Weekend news, deal roundup: Teladoc CEO’s tapdance interview, VA EHR cost reporting now law, Tunstall-Doncaster Deaf Alliance partner, Cleveland Clinic’s $33M medtech spinoff

July 1, 2022 | by

Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic’s curious tapdance of an interview. Teladoc has had a rough 2022 to date. Their 2022 Q1 financials [TTA 4 May] were disastrous, their share price has not recovered since it cracked in late April with a 62% year-to-date plunge, the Livongo acquisition is shaping up to be the healthcare equivalent of Eastern Airlines’ takeover by Texas Air Corporation circa 1986, and shareholders are filing class action lawsuits. Now this Editor doesn’t mean to pile on. As a professional in two fields, she does understand the value of the press and leadership being available. But FierceHealthcare’s Heather Landi cleverly got Mr. Gorevic to stake his ground for growth yet again on “holistic, integrated solutions” that combine multiple care services from primary to complex care as the ‘longitudinal’ way to go. Yet Ms. Landi does have the nerve to bring up recent history and their long-time competitors like Amwell and Doctor on Demand (now Included Health) in the same space. Then there are the slices taken by players in the direct-to-consumer and niche target players (she cites troubled Cerebral and Talkspace–I’d offer DTCs like Babylon Health and the ‘white-labels’ like Bluestream Health and Zipnosis, now owned by BrightHealth, which are directly and cost-effectively working with providers). Think of this: in an economic downturn, will providers buy the ‘premium spread’ that requires a big implementation lift, or get by a less comprehensive solution that’s easier to implement and costs less?  Surprisingly, given the ‘everyone wants everything’ strategy, he again blames the cost of paid search advertising and brushes off Microsoft and Amazon. I’m not so sure that so soon after their Q1 bad news in May, with lawsuits centering on statements to investors, and nothing new in good news, this interview was particularly good timing.

VA corralled by Congress on Cerner EHR. The Department of Veterans Affairs now, by Federal law enacted late last week, has to prepare quarterly reports on its transition to the Cerner Millenium EHR to both House and Senate Veterans committees on performance and cost, including a breakdown of program funding sources. The new bipartisan law’s title is the VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act.  Healthcare Dive

Tunstall Healthcare is now working with a local trust, the Doncaster (UK) Deaf Trust, to provide support for deaf and hearing-impaired children and adults. With Whitley Parish Council, Tunstall is working with the specialist gardening team at Communication Specialist College, part of Doncaster Deaf Trust, to secure over 100 plants for the planters which have been grown at the Trust’s gardens. Tunstall volunteers planted them in the planters across the village. Doncaster Free Press

Cleveland Clinic’s successful spinoff, Centerline Biomedical, closed a $33 million Series B equity financing. Leading it was Cleveland Clinic with participation by GE Healthcare, RIK Enterprises, JobsOhio, Jumpstart Ventures, and G2 Group Ventures. Centerline’s technologies improve visualization and guidance of stents, catheters, and guidewires in endovascular procedures, reducing dependence on radiation and contrast agents with the goal of improving patient outcomes. These include sensors and electromagnetic tracking that create 3-D color visualization and navigation of the human vascular system. Release, Becker’s

Predictions, predictions for telehealth, digital health, and all those cybersecurity risks

February 3, 2022 | by

crystal-ballJanuary is the month for predicting what’s ahead, and while this Editor has no pretensions to be Sibyl the Soothsayer despite the picture, let’s look at what others see in their cloudy crystal balls.

Frank McGillin, CEO of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, works intensively with telehealth in this joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and Amwell. His prediction: telehealth will evolve towards concierge care, as providers reduce “platform sprawl”, coordinate the virtual care experience, and provide multidisciplinary virtual care.

  • Telehealth is now “a permanent mode of access”, though the pandemic created “platform sprawl” as providers reached for any and all modes and providers which could be implemented quickly
  • Healthcare providers and plans now have to scale back and reconcile all this to “design a digital trajectory with intention”
  • This means developing a personalized approach to telehealth delivery and to provide a seamless, highly coordinated care experience
  • Their approach is to focus on multidisciplinary virtual visits and case analysis for patients with complex conditions, such as their Virtual Second Opinions program for conditions such as brain tumors and prostate cancer.
  • Virtual multidisciplinary support reduces the risk of suboptimal treatment plans and can eliminate long travel times and exposure to COVID-19 for vulnerable patients. For payers and employers, this can add up to better outcomes and reduced cost of care.
  • “Intelligent” remote monitoring also removes another layer of risk in providing the right care at the right time
  • Continuation of relaxed interstate licensure requirements are needed to provide fast access to medical experts, particularly for primary care providers.

