Eating disorders often start at a younger age, but they don’t solely affect this population. Recognizing this, virtual eating disorder support company Equip announced Tuesday that it is now treating adults as well as adolescents. The company also announced an investment from General Catalyst, which helped expand its platform to adults. The amount was not disclosed.
“There is a very pervasive, really dense stereotype that eating disorders only affect 15- to 25-year-old thin, White girls,” said Dr. Erin Parks, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Equip, in an interview. “That is true, it does affect them. But it is not only them.”
She added that because so few people have access to treatment, many older adults have had their eating disorder for a very long time and need support.
San Diego-based Equip, which was founded in 2019, previously focused on those ages 6 to 24. The startup is now expanding to serve people of all ages. The virtual company operates in all 50 states and is in-network with several insurance companies, including Aetna, Elevance, Optum, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare. It connects patients with a care team that includes a therapist, dietitian, physician and peer and family mentor.
Different ages require different kinds of treatment, according to Parks. With its younger patients, the company uses family-based treatment, in which the family is brought in to help care for the patient. For adults, the company is using a method called enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a highly individualized treatment that addresses thoughts, feelings and behaviors affecting the patient’s eating disorder.
Parks said that when it comes to adults, individual treatment is often the best way to go because they may not have a support group. Sometimes when adults have been sick for a long time, they’ve “pushed away” a lot of their family and peers, or they may be too busy with work to build that support group.
There are other virtual solutions for eating disorders as well, including Arise and Within. Arise offers coaching with a care advocate who has lived experience with an eating disorder, therapy, nutrition counseling, group support and psychiatry. Within provides access to a care team that includes dietitians, therapists, nurses and peers.
The expansion to adults was powered by a recent investment by General Catalyst. In total, Equip has raised more than $75 million. With the funding, the company brought on a new president, Nikia Bergan. It also updated its technology and trained its providers in treating adults. In addition, it’s planning to use the funding to gain more Medicaid contracts, Parks said.
Equip considers itself an alternative to brick-and-mortar eating disorder treatments, which often require patients to stay at the treatment facility for a certain period. Parks said the benefit of a virtual program is that patients can be treated as they live their normal lives.
“[If you take] someone out of their life and give them a bunch of skills, then all of the sudden they plop back into their life and have all these triggers that they aren’t equipped to deal with,” Parks argued. “One of the great things about getting treatment while still being able to go to school, still being able to go to your job, still being able to parent your kids, is that you get to work with your providers on your real-life triggers as they come up.”
Parks is likely looking to replicate the positive results it claims to have achieved in the adolescent population in this new, adult population. In its annual outcomes report published earlier this year, the company cited that 81% of its adolescent patients reached or maintained their target weight within one year.
Photo credit: Bohdan Skrypnyk, Getty Images
The commercial market has been slower to adopt value-based care than the public market, but there are ways to move the process along successfully, executives said Monday.
During a panel at the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit 2023 held in Chicago, healthcare leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities in advancing value-based care in commercial health plans. The panelists were Mark Hansberry, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of HealthPartners; Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health; and Tiffany Albert, senior vice president of health plan business at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Bloomington, Minnesota-based HealthPartners, which is an integrated healthcare organization serving more than 1.8 million members, has had some success with value-based care in the commercial space, Hansberry claimed. He shared five rules for scaling value-based care in the commercial market:
1. Payers and providers in a value-based arrangement need to have a shared understanding of what value is for patients, Hansberry said.
“You have to have a universal definition of what value means so that when clinicians look at you as a payer … they need to acknowledge that what you’re saying a clinical outcome is is actually a good clinical outcome, a good measure of performance,” he stated.
2. It’s important to ensure that the providers in the value-based arrangement are able to and willing to take the risk associated with value-based care.
“Most care systems weren’t built to actually manage risk,” Hansberry said. “That wasn’t their job. Their job was to take care of sick people. Now we’re asking them to do something else. How do you actually support those individuals on that journey?”
3. Payers need to support providers engaging in value-based care with “real-time, actionable data and consultation,” Hansberry said.
“It’s not just a data dump or a big Excel file that you pass over and you say good luck with it,” he stated. “Because, by the way, if they perform well in those value-based contracts, you do too as a payer. You want them to perform well. So you want to provide them with good, insightful, actionable data that’s risk-adjusted, that is connected to their practice — not just an amorphous health system — but to their practice so they can take action on those insights. But then you also want to supplement that with that consultation along the way.”
4. The incentives in the value-based contract must be aligned to “enable that [provider] to reap the benefits of the value that they’re creating for those members,” according to Hansberry.
5. Ultimately, a value-based contract comes down to trust between all the parties. But Hansberry noted that this is easier for HealthPartners as an integrated health system.
