ATA2021 coming up (virtually) starting 1 June through 29 June

May 28, 2021 | by

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) kicks off the virtual version of its annual meeting, ATA2021, starting next Tuesday, 1 June. Sessions are distributed every Tuesday and Thursday in June through the 29th. This year’s theme is Telehealth: Enabling Flexible, Inclusive and Contemporary Care Delivery. 

A sample of the format is below for Week 1: 

Opening Keynote:  Lessons Learned from 2020 Provide a Springboard for Increased Telehealth Adoption (June 1, 11:10-11:30am EST)

    • Joe Kvedar, MD, ATA Chair of the Board; Mass General Brigham

Afternoon Keynote: The Future of Helping Underserved Resources and Reflections on Work in Africa (June 1, 1:40 PM – 2:00 PM EST)

    • Ali Parsa – Babylon
    • Lois Quam – Pathfinder International

Did We Cover Better Aligning Virtual Care with Employers and Consumers (June 3, 1:40-2:00pm EST)

    • Glen Tullman, Transcarent
    • Bertha Coombs, CNBC

Release (PDF)–and see these links for the program overview, agenda, and pricing/registration. Registration includes programming, workshops, recordings, and sponsor networking. Hat tip to Gina Cella of Cella Communications

News and deals roundup: CoverMyMeds ‘big bang’, Noom’s $540M Series F, insurtech Bright Health’s IPO, Grand Rounds-Included Health, GoodRx, Cedar-OODA, Huma, Bluestream Health’s outreach

May 28, 2021 | by

McKesson shmushes four units into CoverMyMeds. McKesson’s Big Bang combines four McKesson business units–RelayHealth (pharmacy networking), McKesson Prescription Automation (software), CoverMyMeds (medication access for patients), and RxCrossroads by McKesson (therapeutic and drug commercialization). They are being reassembled into one massive unit under the CoverMyMeds name. The unit will have about 5,000 people and will be headed by Nathan Mott. More here in a blog post/announcement posting that’s short on information and long on cheerleading.

And the funding rounds keep marching down the alphabet. Noom, the weight loss app, gained a generous Series F of $540 million led by Silver Lake with participation from Oak HC/FT, Temasek (Singapore), Novo Holdings, Sequoia Capital, RRE and Samsung Ventures. Valuation is now at $4 billion. Adam Karol, a managing director at Silver Lake, and former TaskRabbit chief executive Stacy Brown-Philpot will join Noom’s board. The fresh funding will be used to expand into areas such as stress and anxiety, diabetes, hypertension, and sleep.

Noom had a banner year in 2020, with $400 million in revenues as people tried to shed Pandemic Pounds (aided by a near-ubiquitous ad push). The app has had 45 million downloads to date in 100 countries, largely in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. According to a (paywalled) Bloomberg News report, feelers are out for an IPO which may be valued at $10 billion. TechCrunch, Reuters, FierceHealthcare

Bright Health Group filed its S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Their rumored $1 billion IPO will be on the NYSE and trade under the symbol BHG. Timing, share value, and number of shares are to be determined. It’s speculated that the valuation at that point is expected to be between $10 and $20 billion. Bright Health is an insurtech operating exchange and Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans under Bright HealthCare  in 14 states and 50 markets, covering over 620,000 lives. They also have a separate care delivery channel called NeueHealth, 61 advanced risk-bearing primary care clinics delivering in-person and virtual care to 75,000 unique patients. Last month, they purchased Zipnosis, adding their white-labeled telemedicine for large health systems business. Bright Health Group release, Mobihealthnews

Short takes:

Doctor on Demand and Grand Rounds, which finalized their merger earlier this month, have agreed to acquire Included Health. Terms and timing were not disclosed. Included Health specializes in care concierge and healthcare navigation services for the LGBTQ+ community. FierceHealthcare, Release

GoodRx acquired rival RxSaver for $50 million in cash in late April to bulk up against Amazon. FierceHealthcare