Interview with Healthcare IT News 

Healthcare Dive has been running a series on industry trends, and this installment focuses on digital health.

  • Healthcare will become more predictive and proactive, with insights fed by connected devices and analytics (commonly lumped under AI) that enable organizations to collect, analyze, and act on massive amounts of data.
  • But algorithms don’t have judgment and data can have bias, leading to poor decisions, such as the distribution of vaccines. Expect more oversight from the Federal level down on AI research and policymaking, 
  • Virtual care will continue to grow in virtual diagnostics, patient-reported outcomes applications, and digital homecare platforms
  • Telehealth and digital health is integrating into the traditional delivery and payment model–partnerships with health systems, payers, and employers.
  • Virtual care access is booming in niche areas such as women’s health, hospital at home, and mental health, with investment dollars flowing in. Telemental health is moving into consolidation.
  • Cybersecurity will become more of a focal point for healthcare companies in 2021, with hackers finding their way into all these contact tracing apps designed in a hurry, plus digital health systems, many of which are poorly protected. Targeted attacks have skyrocketed.

And speaking of cybersecurity, over at HealthITSecurity, they rounded up the experts to opine on All Those Security Risks that fast implementation of telehealth and moving devices out of the hospital walled garden have created. Remote patient management is now an asset, no longer a ‘nice to have’, for providers, setting up a situation where patients are increasingly both the beneficiaries of more convenient health delivery and victims of security breaches and ransomware.

  • ‘Out of hospital’ care means that data is being transmitted between multiple points. Network security isn’t guaranteed. So attacks can originate at the weak points–either the home or hospital environment.
  • The fast implementation of telehealth during the pandemic meant not only did systems not work together well, it also meant multiple points of vulnerability
  • Over 80% of surveyed healthcare providers globally harbor concerns about data security and privacy (Kaspersky/Arlington Research). And a shocking 70% admitted that their practice used outdated legacy operating systems, exposing them to security vulnerabilities.
  • “A culture of security” means maintaining endpoint security and BYOD policies across the organization’s network, identity management and zero trust tactics, and yes, security consciousness on patients’ parts.
  • Patients should not be responsible for security, providers partly, which leaves the responsibility with the vendor. But healthcare organizations are responsible for evaluating their vendors, and how they are interacting with and storing their data.  

European Patient Experience and Innovation Congress (EPIC 2020) invites world health tech to Croatia

January 16, 2020 | by

European Patient Experience and Innovation Congress (EPIC 2020)
19-21 March
Valamar Lacroma Hotel
Dubrovnik, Croatia

One of our Readers from Croatia is the CEO of the Bagatin Clinic in Zagreb. In cooperation with the Cleveland Clinic, they are organizing this first-ever pan-European conference focusing on health tech and how it will impact the patient experience. This Editor has previously noted the growth of medical and healthcare tech in Central and Eastern Europe in places like Hungary and Estonia–and now, Croatia.

Ognjen Bagatin was kind enough to write me before the holidays and has since filled in some of the highlights.

  • Centered on the patient experience, it will explore the relationships among healthcare delivery, technology, private enterprise and the human beings who need and want these services.
  • Encompassing the scientific, clinical, behavioral and social perspectives, ranging from the futuristic, highly theoretical to current, best-in-class practice.
  • A high-energy, stimulating event for everyone, from c-suite executives, to clinical practitioners, clinic owners, scientists, and investors, EPIC will bring together some of the most influential physicians, med-tech startups and health professionals from Europe and beyond to the table to improve how your patients will experience healthcare in the near future.
  • As technology continues to help us achieve previously unattainable results in healthcare, the conference will bring an insiders’ look at which technologies, ideas, and innovations are improving the patient experience 
  • And, of course, there’s Dubrovnik
  • Speaker list here

Early registration closes on 19 January. More information here.

Cleveland Clinic, American Well extend partnership to high-acuity telehealth services with ‘The Clinic’

October 24, 2019 | by

Proof that the realm of virtual consults is growing more competitive and specialized than ever is the announcement of a joint venture between the Cleveland Clinic and American Well. Dubbed The Clinic, the partnership will give patients access to comprehensive and high-acuity care services by integrating Cleveland Clinic’s specialists with American Well’s platform. 

