News roundup: Proteus may be no-teous, DOJ leads on Google-Fitbit, HHS’ mud fight, Leeds leading in health tech, malware miseries, comings and goings

December 12, 2019 | by

Proteus stumbles hard, cuts back. The original ‘tattle-tale pill’ company, Proteus Digital Health, plans to lay off 292 people in the San Francisco Bay Area and to permanently close its three Redwood City and Hayward locations, starting 18 January, according to notices sent to California state and local offices, including the state employment development department. It is unclear where Proteus will be located after the closures.

This followed after Proteus failed to launch a twelfth funding round of $100 million. According to reports, they furloughed most of their employees for two weeks in November and are reorganizing. This is after a substantial number of investors have put in about $487M in funding through a Series H (Crunchbase), including a game-changing investment by Novartis dating back to 2010.  Proteus achieved unicorn status about three years ago, but its high-priced pill tracking technology with a pill sensor tracked by a skin-worn monitor reporting into a smartphone has a built-in limited market to expensive medication. Otsuka Pharmaceutical in 2017 partnered with Proteus for an FDA-cleared digital medicine system called Abilify MyCite that basically put an off-patent behavioral drug back into a more expensive tracking methodology. But Proteus remains a great idea on tracking compliance in search of a real market, and may not have much of a future. San Jose Mercury News, CNBC

But ingestible detectable pills are still being tested. On Monday, as Proteus’ bad news broke, eTectRx announced its FDA clearance of the ID-Cap System and its testing at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Fenway Health, focusing on HIV medication when used for treatment and prevention. Release, HISTalk

Department of Justice taking the lead on scrutinizing Google’s Fitbit acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission also sought jurisdiction over the transaction. According to the New York Post, “both agencies are concerned that a Google-owned Fitbit would give the search giant an even bigger window into people’s private data, including sensitive health information, sources said. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, all large mergers must file proposals with both the DOJ and the FTC, but only one antitrust agency reviews the merger.”

Coal from stockings being thrown about at HHS. According to POLITICO and the New York Times, the disagreements between Seema Verma, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Cabinet-level Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, have boiled over, enough to have to be settled by the President’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. According to the Times, both President Trump and VP Mike Pence have told them to find a way to work together. Both are administration appointees, but President Trump has not been reluctant to cut a mis-performing or overly contrary appointee loose. The latest salvo from those obviously not on Ms. Verma’s side was the revelation that she requested compensation for jewelry stolen on a business trip, contrary to government policy of course. She was compensated for other items which is standard. (Isn’t that what homeowners’ insurance is for? And what sensible person actually travels with valuable jewelry?) Under Ms. Verma, CMS has been quite progressive in developing new business models in Medicare fee-for-service, moving providers to two-sided risk, and innovating in both Medicare and Medicaid. It will either be settled, or one or both will be gone. Pass the popcorn.

Leeds picks up another health tech company. Mindwave Ventures is opening an office there, as well as appointing Dr Victoria Betton and Dr Janak Gunatilleke to the roles of chief innovation officer and chief operating officer. Mindwave develops technologies around digital products and services in healthcare and health research. Leeds reportedly is home to over 250 health tech companies and holds an annual Leeds Digital Festival in the spring [TTA 11 April].

Ransomware attack hits Hackensack Meridian. Systems were down for about a week. While this large New Jersey health system hasn’t admitted it, sources told the Asbury Park Press that it was ransomware. And if it’s not ransomware, its Emotet and Trickbot. Read ZDNet and be very apprehensive for 2020, indeed, as apparently healthcare is just one big target.

Comings and Goings: There may be some end of year bombshells, but after last week’s big news about John Halamka, it’s been fairly quiet. Paul Walker, whom this Editor knew at New York eHealth Collaborative, has joined CommonWell Health Alliance as executive director. Mr. Walker was most recently Philips Interoperability Solutions’ vice president of strategy and business development. CommonWell’s goal is improving healthcare interoperability and its services are used by more than 15,000 care provider sites nationwide. Blog release, Healthcare Innovation ….Dr. Jacqueline Shreibati, the chief medical officer for AliveCor, is joining Google Health in the health research area. Mum’s the word when it comes to Fitbit (see above). CNBC ….Peter Knight has pleaded guilty to falsifying educational credentials to gain his position as chief information and digital office at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He held that position from August 2016 until September 2018. BBC News

Leeds Digital Festival 2019: a two-week showcase of digital health and care

April 11, 2019 | by

100% Digital Leeds, Tuesday 23 April – Sunday 4 May, Leeds, several venues including Co>Space North

This Editor is quite surprised at a two-week festival mainly about digital health and care in Leeds, but this program seems to have something for everyone–tech developers, interested consumers, medical staff, NHS policymakers, and many more. 