Medical billing and pre-visit tech company Cedar is acquiring payer workflow tech company OODA Health for $425 million deal in a mix of cash and equity. It’s expected to close at end of May. OODA’s co-founder, chairman, and co-CEO is Giovanni Colella, MD, also co-founded Castlight Health and founded RelayHealth (see above), so another successful exit for him. FierceHealthcare, HISTalk

London-based Huma, raised $130 million in a Series C. Leaps by Bayer and Hitachi Ventures led the round. The former, mysterious Medopad now seems to have settled on a platform that supports ‘hospital at home’ plus pharma and research companies in large, decentralized clinical trials. There’s an add-on of $70 million to the Series C that can be exercised at a later date. Release, HISTalk

White-label telehealth provider Bluestream Health is partnering with The Azadi Project to provide virtual care services to refugee women and girls fleeing from countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria for safety in Greece. “Bluestream Health has teamed with The Azadi Project to provide a virtual care platform that stretches around the world. The women fleeing war-torn and conflict-affected countries have suffered unspeakable abuse, and while seeking safety in Greece, they are further exposed to terrible living conditions and hostility.”  said Matthew Davidge, co-founder and CEO of Bluestream Health.  Release

UK news roundup: West Wales’ CONNECT project, WelcoMe app for disabled access, X-on Surgery Connect expands, Arc Health in 46 care homes, Alcove’s £75M contract with Suffolk County Council

May 27, 2021 | by

The CONNECT project, which launched in West Wales at the very beginning of the pandemic last March, is a community support project using both technology enabled care (TEC) and human support. Covering individuals who are older, need home care support, and live at home, it is run by Carmarthenshire County Council’s (CCC) Delta Wellbeing team and covers Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. To date, they have assessed 1,800 people, supported 8,500 individuals isolated during lockdown with necessities like food, made 18,500 proactive wellbeing calls in the first three months, responded to 1,646 call outs with fewer than 100 requiring emergency services, and responded to over 500 falls with 97 percent within 60 minutes. The CCC is using Tunstall kit for alarms, fall detection, GPS tracking, and 24/7 community response service. Delta Wellbeing is a Local Authority Trading Company, completely owned by CCC, and is the largest digital monitoring platform in Wales. Wales Herald

WelcoMe is an free app that enables businesses to better support the needs of their disabled customers or patients. It’s designed for use on mobile or desktop so that a person can create a simple profile that outlines personal key requirements and information about what support they need during their visit. Those requirements are communicated to the business or practice staff so that they can be ready on arrival. It makes for an easier visit all around and eliminates surprises. This Editor discovered WelcoMe through an announcement by the The London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry, the first UK dental practice to adopt the app for their practice. There is a small fee for businesses–£30/mo plus a £49 onboarding fee. The app was developed by Neatebox Limited. Release (PDF). Hat tip to Suzy Ellis of Ellis & Boyd PR

X-on Surgery Connect, a provider of cloud telephony for primary care surgeries, has added another 116 practices in Greater Manchester (Stockport’s 36 practices) and London (80 practices within North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group). The Surgery Connect system provides telephone triaging, call center support, remote working support, telehealth remote consultation and video support. The deployment covers approximately one million patients, out of a total of 8.5 million patients in 835 practices in England and Wales. Unfortunately the release was supplied only via email and not online/PDF.  

Arc Health remote diagnostic platform has been installed  in 46 care homes in South East London. Arc’s video clinical exam and diagnostic technology connects the care homes to primary care surgeries via guided or patient self-use of Arc’s exam tools. The Arc kit used in the care home includes a stethoscope, blood pressure, pulse, and a camera wand to perform ear and throat exams and connects to a video platform that captures the information. Arc Health is part of the National Innovation Collaborative funded by NHSX. The care homes are part of South East London CCG, and the Lambeth Together and One Bromley borough health and care partnerships. Release on HealthTechDigital.