“We’re fortunate because we’re both a health plan and a care system,” he said.
He added that success in value-based care doesn’t happen overnight, which is partially why it’s difficult to scale.
“It takes time to build trust,” Hansberry stated.
Photo: atibodyphoto, Getty Images
In the world of startups, success stories inspire and invigorate the entrepreneurial spirit. Sahil Kothari, the founder of ‘Sahil Kothari Training & Consultancy’, stands out as one such story of unwavering determination, innovation, and entrepreneurial success. His venture, a platform offering courses in astrology, mind & psychology, and healing, aims to enhance lives and inspire a new generation of learners and leaders.
When Sahil Kothari embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, his goal was clear and simple: to provide accessible and affordable education that can enrich, enhance, and elevate the lives of individuals. His startup, now a distinguished entity, offers a range of certificate courses in fields that were once considered untraditional and untapped. The concept was innovative, the vision was bold, and the risks were high. Yet, Sahil embarked on this path with unwavering determination and unflinching courage.
The success of Sahil Kothari Training & Consultancy lies not only in its unique curriculum but also in its understanding of the needs and aspirations of its learners. The company emphasizes a student-centric approach, ensuring the content it delivers is accessible, affordable, and applicable to real-world situations. This attention to learner needs and industry trends has made Sahil Kothari Training & Consultancy a frontrunner in the field of alternative education.
However, Sahil’s journey was not devoid of challenges. He faced several obstacles, from establishing the credibility of his venture to generating awareness and acceptance of the courses his platform offered. It was his resilience and passion that propelled him forward. He believed in his vision, the potential of his startup, and his ability to make a positive difference in people’s lives.
This is the essence of Sahil’s message to aspiring entrepreneurs and individuals alike – believe in your vision, have the courage to face challenges, and persist despite the hurdles. His entrepreneurial odyssey is a testament to the transformative power of self-belief, perseverance, and resilience.
One of the most important lessons from Sahil’s startup journey is the value of continuous learning and adaptability. As an entrepreneur, Sahil continually evolves his strategies based on market trends, customer feedback, and technological advancements. His ability to adapt and innovate has been a significant factor in his startup’s success. He encourages others to adopt the same mindset, emphasizing that learning and adaptability are the keys to staying relevant and successful in the ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape.
In conclusion, Sahil Kothari’s journey illustrates the spirit of entrepreneurship, the power of resilience, and the potential within each of us to make a significant difference. His success serves as an inspiration to many and embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship. As he continues to transform lives through Sahil Kothari Training & Consultancy, his tale continues to motivate others to embark on their entrepreneurial journeys and actualize their dreams.
Colliers data suggested that the tech city added 50,000 seats last year and 12,500 between January and March 2023, thus growing at a stable rate.
Amid the ongoing global slowdown and banking crisis, the commercial office space sector started on a conservative note in 2023. The January-March quarter saw a dip in office absorption by about 19 percent, consultants say, taking a hit from the delayed decision-making by occupiers on account of global headwinds.
The stalled decision-making in the European and US markets saw a domino effect on the Indian office sector as corporates withdrew about 10 million square feet (msf) of requests for proposal in the second half of 2022, Anarock research said.
However, developers continue to remain optimistic about launching Grade A office space across the country. As per ANAROCK Research, Bengaluru saw an additional 12.66 msf of new office space in FY23. But the persistent demand may result in over a 10 percent jump in new office supply in FY24.
Additionally, several developers like Tata Realty and Puravankara are increasingly foraying into the city’s office space sector. For Puravankara, around 3 msf of office is already under construction while Tata Realty plans to launch about 5 msf by the end of the year.
The reason for this optimism is the fact that the flex office segment has evolved as the big driver and is altering the office sector dynamics.
Colliers data suggested that Bengaluru added 50,000 seats last year and 12,500 between January and March 2023, thus growing at a stable rate.
Data from Knight Frank shows that during 2019, 2020 and 2021, Bengaluru saw 2.3 msf, 1.6 msf, and 2.4 msf of co-working space transactions, respectively.
Why are industry giants opting for flex spaces?
The pandemic almost tripled the flex office space portfolio across India. With companies aggressively cutting budgets, not having a dedicated office made sense.
Ram Chandnani, managing director, advisory and transactions services, CBRE, said flex office space includes co-working and also managed office spaces or enterprise solutions where the operators customise the entire office space for clients. “Post-pandemic, flex has spurred an array of customised solutions for companies which also allow them to scale across cities with low-risk investments,” he added.
Additionally, companies say the flexibility offered by co-working and managed office spaces has allowed them to strategically restructure their portfolios, especially given high land and construction cost across CBD and prime locations, allowing them to diversify, for example with the IT team in the outskirts, thus saving on costs.