100% Digital Leeds centers around the city’s health mission statement–“Our city’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2016-2021 sets out a clear vision that ‘Leeds will be a healthy and caring city for all ages, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest’. This includes maximising the benefits from information and technology as a key priority.”

There are 16 events planned across the two weeks as of now, with such intriguing titles as “The future for artificial intelligence in health and care – dystopian future or digital paradise – you decide!”,  a session on teen mental health and social media, “Putting the human into redesigning health and care services”, a session on design, and “Can digital offer sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers?” which is the first I’ve seen this topic addressed.

The events are curated by mHabitat on behalf of Leeds City Council and NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Key speakers will include representatives from the event program’s sponsor, the UK’s leading privately-owned IT and business consultancy BJSS, NHS England, NHS Digital, international speakers, academic experts, patients and citizens with first-hand experience of using digital to manage their conditions, and industry.

Much more on the Leeds Digital Festival website here including detailed descriptions of the sessions and venues. #LDF19, Twitter and Instagram @wearemhabitat  Hat tip to Anna Goddard of KC Communications for the alert.

Tender Alert: advance notice for NHS England/Leeds online consultation system

October 18, 2017 | by

Susanne Woodman, our Eye on Tenders, has offered Readers a ‘heads up’ on a future tender for NHS England in Leeds. This is for the establishment of a national dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for the procurement of online consultation systems. According to the listing on Tenders Electronic Daily–TED, the DPS will allow NHS contracting bodies (e.g. CCGs and GPs) to procure online consultation systems in a robust and compliant way on a regional/local basis. “Online consultation is also increasingly a key part of patient pathways in urgent care, and the 111 Online programme seeks to connect patients to urgent care settings following a digital triage….to bring together a seamless experience for patients bridging primary and urgent care needs.”

This initial expression of interest is to gather information on the opportunity and to give interested parties the opportunity to ask clarification questions about the process. Deadline is 19 November for this information gathering exercise. Download any associated documentation via the In-Tend e-procurement system via the following link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home. This may be part of an eventual investment of £45 million towards the purchase of online consultation systems.

The King’s Fund: ‘Sharing health and care records’ Leeds 13 Dec

October 18, 2017 | by

Wed 13 December, 9.00am-4.30pm
Horizon Leeds, Kendall Street, Leeds 

The King’s Fund is hosting a December conference in Leeds on the digital sharing of health and care records. Delivering the key benefits of coordinated care requires three things: the appropriate technology, the right governance structure and a culture of adoption. Attendees will learn more at this full-day event about:

  • The direction of national programmes on interoperability and data sharing across and between local areas
  • Case studies from around England where teams have developed ways to share health and care records locally
  • The challenges involved in implementing data sharing across and between local areas and learn how others have overcome them

Keynote speakers include Will Smart (CIO, NHS England), Prof. Maureen Baker (Chair, Professional Record Standards Body), Andy Kinnear (Director of Digital Transformation, NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit and Chair, BCS Health), Nicola Quinn (Project Manager, Health Informatics Unit, Royal College of Physicians), and Jan Hoogewerf (Programme Manager, Health Informatics Unit, Royal College of Physicians).

For complete information, agenda, and to register, click on the sidebar advert or here. TTA is pleased to be a long-time supporter of The King’s Fund and a supporter of this event. Hat tip to Claire Taylor of The King’s Fund–if you are interested in supporting this conference, contact her here.

A clutch of interesting digital health events

September 29, 2016 | by

DHACA is holding its tenth DHACA Day on October 6th, three minutes’ walk from Leeds station. We have a wide array of fascinating speakers, with a keynote by Bethany Gildersleve, Head of Operations at NHS Digital. Membership of DHACA is free, though we have to make a small charge for lunch. For more details, and to book, go here.

