Ransomware alert up in US, Canada: more details

April 3, 2016 | by

Ransomware threats are now the subject of a joint alert in both the US and Canada, with at least 14 hospitals under attack on both sides of the border. Ten of the hospitals are part of MedStar in Maryland [TTA 26 March, updated], and as your Editors have noted, it’s not just hospitals but also Mac iOS under attack and now, reportedly, even police and cafes (Telegraph.uk, NPR). $24 million was lost to ransomware in 2015 in the US alone, according to the FBI. Healthcare IT News reports a new variation called PowerWare which is delivered through MS Word documents, but goes further than Locky in mimicking legitimate files and activities without writing new files on the system, which makes it hard to detect. It invades PowerShell which is used by system admins for task automation and configuration management.

If you are catching up and want a useful overview, see Wired. The headline states the obvious, at least to this Editor. Hospitals and their often-flawed IT managed by overworked staffs are the perfect target for ransomware and multiple viruses as lives are at stake, not widget production. Like most malware and internet Bad Things, ransomware originated in Eastern Europe (where else?) back in 2005. Most attacks include instructions on how to access bitcoin, the untraceable payment method demanded by the hospital hostage-takers.

How to prevent or mitigate? NPR cites Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, a digital currency advocacy non-profit, that hospitals can take safeguards including HTTPS encryption, two-factor authentication and implementing file backups on a separate server.

Artificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetics may be closer

April 3, 2016 | by

A victory in this perpetual Battle of Stalingrad? Three universities, plus Dublin-based Medtronic, are developing devices that may bring a commercial artificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetics to market within the next few years. Medtronic is estimating that their system could be in market by 2017. The University of Virginia‘s Center for Diabetes Technology has a final clinical trial this summer on the inControl system which is being commercialized by start-up company TypeZero Technologies. Other research programs are underway at Cambridge University and Boston University, on a product that will measure both insulin and glucagon. Type 1 diabetics produce no insulin, making their lives literally dependent on close glucose monitoring and correct insulin delivery. These are “closed-loop” systems, consisting of a pump worn outside the body, a continuous glucose monitor, which measures glucose from fluid under the skin, and a device that runs continuous algorithms to determine insulin delivery. Much of this research has been funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Perhaps there will be a better and safer way soon to fight this perpetual Battle of Stalingrad for those with Type 1 diabetes. CNBC

Some New York-area events of interest April-May

April 3, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/iCAN-Global-EBF-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Long-time Reader Howard Reis of telemedicine and teleradiology consultancy HEALTHePRACTICES  has advised us of two free and related events in the Westchester (NY metro) area of interest to entrepreneurs. Both are 21 April at the BioInc Incubator at Westchester Medical College, Valhalla NY.

The first is the bi-monthly iCAN NY breakfast from 8:30 to 10:30 am with the overall topic of commercialization of technologies, with talks from Mr Reis on industry healthcare trends and Michael and Stanley Goldstein from law firm Becker & Poliakoff on corporate governance. Registration via email to Les Neumann, iCAN NY managing director, at les@icanny.net.

The second is a half day ‘Pitch to the Angels’ sponsored by Westchester Angels and Westfair Communications starting at 9:30am through lunch closing at 1:30pm for local entrepreneurs (Westchester and Fairfield counties). It is a two-part event open to startups, entrepreneurs, investors and spectators. You can sign up for the morning or the lunchtime session, or both. Three or four businesses will be pitching in the pm session. Information here. Registration here. Interested in pitching? Submit to be considered here but hurry–it closes 8 April. Contact is Danielle Brody at dbrody@westfairinc.com.

d.Health Summit on 4 May at the NY Academy of Sciences in NYC is focusing this year on a worthy topic, ‘Aging in Place.’ There’s a roster of speakers from the usual journalist, payer and academic suspects, perhaps too many for one day, for your $695 registration. Unfortunately your locally-based Editor, after several fruitless attempts to contact the organizers, cannot offer any further information beyond the website or an endorsement.