While CBD areas, including Indiranagar and Koramangala, remain top choices for flex spaces in Bengaluru, the Colliers report mentioned an uptick in major suburbs like Whitefield and Outer Ring Road in the first quarter of 2023.
Post-pandemic, the underlying forces of the office space sector have gradually shifted to an employee-driven market. This was borne out by the large-scale resignation of the female workforce after Tata Consultancy Services announced the end of work-from-home a few weeks back.
This has slowly brought in a cultural shift that we perceive today putting more focus on hybrid solutions, said P S Aditya, chairperson of Corporates in Real Estate, an umbrella body for the commercial real estate sector in South India.
Flex to grow cautiously
While the Grade A office space rentals in the city are expected to increase over the next two quarters due to soaring land and construction cost, consultants say the leasing cost for co-working will largely remain stable or increase marginally.
Jayendra Krishna, founding manager at Trirock Estates, said, “The cost per seat in Bengaluru is between Rs 6,000 and 25,000 per seat with the sweet spot at the Rs 10,000-12,000 mark,” he added.
The return of outsourcing to Indian shores in the wake of the global slowdown is also boosting the co-working sector across cities. Experts estimate that flex offices will cross 14 percent share of the entire office portfolio by the end of the fiscal, but at a steady pace.
Shesh Rao Paplikar, founder of flex workspace provider BHIVE, said, “We are taking cautious steps ahead for our new launches. Already, the signing of large-ticket deals (1,000 seats or more) has reduced in the market. The sector will grow gradually compared to the post-pandemic boom.”
However, Juggy Marwaha, former CEO of WeWork India and current CEO of Prestige Office Ventures, believes that once the global recessionary market stabilises, and companies are back in business, occupiers will be looking for their own Grade A spaces.
“Previously, operators were taking speculative spaces and waiting for clients to occupy them, thus bleeding capital resources. Today, they are making informed decisions about strategic space take-ups. The slowdown can be explained as an outcome of this correction,” said Arpit Mehrotra, managing director and head of flex, Colliers India.
Hyderabad has become the frontrunner in adding new office space even as commercial real-estate markets across India remain depressed.
Hyderabad has become the frontrunner in adding new office space even as commercial real-estate markets across India remain depressed.
According to data from Anarock Property Consultants, Hyderabad accounted for 31% of new office supply in 2022-23, the highest among the top seven cities. The share of Bengaluru, India’s largest office market, was 26%. On office leasing, though, Bengaluru was way ahead of Hyderabad. But when Hyderabad overtakes Bengaluru in terms of new office space despite muted demand from tenants, it will be more a problem than an advantage, analysts said. So why can’t Hyderabad stop building offices?
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According to data from Anarock Property Consultants, Hyderabad accounted for 31% of new office supply in 2022-23, the highest among the top seven cities. The share of Bengaluru, India’s largest office market, was 26%. On office leasing, though, Bengaluru was way ahead of Hyderabad. But when Hyderabad overtakes Bengaluru in terms of new office space despite muted demand from tenants, it will be more a problem than an advantage, analysts said. So why can’t Hyderabad stop building offices?
How does new supply compare with leasing?
Property advisory CBRE estimates that around 13.8 million sq ft of office space was added to Hyderabad in 2022, compared with 10.9 million sq ft in Bengaluru. On the absorption front, Hyderabad leased just 7.2 million sq ft while Bengaluru stayed on top in leasing, with 17.2 million sq ft, beating its historic high of 16 million sq ft. In 2019, for instance, Hyderabad leased 13.4 million sq ft of office space and added 13.7 million sq ft of new supply.
Leasing momentum has steadily dropped in Hyderabad – which could be attributed to muted demand – but the supply of new office space remains high. This has created a unique case of oversupply in the southern city. “Leasing has come down significantly from 2019 to 2022 in the city. There is too much construction, which has led to a very high new supply of office space. As a result, about 35-40 million sq ft of office space is lying vacant in Hyderabad because that kind of demand is not there,” said Ram Chandnani, managing director, advisory and transaction services, CBRE India.
The oversupply issue
Hyderabad is possibly the only Indian city that has what is called ‘unlimited floor-space index’. FSI is the maximum permissible floor area a developer can construct on a particular piece of land. It varies from place to place under the rules and regulations set by the city’s administration. FSI in Hyderabad can go up to 13 and the average is around 6-7, higher than the national average, which hovers between 2 and 3.
This has led to developers building large office complexes, some with standalone buildings measuring two to three million sq ft. Even this was not considered unreasonable until the tech sector began to slow down and companies stopped taking up new space.
