Short takes: FDA seeks feedback on home care tech; Japan care homes piloting AI; Author Health’s $115M bet on senior mental health; Alertacall’s Batchelor on ‘right fit’ finance support; Headspace in the wrong (layoff) space again

July 7, 2023 | by

Short takes for a short (US) week

FDA seeks public comment on home care tech–an opportunity for developers and home care. The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has a request for public comment on technologies that could improve home care, both in the traditional sense and in hospital-to-home transitional care. Their two key questions of nine are: “How can the FDA support the development of medical technologies, including digital health technologies and diagnostics, for use in non-clinical care settings, such as at home?” and “What factors should be considered to effectively institute patient care that includes home-based care?” The FDA’s language around this is anodyne as couched in ‘health equity’ but it’s seriously around increasing access to all, supporting innovation, reducing barriers to care, and empowering people to make better decisions around their health. All public comments must be submitted to FDA’s docket (FDA-2023-N-1956), available at Regulations.gov. Important–the public comment period will end on 30 August 2023. Healthcare Dive

In Japan, a nursing home operator/insurer is adopting analytics to track residents and reduce caregiver workload. The operator/insurer is Sompo Holdings (LinkedIn) and the analytics company is Palantir. The jointly designed software platform, egaku, integrates artificial intelligence and analytics with proprietary data on sleep, diet, medical treatment, and exercise. Sompo Care uses minimally intrusive devices such as sensor-equipped beds to evaluate sleep conditions via tracking of body movements, respiration, and heart rate. They are claiming a 15% reduction of caregiver workload in a typical 60-person capacity care facility, saving as much as $60,000 annually. Unfortunately, the FT article is paywalled but a partial citation is available on ACM TechNews   On the Palantir website, there is a fragmentary article on how Sompo used the Palantir Foundry platform to streamline gathering information for care plans by linking local resident data t0 additional care data to create ‘a single source of truth’. Sompo press release

Speaking of seniors, Boston-based Author Health launched at the end of June with a unique mission–reaching out to older adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders–and with a tidy startup kitty. The company provides specialized physicians, nurses, therapists, and community health workers to deliver a mix of virtual and in-person care. Their first partnership is with Humana Medicare Advantage (MA) plans in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida metros in conjunction with CenterWell Senior Primary Care. Author Health helps to treat conditions such as depression and anxiety, schizophrenia and psychosis, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias, and substance use disorders. Author is led by CEO Dr. Katherine Hobbs, a psychiatrist and former health insurance executive. The $115 million in initial financing was led by General Atlantic and included participation from Flare Capital Partners. Author Health release, FierceHealthcare, MedCityNews

TTA has previously profiled James Batchelor, CEO and founder of Alertacall. He is an old friend of TTA from early days with Editor Steve and Alertacall is one of the pioneering companies in UK telecare. Most recently (May 2022) Alertacall achieved the Queen’s Award For Enterprise: Innovation. This short interview with him in New Business UK discusses the importance of finding the right fit in long-term funding. If your buyers are in a sector with lengthy, complex sales cycles, it’s vital to find a backer that understands the selling space, which for Alertacall is ‘property management’. Even more important now!

Apparently in the wrong space is Headspace Health. The Los Angeles-based telemental health company is laying off 181 additional employees, or 15% of its current workforce. This follows on their December layoff of 5% or 50 employees. In the palmy days of mid-2021, Headspace acquired Ginger for a $3 billion valuation at that time [TTA 27 Aug 2021] to enter the enterprise market and acquired Sayana and Shine in 2022. It’s been a struggle ever since though they did not go the SPAC route, stayed private, and now claim 70 million members (actually downloads of their app), both individual and enterprise. Headspace expanded to the UK in January. Too much lookalike/soundalike competition and now a very hard road to that cliché, ‘a path to profitability’. LA Times, Mobihealthnews

A Valentine’s Day tribute to Dame Esther Rantzen

February 17, 2023 | by

This is a lovely tribute to a Dame–Dame Esther Rantzen. Our UK Readers will know her from her TV journalism work, as presenter of That’s Life! on BBC TV for 21 years, and who was instrumental in the founding and popularization of both ChildLine and The Silver Line older adult helplines. She is also a supporter of Alertacall Ltd., noted when the company was awarded the Queen’s Award For Enterprise: Innovation [TTA 12 May 22]. 

James Batchelor, their founder and CEO, penned a lovely post on his personal blog to her:

A brief excerpt:

In her association with Alertacall, just as with Childline, The Silver Line, and the around 50 other charities she is involved with, Esther is genuinely invested in trying to change the world for the better.

Esther is the real deal.

Her celebrity may be what catches your attention but it is the fact she works so hard for causes she truly cares about which has made me, and so many others, admire her over the years. I will repeat it again, she is the real deal.

He also lauds her ability to galvanize action through her appearances and communications, listening and leading through example.

If she wants something to happen, Esther will also commit to it entirely. What’s more she will make sure you are committed to it with an equal tenacity, hold you to account and ensure you follow through on your promises. 