Having attended the much-touted MUSE-Klick Health NY evening soireé this past Wednesday, which attempted to be over the top (High Line District! Industrial Converted to Art Space!), it wound up being uninspiring (except for 18 year old Claire Wineland, a young CF patient), barely health-oriented and embarrassingly self-referential. Circulation’s non-emergency health transportation for the 3.6 million Americans who miss medical appointments weekly due to lack of transport, beside a good idea, also had a pretty cool Mini Clubman on display. I left at the break in search of the previous two hours+ spent (at the end of a busy day in a busy week). Caveat emptor increasingly applies to events, yes?

Keeping track of a multitude of Spring events–US, London, Scotland

March 30, 2016 | by

It is less than eight weeks to ATA 2016 14-17 May and a reminder it’s time to register for this leading telemedicine and telehealth conference. Young professionals 35 and younger can save 37 percent on their registration, which they can promptly spend in Minneapolis. There are local delicacies like the Juicy Lucy (cheese-stuffed burger), which can be washed down with a drink at the Art Deco bar in the W Foshay. There’s always retail therapy at the Mall of America, which is a bit of a drive out of town. More local is walking off the calories in a visit to the Mill City Museum or Minnehaha Park. TTA is a media partner of #ATA2016. See sidebar for our link to information and registration.

On the European calendar, a reminder for Med-e-Tel Luxembourg on 6-8 April sponsored by ISfTeH (International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth). Online registration is still available through 1 April. Back in the US, at the same time is HX Refactored in Boston, a Health 2.0 conference on 5-6 April; this Editor attended when it was in Brooklyn. HealthImpact East in NYC, a tightly organized one day conference organized by Purpose Events, is on 17 May.

Last Wednesday in London, City University London opened their City TECS (Technology Enabled Care Studio) Smart Home Facility. According to the article, it’s one of the first ‘smart homes’ opened by a UK university, though this Editor must note that in the US, it was a phenomenon of the mid-2000s that popped up and endures today at universities like Florida, George Mason, Rochester, Iowa State and Washington State. It encompasses telehealth, telecare and complements the existing Clinical Skills Suite for healthcare education. A small disappointment is the apparent lack of diversity in the kit, as Tunstall and Philips are the only companies mentioned. News-Medical.net

A note to this Editor had details on an event a little outside our usual frame; the 2 June conference in Edinburgh organized by Scotland Policy Conferences, ‘Next steps for palliative and end of life care: access, delivery and integration’. “The recently published Strategic Framework for Action outlines standards and commitments for the palliative and end of life care people in Scotland can expect…including service improvement, early identification of needs and staff education.” Information and registration.

Add 4,500 miles and have breakfast in Dallas hosted by the always-interesting Hubert Zajicek at the Health Wildcatters seed accelerator. The monthly ‘Pulse’ event features education from a guest speaker, a local health startup’s pitch their company and networking. Next one up is 14 April. More information and subscription here.

Ransom! (ware) strikes more hospitals and Apple (update)–Healthcare.gov’s plus trouble

March 26, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Get out the Ransom! California hospitals appear to be Top of the Pops for ransomware attacks, which lock down and encrypt information after someone opens a malicious link in email, making it inaccessible. After the well-publicized attack on Hollywood Presbyterian in February, this week two hospitals in the Inland Empire, Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino and Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, both owned by Prime Healthcare Management, received demands. While hacked, neither hospital paid the ransom and no patient data was compromised according to hospital spokesmen. Additional hospitals earlier this month: Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky and Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada. In Ottawa, four computers were hacked but isolated and wiped. It is not known if ‘Locky’, the moniker for a new ransomware, was the Canadian culprit. FBI on the case in the US. HealthcareITNews, National Post

Update: Locky is the suspected culprit in the Prime, Hollywood Presbyterian and Kentucky ransomware attacks. On Monday, Maryland-based MedStar Health reported malware had caused a shutdown of some systems at its hospitals in Baltimore. Separately, Cisco Talos Research is claiming that a number of the attacks are exploiting a vulnerability in a network server called JBoss using a ransomware dubbed SamSam. Perhaps both are creating mischief? Ars Technica, Cisco Talos blog, BBC News, ThreatPost

