TTA Where *Is* Spring? 3: SPACs–why they cracked, Hinge Health and FTC-PBM delays, Transcarent’s tune change, UK’s pivot on NHS research data, why OpenAI is losing its way, more!

April 11, 2025 | by

 

11 April 2025

It’s still a chilly Spring in your Editor’s whereabouts, but we have, fresh out of the hothouse, a bumper crop of news and opinion. The big read for the weekend is Halle Tecco’s quantifying of the Cracked SPAC phenomenon and what’s happened with OpenAI. Transcarent closes its Accolade buy and changes its tune to ‘one place’, Walgreens doing a bit better. In touting, Keir Starmer’s bet on NHS data research and Elon Musk on human trials for Neuralink Blindsight. Hinge Health may postpone its long-awaited IPO and FTC pauses its long-awaited toss of the book at PBMs. Plus a new Perspectives on rural healthcare and telehealth.

The weekend read: why SPACs came, went, and failed in digital health–the Halle Tecco analysis/memorial service; why OpenAI is going to be a bad, bad business (Grab the cuppa and lunch for a good read and podcast) 

Extra, extra!: ATA Action forms Virtual Foodcare Coalition, Ophelia and Spring Health partner on opioid treatment, ISfTeH renews NSA status with WHO (More action from ATA Action and a partnership to watch in telementalhealth)

Midweek roundup: Transcarent closes Accolade; Walgreens beats Street; New Mountain Capital’s Office Ally buy-in; Neuralink Blindsight human trial coming up; PM Keir Starmer touts NHS data research; FTC’s PBM litigation break (Transcarent’s pivot?)

Rock Health’s digital health Q1: more money, fewer deals, more additions and partnerships in ‘leapfrogging’ (Still in a minor key this year)

News roundup: Hinge Health may postpone IPO, Rite Aid may enter 2nd bankruptcy, Veterans Affairs committees want new EHR costs & timeline, fired Texas health plan head hired private eyes to spy on members, providers, lawmakers (The last one is shocking)

Perspectives: Bridging the Gap in Rural Healthcare Through Telehealth (From Yosi Health)

Last week: A relatively light news week in a so-far chilly, stormy Spring. Our top article is not one, but two dives into the Unicorn Known as Hippocratic AI. 23andMe’s sale isn’t attracting a lot of buyers (deliberate?) but presents even more problems for the users who took their surveys. Dr. Oz confirmed for CMS as HHS goes on a GLP-1 diet and then some. VA adds to their Oracle 2026 rollout, ATA Action enlarges, and DOJ seeks execution for Brian Thompson’s assassin.

News roundup: 9 additional VA centers named for Oracle 2026 EHR rollout; ATA Action acquiring, expanding with DTA; Dr. Oz to lead CMS while HHS cuts; DOJ seeks death penalty for Mangione  (VA creeps forward, ATA Action enlarges, HHS chops, justice awaits)
Are Hippocratic AI and AI “nurses” the wave of the future–or just another tide of hype? Two articles question. (A needed discussion on this particular unicorn and whether its AI capabilities are all they’re pitched to be)
23andMe’s slim list of prospective buyers–who must uphold privacy policies, according to the FTC. But what about that survey information? *Updated* (More problems with 23andMe’s sale–and if you took their surveys, they have more data on you)

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Telehealth & Telecare Aware – covering news on latest developments in telecare, telehealth and eHealth, worldwide.

Extra, extra!: ATA Action forms Virtual Foodcare Coalition, Ophelia and Spring Health partner on opioid treatment, ISfTeH renews NSA status with WHO

April 10, 2025 | by

Extra non-merger/financing news.

A new virtual food initiative from ATA Action. In another sign that the ATA Action portfolio is enlarging, they announced the formation of a new advocacy group, the Virtual Foodcare Coalition. The new group, composed of organizations ranging from food providers to telehealth and a law firm, is promoting healthy food as an integral part of healthcare. Their five policy priorities center on Federal laws, telehealth, and cross-state practices:

  1. The Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Act
  2. Funding for Medically Tailored Food and Food Benefits Management that Foster Optimal ROI and Sustained Impact
  3. Rationalize Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and School Meals; Align with Clean Food Initiatives
  4. Expand Reimbursement and Incentive Models for Telenutrition, Remote Monitoring Devices, Remote Therapeutic Monitoring and Foodscripts
  5. Facilitate Cross-State Nutritional Healthcare Delivery

The founding coalition members are: Albertsons Companies, Inc., Circle Medical, Foodsmart, hims & hers, Lifepoint Health, Nixon Law Group, Nourish, and Teladoc Health. With RFK, Jr. as head of Health and Human Services, there’s no better time. Release