Hyderabad vs Bengaluru
Bengaluru attracts demand from a host of sectors, led by information technology (IT), startups, consulting and analytics. Despite the city’s various infrastructure challenges, it remains a top destination for companies due to its talent base and tech ecosystem. The Hyderabad office market on the other hand has been largely dependent on the tech sector, and has thus been hit harder by the slowdown.
CBRE’s Chandnani says that unlike in Hyderabad, builders have stopped building speculative office space in Bengaluru. The average size of office buildings or blocks is also smaller, at around 500,000-750,000 sq ft.
Bengaluru, where only around 6% of office supply is vacant, is also a circular city. This means the supply is fairly well distributed, while Hyderabad’s is restricted to clusters such as Gachibowli and Hitech City. However, Hyderabad scores better on cost – office rentals there are about 20% cheaper than in Bengaluru or even Gurugram.
Lacklustre outlook
In January-March 2023 Bengaluru accounted for 3.5 million sq ft of the total 12.6 million sq ft of leased office space in the top Indian cities, according to CBRE estimates. Hyderabad leased around 1.4 million sq ft during the period. Concerns about growth in office-space leasing remain and 2023 is expected to be a slow year for India’s commercial real estate sector in general.
“The global slowdown in major economies of the world cast a shadow on the Indian office market in the second half of FY23. Major headwinds including layoffs by corporates and global recessionary trends will continue to mar office space growth in India,” said Prashant Thakur, senior director and head of research, Anarock Group. The depressed office market may not bounce back until later this year, with many IT/ITeS companies scaling down their business.
Kotak Institutional Equities said in a recent report that existing vacancies are primarily in special economic zones (SEZs), which may be hard to fill until regulatory amendments come through. IT companies comprise a large portion of current occupancies. Among these, Cognizant is taking the lead to rationalise the need for office space among key Indian cities, the report added. The government’s delay in finalising amendments to the SEZ regulations has led to uncertainty for office-space owners, who face rising vacancies in SEZs as leases expire and tenants shift to non-SEZ spaces.
It’s no secret that hospitals and health systems have been facing severe financial woes in the past couple years. These money problems have forced many providers to make what they likely felt were tough but necessary choices — such as shuttering underperforming service lines, laying off staff and using debt collection agencies to obtain payment from patients.
Some of these tactics have even invited negative scrutiny. However, a new report argued that commercial payers should shoulder some of the blame when it comes to how hospitals are managing their dire financial circumstances.
Compared to government payers, commercial payers take significantly longer to pay hospitals and deny claims at a higher frequency — often without a justifiable reason to do so — according to the report published by consulting firm Crowe. These delays mean that hospitals are waiting longer than they need to receive commercial payments — during a time when they need cash flow to be expedited, not needlessly delayed, the report said.
Crowe analyzed data from the more than 1,800 hospitals that use its revenue cycle analytics platform and found that about 45% of a typical hospital’s patient population is covered by a commercial health insurance carrier.
Commercially insured patients have conventionally been thought of as hospitals’ preferred population. This is because hospitals can negotiate prices with commercial payers, and these payers usually pay higher rates than government payers like Medicare and Medicaid. For the average net revenue per inpatient case, commercial plans pay $18,156.50 compared to $14,887.10 from Medicare. For outpatients, commercial plans pay $1,606.86 for the average patient case, compared to $707.30 paid by Medicare.
Reimbursement rates may be higher among commercial payers, but getting them to pay in a timely manner is an entirely different story, per the report. During the first quarter of this year, commercial payers initially denied 15.1% of inpatient and outpatient claims compared to 3.9% for Medicare over the same period, according to the report.
Crowe analyzed the claim denial category of prior authorization and precertification denials. These occur when a payer denies a claim based on their decision that a provider did not get prior approval for care before it was delivered or that the care rendered wasn’t necessary based on the patient’s medical diagnosis.
Last year, the prior authorization/precertification denial rate for inpatient claims among commercial payers was 2.8%, up from 2.4% in 2021. This rate increased to 3% during the first three months of 2023, but the denial rate for traditional Medicare was just 0.2% during the same period.
Another claim denial category that the report examined is the request for information (RFI). RFI denials happen when a payer decides not to process a claim because it is missing some type of required documentation, such as a signature or copy of the medical record. In this category, commercial payers’ denial rate is 12 times higher than Medicare, the report found.
Most of the claims that commercial payers deny eventually get paid. However, the administrative effort required for hospitals to turn an initially-denied claim into a payment costs a good deal of time and money — two things in short supply at hospitals
To obtain payment from a denied claim, a provider must investigate the claim, determine what they have to do to rectify the problem and resubmit the claim — a process that can take weeks — said Colleen Hall, the managing principal for Crowe’s healthcare consulting group, in a recent interview. This process creates “an aging accounts receivable situation” for the provider and delays them from receiving much-needed cash.