More and worse attacks north of the 49th Parallel. Norfolk General Hospital in Simcoe, Ontario had a ransomware attack this week that spread to computers of staff, patients and families via the external website through the outdated content management system. According to MalwareBytes, “The particular strain of ransomware dropped here is TeslaCrypt which demands $500 to recover your personal files it has encrypted. That payment doubles after a week.”  So if you are running old Joomla! or even old WordPress, update now! Neil Versel in MedCityNews

If you’re thinking Mac Prevents Attacks, the first ransomware targeting Apple OS X hit earlier this month. Mac users who  downloaded version 2.90 of Transmission, a data transfer program using BitTorrent, were infected. KeRanger appears after three days to demand one bitcoin (about $400) to a specific address to retrieve their files. HealthcareITNews

Finally, there is the Hackermania gift that keeps on giving: Healthcare.gov. (more…)

The mixed picture of health tech investment: a potpourri

March 25, 2016 | by

One picture is generally positive–plenty of opportunity in the aging and ill population, particularly in data integration from various sources, and value-based care. Everyone loves the excitement that a startup with a novel technology or way it can make knowledge more useful brings to the field.  Another picture is one of pitfalls aplenty, from overhyping technology (poster child, Theranos) to overestimating growth, overspending and especially picking the wrong (nervous, impatient) investors at the wrong time, which have left a general patina of mistrust around digital health. There’s also the fact that healthcare is a highly, confusingly regulated, long-cycle business that’s challenged money-wise, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Asia. Some advice to startups contained in these two articles, including from the principals of StartUp Health accelerator (who’ve seen it all), has to do with building trust, finding the right investors, the right advice/advisors, collaboration (though that is difficult with IP), finding proven (affordable) management and a sustainable (and resilient) culture. Underpromise, overdeliver.  TechCrunch, Healthcare Dive

No wonder that investment was flat in 2015, and that much of the news is around acquisitions that rearrange companies and/or offerings. The latest today is Allscripts‘ and GI Partners’ acquisition of behavioral EHR/care coordination company Netsmart for $950 million; Allscripts is moving its homecare business into Netsmart’s CareFabric suite. Kansas City Business Journal, Healthcare Dive  In addition we’ll cite our earlier Mo’ Money article on the $600 million in various digital health investments. UPMC, which had invested in Vivify Health’s telehealth/RPM platform, is spreading $3 million around partly in-house to six health tech projects developed under the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance. And in an example of Wearables Confusion, investors put $16 million into LifeBeam to develop another DTC ‘holistic’ health wearable (LifeBeam’s origins are sensors for aerospace and defense) while early wrist fitness entrant Pebble has laid off 40 staff in an attempt to refocus on…fitness.

Early-stage companies are also alliancing and merging. Fresh out of Newark and the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s NJ Innovation Institute, the merger of Practice Unite (which knits together secure mobile clinician/patient communications into a customized platform) and Uniphy Health (physician engagement), is an example of complimentary enlargement. This expands care collaboration offerings and shades over into patient engagement if you look at the PHM quadrant here. According to Director/Chief Medical Officer Stuart Hochron, MD (who was a Practice Unite founder), “We’re really pleased with the outcome of this merger. It’s given us the capital and resources that we need to scale.” It’s also good to see that both the founders and the CTO are moving into the new Uniphy Health–and staying in Newark.  Release

Wearables for diabetes, more get thinner on a ‘smart skin’ diet

March 25, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BG-cuff.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A team from the Seoul (South Korea) National University, University of Texas-Austin and wearable health sensor developer MC10 [TTA previous articles] have developed a translucent, thin graphene ‘cuff’ with sensors for blood glucose and a not-quite-complete metformin delivery mechanism for those with Type 2 diabetes. The graphene is ‘doped’ with gold to have it transmit blood glucose readings inferred on mechanical strain, skin temperature, and chemical composition of sweat. The mobile app calculates the metformin medication dose needed and the wristband administers it through an array of microneedles. This would not be a semi closed-loop system (dubbed here a ‘robopancreas’) which Type 1 diabetics now can use for insulin delivery, as there’s a delay in sensing and delivery. It also cannot in present form correct for excessively low blood glucose. IEEE Spectrum, Nature (abstract) Hat tip to former TTA Ireland Editor Toni Bunting

