Digital health news, funding round up in the prior week; January 30, 2023

Paradigm launched with $203 million; ReviveHealth bought SwiftMD; Dollar General and DocGo partnered

Top Health News

• Axxess, a home healthcare technology company, and healthcare information firm Dynamic Health IT partnered to help providers better serve patients and clients. Through this partnership, Axxess and DHIT continue to collaborate to ensure Axxess' suite of solutions earns the rigorous ONC-ACB certification. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) uses its certification to advance the development and use of health IT capabilities and establish expectations for data sharing.
• To help connect pregnant and postpartum Michigan residents to support and assistance, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services selected Royal Philips to provide access for Medicaid-eligible families to the Philips Pregnancy+ mobile application. The Philips Pregnancy+ App is the most downloaded pregnancy app in the world, with over 55 million downloads globally. It supports parents from the moment they discover they are pregnant by offering personalized content, expert-written information, as well as interactive 3D models to track a baby’s development.
• GMA Network, a media network in the Philippines, through GMA Ventures, its wholly-owned investment arm, partnered with Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health, a venture fund based in the United States focused on early-stage healthcare disruptors, to advance health-tech in the region. The partnership will foster greater innovation in the global health-tech industry by discovering the most promising healthcare entrepreneurs in the Philippines and helping them expand to the United States, while simultaneously helping US-based early-stage healthcare companies expand to Southeast Asia.
• Dollar General and publicly-traded telehealth and medical transportation company DocGo partnered to pilot mobile clinics at three of the discount retailer's stores in Tennessee. According to the company's website, DocGo will set up their mobile clinics in Dollar General's parking lots. The clinics will accommodate walk-in visits, or an appointment can be booked online, via text or by telephone. Patients can receive preventative care, urgent care and chronic condition management services for diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• Imricor Medical Systems, a provider of real-time interventional cardiac magnetic resonance ablation products, announced that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with GE HealthCare. Under the terms of the MOU, GE HealthCare and Imricor intend to collaborate to interface Imricor’s Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator and Northstar-MR 3D Mapping System with GE HealthCare MRI scanners. A successful collaboration will enable cardiac electrophysiology (EP) ablation procedures guided by real-time MRI, using Imricor’s catheters and other disposable devices, to be performed on the GE HealthCare MRI platform. The collaboration with GE HealthCare would expand Imricor’s potential to interface with GE HealthCare’s new and currently installed MRI scanners.
• Amazon unveiled RxPass, a new subscription model for Amazon Pharmacy, allowing patients to pay a flat monthly fee for all their drugs, even if they take multiple medications. With RxPass, members of Amazon Prime can pay just $5 a month and get access to as many commonly prescribed generic medications as they need; that includes drugs that treat more than 80 health conditions, such as high blood pressure, anxiety, or acid reflux. Depending on their prescription, RxPass members will also be able to have their medications delivered on either a monthly or quarterly basis. To determine whether a prescription medication is part of the RxPass program, patients can search for the name of the prescription on the Amazon Pharmacy website; they can also see the full list of medications, which can be sorted by alphabetical order, or can be searched by condition.
• A survey out from Pew found that over 75% of parents say they are worried that their children might struggle with anxiety or depression at some point. That included 40% who said they were extremely or very worried about this, while only 23% are not worried about the mental health of their children at all. Mental health topped bullying, which 35% said they are extremely or very worried about; children being kidnapped or abducted, with 28%; and their children being beaten up or attacked, which 23%. were extremely or very worried about. Mothers are more likely than fathers to worry about their children’s mental health, with 46% of mothers, but only 32% of fathers, saying they are extremely or very worried that their children would develop anxiety or depression. Other potential issues saw a similar split, with 41% mothers vs 28% fathers worried about bullying; 35% vs 18% worried about kids being abducted or kidnapped; and 30% vs 19% about them being beaten up or attacked. When broken down across racial and ethnic lines, 42% of White and 43% of Hispanic parents say they are extremely or very worried anxiety or depression, while 32% of Black parents and 28% of Asian parents said the same.