Alcove has inked a contract with Suffolk County Council (SCC) valued at £75 million over three years. Renewal is possible for another four years on an annual basis. According to UK Authority, Alcove will be developing a “new operating model for leveraging care technologies and data in the adult social care sector, with the potential to take this into wider health and care.” The procurement contract will be available for other authorities, fire and rescue, ambulance, probation, and community services in the east of England. SCC has been using Alcove technologies, including their Carephone service, to keep isolated older people connected with services during the pandemic. 

An unappreciated long term pandemic health effect? Increased frailty among older adults.

May 27, 2021 | by

Some of the universal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged lockdown, lifting in practically all of the US and starting to lift in the UK, is weight gain (‘pandemic pounds’), a changed perception of ‘maintenance’, and in some, a certain reluctance to get back to what was normal life. We are reading that younger workers are reluctant to leave 100 percent remote work and go back to offices at all. Even older workers want to limit in-office time to once or twice a week, having lived free of brutal commutes. Anti-social has become fashionable, based on a simple search of t-shirts for sale (!).

But for the older adult battling to keep engaged and mobile, the toll of prolonged ‘sheltering in place’ has been far greater and less reversible, if at all. A thought piece in Kaiser Health News found that “Large numbers of older adults have become physically and cognitively debilitated and less able to care for themselves during 15 months of sheltering in place.” This includes older adults who did–and did not–have COVID-19.

Doctors are seeing combinations of:

  •  Weight gain–and weight loss due to lack of interest in eating, not eating or hydrating well
  • Depression from lack of contact with family and the outside world
  • Cognitive difficulties
  • Physical deconditioning, leading to severe lack of mobility and falls. Lack of activity leads to muscle mass loss of up to 20 percent in as little as five days.
  • Exacerbation of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

For those in assisted living, a comeback is made even more difficult with restrictions still in place. Many have deteriorated so much that rehabilitative therapies do little good. The rest of the article describes rehabilitative outreach to those living at home, ranging from in-home physical therapy, to combinations of phone/video/in-home outreach, peer advocates, and encouraging older adults to go see their doctors in person. A follow-up article gives tips for older adults to reemerge in the post-pandemic world, with an emphasis on slowly increasing physical activity, reestablishing routines and social contacts, plus minding one’s diet.

The Theranos Story, ch. 72: a little lifestyle and celebrity is admissible at trial–but not too much. And no profanity, please!

May 27, 2021 | by

The long-awaited update from the US District Court in San Jose. Judge Edward Davila ruled last Friday limiting the specifics on Elizabeth Holmes’ lifestyle that the prosecution wanted to present as evidence. Only general evidence of Elizabeth Holmes’ Silicon Valley CEO lifestyle would be admissible. The prosecution, in his words, “Each time Holmes made an extravagant purchase, it is reasonable to infer that she knew her fraudulent activity allowed her to pay for those items,” but that “Evidence of Holmes’s wealth can be construed as ‘appeals to class prejudice’ which are considered ‘highly improper’ because they ‘may so poison the minds of jurors even in a strong case that an accused may be deprived of a fair trial.” To the judge, evidence of Holmes’ wealth and fame are not even moderately related to the intent to defraud, the last of which is the heart of the charges.

The prosecution therefore has to walk a very fine line. It’s apparently fine to say that Holmes enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle equivalent to her Silicon Valley peers, with the usual perks. But details on brands of clothing, hotels, and other specifics “outside the general nature of her position as Theranos CEO,” is beyond the scope of the trial.