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-11.12.41-AM.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Another wearable sensor bracelet with a distinctly ‘home-brewed’ feel is out of academia, from the Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s Integrated Nanotechnology Laboratory in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. The research team pulled together office supplies–no, you are not misreading this: (more…)

Population health management growing, segmenting; one investor’s helpful view

March 25, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/TPHM-Blog-PHM.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]An interesting post-HIMSS 16 view is a helpful attempt to sort out the miasma around ‘population health management’ (PHM). There were about 125 vendors categorized under PHM there, a good sized chunk, and PHM was the subject of much of the presentation content. Many vendors contend that they have or ARE the solution, but down here in the trenches where most of our Readers slog, we realize that each have only a piece of it.

The writer skillfully divides PHM companies into four main categories of main offerings and further into sub-functions (see left above):

  1. Data integration and management
  2. Clinical analytics
  3. Care coordination
  4. Patient engagement where telehealth/RPM generally fits also includes patient communications, treatment plans, educational content and closing gaps in care.

Only lightly touched on (more…)

81 percent interested in tech for older adult fall detection: Carnegie-Mellon

March 23, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/fall.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Carnegie-Mellon University-College of Engineering recently conducted a survey of 1,900 US adults on care for their aging parents, as background for a project in fall prevention.

  • 81 percent are interested in sensor technology to prevent falls, particularly among their aging parents
  • 54 percent worry about an elderly parent falling
  • 70 percent of this group have this fear at least once a week, if not daily; regardless of whether the parent lives alone or not

Checking in with parents is a ‘top of mind’ anxiety for most of those surveyed, with most taking a team approach:

  • 44 percent personally or have a sibling check in on their parent daily;  33 percent check in weekly; 12 percent stop by as needed
  • 56 percent have neighbors or staff physically check on their parent daily

Not coincidentally, a team of engineers from Carnegie-Mellon are also researching active sensor technologies that gauge gait stability, dizziness and fatigue to predict and prevent falling–what at a former company we called the ‘Holy Grail’ of fall detection that can keep older adults active and well. No mention though of technology aids for ‘check in’ (see 3rings and also the original notion of QuietCare‘s behavioral telemonitoring.) MedCityNews, Carnegie-Mellon release

Could a wearable break a drug addict’s habit?

March 23, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Empatica.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Two studies of addicts, recovering and otherwise, using the Empatica biosensor bracelet, have indicated that certain data could help track addicted patients’ behavior and possibly behavior leading to a recovering addict’s drug relapse.

The pilot tracked five supervised addicts (one cocaine, the remainder morphine) who wore the E4 Empatica before, during, and after a drug use event. When each drug was used, it created a unique ‘signature’ of vital signs. The second study of 15 recovering addicts also confirmed these results, with all participants keeping their bracelets on and interested in their results. According to the researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, their next study will examine drug ‘signatures’ of different types of users, from first time to tolerant user, and also to help gauge the effect of drug antidotes in an ER/ED setting. Eventually, the studies will gather information on predicting drug relapses.

The Empatica continuously measures heartbeat, motion in three dimensions, skin electrical conductance, and skin temperature, each up to 30 times per second, plus GPS.  IEEE Spectrum Hat tip to former TTA Ireland Editor Toni Bunting

HealthSpot winds out to Ch. 7 liquidation, assets for sale

March 11, 2016 | by

The object lesson of HealthSpot continued its sad revelations in a Columbus, Ohio Federal bankruptcy court Thursday (10 March) with the confirmation of liquidation under Chapter 7 rather than reorganization under Chapter 11. According to the report in MedCityNews, the bankruptcy trustee is now accepting offers for the assets valued by HealthSpot at $5.1 million. The bulk of these assets–$3.5 million–consist of 191 telemedicine kiosks of which 54 had been deployed with customers such as Rite Aid and Cleveland Clinic. The trustee has been permitted by the court to list these assets on a website. Whether there is any market for the hardware, or the intellectual property of HealthSpot, is a very open question indeed.

