Ballad Health Innovation Center and Consortia Health announce alliance
Ballad Health Innovation Center investment to bring innovative partnering, research and Senior Health & Wellness headquarters to the Appalachian Highlands
The newly created Ballad Health Innovation Center, a division of Ballad Health; and Consortia Health, an Austin, Texas-based provider of treatments for pelvic floor disorders, announced today an alliance that will result in the development and deployment of services in the region – with plans to expand throughout the nation – that promote independent living and wellness for new mothers, athletes, seniors and other individuals suffering from incontinence or overactive bladders.
The Ballad Health Innovation Center joined Consortia Health as an investor, with the transaction being completed July 1, 2019. As a result, Consortia Health has agreed to locate the headquarters of its Senior Health & Wellness unit to the Appalachian Highlands region.
Incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders affect more than 38 million Americans of all ages and genders. Consortia Health provides personalized clinical programs for men and women that focus on leveraging non-surgical neuromodulation and other technologies and clinically relevant care pathways to improve outcomes for individuals with bladder control and other chronic diseases. The annual costs to society of incontinence alone are estimated to exceed $46 billion annually.
“Overactive bladder syndrome and incontinence is rarely discussed openly, but it is a leading contributor to the loss of independence in seniors and social isolation in all ages,” said Alan Levine, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Ballad Health. “In fact, a diagnosis of overactive bladder was found to be associated with a 40% increased risk of falls in the elderly.”
Ballad Health has previously disclosed that as many as 50% of trauma cases in its service region are among the elderly who fall. As part of its alliance with Consortia Health, Ballad Health will partner with East Tennessee State University and other academic partners to study the effectiveness of the planned services in reducing elderly falls resulting from incontinence.
“The convergence of technology, service and research that can help improve lives is what the Ballad Health Innovation Center is about,” added Levine. “As we studied the source of our trauma cases, that process helped us pinpoint a root cause. Our goal was to find a partner that was as focused on solving this problem as we are, and we are pleased to have made this investment.”
“Working with Ballad Health gives residents of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia access to the Consortia Senior Health & Wellness successful track record of employing medical technology in the most efficient and effective ways to significantly improve the quality of life, reduce negative health outcomes, and increase the independence of seniors struggling with chronic disease,” said Britton Garrett, president of Consortia Senior Health & Wellness, and a native of Greeneville, Tennessee.
This is the first investment made by the Ballad Health Innovation Center. The purpose of the center is to identify and help develop innovative technologies, treatments and solutions that benefit patients and communities, and improve healthcare efficiency and effectiveness. Anthony Keck, executive vice president for system innovation and chief population health officer for Ballad Health, will join the board of Consortia Health.