James notes many other ways Dame Esther has made the world a better place. Please comment below! A “love letter” to Dame Esther Rantzen

Alertacall receives Queen’s Award For Enterprise: Innovation

May 12, 2022 | by

One of the items that whizzed by this Editor while she was in Pepper the Robot mode was the highly prestigious Queen’s Award For Enterprise: Innovation, awarded to one of the pioneering companies in UK telecare, Alertacall Ltd.  Their CEO and founder, James Batchelor, is an old friend of TTA from early days with Editor Emeritus Steve. (Editor Donna hadn’t even thought of marketing health tech at that time.)

Alertacall provides tablet touchscreen connectivity to the housing, care markets, and personal markets, from OKEachDay checkins to smart home systems controlled by the touchscreen.

Alertacall was founded in 2004 by James, the original inventor of the “I am okay” button. Like many of us in those days, he had a personal inspiration for being engaged with creating a better way to support older adults in their home–Eveline, his own staunchly independent grandmother. She was, in James’ words “a shop keeper for much of her life, and a B+B operator up until her early eighties. After the death of 2 husbands – the first of whom was detained as a Prisoner of War in WW2, she learned to drive in her late 50s, travelled the world on her own and was an inspiration to many with her grit and determination to live on her own, and under her own terms for as long as possible.”

Also, James’ gracious note from LinkedIn, posting on the Queen’s Award:

We won this Queen’s Award because of the great technology we have created for sheltered and supported housing to help independent older people, women fleeing domestic violence and people who are disabled – to feel safe, connected and informed.

This award really is testimony to that innovation, but more so to the incredible team I have the joy of working with each day. This is an award for them and their phenomenal care of our customers.

In July I’ll be attending a winners reception at Buckingham Palace with HRH The Prince Of Wales – on behalf of those team members. My grandma, Eveline, who was the inspiration for Alertacall would have been pretty excited by that I think.

A lot of you run your own businesses, and some of you might have started those from scratch. So you’ll understand that external, independent validation is rare, and a great feeling when it comes.

Many of you have also been a positive part of our journey – and if so thank you, sincerely.

Dame Esther Rantzen DBE, the well-known British journalist and TV presenter of That’s Life! on the BBC for 21 years, who was instrumental in the founding and popularization of both ChildLine and The Silver Line helplines, is a supporter of Alertacall. Her statement is attached here.

Our warmest congratulations to James and the Alertacall team!

Alertacall announcement.

3rings’ well-handled transition to their March shutdown (updated)

January 2, 2019 | by

In late summer [TTA 19 Sep] we learned that one of the most innovative UK companies in sensor-based assistive technology, 3rings, was ceasing operations as of March 2019’s end. We noted it was a planned shutdown that gave subscribers nearly six months to switch over to other technologies. Steve Purdham and his team have recommended three companies that in their estimation are good alternatives to 3rings in both their original electrical Plug (electric usage as a proxy for being up and around) and cloud-based IoT service. Three companies are recommended in detail based on needs. 3rings presents all three in detail with special offers, including a handy ‘how to’ on transitioning services.

  1. Clever Contact from Alertacall–a daily contact and reminder service
  2. Canary Care--motion sensor/IoT service which is fairly close to the way that 3rings developed. Canary Care has reorganized since last summer with new ownership [TTA 8 Nov].
  3. PPP Taking Care–pendant alarm

When asked to comment on Canary Care’s recent release (PDF) related to their service as a close fit to 3rings, Steve remarked that “As we plan our graceful close the key for us was to give all our customers significant notice of our intentions (almost 6 months) and where possible provide guidance as to ways forward. We also wanted to help as many of our customers to transition to technologies that would help them continue looking after their loved ones after March 1st 2019. Looking after all our customers means a lot to us so providing this help made sense. The team at Canary wanted to do a press release regarding their deal and I was happy to support it.”

The 3rings closing is regrettable, but the transition of their services to protect their customers deserves a ‘Well Done’. (Undoubtedly we will be hearing from Steve and the 3rings team in future.) Hat tip to Steve, Nicola Hughes of Canary Care/Lifecycle Software, and James Batchelor of Alertacall.

Telecare pioneer Alertacall receives National Business Awards-UK honor

November 17, 2015 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Alertacall-logo1.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Alertacall received the ‘Highly Commended’ distinction in the Market Gravity Innovation category at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards UK. The company was cited over eight other finalists for its ‘OKEachDay’ phone check-in service in a field of over 150 other competitors in various business areas. Founded in 2004, Alertacall was one of the Grizzled Pioneers of UK telecare and lately has expanded into housing management with its Housing Proactive system. The winner was DNAFit, which integrates genomics into nutrition and fitness. The National Business Awards were announced in a ceremony on 10 November keynoted by astronaut (and second man on the moon) Buzz Aldrin and addressed by Prime Minister David Cameron. Scotland’s Digital Health & Care Institute was the other digital health finalist; DHI is an incubator for 85 live projects also funding academic research with a combined level of over £3 million. Awards page (click on Market Gravity Innovation), Alertacall release