Debra Griffin: Cancer Survivor Saving Lives by Connecting Silos with Health Histories

“I believe that appropriate healthcare is a basic human right, but the limitations of access and cost barriers needs overcoming,” says Debra Griffin, Founder, and PPX-TEC. A two-time cancer survivor (1989 and 2005), Debra has made advocating for treatment path her life blood. “And my being here today is it’s testament,” she adds.

Debra and Dean Harrison, Co-founder developed PPX-TEC as a mobile data exchange bridge paired with APIs connects data silos with holistic health histories to alleviate information fragmentation in our silo healthcare’s delivery system. This solution support analytics and they are work to make solution more intelligent. PPX-TEC is a patient centric mobile data exchange bridge for multi silo connectivity and clinical trial decentralization with multiple data exchanges.

Eliminating unneeded tests and procedures

PPX-TEC’s major purpose is to equip patients and caregivers in the sharing in their holistic health histories for engagement and decision-making. Patients that participate in their treatment plans have better health outcomes, quality of care and cost can be reduced with eliminating unneeded tests and procedures; sometime using last information on patients.

PPX-TEC has developed an evolving iOS and Android mobile application that functions paired-one on a patient smart device and PPX-TEC integrated into human vendor’s platforms to maintain and support database fluidity. PPX-TEC output via PDF, Numbers, HTML, XML, CSV transmit via Bluetooth, email, print, and is Cloud ready. PPX-TEC is fully scalable, ingests multiple large structured datasets and identifies and manages the relationships between disparate datasets.

PPX-TEC is FHIR, HL7, NIST and HIPAA compliant in addition to having the extra security of a self-generating 8 digit token and an access PIN. Data is exchanged with unique search ‘send or receive’ exchange modality with any human data platform once API is plugged in for data to be dropped on a users’ smart device. PPX-TEC’s solution helps others APIs and Health Apps communicate.  Users overtime using multiple and various vendor types and provider types can create a comprehensive health record.

The journey through thick and thin

As a black woman, Debra had to 100% bootstrap this solution because of lack of access to any capital, her novel market space in interoperability, and the location of Mississippi. Furthermore, even though, Debra has definite ideals to what the application development should be, it also evolves over time, “which for me makes up for the extended years and dollars expended.” We see an open market for clinical trials’ decentralization and using ‘Send and Receive’ to push real time data from participants to improve trials’ efficacy and efficiency, states Griffin.

Debra says that with the development of FHIR and HL7 protocols, Google and Apple’s platform, smart devices, digital consumer and value based reimbursement, her team is able to bring to market an application with a solution that addresses many of our healthcare delivery data fragmentation pain points. “America has a hybrid healthcare systems that is private and public which has about untold amounts of innovations, cures and numerous treatment modalities to extend life however the reimbursement of all of this is complex, cumbersome, out of reach and costly. We want to empower patients, caregivers and providers with holistic health histories,” she says.  I have a heart for vulnerable people needing assistance. I needed for this solution to be innovated, yet simple and impactful for end-users.

Building a pipeline to customers

The unique features of PPX-TEC that set itself apart from the competitors are – Application’s Bridge functionality, Share Screen, ‘Send and Receive’ data exchanges, the ability allowing the patient users to control their data share and PPX-TEC’s ability to extend Apple’s Health Kit reach to Androids’ users with limited data plans or Internet service.

Currently, Debra and her team are working to build a pipeline to customers, create broad awareness of the application and the problems that it solves. “Create awareness to our solution that addresses real pain points in a non-threatening method to vendors’ current business models. Our ultimate desire is to see more and more patients and caregivers possess their holistic health record for engagement and decision-making to assist providers with easier paths to diagnoses and care treatment.  We started 7 years ago by parroting some of PPX-TEC’s development from HHS interoperability laws,” she says.

Overwhelming, frightening, yet exciting journey

Prior to starting PPX-TEC, Debra was working as hospital administrators in rural Mississippi. There were so many voids and challenges yet so many opportunities, believes Debra. She was energized to see the staff and community embrace her efforts to affect services provided in a more compassionate manner. She was engaging with people who were not usually-not being a part of knowing how to access care at higher level regardless of ability to pay. “I used to say I felt like the Cheers’ theme song, “wouldn’t you like to go to a place where everyone knows your name and they are glad you came,” recalls Debra.

“Learning to accept and embrace me as me. Chasing whatever I believe in even with bloody knees and all,” says Debra about her achievements. Furthermore, she advises fellow aspiring businesswomen, “Things get heavy, hard and barren. Person goes silence on you. Keep going. Keep being diligent through the shut doors, concrete walls and life’s unfair engrained biases. I would rather fail than not try.”

Currently, Debra wears many hats as most startup founder does. For Debra, it has been overwhelming, frightening, yet exciting journey at the same time. She is constantly praying for wisdom and understanding, and for God ideals, concepts and insights. She believes that she has created a solution that can improve people’s lives.

Talking about PPX-TEC’s future plans, Debra says, “We have started getting attention internationally mostly and some domestically. We have signed a few customers and are no longer pre-revenue. COVID19 opened up a whole new market for us deploying our tools as a data decentralization solution, ‘send and receive’ data exchanges in socially distancing environment solution for clinical and drug trials.”