Some digging by this Editor has revealed a possible precipitating event to the company’s shutdown, and an obvious, non-recoupable drain on the time and funds of a teetering company. A District Court order issued 4 December on the patent infringement legal action by Nevada-based Computerized Screening [TTA 8 Jan] is now available online. It appears to have been conceded by Computerized Screening as “non-infringement on the basis of the absence of the limitation of “controller”” which is technically a win for HealthSpot. But HealthSpot then sought in September to collect attorney’s fees of a stunning $829,500 from Computerized Screening (more…)

3rings enters the Dragons’ Den, comes out with strategic investor

March 10, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/steve-purdham-3rings-david-capper-westfield-health-with-3rings-plug.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]About two years ago, we started following 3rings, a Stoke-on-Trent (UK) company that develope an appliance plug that automatically ‘checks in’ an older person based on their morning behavior of turning on a tea kettle, TV or other appliance. We’ve received word from their CEO Steve Purdham that they’ve announced today (Thursday) a substantial strategic investment from not-for-profit insurer Westfield Health. Mr Purdham (picture left) had appeared on the BBC program Dragons’ Den with mum Iris (prominently featured in their ads) to raise £300,000 for a 10 percent share in the company. (For our US readers, Dragons’ Den is similar to Shark Tank or Project Startup.) According to the website release, Westfield Health was attracted to the company through the show, has invested more than twice the funding requested by Mr Purdham from the Dragons, and will be offering the 3rings plug to their current and future customers.

David Capper, their Commercial Director (picture right), acknowledged the attraction of technology in their first major external investment in this type of health tech.  (more…)

Our wrapup of news and tart takes on HIMSS 16 (updated redux)

March 9, 2016 | by

Lions Lie Down With Lambs, and Other Miracles!

HIMSS 16’s main ‘breaking news’ centered on HIT interoperability. The lead was US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell’s announcement on how Lions Will Lie Down With Lambs, Or Else. 17 EHRs that cover 90 percent of electronic health records used by U.S. hospitals–including the bitterest of rivals, Epic (the EHR everyone likes to hate) and Cerner, 16 providers including the nation’s five largest private healthcare systems, and more than a dozen leading professional associations and stakeholder groups (including HIMSS) pledged to implement three core commitments that allegedly will improve the flow of health information to consumers and healthcare providers. They are consumer access, no information blocking and standards. When? Where? How? Strictly TBD. HHS release, MedCityNews, Modern Healthcare, which dubbed it ‘another year, another promise’.

Innovate or Die. For companies and providers, it’s not about compliance anymore but about improving patient outcomes due to value-based care and incentives. Providers will increasingly be responsible for patient care throughout the community to make their numbers. Having made this sound point, Dr John Halamka then proposes they will need a ‘care traffic control’ system through data aggregation, with a laundry list of ‘enablers’, directories and connectors surrounding the EHR. How this all will work together, and who will buy in already challenged practices and ACOs, plus how those 17 notoriously territorial EHRs will work with said ‘enablers’ — or complicators — is a mystery to this Editor. Pass the Advil, please. MedCityNews

Read on for more Top 10s, roundups, DOD and VA EHR news, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback tackles the closing keynote, and 10 ways you can become a HIMSS speaker! (more…)

Mo’ money! Over $600 million in funding washes into digital health

March 8, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Looney-Tunes-Were-in-the-Money.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The unicorns may be getting gored, the bloom off the rose in health tech funding, and it’s a ‘hangover’ from 2015, but both January and February wound up being strong months for digital health funding, with over $600 million to companies in various stages. Mobihealthnews racks up the wins, leading with MindMaze (recovery for stroke patients) $100 million in February, Pear Therapeutics (digital tools + pharmaceuticals) with $20 million and Cala Health (hand/wrist tremor treatment) with $18 million. In remote patient monitoring, Vivify Health raised $17 million completing a 2014 round for $23 million and interestingly will use some of this funding to develop an IVR (interactive voice response) solution (Mobihealthnews 25 Feb). They don’t total in insurer Oscar which had a massive raise of $400 million bringing their funding over $765 million, not that far from Unicorn Territory–probably a good idea as they have some dizzying goals like 1 million members in five years from its current 145,000 members in New York and New Jersey, adding Texas and California. The caution on Oscar is that they are heavily dependent on narrow networks and exchange business that may be unsustainable. But if you sign up, you get a Misfit Flash tracker and access to their mobile app! Digital health funding in February reached $197 million (Mobihealthnews)