While Cleveland Clinic and American Well have worked together in telehealth for non-emergency and specialty care since 2014, this new partnership takes it a giant step further to the care and management of complex conditions. Cleveland Clinic has also stated that telehealth is a key part of their growth strategy to double the number of patients served in the next five years. The Clinic will provide both national and international reach beyond their physical locations that include Abu Dhabi and London, according to a quote in the press release from Tom Mihaljevic, MD, their CEO and president. 

Cleveland Clinic reported that in 2018, the number of annual virtual visits grew 68 percent, anticipating that in five years, 50 percent of their outpatient visits will be virtual.

No timing for a go-live of The Clinic has been announced. Release, Mobihealthnews

The ‘health kiosk’ idea is alive and kicking from New York to France

December 15, 2017 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Kiosk1.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /][Photo: NYP] The $40 million+ failure of HealthSpot Station last year [TTA 14 June 16] might have signaled the demise of the health kiosk (telemedicine + multiple vital measurement devices) concept. Basic stations with consumer engagement/mobile tie-ins such as Higi have been gaining traction at retail locations [TTA 30 Mar] such as RiteAid (which bought the assets and IP of HealthSpot) and Publix supermarkets. CVS MinuteClinics in northeast Ohio and Florida have allied over the past two years with Cleveland Clinic and American Well to integrate records and telemedicine. But the kiosk model is gaining a second life with these recent iterations.

  • NewYork-Presbyterian, Walgreens (Duane Reade) and American Well: Kiosks located in private rooms at select Duane Reade drugstores (left above) connect to NYP OnDemand using American Well telemedicine and Weill Cornell Medicine emergency medicine physicians. In addition to the live consult, the patient can send select vital signs information to the doctor using a forehead thermometer, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, and a dermascope for a high-resolution view of skin conditions. Pediatric emergency physicians are available through NYP OnDemand weekdays between 6 – 9pm. Prescriptions are e-prescribed to the patient’s preferred pharmacy. The first kiosk opened this week at 40 Wall Street with additional locations to open in 2018. NYP OnDemand telemedicine consults are also available to NY area residents through the Walgreens website. American Well release, Healthcare IT News, MedCityNews
  • H4D (Health for Development): French doctor Franck Baudino wanted to reach those who live in what the French term ‘health deserts’ in their rural areas. Over the past nine years, he developed a booth-type kiosk connecting to a live doctor and with vitals instrumentation. The Consult Station is fully equipped with a wide range of vitals instrumentation, including vision, audio, eye, and blood glucose, functioning almost as a remote doctor’s office. In France, to gain access, all users need do is pop in their carte vitale. Reportedly the kiosks can treat 90 percent of common illnesses. Prescriptions are printed out in the booth. Consult Stations are now in France, Italy, Portugal, Philippines, Canada, Belgium, UAE and were recently cleared by FDA as a Class II device. ZDNet  

HIMSS17 dispatches: Mayo maps neonate telemedicine, Amwell-Samsung, Samsung-T-Mobile

February 23, 2017 | by

Mayo maps out an enterprise telehealth (telemedicine) support structure. Here’s how the Mayo Clinic deployed neonatology remote telemedicine to their sites in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida. There’s plenty of flow charts and summary points in this presentation deck around team building, staffing consistently and reporting that improves processes. Hat tip to our HIMSS correspondent on the scene, Bill Oravecz of Stone Health Innovations. Update: If you are using Chrome, you may have difficulty downloading session handouts from the HIMSS17 website Schedule pages. Try another browser. If you are interested, you may be able to obtain through contacting the two session presenters, Susan Kapraun and Jenna A. Beck, MHA, directly.

American Well and Samsung are partnering on integrating care delivery. Their joint release is low on details, but towards the end there’s an indication that American Well, its partners, and other providers and payers will be able to offer their services to Samsung customers. Other reports (Healthcare Dive) indicate the partnership is destined to enhance Amwell’s Exchange platform between payers and providers. Partners listed are Cleveland Clinic, New York-Presbyterian Medical Center and Anthem (undoubtedly resting after sparring with Cigna). Also Healthcare IT News.

Separately, Samsung also announced a partnership with T-Mobile for developing IoT in the senior care space. This would pair Samsung’s ARTIK Cloud with T-Mobile’s cellular network for Breezie, a social engagement for seniors interface built on a Samsung tablet which has apps and connects to various peripherals for post-acute care and daily living. It sounds interesting, but once again the release hampers the reporter by being as clear as mud in what it’s all about. See if you can decipher this: ARTIK Cloud permits “Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, iHealth Feel Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor and the Pulse Oximeter – to intelligently communicate with each other.” “Each Breezie interface has more than 40 preconfigured accessibility settings and sensor driven analytics to adjust for different levels of digital literacy, as well as physical and cognitive ability.” The Breezie website is far more revealing. Healthcare Dive also takes a whack at it towards the end of the above article.

