Who needs Watson Health? 10 startups using AI (for real) in medical diagnostics, clinical decision making, and more

Our Readers over the years (since 2012!) have been tracking the rise–and fall–of IBM Watson Health. Now sold to Francisco Health [TTA 22 Jan], multiple companies have taken up chunks of their all-too-unwieldy mission, from oncology analytics and diagnostics to clinical decision making, and managing (and, in one case, reversing) chronic conditions. MM+M (Medical Marketing and Media) profiled ten companies–5 in diagnosis and 5 in treatment–in two articles. The first five are closer to the original Watson than the second group.

  1. Heartflow–diagnosis of coronary artery disease
  2. PathAI–machine learning for pathology in bladder and skin cancer detection
  3. Paige.AI–AI and pathology in prostate cancer detection
  4. Exo–medical imaging
  5. Proscia–dermatology diagnosis for melanoma
  6. Atropos Health–converting EHR information for clinical decision making and follow up
  7. Virta Health–prescribing food plans to people to reverse Type 2 diabetes, management via AI to doctors
  8. Sword Health–virtual care for patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, managed by pairing them with digital therapy, monitoring by motion sensors
  9. Omada Health–personal interventions in chronic conditions
  10. Twin Health–sensor based monitoring and machine learning to reverse chronic diseases

Part 1 and Part 2

Kickstarting the 1st week of summer: news from all over

No deal yet between insurer giants. Cigna turned down a $53.8 billion bid from Anthem. According to Healthcare Finance, concerns ranged from corporate governance problems, their membership in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the probable chairman’s (from the Anthem side) qualifications and data security (ahem!). Given that Anthem’s 60 million record breach was an inadvertent inside job [TTA 11 Feb], the last is perfectly understandable. But the door appears to be open for the emollient of additional money (to mix a metaphor). Extra: a tart take on this from the WSJ…..Jaguar is looking to increase driving safety by reading your brain waves to detect if you are distracted or daydreaming, via sensors embedded into the steering wheel. It’s based on technology used by NASA and the US bobsled team. They are also working on mood enhancing lighting and a predictive system to speed your interactions with the dashboard to minimize eyes off the road. But will these detect if you feel good to be bad, as their adverts say? Gizmag….The FT gets into digital health via business, profiling startups such as Lyra Health, Genomics England and Heartflow, as well as 23andme and Google X (including the glucose-detecting contact lens we profiled 18 months ago. Hat tips to Eric Topol and David Doherty (mHealth Insight) via Twitter….The NY Times looks at the dark side of ‘senior independence’ with a group of NYC homebound seniors, but other than tut-tutting the desire of older mainly limited income New Yorkers to remain in familiar surroundings, our ‘national celebration of independence’ (!) and not to be institutionalized (their words), the article doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions. And solutions are badly needed for the nearly 2 million over 65 who rarely or never leave their homes, because not all of them will be in assisted living. Hat tip to Joseph Coughlin of MIT AgeLab via Twitter…. But in Australia, they’re exploring ‘future proofing’ and ‘dignity enabling’ homes for an aging population to make them more livable and accessible, via landscaped ramps, larger bathrooms, and sensor rich floors that connect to gait tracking and analysis. Smart Homes 2.0. Sydney Morning Herald…..Neil Versel over at his new MedCityNews stand reports on Doctor On Demand‘s test of tablet-based medical kiosks adjacent to the pharmacy department at four Wegman’s grocery stores here in the Northeast. Is Weis Market far behind?….And Fitbit has a bit part in ‘Law and Order’…well, not the TV show in perpetual reruns, but in a real-life case in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which is not all Amish farms, black carriages and the so-called Amish Mafia. The police used Fitbit activity data to determine that a local resident (and Fitbit wearer), who claimed she was raped by a stranger, staged the crime scene with overturned furniture, a knife, and a bottle of vodka in her home. ABC27 News via David Lee Scher.