The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is holding an event on Point-of-Care-Testing, a technology that enables radical improvement to care pathways that improve patient outcomes and can dramatically reduce costs. Keynote will be Prof Chris Price, Visiting Professor in Clinical Biochemistry, University of Oxford, widely recognised as the leading authority in the world on the topic. For more details, and to book, go here.

The RSM has an earlybird (ie even lower cost) offering for our mHealth app conference on April 4th 2017 – these rates will last until 29th November. For more details, and to book for this event, now in its fifth year & which has serially sold out, go here.

The RSM is also has another long-running and regularly very well-attended event on 28th February entitled Recent Developments in Digital Health. Last February’s presentation by Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google DeepMind, is still being talked about. Details and booking here.

Finally the London Health Technology Forum has its first Autumn meeting on 20th October, covering the true story of how a start-up made its first sale to the NHS from both the point of view of the seller and from that of the NHS buyer. Attendance is completely free – book here. (While you’re at it, you may want to book for the Christmas Pitch too, as it’s certain to be fully booked before it takes place on 24th November.)

Disclosure: all the above have had some involvement, to a greater or lesser extent, from this editor.

Catch-up: what you may have missed whilst on holiday

August 31, 2016 | by

This was the month when the UK Press seemingly finally woke up to the existence of STPs (Sustainability & Transformation Plans). This article by Derek du Preez and this in Digital Health are two one of a few that pick out the hope that digital health can help with making the NHS more sustainable. Sadly the headlines were grabbed with concern over closing hospital beds, which politicians in the UK still seem to consider to be a Bad Thing. Even though hospital beds have been reduced in most European countries over recent years, and those such as Denmark now trumpet reductions in hospital beds as progress, we have still to break the connection in people’s minds in the UK that beds are a good surrogate for health service delivery volume, (even though when pressed no individual seems keen to spend longer in hospital than absolutely necessary, or would prefer a treatment as an inpatient over treatment as an outpatient.)

Though not directly connected, the NHS offered over £100m to acute care trusts for “global digital excellence” – in line with the previous comments, perhaps the money could alternatively be spent on the UK building on its excellent primary care IT with the specific intention of moving more treatment out of hospitals…and follow that up with a proposal to put the hospital that is judged to be the least “globally digitally excellent” (more…)

Call for app presenters at the ADASS Care Apps Showcase 2015 – Monday 19 October 2015

June 24, 2015 | by

This social care-oriented event takes place at the Carriageworks Theatre, 3 Millennium Square, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 3AD.

This is a unique opportunity to present to key decision-makers, funders and influencers in the adult social care sector. About 200 people in one room will be waiting to be impressed by your app to help people with social care needs and their carers. These people will be in a position to recommend or directly commission such apps (and related services). The core part of the day will be a series of 5 minute pop-up pitches to the plenary audience. Delegates will then vote with their feet to hear a more detailed presentation and take part in Q&A discussion in a break-out room.

In short, it’s a unique opportunity to sell your offer and get immediate feedback from a key audience.

There are slots for just 11 presenters and there are hundreds of apps out there being deployed and developed. Therefore, there is a selection process that is fair and transparent.

‘Care apps’ included in this event fall broadly into two types:

a) Council-managed self-service applications, e.g. citizen portals to existing case management systems, e-marketplaces, online information & advice / triage, self assessment of needs & finance.
b) Consumer apps, e.g. for: sharing tasks between informal carers promoting community sharing or time-banking for people with care needs telecare for staff to use with carers / clients special user interfaces for the elderly to easily Skype, email, etc management of care finances monitoring wellbeing.

Both types of “app” might be combined with a service of some kind by you as app provider, e.g. a telephone support service.
Excluded: apps primarily designed to diagnose or monitor specific health conditions or any app that could be designated a medical device.

For full details on how to apply and the selection process are here.
All applications are to be sent to tina.gallagher@techuk.org by close of play on Tuesday 30 June.

Alternatively if you would like to attend as a delegate you can book online at the tech_UK website.