KK: Back to that interview, it sounds like, in talking to you now, that your perspective is that as this evolves, there may be some more intricate ways to risk stratify and to help people make the decision as opposed to the example that was given, which was to use the rhythm strip, and you don’t have to end up going to the emergency department—“go through all the rigmarole,” you said in the CBS interview—if the rhythm strip is interpreted as normal. Is that what your perspective is, that would be enough, or do you think this just builds into a piece of a bigger puzzle that can help patients decide whether they have to go to the emergency department or not?

ET: Right, the piece of a bigger puzzle. We’re still in the relatively early stages, but the ability to integrate big data per each individual is where we’re headed. It’s exciting, but obviously, it’s a very big challenge for the medical community since it represents such a radical change.

KK: There’s the pervasive thought in America that the emergency department is overutilized, but we find that we’re the only type of facility that’s open 24-7 for any type of acute or unscheduled care. If you’re not sure what you have, we actually prefer that you would come to us.

ET: I agree with you about that, Kevin. The emergency room is not going away, unlike the hospital room, the actual room, which might not survive over the next decade. The emergency room is a really invaluable place because all of the technology we’re talking about is not for serious matters. For anything that’s significant, emergency rooms are here to stay, and they’re going to be a center for acute illness forever as far as I can see.

KK: How involved are you in the development and ownership of these technologies?

ET: None of them are our devices. [Scripps] just happens to be a place that validates them if you’re in clinical trials, so we get to see a lot of stuff and pick the ones that we want to do prospective rigorous studies on. It isn’t our stuff; we just have the ability to take innovative ideas largely from engineers and get them into the medical testing mode so that some of them will make it to routine incorporation and practice.

KK: With your involvement with validation and studies and your profession as a cardiologist, are there any conflicts of interest that you feel are present? Do you find it difficult to avoid?