“There certainly are several for-profit insurers out there. I won’t name names, but I think that those for-profit entities are in direct conflict with the nonprofit hospitals. I don’t know what goes on in the for-profit payer side of things, but could there be actions that they’re deploying to delay payments? Potentially. There have certainly been denials that our clients, as providers, have to manage only to find were denied for no reason,” Hall declared.
In the first quarter of this year, about a third of the claims that providers submitted to commercial payers took more than three months to get paid, the report found.
It’s difficult for hospitals to gain steady financial footing when the payers that have the best reimbursement rates are holding onto a third of their claims payments for more than 90 days, Hall pointed out.
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Oshi Health — a virtual care provider for patients with digestive disorders — announced its first contract with a commercial insurer on Thursday. The New York-based company has entered into a value-based contract that provides Aetna members with in-network access to its specialized treatment.
The partnership comes nearly two years after CVS Health, Aetna’s parent company, invested in Oshi as part of the startup’s Series A fundraising.
Founded in 2019, Oshi built a virtual-first care platform designed to help patients achieve lasting control over chronic digestive conditions. The company hires gastroenterologists, nurse practitioners, dieticians and GI-specialized behavioral healthcare providers to quickly reach a diagnosis and guide individualized treatment. Patients are also assigned a care coordinator, who can help them find in-network providers if they need services like a colonoscopy or endoscopy.
The startup prides itself on providing whole-person care, which includes often-neglected dietary and psychosocial interventions, Oshi CEO Sam Holliday said in a recent interview.
“Over the past decade, there’s been a recognition that many gastrointestinal disorders are actually triggered by the signaling between your gut and your brain. A whole class of GI conditions has actually been renamed as disorders of the gut-brain interaction, or DGBIs,” he explained. “Things like gut-directed cognitive behavioral therapy can really reframe patients’ thought patterns and dampen the brain signaling that causes their symptoms, making symptoms feel less severe.”
Dietary interventions and behavioral therapy are proven methods to alleviate GI patients’ symptoms, and they’re often more effective than medication, Holliday pointed out. But these services are rarely available to GI patients because they haven’t been reimbursed historically, he added.
That’s why these interventions are a core part of the care patients receive under Oshi’s new contract with Aetna.
“One of the challenges in GI is that there aren’t very good quality measures. Really, the main things we focus on as a country is getting people screened for colorectal cancer, But we don’t really have measures for what matters to patients, who are the people suffering. What we think is the best measure to use is symptom control,” Holliday explained.
The root cause of GI symptoms usually stems from dietary or behavioral health reasons, and traditional, medication-centric GI care does not address those underlying causes, he declared. Patients end up continually seeking care — and driving costs up — because their symptoms are still bothering them. Through Oshi’s value-based contract with Aetna, “the value aspect being measured is Oshi’s ability to reduce that utilization downstream,” Holliday said.
Oshi will measure its care teams’ ability to sustainably control patients’ symptoms through a mix of medication, dietary adjustments and gut-brain psychology interventions. The company will track metrics such as reductions in emergency department visits and patients’ reported symptoms.
“We get paid a certain amount as we’re providing the care. Then, if we’ve gotten to a good level of patient satisfaction, symptom control and reduced utilization at the end of the measurement period, we have a bonus opportunity. And if we don’t achieve certain levels, there is a downside,” Holliday explained.
Aetna shares in the upside if Oshi hits its goals, but the payer is protected against potential downside. If Oshi doesn’t achieve as good outcomes as the partners had hoped, Aetna won’t have to pay the startup the full amount for care, Holliday declared.
The partnership is in its first phase, meaning Aetna members can access Oshi’s services in the following six states: Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Photo: TLFurrer, Getty Images
After three years of stalled commercial dialogue between the two biggest democracies in the world, India and the US, on 10 March re-launched their commercial dialogue to discuss supply chain issues and agree upon a semiconductor partnership initiative.
After three years of stalled commercial dialogue between the two biggest democracies in the world, India and the US, on 10 March re-launched their commercial dialogue to discuss supply chain issues and agree upon a semiconductor partnership initiative.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal jointly addressed a press conference on Friday at the India-USA Commercial Dialogue.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal jointly addressed a press conference on Friday at the India-USA Commercial Dialogue.
The dialogue focused on several emerging areas, including building supply chains, facilitating clean energy cooperation, talent development, and post-pandemic economic recovery for start-ups and small businesses.
The dialogue focused on several emerging areas, including building supply chains, facilitating clean energy cooperation, talent development, and post-pandemic economic recovery for start-ups and small businesses.