Judge Davila may be doing the prosecution a large favor by limiting this evidence. Too much reliance on lifestyle as the main motive to defraud is a crutch that could backfire with the jury, especially when they see in August a modestly dressed new mother Holmes. It could also open up an appeal on the basis of prejudicing the jury. To this Editor, there is abundant direct evidence of fraud of patients and investors in a technology that didn’t work, never could work, and the coverup. No need to overegg the pudding. Mercury News

And no profanity in the court! The jury will be spared the infamous employee meeting chants telling a rival testing company (Sonora Quest) and John Carreyrou of the Wall Street Journal to do something unprintable in a business article with themselves. The defense won the argument that these chants were the Silicon Valley Norm to motivate employees. Even the prosecution admitted that these might be “somewhat inflammatory”. Colorful, but inadmissible.  Mercury News

And lest we forget. Holmes is facing maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $2.75 million fine, plus possible restitution. The trial starts 31 August. Earlier chapters of this saga are here.

News and deals roundup: SCP Health-SOC Telemed, Epion Health-MSU, Sensyne Health’s new data agreements, Geisinger’s RPM app

May 26, 2021 | by

SCP adds more SOC. SCP Health, a clinical management company that provides both staff and services to hospitals, and SOC Telemed, an acute, post-acute, and specialty care telemedicine provider, are increasing their engagement. SCP presently provides specialty care staff for SOC’s Telemed IQ platform for acute care. SCP will be increasing engagement with the platform to expand into a hybrid clinical approach between onsite and virtual care for hospital medicine, emergency medicine, and critical care programs. SOC Telemed was an early SPAC less than a year ago in August 2020 and last month shelled out $196 million for competitor Access Physicians. SOC release

NJ-based Epion Health, which has a digital check in and patient messaging platform that includes telehealth, announced an agreement with MSU Health Care, the academic health center of Michigan State University. MSUHC’s 600 providers will use Epion’s platform for provider search, patient registration, check-in, patient education, and payment for services. Epion’s client base is primarily regional provider groups. Epion release.

Sensyne Health of Oxford inked two deals in the past week for expanding its already extensive medical dataset of anonymized and de-identified patient data, adding patient data from the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine (CCPM) and St. Luke’s University Health Network (Pennsylvania and New Jersey). The strategic research agreements add their data records to Sensyne’s dataset, now at 18.2 million records. Sensyne mines the data primarily for use by life science clients. When Sensyne commercializes these discoveries, they will share proceeds with CCPM and St. Luke’s respectively. Sensyne releases for CCPM and St. Luke’s.

Geisinger Health launches ConnectedCare365 app + RPM for chronic condition patient management.  The app, developed by Noteworth, monitors and analyzes multiple vital signs provided by patients directly or through devices, combining them with information from Geisinger’s EHR to send information and notifications directly to the care team. The app also connects families and caregivers with the care team via messaging. Noteworth release.

Survey: 80% of Americans believe telehealth can provide quality medical care–up 23 points from 2020

May 26, 2021 | by

Directional data that confirms the acceptance of telehealth gained five years of progress in one–and that could justify continued massive investment in telehealth. One year after COVID-19 introduced Americans to telehealth as the sole alternative to the in-person medical visit, perceptions have changed positively among users and non-users. Customer engagement/business process services company Sykes Enterprises surveyed 2,000 US adults (18+) in March and found the majority of their respondents not only now believed that they could receive quality care via telehealth, but also that it provided needed care and is preferred for parts of their annual exam, in addition to other specific acceptance points.

Highlights of the survey: (more…)

Tunstall excluded from Sweden’s framework agreements for municipal alarm and technology procurement

May 22, 2021 | by

Health tech in the Nordics rarely makes the news, except for Kry and Nokia. Tunstall has made news, but of the troublesome sort. Adda Inköpscentral, the strategic supply consultant which manages the Swedish framework agreement for procurement of telehealth alarms, is excluding Tunstall as a supplier in two ongoing procurements for security alarms and security-creating technology. The framework agreements are Security Alarms and Alarm Reception 2019 and a corresponding agreement, Security-creating Technology 2018. Adda has reached out to competitive companies for future contracts under these two agreements, which are winding up.