First apps using Apple’s CareKit clinical care framework hit market

April 29, 2016 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-04-27-at-11.41.46-PM-640×308.png” thumb_width=”250″ /]Well, that was fast! Apple’s CareKit framework, specifically for clinical care app developers, was only announced last month and opened its official doors yesterday, but three developers had early access. Their apps hit the market yesterday: One Drop (diabetes management), Iodine for Start (depression medication management), and Glow for Glow Nurture, an app for pregnant women, and Glow Baby, an app for new mothers. Four hospitals have also announced app development underway using CareKit modules: Beth Israel Deaconess (chronic condition management), the University of Rochester (Parkinson’s), Texas Medical Center (care coordination), and Cleveland Clinic (asthma and COPD).

There are four modules which developers can selectively use (pictured).

  • CareCard, which helps patients track care plans and action items
  • Symptom and Measurement Tracker, which helps patients keep a log of their experiences
  • Insights Dashboard which integrates the care plan data from CareCard with the symptom data from the Symptom and Measurement tracker to create insights about the effectiveness of treatments
  • Connect, which helps patients share data with their providers or other caregivers.

The three in market yesterday, for instance, all used Connect; Iodine and One Drop use Care Card and One Drop uses the Symptom Tracker.

The article’s comments from developers and hospitals highlight a move to a standardized framework for clinical apps, which may be wishful thinking as most of the world uses Android, but addresses the validation and certification conundrum that’s plagued health apps for years. We’ll wait and see if Apple sustains the lead here. Mobihealthnews. Apple ResearchKit/CareKit page. The Verge, Ars Technica, TechCrunch

HealthSpot closes the doors, shuts kiosks in Rite Aid, Cleveland Clinic (updated)

January 8, 2016 | by | 2 Comments

As we reported last July, HealthSpot, the Dublin, Ohio, based telemedicine health kiosk business which was [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/HealthSpot-logo-1.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]carrying out a retail trial with Rite Aid since November 2014, started commercial operations in 25 locations in three Ohio areas.

In October reports emerged of a patent infringement claim that has been ongoing since April 2014 against HealthSpot by Nevada-based Computerized Screening. (More on this ongoing series of lawsuits in Ohio and Nevada is here.)

According to reports in Columbus Business First, HealthSpot has now informed Rite Aid that it would cease operations as of 31 December last year and its telemedicine kiosks are reported to have shut down in Rite Aid pharmacies. HealthSpot has also notified Cleveland Clinic that it has discontinued operations, which shuts its pilot with Cleveland Clinic in northeast Ohio.

HealthSpot’s website remains live but the last entry in the press releases section is from September 2015 and is on events at which HealthSpot was to participate in September and November. The blog page on its website is well out of date with the last update dated as far back as March 2015. (Links for locations and patient log in were inoperable–Ed. Donna)

One recent news report stated that attempts to contact CEO Steve Cashman went unanswered.

In November 2014, HealthSpot received a major investment from Xerox on top of a $18.3 million springtime round [TTA 13 Nov 14].

Updated 13 Jan (Editor Donna)

The Columbus Business First articles that Editor Chrys has linked to, as of this point, are the most informative. Neil Versel and Stephanie Baum also have related articles in MedCityNews. They also chewed it over with HealthcareScene network’s John Lynn last Friday on video (starts at 26:30) with a surprising revelation that Mr Cashman had been in touch with Mr Lynn, to be published in one of their blogs (but not yet as of this update.) Thus the mystery remains.

Xerox has issued a statement of their continued interest and support of the healthcare sector which is covered in MedCityNews above. We also noted their diverse interests in healthcare quality management, data and analytics through through their Midas+ division here last year.

