Colleen Lance on React Health’s role in addressing health care’s ‘crucible’ 

SARASOTA, Fla. – React Health’s new chief medical officer believes a string of recent strategic partnerships will make the company “unstoppable” in 2024.  

Colleen Lance, MD, is formerly a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic, serving as medical director of PAP therapies for its home care division and medical director for its Sleep Disorder Center at Hillcrest Hospital.  

Here’s what she had to say about how recent partnerships with EnsoData and others will position the company to help health systems and providers address a “crucible” in health care.  

HME News: What do you bring to React Health from your previous roles at Cleveland Clinic?  

Colleen Lance: The things that I have brought are one, being patient facing for the last 34 years; two, being an early adopter of anything technology related to get patients closer to getting their sleep disorders treated; and three, taking a multi-modality approach to therapy.  

HME: Explain your multi-modality approach to sleep therapy.  

Lance: My passion is looking end-to-end at what you need to address sleep disorders and how that impacts co-morbidities. These things don’t happen in a vacuum. In our world of health care today, things are very siloed – you go see the cardiologist, you see the endocrinologist, you see the sleep doctor. Has anyone paused to see how they impact each other? My clinics, for example, were embedded in cardiology; we were working elbow to elbow with electrophysiologists taking care of atrial fibrillation and sleep disorders together.  

HME: Why make the switch to the HME industry?  

Lance: Historically, I have had connections with different industrial partners for treating sleep disordered breathing and when I took the position of director of PAP therapies at the Cleveland Clinic, I really started strengthening those relationships. When I saw what React Health was doing, I wanted to be in the early stages of development of the company.  

HME: What are your main priorities as CMO at React Health?  

Lance: A big part of it is education, both internally and externally. One, it’s educating the people who work with us, so they’re on point with our mission and how what we do can affect sleep disorders in the realm of other co-morbidities; two, it’s looking at our offerings and making sure we’re getting our providers the information they need for managing patients in the easiest format possible, like with React Health Connect; and three, aligning with key partners.  

HME: I do feel like React Health has forged a number of partnerships in the past year, most recently with EnsoData to add adherence prediction AI technology to React Health Connect, but also with sovaSage for coaching and SleepGlad for remote mask fittings.  

Lance: Yes, you put those things together and, wow, we’re going to be unstoppable. Since 2020, health care has been facing what I call a crucible with the pandemic, supply chain issues and a significant recall. I’ve felt the pain of patients and providers during that time and what came out of that is I saw some stars rise to the top and that’s what React Health is. I see the company continuing to grow and add to their portfolio and enter into more strategic partnerships, so it has a bundle of products to offer payers that bring solutions that make things easier and improve overall health.