Worse, Adda is excluding Tunstall as a supplier for the new security alarms four-year framework agreement. The decisions are based on their investigation, concluding that Tunstall “violated the previous framework agreement in several respects”. “Our decision to exclude Tunstall from future framework agreements is based on our assessment that the company cannot live up to our high demands as a framework agreement supplier.” (Google translation)  Adda’s notice on Tunstall exclusion

The reasons why date back to October and multiple incidents in alarm responses. Adda’s investigation, which wrapped in late April, cited failures such as long response times in alarm response. SVT Nyheter used more dramatic language. “Thousands of old and sick were affected when the alarms stopped working in over a hundred municipalities. In Luleå, a woman who sounded the alarm died in vain (sic) several times.” Apparently, a software update went bad, disabling the alarms, but SVT‘s reporting has covered other incidents.

According to SVT, Adda currently manages procurement agreements for 200 municipalities. In Sweden, municipalities are free to negotiate their own contracts. If they choose to work under the framework, the municipalities create their own detailed contracts using the framework as a basis. Contracts signed under the old agreement remain in effect. 

Tunstall has commented that “they are disappointed with the message, do not agree with the criticism and are now analyzing the decision to decide whether to appeal it.” Additionally, they commented to SVT that “they had handed over an action plan and hoped to be able to sign the agreement in the near future.” Tunstall’s Swedish HQ is in Malmö and their security center in Örebro. Hat tip to an anonymous Reader 

Editor’s note: Editor Donna invites Tunstall to reach out to me for comments or updates. 

Connect America acquires Philips’ Aging and Caregiving, including Lifeline

May 14, 2021 | by | 4 Comments

Connect America is purchasing Royal Philips’ Aging and Caregiving (ACG) line of business, including one of the top basic personal emergency response system (PERS) device providers, Lifeline. The acquisition is expected to close in a few weeks. Purchase terms, including staff, were not disclosed. The release by Connect America contains two unusual statements: both companies will remain competitive until the closing and that Philips will retain an equity stake in the company.

In the World of PERS and safety for older adults, this is big news. Our Readers will remember that Connect America, a medical alert company located in suburban Philadelphia, purchased Tunstall Americas in January 2019. Readers who follow the PERS taxonomy will recall that in 2011, Tunstall acquired AMAC, the third-largest PERS company, yet after multiple presidents and acquisitions, failed to make much of a dent in the competitive US and Canada markets. Connect America now has the major ‘name’ brand in PERS, other than Life Alert, famous for the ‘I’ve fallen and can’t get up’ TV commercials of yore and the real pioneer of the PERS pendant. Lifeline itself dates back to 1974 and was acquired by Philips in 2006. Of late, Philips has been on a divestiture tear, especially in North America.

The news hasn’t exactly made the headlines that it would have only a few years ago. One could say that the parade has passed traditional PERS pendants and home units. Replacing them are mobile and smartphones tied to assistance–GreatCall’s 5 Star services. There are bands and wristwatch forms, such as Buddi in the UK and UnaliWear’s Kanega, The latter haven’t yet the market penetration in the US but all three have in common one selling factor–none of them scream ‘old and frail at risk’ like a white pendant around the neck does. Classified now with PERS are more sophisticated but bulky devices mobile-based systems such as GreatCall’s Lively MobilePlus and Lively Wearable2, also listed as an AARP member benefit.

Connect America has been in business 35 years and has amassed a portfolio of PERS brands, traditional home and mobile devices including fall detection, plus 24/7 monitoring services. It claims to be the nation’s largest independent provider of medical alert systems under various brand names, with more than 1,000 healthcare network partners, and cumulatively over 1 million customers. Their other business is remote patient monitoring under the ConnectVitals brand and a cellular-connected device for medication management.

Another big win for Connect America is Lifeline’s agreement with AARP, marketed as part of their extensive member benefits, and other products that Philips has in this category. 