• A survey, conducted by health insurance data analytics firm Deft Research, and sponsored by Posit Science, maker of BrainHQ brain exercises, found that 96% of people on Medicare said that plans offering physical fitness benefits should offer brain fitness benefits as well. Over 90% also said that brain health is equally, or more, important than physical health; a health brain benefit topped other potential benefits that plans might offer, including a gym, virtual fitness, Personal Emergency Response Services, helper, companion, transportation, emergency travel assistance, meals, acupuncture and massage. More importantly, the vast majority, 85%, also said they would the benefit if they had it, with 34% saying they were extremely or very likely to do so.
• UnitedHealth Group invested $10 million Invest Appalachia Fund which is putting money back into the region, specifically around community health, affordable housing, clean energy, community revitalization, and food and agriculture. It also raised another $9 million came from fellow lead investors The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Appalachian Regional Commission, along with Cassiopeia Foundation, Laughing Gull Foundation, and Sugarbush Valley Impact Investments. IA Fund invests in community development in Appalachian counties in six states: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, and is designed to complement existing forms of community investment. Therefore, most of its investments are in partnership with place-based lenders or funders, such as CDFIs, loan funds, community foundations, or other community-based investors. Investment recipients include for-profit businesses, non-profits, or social enterprises.
• Tia, and in-person and virtual care provider, announced a new partnership with Cedars-Sinai, with the goal of expanding access to primary and specialty care for women across Los Angeles. Through this partnership, Cedars-Sinai medical directors and specialists will work with Tia medical directors and providers, sharing clinical protocols and care coordination. They will also work on coordinated measurement and improvement on quality metrics to improve patient outcomes and women's healthcare standards, as well as technical integration, which will eventually include shared clinical notes, medical records, care coordination, and quality data reporting. As per this partnership, Tia also opened its second Los Angeles-area clinic, located in Santa Monica, in collaboration with Cedars-Sinai; the company opened it first LA-based clinic, located in Silver Lake, in 2021, and it now plans to open additional clinics later this year in Pasadena, Studio City and Culver City.
• The U.S. Trade and Development Agency announced that it awarded a grant to Indonesia’s Ministry of Health for a feasibility study and pilot project to develop a national imaging data repository. The NIDR will allow healthcare providers to reach, diagnose and treat underserved communities across Indonesia using a cloud-based centralized warehouse for patient information. Illinois-based GE HealthCare will partner with MoH on performing the assistance.
• Vial, a tech-enabled CRO providing clinical trial management services, partnered with RecensMedical, a South Korean medical device company. RecensMedical develops innovative cooling technologies across an ever-expanding array of procedures. Vial will be supporting RecensMedical with their Phase III clinical trial for their Ocu-Cool system, which includes a precision cooling medical device focused on delivering rapid cooling anesthesia for painless intravitreal injection therapy. Ocu-Cool aims to be the first ever medical device from South Korea to receive de novo clearance from the US FDA. Vial's Ophthalmology CRO will work closely with the RecensMedical team through the completion of the Phase III "COOL-3" clinical trial.
• CDC launched the COVID-19 Testing Locator website, which will allow consumers to search for free COVID-19 testing sites near them. The locator is part of the CDC Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program, which provides access to COVID-19 testing, focusing on communities at a greater risk of being impacted by the pandemic, people who do not have health insurance, and surge testing in state and local jurisdictions. Tests offered may include laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, and rapid antigen point-of-care (POC) testing. Results are typically provided within 24–48 hours. Testing is available at pharmacies, commercial laboratory sites, community sites, and retail locations.
• Kroger Health, the healthcare division of The Kroger Co., announced the establishment of its clinical trial site network in conjunction with pharmaceutical industry sponsors, contract research organizations, and health systems. The announcement comes with Kroger's first trial in active recruitment for colorectal cancer gut and immune health observation.In collaboration with Persephone Biosciences, Kroger Health is actively recruiting for the ARGONAUT clinical study to identify microbiome-based biomarkers indicative of colorectal cancer. Beginning in the Toledo, Ohio area, select Kroger pharmacies and its affiliate, The Little Clinic LLC, locations will enroll its initial cohort of 55 people with a variety of colorectal cancer risk levels to advance the understanding of gut and immune health. During the next year, Kroger Health plans to enroll additional participants and increase its locations.
