Short newsy takes: Amazon Connect Health AI, UHS buys Talkspace for $835M, Oura buys Doublepoint, Science Corp.’s $230M raise, VSee’s debuts first autonomous telehealth robot

March 12, 2026 | by

Our roundup is up!

Amazon adds Amazon Connect Health agentic AI for provider workflows to their roster. Amazon’s multiplicity of niches in healthcare adds a new solution, this time targeting providers. This is part of AWS’ health suite for EHRs, designed to handle high-volume administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling, clinical documentation, and medical coding. It also targets builders in EHR companies, healthcare ISVs (independent software vendors), and tech-enabled providers through a unified software development kit (SDK)  to directly integrate Amazon Connect Health’s point of care capabilities into their existing workflows. It is based on the company’s Amazon Connect cloud contact center platform. Netsmart, Veradigm, and Greenway Health all use it, with Netsmart claiming an increase in ambient documentation adoption by 275% in its 1,300+ client network. Amazon release, HIStalk 3/6/26, Mobihealthnews

UHS beefs up its behavioral health capabilities with Talkspace. Universal Health Services (UHS) is a national for-profit provider of health services that include acute care hospitals, behavioral health, healthcare management, and even a health plan. For UHS, expanding their behavioral health services faced staffing shortages that has stymied patient utilization and growth, plus creates a continuum of in-person and virtual telemental health.

Talkspace was a fairly early entrant in virtual behavioral health services. It has grown to national coverage with over 6,000 therapists despite being a cracked SPAC from June 2021. Back then, it went public at $8.90 on Nasdaq with approximately 152 million shares outstanding for a valuation of $1.4 billion. Six months later, shareholders sued for securities fraud, and by June 2022 shares had plunged to the dollar level, becoming a Cracked SPAC Poster Child. But they patched the cracks (unlike others) and closed 2025 with $229 million in revenue, profitable with an adjusted EBIDTA of nearly $16 million, and 1.6 million patient sessions. They rebuffed buyers until this week. UHS is acquiring for $835 million or $5.25 per share, a 10% boost on their closing 8 March, subject to the usual Talkspace shareholder and regulatory approvals. There is no mention of management or employee transitions. Closing is expected during Q3 this year. Talkspace release, Healthcare Dive, Becker’s

Really Short Takes!

  • Biometric ring Oura is buying Helsinki-based Doublepoint, a private company that enables gesture recognition in wearables. Doublepoint staff including the founders will join Oura and remain in Helsinki. Acquisition cost is not dislosed, but Oura seems to have enough cash on hand with last year’s $900 million Series E leading to an $11 billion valuation. Mobihealthnews
  • BCI implant developer Science Corporation raised $230 million in Series C funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, IQT and Quiet Capital were the main funders for a total funding of $490 million. Science is a competitor of Elon Musk’s Neuralink, but is concentrating on a BCI retinal implant aimed at restoring form vision to patients blinded by macular degeneration. PRIMA in a clinical trial restored vision to those blinded by geographic atrophy due to age-related macular degeneration. Mobihealthnews
  • And veteran telehealth robotics company VSee debuted the VSee AI Robot at HIMSS. According to their release, it is the first fully autonomous telehealth robot. It uses LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for navigation. VSee’s market is hospitals, ICUs, and health systems. Remote clinicians can independently navigate the robot directly to a patient’s bedside without engagement by onsite staff for rounding, telestroke response, and specialist coverage. Pretty neat! VSee release

News roundup: WeightWatchers in 45-day prepackaged Ch. 11, Neuralink BCI successful in ALS subject, telehealth VR reduced TMD pain–study, AliveCor maxes up KardiaMobile 6L, TytoCare-Allina Health partnership, UHG-Amedisys divest some more

May 8, 2025 | by

WeightWatchers (WW) unburdens itself of debt in a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The reorganization under the bankruptcy filed yesterday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware will take $1.15 billion of a total $1.62 billion (as of March 2025) in debt off their books while providing it with enough capital to reemerge in an estimated 45 days or around 1 July, or less. The Chapter 11 plan retains $175 million from their revolving credit facility, reduces its annual interest payments by $50 million, and extends their debt maturity dates. With bankruptcy court approval, their lenders receive new secured debt and equity. In the company statement, CEO Tara Comonte expressed confidence about WW’s future:  “The decisive actions we’re taking today, with the overwhelming support of our lenders and noteholders, will give us the flexibility to accelerate innovation, reinvest in our members, and lead with authority in a rapidly evolving weight management landscape.” The first day hearing is on 8 May. WW release, Kroll case information