There are millions who still use traditional and mobile PERS pendants, including in the huge market of assisted living, and a multiplicity of brands, which indicate the size of the market and its longevity. The stats haven’t changed much since this Editor was with QuietCare, attempting to make PERS obsolete back in the mid-oughts. According to Freeus, the average customer is a woman, 78 years old, and keeps it for about 39 months–a little over three years. Not all of them, nor their families, feel comfortable with a smartphone which can be hard to use, break, or simply not be handy in the bathroom or bedroom. So the market is still there, albeit not a headline-making one. Hat tip to a UK Reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

Teladoc integrates the myStrength cognitive mental health app with their telehealth network

May 14, 2021 | by

Teladoc gets into the mental health app business, end to end. The myStrength cognitive health app, which was picked up as part of the Livongo acquisition, reappears as a Teladoc product called myStrength Complete. The front door is the myStrength app, which offers coaching, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral therapy, which then connects with Teladoc’s therapists and psychiatrists to offer a comprehensive experience.  

Teladoc will offer this to consumers through their health plans or employers starting in July. The first enterprise customers, according to Teladoc, are a major Blues plan and a Fortune 100 employer. 

The company also provided the results of their proprietary third-party research, which indicated unsurprisingly that a majority who sought support (69 percent) indicated it would be difficult and/or overwhelming to use multiple websites, mobile apps, or virtual care platforms to address mental health needs. Nearly all of those surveyed who said they sought virtual mental health support – 92 percent – reported at least some improvement during the pandemic, with over one-third reporting significant improvement or a “breakthrough” during treatment.

An unintended consequence of Teladoc’s move? A cooling off of the mental health boomlet, now that the elephant has chosen where to sit. The stand-alone cognitive health apps such as AbleTo, Lyra Health, and Ginger, now need to seek partners, such as health plans (Vida Health) or telehealth providers. Unfortunately, the telehealth providers remaining have either some behavioral health capabilities–and that may be enough for their business–or find the price too high. Teladoc release, Mobihealthnews

Share your story about healthcare inequities and community effects during the Time of Pandemic (deadline: 14 May)

May 12, 2021 | by

Do you have a story to share about how COVID-19 has impacted your community–or you or someone you know personally? Healthline.com, a leading US consumer healthcare information website, is seeking stories about how communities that have been impacted by inequities in healthcare have experienced COVID-19. Since many of our Readers are in organizations or businesses that support these communities–such as older adults, the disabled, the rural, in underfunded areas, and/or those who live without access to the internet–you may have a personal story about it. Were you able to overcome it?

Healthline has confirmed to this Editor that stories about communities outside the US are welcome.

Visit or share the following link to submit your story by 14 May. https://transform.healthline.com/submit

The Theranos Story, ch. 71: Holmes appears in court, lawyers argue celebrity, lavish lifestyle, Silicon Valley ethics

May 8, 2021 | by

After 15 months, Elizabeth Holmes puts in her Day in Court. Last Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s hearings in US District Court in San Jose were not virtual, but in court–and with Ms. Holmes present. The arguments between counsel were about what would be admissible; the relevance of her lifestyle (fine dining, houses, private jets), her wealth, spending, and celebrity to the charges of criminal fraud, first of hundreds of millions of dollars by investors plus patients and doctors with false claims that the Theranos labs actually gave accurate readings.

The defense argued that admitting information on the lifestyle and spending behavior would be inflammatory and prejudicial to the jury. The travel, the perks, the company-paid-for services were there because she was traveling on company business. Her stock was never sold and her salary at $200,000 to $390,000 (per SEC) was actually low for her peer group. To a certain degree, Judge Edward Davila agreed with the defense. Being in Silicon Valley, home of tech high flyers and Sand Road investors, Judge Davila said to the prosecution, “It seems like that’s designed to engage a class conversation amongst the jurors which I think you’d agree would be a little dangerous. What’s the value of, ‘Did she stay at a Four Seasons versus a Motel 6?” The prosecution countered that information regarding the increasing value of the stock and Holmes’ billionaire lifestyle largely funded by the company, more so than her salary, is relevant to the continuing fraud. “The perks that she is enjoying greatly reduce the pressure on her to cash in, sell stock and make more money.” And, one could say, to come clean and end the fraud around their technology.