Both the dignitaries discussed India-US strategic partnership, as well as economic and commercial engagement between the two countries, including through the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
Both the dignitaries discussed India-US strategic partnership, as well as economic and commercial engagement between the two countries, including through the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
During the meeting, the minister and the secretary acknowledged that the bilateral goods and services trade has almost doubled since 2014, surpassing $191 billion recorded in 2022. Both sides welcomed further steps to enhance their commercial collaboration and tap into market potential across multiple sectors, and also enable an environment for investment by small and medium-sized industries (MSME) and startups.
During the meeting, the minister and the secretary acknowledged that the bilateral goods and services trade has almost doubled since 2014, surpassing $191 billion recorded in 2022. Both sides welcomed further steps to enhance their commercial collaboration and tap into market potential across multiple sectors, and also enable an environment for investment by small and medium-sized industries (MSME) and startups.
Secretary Raimondo applauded the steps undertaken under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
Secretary Raimondo applauded the steps undertaken under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
The minister and the secretary welcomed the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). The Ministers also noted India’s interest in partnering with the United States in developing a secure pharmaceutical manufacturing base and diversifying supply chains for critical and strategic minerals (including rare earths).
The minister and the secretary welcomed the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). The Ministers also noted India’s interest in partnering with the United States in developing a secure pharmaceutical manufacturing base and diversifying supply chains for critical and strategic minerals (including rare earths).
Both countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership to promote cooperation in the segment. This comes just a week after reports of Apple Inc. partner Foxconn Technology Group planning to invest about $700 million on a new plant in Bengaluru to ramp up local production.
Both countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership to promote cooperation in the segment. This comes just a week after reports of Apple Inc. partner Foxconn Technology Group planning to invest about $700 million on a new plant in Bengaluru to ramp up local production.
“Recognizing the importance of U.S. and Indian markets to the global electronics industry, Secretary Raimondo and Minister Goyal intend to utilize the Commercial Dialogue to enhance public and private efforts to promote industry cooperation in the semiconductor sector. These efforts will identify opportunities for growth and challenges to address in order to ensure that US and Indian semiconductor industries develop stronger connections, complementary ecosystems, and a more diverse supply chain for semiconductors,” said a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
“Recognizing the importance of U.S. and Indian markets to the global electronics industry, Secretary Raimondo and Minister Goyal intend to utilize the Commercial Dialogue to enhance public and private efforts to promote industry cooperation in the semiconductor sector. These efforts will identify opportunities for growth and challenges to address in order to ensure that US and Indian semiconductor industries develop stronger connections, complementary ecosystems, and a more diverse supply chain for semiconductors,” said a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
Both ministers recognized that small businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the US and Indian economies and there is need to facilitate collaboration between the SMEs of the two countries and to foster innovation ecosystems that facilitate their post-pandemic economic recovery and growth. In this context, Both sides announced the launch of a new Working Group on Talent, Innovation and Inclusive Growth under the Commercial Dialogue.
Both ministers recognized that small businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the US and Indian economies and there is need to facilitate collaboration between the SMEs of the two countries and to foster innovation ecosystems that facilitate their post-pandemic economic recovery and growth. In this context, Both sides announced the launch of a new Working Group on Talent, Innovation and Inclusive Growth under the Commercial Dialogue.
This will further the cooperation on Start-ups, SMEs, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship including in digital and emergent technologies. This working group would also support the efforts under iCET, particularly in identifying specific regulatory hurdles that hinder cooperation and fostering of greater connectivity between our innovation ecosystems (including tech start-ups).
This will further the cooperation on Start-ups, SMEs, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship including in digital and emergent technologies. This working group would also support the efforts under iCET, particularly in identifying specific regulatory hurdles that hinder cooperation and fostering of greater connectivity between our innovation ecosystems (including tech start-ups).
The two countries also relaunched the travel and tourism working group to strengthen cooperation between them. “Re-launched the Travel and Tourism Working Group to continue the progress from before the pandemic and to also address the many new challenges and opportunities to create a stronger travel and tourism sector. The activities of this working group also support SMEs as travel & tourism sector comprises SMEs such as hotels, restaurants, travel agents, handicrafts and so on,” the joint statement reads.
The two countries also relaunched the travel and tourism working group to strengthen cooperation between them. “Re-launched the Travel and Tourism Working Group to continue the progress from before the pandemic and to also address the many new challenges and opportunities to create a stronger travel and tourism sector. The activities of this working group also support SMEs as travel & tourism sector comprises SMEs such as hotels, restaurants, travel agents, handicrafts and so on,” the joint statement reads.
Raimondo praised India for its incredible culture, and thanked Goyal for hosting the US delegation and showcasing the nation’s culture. She said it was an “incredibly opportunity” for her to experience Indian culture, making the country a special place.
Raimondo praised India for its incredible culture, and thanked Goyal for hosting the US delegation and showcasing the nation’s culture. She said it was an “incredibly opportunity” for her to experience Indian culture, making the country a special place.