WW entered the GLP-1 prescription weight loss drug race relatively late, last October, with compounding semaglutide, which boosted their fortunes for a time. They acquired telehealth provider/clinical weight manager Sequence in mid-2023 [TTA 2 Mar 2023], then formed the WeightWatchers Clinic program by December [TTA 21 Dec 2024] Results this year were projected at 140-160,000 subscribers. But that was not enough to correct WW’s problems, which were a profound loss of total subscribers: in Q1 2025 3.4 million subscribers versus 4 million in Q1 2024, with 2.8 million of them. Stock had traded on Nasdaq for some months below $1, with today’s trading below $0.50. Shares had lost 71.9% over the past 12 months, making it a (money) loss for nearly all common stock holders. Morningstar

The (physical) weight loss segment now dominated by Hims & Hers, Ro, LifeMD–now with prescription deals for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy—and other telehealth providers and teleprescribers such as Teladoc, FuturHealth, RemedyMeds, Eden, and many others, made WW a latecomer. Even CVS Caremark got into the partnering act when it switched over to Wegovy from Lilly’s Zepbound in its standard formulary. This move may lure more members to its weight management program. As with Ro and LifeMD, the lowered cash pricing is $499/month. Healthcare Dive. For WW, is this a lasting cure or just kicking the can down the floor?

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) notch a big win. At the end of April, Neuralink confirmed its third successful implant, this one in an ALS patient, Brad Smith. The disease rendered him non-verbal, on a ventilator, and paralyzed below the shoulders. With the Neuralink brain implant, about the size of five quarters, he can now communicate verbally through his MacBook Pro and play video games only with his thoughts–essentially telepathy. He created a video using a voice cloned from previous recordings when he could speak, and using a mouse to create the narration. Previously, he used an eye gaze controller to communicate. This is truly miraculous and flying under the radar. Mobihealthnews, RedState  The previous recipients, Noland and Alex, are both paraplegics[TTA 21 Feb 2024].

Next up is Blindsight, which Elon Musk has said that will be tested in humans by the end of 2025 [TTA 10 Apr]. There is also a Canadian clinical trial, the “Canadian Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface” (CAN-PRIME) for subjects with tetraparesis or tetraplegia resulting from cervical spinal cord injury or the neurological disease ALS [TTA 27 Nov 2024].  A competitor of Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience, closed a Series C at $102 million last December.

A telehealth virtual reality (VR) solution effective for reducing chronic pain. A study published last month in Nature/NPI Digital Medicine demonstrated significan reductions in a 54-participant group, with some receiving telehealth-based immersive VR intervention on chronic orofacial pain (temporomandibular disorders or TMD) versus an audio-only (MP3) same-content control intervention and non-intervention on five-day ‘waves’. Pain intensity, unpleasantness, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and mood were monitored. There was significant reductions achieved with the immersive VR on pain intensity and other factors, with lesser results achieved with the MP3 intervention. The study directionally confirms results in other studies on lower back pain and other pain studies. Researchers were based in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Towson University.

Short takes:

AliveCor is adding to its new KardiaMobile 6L Max KardiaAlert. KardiaAlert is now integrated into KardiaCare, a subscription service for the KardiaMobile 6L Max AI-assisted ECG monitor. The consumer purchase of the KardiaMobile 6L Max includes the device and a one-year subscription to KardiaCare, which now includes the KardiaAlert feature. The six-lead KardiaMobile 6L Max identifies up to 20 arrhythmias with a clinician review. Introductory price is $169. Release

Allina Health deploying TytoCare at 12 urgent care locations. The Midwest health system is adding the TytoCare Pro Smart Clinic service to a dozen of its urgent health locations in order to shorten wait times and offer additional remote treatment. For Allina, this allows their urgent cares to see more patients, offer hybrid care, and additional services such as heart and lung exams (featuring AI-driven wheeze and crackle detection), throat and ear assessments, skin exams and body temperature measurements. Allina Health, with hospitals in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, already uses TytoCare remote monitoring in hospital settings. TytoCare release

UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys persist. The long-running and DOJ-challenged acquisition by UHG of Amedisys home care is once again trying to remove the anti-competitive stumbling block by divesting more home care and hospice operations, this time to BrightSpring Health Services and Pennant Group. This was disclosed in Amedisys’s SEC Form 8-K. It is contingent of course on the closing of the UHG buy. BrightSpring is based in Kentucky and Pennant in Idaho. Pennant’s own SEC filing lists their purchase price as $102.5 million. The total number of operations to be sold is not disclosed. UHG and Amedisys extended their runway on closing to 31 December in January.  Healthcare Dive, Home Health Care News