According to the Mercury News, Judge Davila said he would rule on the dispute over lifestyle and compensation evidence later. The trial is scheduled to start 31 August. CNBC video, 5 May, 6 May  

News and funding roundup: Vida Health’s $100M Series D, Kry’s $316M raise, CVS and Advocate Aurora’s fresh funds, Boost Mobile offers K Health symptom checker

May 8, 2021 | by

Vida Health, a virtual platform for chronic condition and mental health management, raised $110 million in a Series D financing led by General Atlantic, joined by Centene, AXA Venture Partners (AVP), and Ardea Capital Partners along with a number of earlier investors. Vida has a network of clinicians, mental health coaches, dietitians, and licensed therapists to provide virtual care programs to payers like Centene and Humana, plus employers such as Boeing, Visa, Cisco, and eBay. The company reports that it tripled its revenue since January 2020 and expanded its existing nationwide network of therapists, coaches, dietitians, and diabetes educators by more than 400 percent. Vida’s involvement with Centene started with a 20-state rollout in the Ambetter plans, the Centene health insurance marketplace product, Ambetter, for members with chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and treatment/coaching for mental health conditions like stress and depression. Vida’s total financing since 2014 totals $188 million. Release, Crunchbase, Mobihealthnews

Sweden’s Kry (Livi in the UK, US, and France) raised a Series D of €262 million, or about $316 million to finance expansion into additional countries and to scale their telemedicine platform. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Teachers’ Innovation Platform, along with existing investors Index Ventures, Creandum, and Accel, led the round. Valuation is now estimated at about $2B (nearly €1.66 bn). Silicon Canals, FierceBiotech

If you’re looking for funding, CVS Health has launched a $100 million venture capital fund to capitalize projects and innovations from digital healthcare and tech companies to make healthcare more accessible, affordable, and…better. CVS and Aetna have already been an investor in digital health, with about 20 such findings. More information on CVS Health Ventures is here.  Release

Want more funding? Advocate Aurora Enterprises (AAE), part of Advocate Aurora Health System in Illinois and Wisconsin, also is funding consumer health and wellness, with recent buys of home care company Senior Helpers in a $180 million deal following on $25 million for a telenutrition (!) company, Foodsmart. Some have questioned how nonprofit health systems like Advocate Aurora and Ascension have deep enough pockets to get into the risky funding business. FierceHealthcare, Healthcare Dive.

Finally, in the Everybody’s Getting Into The Telehealth Act Department, Boost Mobile is offering the K Health symptom checker to its customers and immediate families. The catch: you have to subscribe to their Unlimited Plus plan. But clever, though. HITConsultant 

Walmart Health moves into the hot telehealth area with MeMD buy

May 8, 2021 | by

Retail giant Walmart’s health arm, Walmart Health, has agreed to purchase privately held telehealth provider MeMD. MeMD provides telehealth services in primary care, urgent care, women’s/men’s health, and mental health services to both individuals and organizations for their employees. Neither purchase price nor executive leadership transitions were disclosed. The transaction, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to close in the next few months.

The relatively low profile MeMD was founded in 2010 by ER physician and entrepreneur John Shufeldt, MD. The company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and offers national coverage for its five million members.