Both countries also launched the Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program that will be carried out in partnership between US’s American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and India’s Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) towards standards cooperation.
Both countries also launched the Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program that will be carried out in partnership between US’s American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and India’s Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) towards standards cooperation.
Meanwhile, EAM and Secretary Raimondo launched “strategic trade dialogue” focusing which will address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfer between the two countries. The Strategic Trade Dialogue will address export controls, and ways of enhancing high-technology commerce and facilitating technology transfer between the two countries.
Meanwhile, EAM and Secretary Raimondo launched “strategic trade dialogue” focusing which will address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfer between the two countries. The Strategic Trade Dialogue will address export controls, and ways of enhancing high-technology commerce and facilitating technology transfer between the two countries.
Also, US side to send a senior government official-led Clean Energy and Environmental Technology Business Development Mission to India in 2024.
Also, US side to send a senior government official-led Clean Energy and Environmental Technology Business Development Mission to India in 2024.
“The trade mission would be an opportunity to further foster US-Indian business partnerships in grid modernization and smart grid solutions, renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and environmental technology solutions,” the joint statement reads.
“The trade mission would be an opportunity to further foster US-Indian business partnerships in grid modernization and smart grid solutions, renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and environmental technology solutions,” the joint statement reads.
Both sides also pledged to work together in the Global Biofuels Alliance and in the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies.
Both sides also pledged to work together in the Global Biofuels Alliance and in the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies.
The two sides made announcement regarding US-India Energy Industry Network (EIN) as a broad platform for facilitating US industry involvement in the Clean EDGE Asia initiative, the US government’s signature initiative to grow sustainable and secure clean energy markets throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
The two sides made announcement regarding US-India Energy Industry Network (EIN) as a broad platform for facilitating US industry involvement in the Clean EDGE Asia initiative, the US government’s signature initiative to grow sustainable and secure clean energy markets throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
Both sides expressed interest in working together in developing next generation standards in telecommunications, including 6G.
Both sides expressed interest in working together in developing next generation standards in telecommunications, including 6G.
Secretary Raimondo welcomed India’s ongoing G20 Presidency. The ministers expressed interest to look forward to the next Commercial Dialogue meeting, to be held in Washington, DC, in 2024 contributing towards a growing strategic and economic relationship between India and the United States.
Secretary Raimondo welcomed India’s ongoing G20 Presidency. The ministers expressed interest to look forward to the next Commercial Dialogue meeting, to be held in Washington, DC, in 2024 contributing towards a growing strategic and economic relationship between India and the United States.
The US is India’s largest exporter and trade partner, while India is the ninth largest trading partner for the US. The bilateral merchandise trade during April-January stood at $108.43 billion. Both nations aim to achieve bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2025.
The US is India’s largest exporter and trade partner, while India is the ninth largest trading partner for the US. The bilateral merchandise trade during April-January stood at $108.43 billion. Both nations aim to achieve bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2025.
The US is also the third biggest investor in India with a cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow of $56,753 million from April 2000 to September 2022.
The US is also the third biggest investor in India with a cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow of $56,753 million from April 2000 to September 2022.
Paragonix Technologies — a company that launched in 2010 as a response to the lack of innovation in the donor organ preservation and transport process — closed a Series B funding round on Tuesday. The $24 million round was led by Signet Healthcare Partners.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company provides transplant centers and organ procurement organizations (OPOs) with medical devices designed for the preservation and transportation of donor organs.
The traditional method of preservation requires the organ to be transported in a cooler of crushed ice. Due to unstable temperatures, many facilities that receive organs preserved in this manner report that they arrive frozen and damaged, said Paragonix CEO Lisa Anderson.
“Paragonix determined there was an opportunity for a more scientifically reproducible, measurable and reliable solution to transporting an organ from a donor to recipient,” she said. “We set out to create a new standard for organ preservation and transport that would provide the care and quality of handling commensurate with transporting such a valuable gift and improve patient outcomes worldwide.”
Paragonix’s devices are made from a series of interconnected systems that work together to provide a cool and sterile environment within a consistent range of 4-8° Celsius. The company sells three devices, each designed for a different organ (heart, lung and liver). All have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.
Each device works slightly differently based on specific user needs related to the organ type, Anderson said. For example, the heart preservation device has pouches filled with proprietary cooling solutions that keep the organ at optimal temperatures during transport. The heart is contained within a nested canister and is then housed in a wheeled shipper container that works to protect and insulate the inner contents.
All of Paragonix’s devices display the organ’s temperature while it is being transported. They also use bluetooth monitoring and tracking technology to allow surgeons to track the organ’s exact location throughout its journey, even in flight, Anderson pointed out.