The Department of Justice has been prominently blocking the $3.3 billion UHG acquisition, announced in what seems an eon ago in June 2023, on anti-trust grounds nearly immediately after the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act) premarket notification was filed, but most recently in a civil lawsuit filed last November in District Court in Maryland. The DOJ was joined by the Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. It alleges elimination of competition, harm in over 100 markets, falsely certifying compliance with HSR Act requirements, withholding documents, and much more. Additional background on that lawsuit is here. As this Editor said when UHG won in Federal court on acquiring Change Healthcare, a win they have 190 million reasons why to regret, “DOJ has a long memory, a Paul Bunyan-sized ax to grind, and doesn’t like losing.”

Product & funding very short takes: South Australia 1st with Sunrise EMR; S. Korea pain research, new emergency services app; BCI + telehealth for stroke patients; VirtuSense monitoring launches at Emory; Series B raises for Nourish, Healthee

April 25, 2025 | by

Starting with international health tech developments…

South Australia Health has rolled out Altera Digital Health’s Sunrise Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Patient Administration System (PAS). The EMR and PAS is being implemented across over 100 hospitals and health services, in both metropolitan and rural areas, in South Australia. South Australia is fourth-largest state in Australia, covering 983,482 square kilometres, which makes it five times larger than Texas and 10 times larger than the UK–but has only 1.7 people per square kilometer, which makes healthcare service challenging. Altera Release

In South Korea, researchers at Asan Medical Center have developed a pain assessment model which can be used during surgery, a time when the patient cannot provide feedback. The metrics include tracking a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, and blood volume change during surgery, then using a machine learning algorithm combining them that confirms pain during and after surgery. The study tracked  242 AMC surgery patients. Mobihealthnews Also in South Korea, their Ministry of Health and Welfare’s emergency services 129 app has added new features to access health counseling via the web chat feature.  A 24/7 chatbot feature now answers inquiries about health and welfare-related policies. The Ministry has been developing health tech features to compensate for staff shortages, including a regional emergency system for patient classification and transfer, a multi-institutional real-time critical patient transfer management system, and an AI-based clinical decision support system for predicting cardiac arrest, cardiovascular diseases, and sepsis in emergency departments. Mobihealthnews

Back in the US, an intriguing combination of brain-computer interface (BCI) and telehealth for stroke. Neurolutions, a BCI company, is merging with telehealth provider Kandu Health. and have raised $30 million from Ally Bridge Group and AMED Ventures. Now known as Kandu, Inc., the combined company will provide an end-to-end solution for stroke survivors. Kandu’s app and care navigators provide support in the hospital-to-home transition for stroke patients and families. Neurolutions’ IpsiHand device is designed to improve arm and hand movement, reporting improvement in 70% of clinical trial patients. Kandu will now be able to offer telehealth rehabilitation, therapy monitoring, education, caregiver support, advocacy and navigation. Release, MedTech Dive

VirtuSense monitoring launched at Emory Healthcare for virtual nursing. The VirtuSense VSTOne monitoring and telemetry platform is being integrated into Emory’s virtual nursing initiative in Peoria-area (Illinois) hospitals, Midtown as the first and later Emory Hillandale Hospital for a total of eight inpatient units and 1,000 beds this year. VSTOne uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology in patient rooms to detect falls, continuous monitoring of patient data to anticipate deterioration or emergencies, and care staff to call directly into patient rooms to expedite admission, discharge, and general documentation. At Emory, it integrates with Epic MyChart Bedside TV. Release

In company fundings:

  • In the burgeoning ‘food as medicine’ segment, Nourish raised $70 million in a Series B funding round. Nourish works with national commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid plans to better manage and guide those with chronic conditions through nutrition. Users work virtually with registered dietitians along with a support app with AI meal tracking, wearable and lab integrations, recipes, and more. The funding was led by JP Morgan Private Capital’s Growth Equity Partners, with participation from Thrive Capital, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Maverick Ventures, BoxGroup, Atomico, G Squared, and Pinegrove. The fresh funding will be used for product development, expand Nourish’s Registered Dietitian (RD) network, and strategic partnerships. Nourish is also a founding member of ATA Action’s new initiative, the Virtual Foodcare Coalition [TTA 10 Apr]. Release, Mobihealthnews
  • Healthee raised $50 million in an oversubscribed Series B round from Key1 Capital, with participation from Fin Capital, Glilot Capital Partners, and Group11. Healthee’s health benefits platform uses AI to help employees navigate healthcare and benefits and simplify a complex enterprise benefits system. Interestingly, Healthee management claims that they did not seek the funding but were sought after. They will use it for scaling their product suite, go-to-market operations, and deliver intuitive, AI-powered tools for benefits. Release, Mobihealthnews