• Carrum Health, a digital health company connecting employers and employees to Centers of Excellence through a technology-powered value-based care platform, announced an arrangement with the University of Chicago Medicine to bring value-based breast cancer treatment and care to self-insured employers and their employees in the Midwest. Eligible patients can now receive treatment for non-metastatic breast cancer at UChicago Medicine, including surgery, reconstruction, chemotherapy, and radiation, for up to two years through Carrum Health's fixed-price comprehensive cancer care bundle.
• Biofourmis, a global technology-enabled care delivery provider, announced a multi-year agreement with Orlando Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that serves the southeastern United States. Orlando Health will leverage Biofourmis' solution to support its program, which will enable providers across Central Florida to safely and effectively deliver hospital-level care to patients in their homes.
• Sysnav Healthcare and Roche entered into a partnership to facilitate development of industry standard outcome measurements in diseases associated with movement impairments, as well as designing the next generation of wearable technology based on Sysnav's unique technology. Sysnav Healthcare and Roche have expanded their collaboration across multiple programs to develop meaningful digital endpoints that will monitor disease progression, support clinical trials and serve as regulatory approved standards of outcome measurement. The partnership will also develop the next generation wearable technology to further promote personalised healthcare. 
• Trinity Health, a not-for-profit Catholic health systems, and Strive Health, a value-based kidney care company, announced a collaborative effort to deliver high-quality, whole-person care for Loyola Physician Partners patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease. Strive Health will work together with Loyola Physician Partners to pilot specialized population health programs and capabilities to serve CKD and ESKD patients in the greater Chicago area. The goal of the pilot program is to deliver a new clinical care model that helps patients slow the progression of the disease and preserve their kidney function as long as possible.
• Spatially Health a cloud-based, technology company focused on pioneering new methods in geospatial analytics and location intelligence to better understand and improve social determinants of health, announced a partnership with ACO Health Partners, Shared Savings ACO. The partnership will leverage Spatially Health's Equity EqualizerTM platform, which identifies health equity barriers at the patient level and provides targeted intervention recommendations that enhance patient engagement and improve medical management programs. Spatially Health's tech platform will integrate with ACO Health Partners' current workflow to identify SDoH barriers facing each ACO Health Partners patient. The proprietary geospatial and analytics models in Spatially Health's Equity EqualizerTM platform holistically analyze the SDoH of individual patients and then recommend targeted interventions to address the SDoH barriers for each patient. Further, Spatially Health's Equity EqualizerTM platform is dynamic, adjusting with each set of added patient data, so that it evolves with ACO Health Partners throughout the upcoming weeks, months, and years, giving accurate and sustainable recommendations to improve patient health outcomes. Additionally, the platform also ranks patients by vulnerability, so that the most vulnerable population's needs can be addressed first.
• Tampa General Hospital and the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council announced a partnership to expand and enhance Tampa's burgeoning Medical and Research District. This district, inspired by renowned medical districts in the nation's greatest cities, houses a growing hub of world-class clinical care, academics, research, and biotechnology anchored by one of the largest academic health institutions in the nation – Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Together through this partnership, the Tampa Medical and Research District will attract renowned clinicians and researchers, resulting in increased access to experts, cutting-edge research, education and technology for patients and students. Serving as a collaborative, economic engine for the greater Tampa Bay area, the district will stimulate new partnerships, and create prosperity through new jobs, thriving industries and a healthier population in this region. Additionally, and based on a study by the Washington Economics group, the district is expected to ultimately generate over $8.3 billion in annual economic impact to the state of Florida every year, and support more than 57,900 jobs.
• Health Gorilla, a Health Information Network and interoperability platform, launched Pharmacy Data, a new product enabling seamless access to complete medication history data from most major pharmacies. Pharmacy Data is powered by a new partnership with DrFirst and its MedHx Population Risk Management solution to provide deduplicated medication history from local and national data sources, including prescribing data, pharmacy dispensing data, and pharmacy benefits manager claims.
• RIMAC Seguros, an insurance company in Peru with 3 million customers, announced they entered into a strategic partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center, a corporate innovation platform based in Silicon Valley. RIMAC Seguros joined the Plug and Play Health program to leverage early-stage emerging technology incubating in the U.S. and around the world. The collaboration will enable RIMAC Seguros to increase consumer access to innovative digital-first solutions that help them lead healthier lives.