Paragonix markets and sells its devices to transplant centers and OPOs across the U.S. and Europe. Last year, over one in five thoracic donor organs transplanted in the U.S. were preserved using a Paragonix device, Anderson declared. She also said that 19 out of the 30 largest U.S. heart transplant programs rely on Paragonix devices to safely preserve, track and transport organs to their intended recipients.
There are a few other companies that make devices to preserve donor organs, such as Organ Recovery Systems and Bridge to Life. But Anderson contended Paragonix’s devices are easier to use.
“Most other organ preservation devices are extremely complicated, labor intensive and require special personal or extensive training, while Paragonix’s devices are lightweight, user friendly, and a user can be trained in less than an hour,” she declared.
Anderson explained that her company’s main competition is the legacy way of transporting organs, as many organizations still receive damaged organs that were transported using the over-ice method. The medical industry needs to move away from this method of organ preservation because devices like the ones that Paragonix sells are clinically proven to improve patient outcomes and reduce the risk of post-surgical complications, she declared.
Picture: Getty Images, ThomasVogel
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When it is time to start looking for a commercial space to lease, there are many items to keep in mind. If this is the first time you have leased a commercial space, there are certain factors I recommend you know in advance before beginning your search.
1. Zoning
First and foremost, you must understand the concept of zoning. Zoning laws control what types of businesses may operate on any specific property — next, list cities where you are interested in opening your business.
Once that list is created, you can either go online to the cities’ planning departments’ websites, call the planning departments or visit in person. I recommend you visit in person since it can expedite the process. When you speak to the person in planning, let them know the exact details of the business you will be opening.
Remember that once you have an address of interest, you will need to check in again with the city. This time you will give the planning department the address and confirm that you can open your business at the address. Also, ask the planning department if your use is permitted by right or by permit. If it is by right then, you should be good to go regarding your use being allowed to operate. However, if the planning department mentions the use is allowed by permit, you will need to ask follow-up questions. The follow-up questions should include finding out what permits you will need, how long they will take to obtain and how much the permit cost.
Related: 6 Overlooked Investment Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate
2. Size
Once you understand the zoning you are looking for, you need to know your ideal space size. If you need to know the square footage for your type of business, I recommend you research it before starting your search. You can quickly get an idea of the size space you need by using the internet and searching square footage and your use. I also recommend walking into similar businesses to get an understanding of space.
Related: Criteria to Consider When Renting Commercial Space
3. Customer demographics
Next on the list is to know who your customers are through demographics. Age, average incomes and population are the key demographics you will want to keep in mind. For reference, in my markets of the Inland Empire and San Gabriel Valley regions of Southern California, most retailers seek sites with a minimum of 100,000 people within a three-mile radius.
Additionally, you will want to know when your business will be the busiest. If you expect lunch to be critical, you will also want to know the daytime population numbers near the potential space you will be leasing.
Knowing who your customers are will assist with understanding if visibility is vital to your business. Are you a destination tenant or an impulse tenant? If you are an impulse tenant, you need high visibility. Without high visibility, potential customers will have more difficulty seeing you and will not be able to visit your store.
An excellent example of an impulse tenant is dessert. People often decide to have ice cream because they see it in a shopping center. Since prime street front space leases at a premium, you will have more leverage with landlords if visibility is not a significant concern for your business.
Related: What to Do When Your Ideal Customer Isn’t Who You Expected
4. Traffic counts
If you need prime visibility, you will also want to pay attention to traffic counts. In commercial real estate, cars per day are examined. As a point of reference, 25,000 vehicles per day on the main street where the site is located is a minimum number many retailers are looking for when high-traffic areas are needed.
5. Access
Next to consider is access. It does not matter if you are an impulse or destination tenant. Access is a critical component in deciding on a space to lease. When figuring out the access for a potential site, make sure to drive all streets in all directions. Please pay attention to the road’s lines and whether they are broken. Also, pay attention to street medians and no U-turn signs. You want to make sure your customers will be able to access your business conveniently.
Related: How to Make Your Product More Accessible to Customers
6. Signage
Signage can also be critical. Most centers have monument signs. Often tenants think that if they are leasing a space that had a monument sign prior, they will be able to take over that sign. That is not the case. You only have the right to use a monument sign if it is in your lease.
When considering a center, I recommend you fully drive the entire center and take pictures of all the monument signs. In your offer, you must include these images of the monument signs and the specific panels you request rights to utilize.
Related: 5 Major Leasing Deal Points to Know Before Signing a Lease
It is essential to realize that there are basics in site selection. If your company has done its homework in advance, your site selection process will be simplified when looking for commercial space to lease. If you have an understanding of what you are looking for but also keep an open mind, the process of finding a location will run smoother.