Neuralink BCI human implant subject moving computer mouse by thought: Elon Musk

February 21, 2024 | by

The first patient implanted with the Neuralink brain-computer interface (BCI) reportedly is well and has moved a computer mouse cursor by thought. Mr. Musk said this Monday during an X Spaces event, according to Reuters. The thought control is limited to moving the cursor around the screen. Quoted in the Independent (UK), Musk said, “We’re trying to get as many button presses as possible from thinking. So that’s what we’re currently working on is: can you get left mouse, right mouse, mouse down, mouse up… We want to have more than just two buttons.” This is rapid progress, given that the implant was reported on 1 February.

Ars Technica discusses a salient point, which is ethics around reporting a medical study via, in this case, social media, and by the company founder. It is not the way that research is conventionally conducted especially at an early stage. Ars quotes two bioethics professors who wrote a brief essay on this published by the Hastings Center. The PRIME study took only quadriplegic volunteers and the study received a go-ahead from the FDA for this early feasibility study. The money quote: “When the person paying for a human experiment with a huge financial stake in the outcome is the sole source of information, basic ethical standards have not been met.” (However, in the view of the Editor, this entire ethical standard was fractured beyond repair by the Covid fiasco.) The writers also target the researchers, doctors, and other medical professionals taking part in the research. But taking this further, what happens if, as in many studies of high-risk devices, things go wrong? If this Editor were advising Mr. Musk, I would tell him to let his company and scientists do the talking–and stay mum until more solid results are achieved, or not. The two bioethicists also make the point that it could raise the hopes of those with serious paralysis, but that is true of all medical research. Another interesting discussion on Neuralink’s potential is on Yahoo!Finance. Previously in TTA 1 Feb. 

News roundup: Musk’s Neuralink implants first human BCI; Cigna’s $3.7B MA sale to HCSC; no Amazon deal for iRobot; DispatchHealth-Instacart food Rx; 5 India health tech fundings (updated)

February 1, 2024 | by

Elon Musk first out (again) with a human brain-computer interface (BCI). Announced Monday by Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, is the first human implant of a BCI. No details in the tweet beyond “recovering well’ and “promising neuron spike detection”. The device is a cosmetically invisible implant (N1) in the part of the brain that plans movements. It interprets neural activity, sending a signal to a computer or smartphone through thought. The N1 device, containing several dozen threads holding over 1,000 electrodes, is implanted by a R1 robot. FierceBiotech, MM+M Online

The subjects of the PRIME study are likely those recruited last fall after the FDA approved proceeding with a clinical trial. A blog post on the Neuralink website recruited adult volunteers with quadriplegia–paralysis of the arms and legs caused by a cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Earlier, Neuralink raised $280 million in a Series D led by Founders Fund. FierceBiotech 8 Aug 2023  There were difficulties, however. Within the past two years, Reuters reported 1,500 animal deaths over four years of research that attracted the attention of the Department of Transportation (DOT) (!) and the Department of Agriculture’s inspector general. FDA held up approval of human clinical trials until last year.

Research and companies in the BCI race have been making news since at least 2016 but have not reached clinical trials. In 2022 Synchron had an oversubscribed Series C of $75 million for the Stentrode blood vessel device (in clinical trials) and Synchron Switch BCI devices [TTA 17 Dec 22]. Last year, Precision Neuroscience raised $41 million in a Series B [TTA 28 Jan 23]. Their focus is on treatment of neurological illnesses and events such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and dementia. Of course, one could debate implant ethics, but not for these limited uses right now.

To no one’s surprise including the relatively low price of $3.7 billion, Cigna sold its 600,000-member Medicare Advantage business to HCSC, beating out Elevance (the former Anthem). Cigna is also selling its supplemental benefits and Medicare Part D plans, along with CareAllies, a subsidiary that assists primary care practices with value-based care in Medicare and commercial plans. Together, they cover 3.6 million people, but the now-money-losing MA business represented only 2% of the total MA market. Closing is expected to be in 2025, subject to the usual regulatory approvals. HCSC currently operates in five states and this marks a major growth opportunity for them, if they pass state and Federal scrutiny.