Deloitte’s consumer view of technology acceptance in home health

March 5, 2016 | by

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions (DCHS), the research division of Deloitte LLP’s Life Sciences and Health Care practice, conducted six focus groups late last year to gauge the acceptance of technology in home health. They tested two main home health scenarios among 42 younger (<44) and older (45-64) adults, both drawn from healthy and chronic condition patients and with a mix of demographics.

In this qualitative study, the two scenarios tested were: technology that would help manage chronic conditions and tech to promote healthy living. The first scenario gives a very advanced vision of chronic care management that involves telehealth, telemedicine and residential monitoring in the management of chronic conditions (diabetes and CHF). The second involves lifestyle factors including eating, activity and exercise management and managing travel.

Some findings in the report summarized and linked for download here, including implications for companies:

  • Overall they were open to and optimistic about using technology to enable better home care of older adults who require it–including embedded sensors.
  • ‘Smart home’ has appeal, but there is a preference for the less intrusive (stove burner/cooking range sensors, fall detectors) and resistance to perceived invasions of privacy (sleep, bathroom and activity monitoring).
  • They understood the balance of reward and risk in consideration of broad categories of nutrition, physical activity, prevention, and dealing with an acute episode (see quadrant below, click to enlarge)
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/us-lshc-hcc-march1-my-take-p1.png” thumb_width=”200″ /]

Center Director Harry Greenspun, MD’s in his Health Care Current blog notes that TECS has the capability of providing services formerly provided only in a doctor’s office or hospital in the home, but “One question remains, “How quickly will consumers adapt and accept new technologies that bring care into their home?”–then answers his own question.

All of these innovations have given us a level of insight and capability we could not have imagined even a few years ago. At the same time, each raises privacy concerns.

So why do we do it? Because we get something out of it.

 

‘VC tourism’ in Health Tech Land is over (updated)

March 4, 2016 | by

The ‘silly money’ is packing its bags and taking the next flight from the Coast. An exceedingly tart take out of Fast Company confirms what your Editors have noticed in Rock Health and other year-end reports. Funding for digital health may have surpassed $4.2 billion in 2015, but it barely eked over 2014’s total of $2.3 billion despite rising geometrically since 2011 [TTA 16 Dec 15, revised by Rock Health since then]. Since then, we’ve had the Trouble Every Day of ‘unicorns’ (overreaching) Theranos and (ludicrously) Zenefits [TTA 17 Feb]; EHR Practice Fusion stalled out and cutting 25 percent of its staff, hoping to be acquired by athenahealth–or anyone (Healthcare Dive); shaky Fitbit shares [TTA 20 Feb]. Perhaps the high point was last year’s ‘Corvette Summer’ with yet another big round to a company yet to fulfill its promise, ZocDoc [TTA 15 Aug 15]. Even Castlight Health with decent revenue (still at a loss) has been dubbed an ‘absolute horror show’ when it comes to its share prices, if you were foolish enough to buy it at or near its IPO.

Fortunately a large dose of sanity may prevail among VCs with a sobering realization–no different than five or ten years ago–that investment has to be strategic and far longer than the usual 18 month-and-out time frame. Too many companies have systems which work the same niche–you don’t need 50 companies doing these things: data analytics for care management, patient engagement platforms, med reminders or diabetes management. [We’ve already noted the ‘sameness’ in companies getting funded in 2015, almost as if investors were seeking reassurance in similarity, a sure sign of a coming fail–TTA 30 Dec 15.]

Developers must fill a need–uniquely. And have a superb business plan, squeeze the nickels till they squeak and forget about the party culture. Investors: Dumb Money For Digital Health Will Vanish As Quickly As It Came In