axialHealthcare, said. “So, we’re a group of physicians, addiction medicine specialists, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, technology specialists who all came together to create a new paradigm for treating pain and combating the opioid epidemic.”
axialHealthcare was founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 2012. Since its founding, the company has built partnerships and expanded throughout the country.
“We are delighted to be here in Arizona,” Donahue said.
He said, “Arizona caught our eye back in 2016 and ‘17 when Governor Ducey was formulating his Opioid Epidemic Act, which ultimately came out in 2018.”
Donahue explained that year-to-date, there have been more than 2,500 opioid-related overdose deaths in Arizona.
axialHealthcare takes unique, innovative approaches to combating the opioid epidemic while acknowledging that pain needs to be managed.
“When you think about the opioid epidemic and what needs to take place to make an impact, we think of five very specific capabilities,” Donahue said.
axialHealthcare capabilities are:

  • Access to better data
  • Better evidence
  • Effective evidence-based pain treatment
  • Access to evidence-based opioid use disorder treatment
  • Enabling technology to ensure a comprehensive solution that can be scaled across the country

“Our product offering is deeply rooted in each of those five capabilities,” Donahue said. “We bring to the table for our client partners the largest array of data in the nation for patients who are in pain or on opioid medication.”
The five capabilities are put into play through its operating platform, axialINSIGHT.
“We plug axialINSIGHT to the claim streams and the pharmacy streams of our client partners,” Donahue explained. “So, we have the ability for a health insurer, for a state to perform continuous surveillance on all of the patients when in their care and attribute the practitioners who are treating them.”
axialHealthcare fuels its capabilities with what Donahue said is the company’s superpower, a human touch.
“One of the most powerful superpowers that we have at axial is our clinical consultation and engagement outreach,” Donahue said. “The technology and the evidence and the data is critically important to fuel what is required, and that’s a human touch by a professional who is highly skilled in consultation with practitioners and with patients to bring those patients into a better care pathway.”
axialHealthcare is staffed with Doctors of Pharmacy- many with additional pain medication certification- and behavioral trained engagement specialists.
They use data and evidence to identify patients who are at elevated risk and reach out to practitioners to alert them of the patient’s risk. axialHealthcare also reaches out to clinics and physicians who have a disproportionately high number of concerning risks patients within their panel.
“It’s highly gratifying to us because when we look at the numbers and we look at the results that we have at improving care in a community, we can attribute directly that human consultation and intervention as being one of the leading factors at improving patient care,” Donahue said.
Via Chamber Business News.

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