• Flipt, a healthcare technology and services company that offers a new approach to pharmacy care focused on improving pricing and patient access for prescription medications, announced that it has entered into a multi-year services agreement with Evio Pharmacy Solutions. Flipt's primary product and service offerings include proprietary software-as-a-service pharmacy benefit administration tools and full-service pharmacy benefit management services focused on advancing a patient-first, value-based model for pharmacy care. Through this agreement, Evio will use Flipt's technology platforms to offer its employer group customers unique and innovative tools that advance price transparency and help members make informed medication choices.
• Yoomi, a digital health company focused on improving the standard of care in physical therapy, announced it is partnering with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to explore how technology can mobilize patients effectively in physical therapy programs. The study will leverage artificial intelligence, motion tracking technology, and real-time exercise feedback on the Yoomi platform to encourage engagement and exercise compliance in rehabilitation programs while aiming to improve health outcomes for patients treated at the medical school’s principal affiliate Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital–an RWJBarnabas Health facility.
• Innovaccer announced that UpStream Healthcare, a value-based primary healthcare provider solutions, has entered into a multi-year partnership agreement to more than double its population on Innovaccer's cloud-native platform over the next year, and will use it to scale UpStream's unique value-based care model nationwide. In April 2022, Innovaccer announced that UpStream Healthcare had chosen the Innovaccer Health Cloud, Data Activation Platform, and Application Suite to accelerate UpStream's mission to transform healthcare for seniors with a full-risk model proven to improve outcomes, ensure health equity, and reduce care costs. Engaged members on the UpStream platform have lower total cost of care by 20-30% while achieving an average quality rating of 4.5 Stars for Medicare and Medicare Advantage members.
• Valera Health, a telebehavioral health service that provides personalized team-based clinical care, partnered with Cascade Health Alliance to expand access of high-quality virtual behavioral healthcare services to individuals in Oregon. Valera's tech-driven mental healthcare services will be made available to CHA's patients, providing thousands of patients in Klamath County access to licensed therapists, nurse practitioners, case managers and psychiatrists. The partnership leverages CHA's outcomes based care and deep community ties with Valera's measurement based virtual delivery model, offering mental care treatment across all levels of care, including Serious Mental Illness.
• Crowe PR formed a strategic partnership with Smarty Social Media, an agency specializing in healthcare and medical device marketing. The firms have collaborated for clients such as DermTech, a melanoma testing company; Sonendo, a company that works to halt tooth decay; and Greater Good Health, which works on primary care access.
• Pressure BioSciences, a developer of broadly enabling, high-pressure-based products and services to the life sciences industry, and One World Products, the largest Black-controlled, fully-licensed hemp and cannabis producer in Colombia, announced they entered into an active collaboration agreement under which the two companies will combine their strong, symbiotic capabilities to develop an innovative line of next generation sports performance/recovery drinks.
• Curant Health, a national outcomes-based patient support organization, announced it was accepted into rare360, a Rare Advocacy Movement program dedicated to strengthening, protecting and unifying community-based activists and community focused allied stakeholders. The Rare Advocacy Movement’s rare360 program is prestigious & exclusive, available only to thoroughly vetted stakeholder partners. Industry, academic and advocacy-based stakeholders who qualify for a rare360 partnership must be community-focused and sincerely dedicated to improving the lives of patients and their families through respect and by upholding the established fair market value of lived-experience experts and professionals of the community-based landscape within the rare disease ecosystem. Furthermore, rare360 is designed to expedite the therapeutic development continuum, establishing a win-win for all stakeholders involved.
• Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy accelerator, announced that it partnered with Phoenix Children’s, one of the fastest-growing pediatric healthcare systems in the country, to develop a new specialty pharmacy program. The collaboration will provide patients who have complex, chronic conditions easier access to specialized pharmacy services designed to lower costs, expand treatment options, enhance medication management, and improve overall health. The partnership between Phoenix Children’s and Shields will initially serve patients with cystic fibrosis, with plans to expand to additional patient populations. Now, specialty pharmacy liaisons will guide patients and caregivers who fill prescriptions with Phoenix Children’s and will work with patients on-site. Among other things, these liaisons can assist patients and families with navigating barriers to care, such as health insurance prior authorizations or securing financial assistance.
