Weekly Alert
Only one truly dizzy deal — Signify Health — this week for a change. NHS apps try to get a handle on the pandemic and triage patients. Two US ‘neoinsurers’ raise big money, but one’s seeing the SEC and DOJ.
News and deal roundup: Signify Health’s $564M IPO, RapidSOS’ $85M Series C, Poland’s Telemedico raise, Livongo’s Zane Burke to Bardavon
NHS touts COVID-19 Test and Trace app; Livi’s MJog notifies users of vaccine jab info (Trying to turn the corner)
Lasting effects of the pandemic lockdown on health and wealth (More Bad News)
‘Neoinsurer’ Oscar Health goes for $100 million IPO; Clover Health’s big SPAC under SEC microscope (A tale of two insurers, one a potential scandal)
NHS digital triaging app eConsult closes £7 million funding round (Deals spreading in UK)
The Dizzy Deals keep on coming with 23andMe going SPAC-y with Richard Branson for $3.5bn. HIMSS goes ‘hybrid’ for Singapore–but Las Vegas F2F is a ‘maybe’. Telehealth usage soared dizzily but unevenly during the early pandemic. Not so dizzily in the UK, B-Secur ECG algorithms get FDA clearance and Scotland’s Project Liberty advances.
Belfast’s B-Secur obtains FDA 510(k) clearance for HeartKey ECG/EKG algorithm library (Plug and play?)
23andMe will go the SPAC route with Virgin Group in a $3.5 bn valuation (Ka-Ching!)
The shape of telemedicine during the first half-year of the pandemic: significant but wildly uneven usage (Income and speciality differences)
Short takes, 4 Feb: HIMSS 21 Global/APAC go ‘hybrid’; ATA announcements including virtual ATA2021; Hillrom acquires EarlySense monitoring tech
Communicare247 advances in Scotland’s Project Liberty social care with Stage 2 funding (Smarter homes for independent living)
Bluestream Health telehealth partners with Impresiv Health management consultants (Adding telehealth to client services)
Our third all-new Alert for 2021 has a bumper crop of 10 Dizzying Deals and equally dizzy debates about telehealth parity and coverage. And just as in the movies, Crime Does Not Pay (except in long prison sentences) for ‘telemedicine’ fraudsters being convicted as part of the $4.5 billion ‘takedown’.
Crime Does Not Pay–especially when defrauding Medicare of nearly $1 billion (Latest convictions in October’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown)
Telehealth parity, coverage, access debated in New Hampshire, South Dakota; CMS issues corrections to RPM in 2021 Medicare PFS rules (Will reimbursement advances stick?)
Funding, acquisition news roundup, round 2: Lyra Health’s $187M Series E, DarioHealth-Upright, GetWellNetwork-Docent Health, Hillrom-BardyDx (updated)
Funding news roundup: Philips buys Capsule, Hims’ SPAC + Privia partnership, Signify Health’s $100M IPO; closed funding for K Health, Aledade, Conversa Health
From Deals to COVID (only two scoops) to once again, Theranos and questions on Silicon Valley Startup Ethical Norms. The promise and peril of telehealth, especially in developing countries. Oddly, not much out of virtual editions of CES and JPM.
Comings, goings, and more: YouTube goes healthy, COVID vax distribution and EMA hack, IPO/M&A roundup, Japan’s health tech startups highlighted at CES
2021 predictions: telehealth law and if at all possible, stay away from FDA (US) (From law firm Foley; the wise advice on FDA is from Bradley Merrill Thompson)
COVID-19 and telehealth–promise or peril? And the perils of digital health in conflict countries and India. (JISfTeH’s latest edition)
The Theranos Story, ch. 69: Elizabeth Holmes ‘faked it till she made it’–like other Silicon Valley startups? (Updated) (Lifestyles of the Rich, Famous, and Busted)
Our first postings for 2021 focus on digital health’s funding Boom Town, also confirming that utilization gains made during the worst of 2020 are sticking. Haven, the three-headed hydra that was going to slay the ‘hungry tapeworm’, is closing. But never fear–CES and JPM are next week, with plenty of news to be expected.
Digital Health as Boom Town: 2020’s dizzying funding rounded up by Mercom Capital, StartUp Health (Funding fiddles merrily while COVID burns)
Telehealth claims rose 3,060 percent to October, settling in to over 5 percent of all claims–led by mental health (US) (Telehealth utilization sticks–but so is CoronaDepression)
New Year’s Deal and Event Roundup: Optum-Change Healthcare, Walgreens-Amerisource Bergen, December’s deal potpourri, CES and JPM (No sign of deal cooldown, and big events go virtual)
Haven finds no haven in healthcare, will close in February (Where lack of focus and an embarassment of egos will get you)
A few last thoughts for a year like no other in Modern Times. There was some news, including a big raise plus an IPO filing for a US payer and unavoidably on COVID for the Abbott antigen/telehealth test. And warm your heart with the visit of Liverpool FC to Alder Hey in West Derby.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happier 2021! (No matter where you’re locked down, and lucky you if you’re not!)
4 min 40 seconds of holiday cheer: Liverpool FC visits Alder Hey Children’s Hospital (Made possible by a telehealth robot)
News roundup, lockdown edition: Oscar Health’s $140M raise, IPO filing; Centene’s Diameter Health investment; Abbott’s telehealth-guided COVID antigen test
Telehealth getting the big US push between the Milken Institute report and a consortium of industry groups pressing Congress for national reimbursement. Even Amazon gets into the act–sort of. Contact tracing and vaccination get a customized notification approach. More confirmation of the ubiquity of ‘lockdown loneliness’, spiking for the already depressed and anxious. For those developing new products, we introduce you to an R&D resource.
Developing a medical, healthcare, or life sciences product? Here’s a R&D resource.
News roundup: Milken Institute’s telehealth brief with ATA push on Congress, GoodRx confirms 62% are CoronaDepressed, Johns Hopkins’ COVID mortality risk study and calculators (Big US telehealth push, more isolation depression confirmation, and calculate your COVID risk)
AI-powered contact tracing as part of an ‘application ecosystem’ for COVID-19 information and vaccination (A customized approach much better than constant annoying calls)
Amazon’s feint into large employer telehealth; HealthLake dives into structured health data analytics (Stick to your AWS knitting, Amazon)
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