Nexgen Ventilators to treat COVID-19 Patients using the Value Innovation Process

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Healthcare Professionals moving away from treating Corona Virus Patients with Mechanical Ventilators. There are 3 primary challenges:

1.    Healthcare Professionals (both doctors and nurses) do not know how to efficaciously treat COVID-19 patients using ventilators and other respiratory devices:

2.    Mortality rates using ventilators are too high (Mike Stobbs has reported they can reach 80%)

3.    Patient time on a ventilator is too long

A report published in Mayo Clinic proceedings in September, 2017 concluded “The MV (Mechanical Ventilator) journey is making progress but is still far from its ultimate destination.”

We have defined a project to develop NexGen Mechanical Ventilators and Respiratory Products to address these challenges and are looking for investors.

Candidates are:

  • Foundations
  • Hospital groups
  • Insurance companies
  • Medical device manufacturers
  • Private investors
  • Tier 1 and Tier II suppliers
  • Venture funds
  • WHO

If you want to participate on this project, contact:

or, Dick Melrose, Founder and CEO of Vision21: r.melrose@Vision21.us, +1-561-737-9942:

Project Definition

Overall Goals
Significantly improve the performance of Ventilators and other respiratory devices used in hospitals. Reduce:

  • Mortality rates by at least 50% for patients with and without COVID-19
  • The time a patient is on a ventilator by at least 50%
Primary Project Steps
  1.  Use the 10-Step Value Innovation Process to identify the major problems encountered by two groups of 12 HCPs with at least 10 years experience using ventilators:
  • Group 1 will have had no experience dealing with Corona Virus patients
  • Group 2 will have had experience dealing with Corona Virus patients

Deliverables:

  • Problems quantified in “As Is” and “To Be” Value Curves with metrics
  • Product and Process Design Requirements for a family of NexGen Ventilator(s) and Respirators
  • Develop and assemble prototypes meeting the Design Requirements using:
    • A certified medical devices company
    • Commercially available devices and sensors
    • Closed loop control systems that monitor critical data (e.g., blood oxygen and CO2 levels, vital signs, etc.) and adjust device operation in real time)

Test the prototypes under the latest guidelines published by the FDA for treating COVID-19 patients

Release final Design Requirements Agreements (PDRA) for the product(s) that meet the Overall Goals

Commercialize the product family from 4 above.

Initial Project Team Members
Dick Lee, Dick Melrose and Jay Palace
Funding Rounds and timing
1.    Identify the problems encountered by health care professionals using ventilators and other respiratory products for patients with and without COVID-19 (Time to complete, 4 months; Cost, to be defined)

2.    Assemble and test devices in the lab. Investment to be defined on completion of 1. above

3.    Obtain FDA approval for, and conduct, trials in selected US hospitals and complete these trials.  Investment to be defined on completion of 1. above

4.    Release final PDRAs. Complete the commercialization process

 

Tasks and Deliverables for Step 1

Step

Tasks

Time to Complete

Deliverables

1

Define the project Completed Project Definition

2

Identify the Most Important Customer (MIC) in the Value Chain Completed MICs defined (HCPS with >10y experience working in ICUs with ventilators with 2 patient groups)

3

Develop “As Is” Value Curves for existing invasive and non-invasive ventilators In Process “As Is” Value Curves with Metrics
4
Develop 6 questions to be used in 1st rd of Contextual Interviews with MICs

Recruit 24 MICs

Conduct 1h interviews with 12 pairs of MICs (Virtual by phone, recorded, transcribed and analyzed (problems/comments sorted by Elements of Performance (EoP))

2 days

30 days

30 days

 

 

Pareto Charts showing the number of problems and comments sorted by EoP
5
Develop “To Be” Value Curves with metrics based on the deliverables from 4 5 days Revised “As Is” and “To Be” Value Curves with metrics
6-7
Conduct twelve 2nd rd interviews with the same MICs interviewed in Step 4. They will be asked to critique the Value Curves from Step 5:

  • Do we have the right EoPs?
  • Are they defined correctly?
  • Are they rank ordered correctly?
  • What should we change?
  • What value (on a 1 (low) -9 (high) scale) is being delivered to you today on each EoP?
  • What value would you like to see delivered in NexGen products?
45 days “As Is” and “To Be” Value Curves vetted by the MICs
7
Define the Value Proposition for the MICs 2 days Value Proposition that defines what value will be delivered to MICs and how that value will be delivered
8
Brainstorm “How” to deliver the “What” 10 days Develop the best options to deliver the “To Be” Value Curve(s)
9
Develop the instrument to be used in the 3rd rd interviews with the MICs 5 days
10
Conduct 12 3rd rd interviews with the 24 MICs 10 days Critique by the 24 MICs on the NexGen products they were asked to review

 

Final “As Is” and “To Be” Value Curves

 

Refined PDRA(s) that meet 510k filing guidelines.

 

Value Innovation Works

The 10-Step process is defined in Value Innovation Works (VIW), authored by Richard K Lee and Nina E Goodrich, was published in May, 2012 by CreateSpace.com, the online publishing arm of Amazon.

VIW is a handbook that defines how to conduct each step and provides many company examples.

 

Who has used the VIP?

Companies successfully using the VIP include: AmVac Chemical,  Bobcat, Caterpillar, Chevron, Folded Pak, Hussmann, Nautilus, Novamin (acquired by gsk), P&G, Sherwin Williams, and Thermo King.

During the period 2005-2010, Chevron’s IT group used the VIP on >100 projects to uncover how they could more effectively increase oil extraction efficiencies and increase their income per barrel of oil equivalent.

In 2007, Don Paul, Chevron’s CTO shared,  “The CVX project team sees many benefits to using VI methodology, ranging from winning the support and buy-in of the BU asset managers to defining a technology roadmap that could potentially yield significant enhancements to oil & gas production from these assets over the next several years.”

By 2012, Chevron’s return on upstream capital (25%) was higher than ExxonMobil’s (20%) and their income per barrel was 18% compared to Exxon Mobil’s $15.

Mastering Value Innovation Workshops

More than 100 Two-Day Mastering Value Innovation workshops that describe “How to use the VIP” have been conducted in 14 countries on 4 continents.

#CoronaVirus has resulted in these workshops being conducted virtually.

Our next workshop will be held April 23-24, 2020.

Want to up your innovation game? Want to up your organization’s innovation game? Attending one of our Mastering Value Innovation Workshops is a great place to start. In 2016 we are going to change our approach. We will work with you to develop your own custom workshop that addresses your problems and you define the length and location. More information can be found in the Workshop Brochure.