News roundup: RPM at 79 ScionHealth hospitals, 74% of employers like virtual care despite concerns, Alma Health garners $130M, NIH’s $25M for cancer care telehealth research, Parks’ virtual Connected Health Summit 30-31 Aug

Winding up August with one last roundup…get along lil’ dogies….

Remote patient monitoring coupled with home care debuting at ScionHealth hospitals. Louisville, Kentucky-based ScionHealth, a network of 79 hospitals in 25 states, is working with Cadence Care monitoring to manage qualifying chronic care patients. Cadence’s Care in Sync RPM will first support managing hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for ambulatory patients in 18 community hospitals across 12 states, with plans to roll out to the full network. Monitoring includes blood pressure, heart rate, pulse oximeter, glucose levels, and weight. These are tracked by care teams backed up by Cadence clinicians and telehealth. ScionHealth was formed from last year’s acquisition of Kindred Healthcare by LifePoint Health to create a network of 61 long-term acute care hospitals and 18 community hospital campuses. Cadence release, HealthcareITNews

What’s not to like about virtual care? 74% of the 135 employers surveyed like the idea, but 84% had real concerns about its ability to integrate virtual and in-person services, leading to duplication of services, unnecessary care, wasteful spending, and a fragmented care experience. These concerns ranged from 57% to 69% of those surveyed. The survey by the Business Group on Health found that these large employers were very interested in virtual primary care, with 32% offering these services in 2022, projecting out to over double — 69% — doing so in three years, 2025. In terms of spending, for the first time cancer care drives more cost than musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, attributed to pandemic-related care delays. Business Group on Health release, FierceHealthcare

A cheery note to close August is that New York City-based Alma Health has raised a Series D of $130 million in this depressed market. While its website is very much patient-facing, Alma is primarily a membership network for mental health providers to help them be in-network with payers and simplify reimbursement to thrive in private practice. Alma claims guaranteed payback for every session in two weeks and credentialing with major insurance payers in under 45 days. It also provides a practice platform for providers in all 50 states. The Series D builds upon its August 2021 Series C of $50 million, with total outside funding since 2018 of $220 million. Investors include lead on the Series D Thoma Bravo, Cigna’s venture arm, and Optum Ventures, plus lead on the Series B and C Insight Partners, lead on the Series A Tusk Venture Partners, with Primary Venture Partners and Sound Ventures. Valuation is estimated at $800 million. FierceHealthcare, Alma release

NIH’s $25 million for research into telehealth and cancer care. Four universities and institutions will lead NIH/National Cancer Institute-funded research on the effectiveness and demographic makeup of those using telehealth as part of their cancer care:

  • NYU Grossman School of Medicine: the Telehealth Research and Innovation for Veterans with Cancer (THRIVE) Telehealth Research Center will work with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to uncover information about the impact of demographics on care delivery
  • University of Pennsylvania: Telehealth Research Center of Excellence (Penn TRACE) takes another aspect, telehealth strategiesand their impact on shared decision-making for lung cancer care 
  • Northwestern University: Scalable Telehealth Cancer Care (STELLAR), which will study how telehealth can be used to manage and limit behaviors such as smoking and inactivity
  • Memorial Sloan-Kettering:  MATCHES (Making Telehealth Delivery of Cancer Care at Home Effective and Safe) Telehealth Research Center, focusing on telehealth’s effectiveness on treatment of breast and prostate cancer, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth. 

mHealth Intelligence, NIH release

Not too late for Parks Associates’ virtual sessions as part of their Connected Health Summit series. Two new Summit Sessions will be online Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 August. More information and registration here.

Aug 30 – New Opportunities in Connected Health Services: Monitoring and Home Care
• Health and Safety Monitoring
• Home Care Services

Aug 31 – Successful Strategies for Engaging Consumers
• Choice in Care: Telehealth, Kiosks, and Retail Clinics
• AI in Health: Creating Personalized Insights
• Wellness and Consumer Engagement

Part of Wednesday’s session will include “Who’s Paying for Healthcare? New Business Models”. There’s a surprising finding–74% of US internet households with children at home have used telehealth services in the past 12 months versus 32% without kids at home, and 70% are likely to use telehealth the next time they are sick. If you cannot make these sessions, their last virtual  TTA is a past supporter of the Connected Health Summit. Parks release.

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