Veteran telemedicine robotics company VSee separates from its Labs subsidiary, moves to a single CEO.  Best known for its acute care telemedicine robots, most recently debuting at HIMSS an AI autonomous robot that navigates by LiDAR [TTA 12 Mar], VSee is now featuring on its website not only the iDoc telehealth platform but also multiple enterprise healthcare tools, such as for revenue cycle management, analytics, staffing optimization, remote monitoring, patient engagement, and more. Its latest move: sell off the VSee Labs subsidiary to now former co-CEO Milton Chen for the return of his ownership in the company–7% of their outstanding stock or 2,870,069 shares, plus making good on any remaining liabilities. At today’s Nasdaq Capital Markets valuation of $0.156, the purchase price was approximately $447,731. The rationale given in the press release was that it eliminated “a non-core and operationally distracting division”, a “strategic reset”, and that the retirement of shares enhanced shareholder value. With Mr. Chen’s departure, Dr. Imoigele Aisiku is now sole CEO and board chairman. VSee shares reached their $17/share peak on 27 May 2024 and fell precipitously from there. Release

Traditional PERS alert units are still a feature of senior housing and private homes. The problem is that many of these older systems, built for wireless 3G systems, don’t work so well anymore. Because wireless companies such as AT&T and Verizon shut down 3G services four years ago, these legacy PERS devices may appear functional but fail to connect to monitoring centers. Another issue is rural cell networks and landlines. The latter are being withdrawn in many areas to internet service, or moving from copper to fiber. Providers need to test their devices on the local 4G LTE cell networks for their customers in those areas to ensure that they work. PERS Insider, Saving Advice

Also noted in PERS Insider is South Korea’s “Talking Buddy”. It is a conversational AI chatbot service developed by Naver Cloud that places wellness calls to seniors. It can remind the client of the usual, such as eating, sleeping, hydration, and medications, but it also can be programmed for post-operative follow up. It can have reasonably interactive chats and in one case, identified a senior in distress, contacting a social worker. It was developed from a fever checker in the pandemic period. In the original New York Times/Japan Times article is a profile of Rowan’s SuperBrain, a tablet-based program designed by neuropsychiatrists that prompts users with early cognitive impairment through a series of brain exercises designed to stimulate memory and association. South Korea is facing a ‘tsunami’ of dementia patients, with an estimated 2 million expected by 2044. The disease carries stigma, especially among highly self-reliant Korean seniors who fear dependence.

South Korea is also expanding telehealth to foreign patients who visit the country for medical procedures. Korea is becoming a desirable destination for medical tourism, with about 2 million annual visitors. The Medical Overseas Expansion Act was amended to include telehealth services for these short-stay patients. These include remote pre-visit consultations and follow-up care at clinic or hospital-level medical institutions, continuous observations, counseling, education, diagnosis, and prescriptions. Healthcare IT News

Novellia garners $18 million Series A. The funding round for the New York-based company was led by Spark Capital with participation from Khosla Ventures, Acrew Capital, Bling Capital, and TMV, bringing Novellia’s total funding to $28 million. Their platform is targeted to patients with serious or chronic conditions, helping them to pull all their data from various health providers, add information, digitize paper records, and overall control their health history. Novellia most recently introduced a mobile app platform. The fresh funding will be used to scale Novellia’s AI-powered technology, adding emerging therapeutic areas such as GLP-1 and cardiometabolic, and the opportunity to share their information with medical researchers. This last feature is another revenue stream for Novellia, which then shares anonymized insights to pharma companies and diagnostics firms for R&D. Release, Mobihealthnews, MedCityNews