The American Medical Association has always had an interesting relationship with digital health, vacillating between gadfly and cheerleader as it seeks to fulfill its role as the voice of physicians in industry conversations.
At the Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience: Empathy and Innovation Summit, an event held in Cleveland this week and organized in conjunction with HIMSS, AMA Board Chair Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. laid out the AMA’s perspective on the tremendous potential of digital health technology — as well as the many ways that potential is not being fulfilled.
Deep Lens, a digital pathology startup particularly focused on cancer trials, has brought in a $13.65 million Series A round, according to an SEC filing. The fundraise was headed by Northpond Ventures with additional support from prior investors Rev1 Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Tamarind-Hill Partners, according to a release.
According to the study by Global Market Insights, this 19.2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be largely fueled by worldwide telecommunication network developments, market opportunities in rural areas or those without easy access to healthcare services, and the continuing integration of healthcare and IT market sectors.
French consumer health device maker Withings has updated its sleep sensor mat with new capabilities that track breathing disturbances throughout a night’s sleep and could eventually warn users of sleep apnea.
Available through a free update, the feature builds on the Withings Sleep’s primary function of monitoring sleep cycles, heart rate and snoring, and then displaying scores and suggestions to users through the companion Health Mate App.
Teladoc Health has announced another acquisition that will bolster its growing international line of business. The US virtual care company will acquire Paris, France-based MédecinDirect, which provides confidential medical consultations via phone and internet.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Teladoc said “the acquisition will be immaterial to Teladoc Health’s financial results.”
French appointment booking and telemedicine service Doctolib has raised another €150 million ($170.3 million), bringing its total funding to around €235 million ($271 million) and its valuation to more than €1 billion.
General Atlantic, a global growth equity fund, led the round. Existing investors Eurazeo, Bpifrance, Kernel and Accel also contributed, along with unnamed German healthcare entrepreneurs.
There are scores of mental health related digital tools available on any of the major app stores. However, a recent study published in Nature Digital Medicine found that a majority of the apps studied do not provide evidence or peer-reviewed studies to back up their products.
“Scientific language was the most frequently invoked form of support for use of mental health apps; however, high-quality evidence is not commonly described,” the study’s researchers wrote. “Improved knowledge translation strategies may improve the adoption of other strategies, such as certification or lived experience co-design.”
Change Healthcare — a provider of health IT software that ranges from network data analytics to revenue improvement — announced this morning the acquisition of several key assets from blockchain-focused API startup PokitDok, including its software, IP and employees. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
It’s hard to have a conversation about technology innovations in 2018 without stumbling into the realm of blockchain. Since it first appeared on most people’s radars — thanks to the ever-turbulent bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — financial organizations, major retailers and even governments have investigated whether or not the trendy technology has something to offer.
For healthcare, blockchain is continually transitioning from an obscure technology to a viable tool for various administrative and data-focused use cases. But while players big and small might be curious about its potential, they’ll also need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to pilots and partnerships dedicated to the distributed ledger technology.