According to CrunchBase, HealthSpot received $43.81 million in financing since 2011, not including the undisclosed support from Xerox, with the most recent raise debt financing of $11.56 million in January 2015. One year ago, HealthSpot looked so promising. (more…)

HealthSpot, Rite Aid open 25 locations in Ohio

July 21, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Healthspot-station.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Telehealth/telemedicine kiosk HealthSpot and retail drug chain giant Rite Aid, which announced their partnership last November [TTA 11 Nov], have now set up shop in 25 locations in three Ohio areas–Akron/Canton, Cleveland and Dayton/Springfield. Since late May, the staffed stations have treated over 5,000 customers ages 3 and above for minor and common health conditions, including cold and flu, rashes and skin conditions, eye conditions, earaches and seasonal allergies. The kiosks combine video consults with hands-on assistance in vital signs measurement from a wellness attendant, and their recording software interfaces with insurance eligibility, electronic medical records and billing systems. The network of medical professionals on the telemedicine consults are from Cleveland Clinic, Kettering Health Network and University Hospitals, with pediatric specialists from UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. According to HealthSpot’s CEO Steve Cashman, a significant portion of early visitors are Medicaid recipients, who through a $60 station visit may be avoiding a far more expensive (~$600) ER visit. For the early stage HealthSpot it’s a major rollout, but for Rite Aid, which is not known for being as cutting edge in location design as CVS or Walgreens, it represents a significant move forward into onsite wellness services. Cleveland.com, Drug Store News. Rite Aid/HealthSpot demo video. Business Wire release.

London Health Technology Forum & the Cleveland Health challenge

June 12, 2015 | by

The London Health Technology Forum (HTF), run by this editor, has its last event before the summer break on 17th June – Baker Botts, who have been kindly hosting our forums for a long time now will be presenting on An introduction to securing, protecting and maintaining your IPR. We’ve also news of a prize-giving event in our November meeting, and an exciting competition run by the Cleveland Clinic.

Failure to manage IPR effectively has been the cause of very many entrepreneurial failures so this free event to learn about the topic should be of real interest to very many people. Therefore, especially in view of the expertise of the presenters, it is highly recommended. There will be three presentations:

1) Starting out – a brief look at IPR relevant to new businesses

  • what IPR are you generating?
  • who creates the IP and who owns it?
  • how and where can you protect your IP?
  • how are IPR maintained?

(more…)

A random walk through ATA 2014

May 23, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ATA_Button_color_filled.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] Editor Donna attended ATA 2014 on Monday only. This article is a set of impressions (mainly) of the exhibit floor and visits to a number of select booths.

Donna, it’s Baltimore. You’re not in NYC or Las Vegas.

Arriving after a long trip to a city you used to visit regularly, but haven’t been to in over 30 years, is disorienting, especially when you are heading on a fair spring day to a section that didn’t exist then. The Inner Harbor and Camden Yards resemble Atlanta, not necessarily a bad thing since the parts of ‘Charm City’ they replaced were largely past ‘gentrification’. The Baltimore Convention Center was unexpectedly huge, the distance to registration made longer by a taxi driver who dropped me off at another entrance two blocks away. Any resolve I had to drop in on the many educational sessions was dissuaded by the sheer length of the halls. The thick Exhibit Guide confirmed that the show floor filled two city blocks–a challenge to cover and spend time with my appointments before the close of the day.

Was it a hardware show, a software show or somewhere in between?

You could make a case for both views. One observer I walked with at the start compared it to a radiology trade show–all hardware. Yet a closer look indicated that the hardware–the PCs, tablets and smartphones–was there to show software that integrated: systems to track patients, distribute information, workflows, store and forward images and reports. It was about enabling secure consults, platforms, interoperability, two-way data flows, mitigating readmissions and putting telehealth, telemedicine and education into provider and patient hands. It was also about making the business case. It was most definitely NOT about gadgets and single purpose peripherals, though the latter were still quite visible. The old picture of telehealth closed systems, of proprietary monitoring devices feeding data onto a proprietary PC platform where it’s seen by a care manager, is so 2011.

Noteworthy: the growth in specialized services like telepsychiatry, teleneurology, teleradiology and teledermatology. Contrast: despite VGo‘s ubiquitous telepresence robots accosting you on the floor, a tablet-faced robot following a nurse down the hospital hall and ‘consulting’ with patients will likely still be a rarity.

Patient engagement on top

Traditional telehealth device makers are connecting their devices and opening up their reporting platforms to be accessible to patients. But there are bumps along the way in this transition. A&D Medical has gone ‘Wellness Connected’ with a mobile app (more…)

Cleveland Clinic concussion diagnostic app repurposed

August 28, 2013 | by

Perhaps seeing a ‘job to be done’  in diagnosing sports concussions in rural areas where direct medical help can be distant, the Cleveland Clinic is now extending the usage of its Concussion Assessment System (C3) to assessing student athletes after suspect head blows. The two-year-old iPad app can be strapped on to the back of the athlete to measure movements that indicate balance problems, and assesses cognitive and motor impairment; information processing ability; attention/memory; balance and visual acuity. (more…)