Update: Some speculation remains that now that Cigna has agreed to sell the MA and other businesses, a Humana buy may be more of a go–at a reduced price given Humana’s recent earnings difficulties. This feels, to this Editor, like whistling in the dark. Prima facie, it ignores two factors: the major stumbling block was their respective strengths in pharmacy benefit management (PBM) though with different focuses, and that Cigna, having rid themselves of a money loser in MA, would buy it back and take on short term pain just to get bigger. Perhaps the two, because they seem to like dancing with each other, may partner in some areas like home health or other services, but for now the regulatory landscape is waaaay too hostile to mega-mergers in healthcare and the shareholders feel the same. Why buy the cow, etc.? MedCityNews  Further evidence? The CEO bragged about the sale as moving towards a leaner and more focused organization (the new catchphrase) on the 2 February earning call, as well as their interest in providing services via their Evernorth unit to MA providers, such as tying pharmacy services to the MA plans for four years after the HCSC buy. Healthcare Dive

iRobot sale to Amazon fails due to “no path to regulatory approval”, company lays off 31% of staff. In more bad news for Amazon, regulatory disapproval by the EU finally put paid to the deal for the Roomba maker. The EU found that Amazon’s ownership would have restricted competition in the robot vacuum cleaner category by restricting access to Amazon’s marketplace. This is no different than the FTC and DOJ in the US which blocked it for two years. Amazon will pay iRobot a $94 million breakup fee, which the latter will need as their market capitalization has crashed to $400 million from the $1.7 billion original sales price.  iRobot is reducing staff by 350, its CEO is also stepping down immediately, and they are concentrating now on margin improvements, restricting lines of business, and reducing R&D. CNBC  Consider this Lina Khan’s first ‘scalp’ in her War on Amazon.

DispatchHealth, an in-home care provider, has a new partnership with Instacart, a food delivery service, to directly address nutrition needs for their advanced care patients being treated at home.  Dispatch provides same-day, urgent medical care; hospital alternative care; and recovery care. With Instacart Health, Dispatch creates meal plans and medically tailored meals through shopping lists on Instacart that can be delivered direct to home. Payment must be made by the patient or if their Medicare Advantage plan permits. Food is a significant part of social determinants of health (SDOH) and Dispatch has found that 33% of their patients struggle with this and 22% have serious food insecurity. Orders can be made by phone, phone app, or website. McKnights Home Care, Mobihealthnews, DispatchHealth release   DispatchHealth has also experienced recent layoffs of 88 employees. Home Health Care News

And now for something completely different. India has been buzzing with several fundings in digital health. The roundup’s from Mobihealthnews with additional information from other sources:

  • CureBay, a rural-focused e-clinic from visits to lab tests and prescriptions with 90 locations, scored another Rs 620 million ($7.5 million) in funding as part of a Series A round led by Elevar Equity. IndianStartUpTimes
  • Mental health platform Amaha raised over Rs 50 million ($6 million) in an extended Series A funding round. The app-based treatement platform connects members with clinicians and psychiatrists. It also acquired the Delhi NCR-based Child and Adolescent Mental Health Institute, Children First, that has been providing support to 12,000+ families since its inception in 2008. Release
  • Healspan, an insurance tech startup that manages cashless health insurance claims for 60 hospitals, raised Rs 1.2 million (over $100,000) in pre-seed funding from a round led by startup accelerator PedalStart. ExpressHealthcare India
  • FlexifyMe, a chronic pain digital therapeutics platform with AI-powered patient scanning, gained pre-seed funding from angel platform ah! Ventures Angel Platform. Based in India but with operations in the US and Dubai, their therapy addresses back pain, cervical pain, spondylosis, and other conditions via what they term a unique combination of online physiotherapy, yoga therapy, and AI. BiospectrumIndia  In October, they had raised $1 million from Flipkart Ventures. Times of India
  • Docosage, described as an AI-driven health solutions provider with a telehealth consult, e-prescribing, lab testing, and genetic studies platform, also has an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from an individual angel investor. The funding will be used for strategic partnerships by exploring collaborations with hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and incorporating tech advancements to enhance product features. ExpressHealthcare India 

*Updated 2 Feb for additional analysis around Cigna MA sale to HCSC and copy editing