Ophelia and Spring Health partner for opioid treatment. In another alliance to expand telehealth treatment versus standing alone, Ophelia, an opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment provider, will be joining with Spring Health in providing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) OUD for Spring Health’s employer and health plan clients. Spring Health’s telementalhealth clients include Adobe, Bumble, General Mills, Moda Health, Wellstar, and Guardian with a total access to 20 million lives. In return, Ophelia’s clients will now be able to access Spring Health’s behavioral health services, including therapy and psychiatric support, in an expansion of Spring Health’s portfolio. Release

Internationally, it’s another three-year agreement between ISfTeH and WHO.  ISfTeH, the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth, is formally a Non-State Actor (NSA) in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). That status has been renewed for another three-year period. In that regard, ISfTeH works on and provides input to Research on Quality of Care, the Global Telehealth Community of Practice (GTCoP), Digital Health Atlas, Global Digital Health Monitor, Guidelines on Cross-Border Telemedicine, the WHO Acute Care Action Network (ACAN), and more. ISfTeH members also have an opportunity to participate in some of the WHO’s annual constitutional meetings–contact here for more information. LinkedIn post. ISfTeH/WHO’s collaboration document. Hat tip to Frederic Lievens of ISfTeH.

Tender Alert: Luton, Coventry and Warwickshire, EU mHealth

August 30, 2017 | by

Susanne Woodman, our Eye on Tenders, has three for September–one for a major EU initiative.

  • Luton: Luton Borough Council is seeking tender submissions for Call Monitoring & Response Services for Assistive Technology Solutions (Telecare). It is currently being operated 24/7 by Wellbeing staff using Tunstall systems and services. Over 25,800 of Luton residents are over the age of 65 in this highly multi-ethnic area. Bid applications for this five-year contract valued at £210k are due by 21 September. Start date is 9 October. More information at Gov.UK. 
  • Coventry and Warwickshire: The Innovative Coventry and Warwickshire Test Bed Project funded by ERDF is seeking quotations to form a framework agreement to provide consultancy services for workshops in community healthcare services, e-health sectors, and assistive technology. The value of this contract is £8,000. Closing is 10 September. More information at Gov.UK.
  • EU mHealth Hub: The joint WHO and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative, ‘’Be Healthy, Be Mobile’’ is seeking a host for the EU mHealth Hub (‘’the Hub’’) as part of a Horizon 2020 funded project. They are pre-qualifying non-commercial EU institutions/organizations. Closing is 29 September at 1500 hours Geneva time. More information (including an eight-page solicitation guide) at the UN Global Marketplace. Requests for Expressions of Interest presentation (PDF)

The difficulty in differentiating telemedicine and telehealth

June 15, 2016 | by

Our Editors have always tried to cleanly define the differences between telemedicine, telehealth and telecare, even as they blur in industry use. (See our Definitions sidebar for the latter two.) But telemedicine, at least on this side of the Atlantic, has lost linguistic ground to telehealth, which has become the umbrella term that eHealth wanted to be only two or three years ago. Similarly, digital health, connected health and mHealth have lost ground to health tech, since most devices now connect and incorporate mobility. And there are sub-genres, such as wearables, fitness trackers and aging tech.

Poor telehealth grows ever fuzzier emanations and penumbra! Now bearing the burden of virtual visits between doctor and patient, doctor-to-doctor professional consults, video conferencing (synchronous and asynchronous), remote patient monitoring of vital signs and qualitative information (ditto), and distance health monitoring to treat patients, it also begins to embrace its data: outcome-based analytics, population health and care modeling. Eric Wicklund accumulates a pile of studies from initial-heavy organizations: WHO, HIMSS, HHS, Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP), ATA, TRC Network. All of which shows, perhaps contrary to Mr Wicklund’s intentions, how confusing simple concepts have become. mHealth Intelligence

A gallimaufry of short digital health items to start the day with

March 22, 2016 | by

The WHO has produced an excellent report on the state of eHealth in the European region, including a review of telehealth readiness. Ericsson have produced a very interesting report confirming what I guess anyone will have realised if they’ve traveled by public transport or have children: young people downloading video content are driving a surge in data usage: there’s much detail here though. Both are well worth the read.

Mentioning Ericsson reminds that the Telegraph recently produced a summary of the 20 best-selling mobile phones of all time – takes you back, with the substantial number once produced by Nokia.

The Royal Society of Medicine has it’s fifth annual medical app conference on April 7th – numbers booked have already well exceeded last year’s sellout so they are expecting to fill this year’s much larger conference venue. The focus this year is on the many legislative, regulatory and voluntary measures being introduced that will impact medical apps – there’s still room for old favourites though, such as Richard Brady’s always-topical (more…)