Dr. Piali De is a Brown University-educated physicist, who has driven ground-breaking innovation in the Defense Industrial Base Sector and is presently transforming chronic care delivery in the Digital Healthcare Industry. Responsible for developing Artificial Intelligence systems for the United States Department of Defense, including a program developed after 9/11 to detect which airplanes could be a terrorist threat. She received two U.S. patents for this Mission ProfilingTM technology.

In 2010, Dr. De co-founded Senscio Systems, a digital health company with a mission to give older adults the power to age comfortably and independently at home. Senscio developed the nation’s first AI-powered home-to-clinic digital therapeutics platform called Ibis™, which was filed for Patent in 2014, long before Telehealth became prevalent. In 2018, Ibis Health was formed as a technology-enabled Clinical Health Care Service, supporting both individuals with complex chronic health and their primary care team.

In an interview, she speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of Ibis™ by Senscio Systems

Citing a personal need for the founding of the Ibis™ AI platform Health, Piali says, “my father-in-law, who had health concerns, required him to spend extended periods of time in the hospital. Due to this, he lost a significant amount of his confidence and independence. I immediately set out to help our aging population meet their complex medical needs from the comfort of the home. This was the beginning of Senscio.”

She says that Ibis Health came to life as the consumer-facing application of the Ibis™ platform adding services to address the health challenges of individuals with multiple chronic conditions Ibis Health acts as an integrator for all their care needs, through daily whole-person care planning for medication, diet, exercise, and social health and thus, creating a holistic approach to living.

Healthcare – Challenges Galore

“The Pandemic opened the doors to remote care options and many patients found it to be refreshing. There are however significant nuances to delivering virtual chronic care management to a population who may be dealing with cognitive decline and managing a complex set of health needs” she notes.

Senscio System’s AI solutions

Senscio’s AI solutions focus on intelligence management for the government and personal healthcare management for consumers. The flagship IbisNexus™ platform delivers AI orchestrated, integrated, proactive chronic care virtually in the home to individuals with multiple chronic conditions. “The starting point is bi-directional communication between the dedicated in-home member tablet which tracks the members daily adherence to the care plan and the “Nexus” member advocate interface which automatically highlights discrepancies with the patient’s status. These could include change in behavior, out of spec vitals or direct interaction throughout.”

Leadership Traits

“I am completely committed to the welfare, respect and independence of our aging population. We have a responsibility to provide trusted, integrated care that values their independence and health. I’m a systems thinker and a systems approach to holistic care provides an understanding of the many variables that interact to create positive and negative outcomes that can be addressed. For me it was a personal passion. My commitment to aging well based on my family experience forced me to overcome many obstacles on the path to Senscio’s success.”

Success Mantras

Piali suggests that healthcare startups usually look for a viable business model which is exceptionally complicated in healthcare. “We’ve iterated on various options over time and believe constant exploration and testing is the key to finding something that works. There are often unexpected motivations in healthcare value propositions. We’ve run into problems where hospital systems who are paid on in-patient services rejected our service because it kept people at home, reducing their revenue.” Noting that the system is highly entrenched, she adds that this makes it difficult to implement new ideas. It’s sometimes better to start with a model outside the traditional healthcare system and let the momentum carry it into the core care delivery models. There will be roadblocks at every turn – Make sure there is a commitment to last the course – there will be disappointments and failures along the journey. She urges entrepreneurs to hold on to their vision, put your customers first and never give up.

The Road Ahead

“We’re setting a national standard for virtual chronic care management of our most in need population. We’re committed to partnering with medical practices and insurance companies to create the care bridge to keep our population healthy while reducing burden and cost.”