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KB and HPC International Launch Pinpoint

KB and HPC International Launch Pinpoint

Klein Buendel has partnered with HPC International, a leading purchased services provider for healthcare, corporations and academic institutions, to create Pinpoint™, the first-of-its-kind sickle cell pain management app, which provides a safe, interactive, and convenient way for patients to learn about, track, assess, and communicate with their doctors about their sickle cell pain.

The Pinpoint sickle cell pain management app provides a safe, interactive, and convenient way for patients to learn about, track, assess, and communicate with their doctors about  sickle cell pain.

Developed with teens in mind, people of all ages benefit from the Pinpoint app to identify different types of pain associated with sickle cell disease. Using gaming technology, Pinpoint offers an innovative pain assessment tool and a pain diary to log physical and emotional pain symptoms. With the touch of a finger, patients are able to describe and assess the intensity, duration, quality, nature, and location of the pain and report it to their caregivers and physician in real-time. Pinpoint is a web app and works on any smartphone or smart mobile device. Patients can play games, watch videos, learn preventive health tips, and visit the Patient Stories section with real stories and inspirational messages told by other sickle cell patients. 

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder of the red blood cells that disproportionately affects people of color. Chronic pain is the most common complication and profoundly disrupts people’s quality of life. Clinicians are often unsuccessful at addressing chronic pain in sickle cell disease, underscoring the need for the Pinpoint app. 

“The pain caused by sickle cell disease is incredibly difficult to manage and ‘pinpoint,’ especially for young patients,” said Hilton Hudson, MD, FACS, CEO of HPC International. “When meeting with top researchers at Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C., we all agreed that clinicians needed a better way to treat the different types of pain sickle cell patients may experience, which led HPC to develop a tool to do just that.” 

“Teaming up with HPC International and supported by grants from the NIH, Klein Buendel was privileged to create a supportive pain management tool for patients with sickle cell disease,” said Mary Buller, MA, President of Klein Buendel. “HPC and Klein Buendel combined content experts and web developers into a winning combination for patients and doctors.” 

The educational content in the Pinpoint app comes from the renowned and best-selling Hope & Destiny book series, written by three clinical expert leaders in hematology: James Eckman, MD, Lewis L Hsu, MD, PhD and Allan Platt, PA-C, MMSc. Hope & Destiny is Hilton Publishing’s premier educational book series on sickle cell disease and is tailored for different reader age groups, including adults and parents as well as adolescent patients. 

The Pinpoint app development project was facilitated through two Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants, awarded in 2016 and 2018 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). HPC collaborated with Klein Buendel, medical experts, teens, and parents of children with sickle cell disease to study how an interactive app with a customized pain assessment tool could provide an improved way for adolescents with sickle cell disease to learn about and better manage their disorder. The study’s Expert Advisory Board was formed by clinicians from institutions and nonprofit organizations including HOPE for SCD, UIC, Emory Healthcare, Children’s National, Marquette University College of Nursing, and the International Association of Sickle Cell Nurses and Professional Associates.

Pinpoint has been clinically evaluated to help aid in the management of pain caused by sickle cell disease. Market research, focus groups, surveys, interviews, and two comprehensive research studies were conducted virtually and in-person with teens, parents and clinical specialists representing communities across the country from 2016 through 2022.  Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities under grant numbers R43MD010746 and R44MD010746 awarded to Klein Buendel (Dr. Valerie Myers, initial Principal Investigator; Ms. Julia Berteletti, final Principal Investigator). Pinpoint was designed and programmed by Mr. Adam Ashby of the Klein Buendel Creative Team.

Already, Pinpoint has been featured in:

Sickle Cell Disease News, a healthcare industry website, which provides the sickle cell disease community with the most recent news and information on sickle cell disease.

MedCity News, a leading digital healthcare outlet.

LegalReader.com in their Health & Medicine section on August 23rd.

Healthcare IT Today, a leading digital health tech outlet, in a roundup of healthcare industry news (under the ‘Partnerships’ section) on August 17th.

Pinpoint is available to individuals and medical providers. An individual annual subscription fee is $9.99. To learn more about the Pinpoint app, check out the video tutorial or visit HPC International.

Pinpoint: A Pain Management Tool for Teens with Sickle Cell Disease

Pinpoint: A Pain Management Tool for Teens with Sickle Cell Disease

Klein Buendel (KB) Senior Scientist, Dr. Valerie Myers, is the Principal Investigator leading a new research project to improve a self-care and pain management tool for teens with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). SCD is the most common inherited blood disorder in the U.S. It affects primarily African Americans and Hispanics. Approximately, 100,000 people in the U.S. suffer from SCD and serious, painful complications can have a significant impact on well-being and quality of life.

Using interactive technology accessible on computers, tablets, and smartphones, the Pinpoint app will combine education, healthy living tips, and tools for managing pain through at-home techniques like relaxation, self-reflection, and a better understanding of the different types of pain teens might experience (acute versus chronic pain).

In a Phase I project, an initial prototype of Pinpoint was developed and reviewed. It included a Pain Assessment Tool, vocabulary game, body scanner reflection, educational self-disclosure activity, and excerpts from the Hope and Destiny Jr. book authored by Hsu, Rodrigues, and Brandalise. Four healthcare providers were interviewed on the app’s acceptability and potential function within the clinical practice. Sixteen teens participated in cognitive interviews, focus groups, and usability testing. The System Usability Scale (SUS; Bangor et al., 2011), a validated tool for assessing the usability and acceptability of technological products, served as the primary outcome. The preliminary SUS score well above average, suggesting a high level of acceptability and usability among users.

The full Pinpoint app being developed in the new Phase II study can be used in healthcare settings to reduce barriers in obtaining information from adolescents by using technology they are comfortable with and enjoy using, while also providing important pain data to healthcare teams and family that affect treatment options. By empowering teens with knowledge and enhanced communication skills, Pinpoint can help reduce emergency room visits and assist SCD teens to transition more successfully to adulthood with independence.

The Pinpoint project is being funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (MD010746). It is being conducted in close partnership with the Hilton Publishing Company (HPC), the publisher of Hope & Destiny Jr., a leading book for teens on SCD management. Dr. Myers’ research collaborators include Ms. Mary Buller from KB, Dr. Lewis Hsu from the University of Illinois, Mr. Allan Platt from Emory University in Georgia, Dr. Gary Cutter from Pythagorus, Inc. and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Dr. Hilton Hudson from HPC. KB’s developers will design and program the Pinpoint app.