A big move that indicates a strategic wobbliness? Walmart Health’s strategy has been a roller coaster over the past few years. Aggressively starting out of the gate in 2018 with high-profile exec Sean Slovenski leading and plans to open up 1,000 clinics, they retrenched in 2020 with his departure and slowed down the opening of Walmart Health locations. Virtual visits, which are merchandisable in-store and online, signal a different direction that may be easier to scale than brick-and-mortar locations, and have proven their market. Meanwhile, back at the stores, last month Walmart announced a partnership with Ro to put its trendy Roman men’s sexual health and vitamin product lines into 4,600+ Walmart stores starting 1 May. RetailBrew 

Looming in the background, of course, is CVS with their MinuteClinics, Walgreens with 500 free-standing VillageMD locations [TTA 4 Dec 20], and Amazon rolling out Amazon Care nationally. Walmart’s employees have used Doctor on Demand’s services, with the company dropping the visit cost to $4 during the pandemic. With the Grand Rounds merger [TTA 18 Mar], this may have been another reason for Walmart to bring in-house a telehealth provider. Who may be feeling the most heat from Walmart’s and Amazon’s moves? Teladoc and Amwell. Walmart release, Becker’s Hospital Review, Engadget

What you need to know about Germany’s new DiGA fast tracking for health apps

May 7, 2021 | by

Research2Guidance (R2G) has published a new report on the new, and faster, German regulations for obtaining approval for digital health applications. 2019’s Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) introduced measures to speed up approvals for digital apps so that they can be prescribed by German doctors and reimbursed through German public health insurance, which covers 90 percent of the population.

The Digital Health Applications process (DiGA) requires a review by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) to prove that apps and digital tools improve patient care. Other criteria include:

  • Data protection legislation and information security conformance
  • Interoperability
  • CE-certification as a medical product (in the lowest-risk class for now)

The R2G report details not only the DiGA Fast Track process and the current status of DiGA adoption, but also what it takes to create a successful German market entry strategy with innovative distribution channels. If you have a digital health app or tool, and you’re targeting 80 million Germans, this report is a Must Read. R2G page, Mobihealthnews, HealthcareITNews

Webinar: Public Health and Responsible Innovation in a Post-Covid Europe 20 May

May 5, 2021 | by

Thursday, 20 May 14:00-17:20 CEST, 12noon-3:20pm GMT 

Most of our UK Readers (and quite a few of our ex-UK ones!) are familiar with the work of Malcolm Fisk, PhD, Professor of Ageing and Digital Health at De Montfort University. This webinar emerges out of the ‘Living Innovation (LIV:IN)’ project that focuses on responsible innovation around the way we will live in 2030. Organized by De Montfort University and “la Caixa” Foundation, the webinar’s roundtable of global experts will debate:

  • changing health needs and the use of health data;
  • imperatives around health behaviors;
  • post-COVID markets for health-related products (digital health/telehealth and telemedicine);
  • European perspectives and initiatives (e.g. for due diligence and non-financial reporting); and
  • the merits of standards and metrics 

The panel includes:

  • Eerke Boiten, Head of School of Computer Science and Informatics at De Montfort University
  • Malcolm Fisk, Professor of Ageing and Digital Health at De Montfort University
  • Natalia Jozwowicz, Manager (Operations, Talent & Culture, Facilities) at Sustainalytics Poland
  • Annette Kleinfeld, Professor of Business Ethics at University of Applied Sciences Konstanz
  • Myriam Martin, Project Manager at TICBiomed, partner in CHERRIES project
  • Eman Martin-Vignerte, Head of Political Affairs and Government Relations at Bosch UK
  • Matthias Marzinko, Director International Standards Management (ISM) at Drägerwerk AG and CEN-CLC Advisory Board for Healthcare Standards (ABHS)
  • Lydia Montandon, Business Development Manager at ATOS Research and Innovation
  • Eva Zuazua Schucker, Head of Contents & Communication at RRI Tools project
  • Ignasi López Verdeguer, Director of the Department of Science and Research at la Caixa Foundation
  • Matthijs Zwier, Strategic Partner at Municipality of Utrecht and Advisory Board member at European Health Futures Forum

For more information and the registration links (two steps required), please go to the Living Innovation page hosted by the Institute for Managing Sustainability of Vienna. Hat tip to Malcolm Fisk