• UCM Digital Health, a digital health provider, and MVP Health Care, a nationally recognized health plan, announced the launch of Treatment in Place. This new initiative will provide MVP members with access to the right care, at the right time, wherever they are, including at home, at work or in any other location. The Treatment in Place program is activated when an MVP member calls 911, and an EMS provider is dispatched to the member's location. Through the program, EMTs and paramedics in partner organizations now have access to the UCM team, including their medical staff and team of care coordinators, to better enable treating the patient in their location. EMTs or paramedics then work with a UCM emergency medicine-trained physician via telemedicine to quickly treat patients with non-life-threatening conditions.
• Cook Children's, a not-for-profit, nationally recognized pediatric health care organization and Twisted X, which creates comfortable, handcrafted footwear for men, women, and children, joined together to create the Cook Children's by Twisted X Collection. Twisted X will donate 100 percent of wholesale proceeds from every pair of shoes sold from this collection directly to Cook Children's.
• Manipal Hospitals, one of India’s foremost healthcare providers, entered into an agreement with FUJIFILM India to leverage the latter’s digital technology for storing sensitive medical documents and images. Under the long-term agreement, Manipal Hospitals would be provided with a large-scale Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), powered by FUJIFILM India. The PACS eliminates the need for manually storing, retrieving, and sending sensitive information, films, and reports. In addition, the next-generation system will enable the storage of medical documents and images in secure off-site servers while the PACS software will ensure that such sensitive medical data can be accessed via mobile devices and workstations from anywhere in the world. The deployment will cover 23 hospitals and 45 Teleradiology facilities under the umbrella of Manipal Health Enterprises across the country.

M&A

• ReviveHealth, a whole health and integrated care company, acquired SwiftMD, a virtual care services company with a strong physician network
• ScionHealth, healthcare delivery network, closed its acquisition of a diversified healthcare company Cornerstone Healthcare Group
• Capsa Healthcare, a provider of workflow products that increase efficiency and reduce costs, enhance medication security and tighten inventory control across healthcare settings, acquired Tryten Technologies, a provider of lightweight, non-powered carts predominantly focused on enabling telehealth solutions
• Wellness Coaches, a national provider of clinical and wellbeing solutions, acquired Corporate Health Solutions, a provider of healthcare solutions to employers
• Radon Medical Imaging, a medical imaging equipment maintenance and repair services company, acquired Premier Imaging Medical Systems, a provider of maintenance services and sales for new, used and refurbished imaging and biomedical equipment
• Elevance Health acquired Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
• CareAcademy, a care enablement platform for home care and home health organizations, completed the strategic acquisition of assets from NextStep, a digital healthcare training and job placement company for certified nursing assistants
• Health HR, a human resources solution for doctors, acquired Physical Therapy Rehab Associates, a therapy staffing company
• Fujifilm completed its asset acquisition of Inspirata's digital pathology business

Funding Roundup 

• Waire Health, a provider of a remote patient monitoring device, raised £2 million
• Atlas medical technologies GmbH, a company that develops and distributes navigation systems for medical doctors, raised £2.4 million
• Precision Neuroscience Corporation, a brain–computer interface company developing implants that are designed to be high-resolution, minimally invasive, and reversible, raised $41 million
• Atomic AI, a biotechnology company fusing machine learning with structural biology to unlock RNA drug discovery, launched with $35 million
• Mighty Health, a platform that keeps seniors healthy and connected through coaching and exercise programs, raised $7.6 million
• Oxpit, a Lithuanian AI medical imaging company, raised $4.9 million
• MedCrypt, a proactive cybersecurity solution provider for medical device manufacturers, raised an undisclosed amount of funding 
• Health Payment Systems, healthcare technology and services organization with solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of the healthcare payments, raised $25 million
• Iaso Therapeutics, a startup developing novel technologies for next-generation vaccines, raised $1.25 million
• IQ Endoscopes, creator of a sustainable and single-use endoscopy device, raised £5.2 million
• UptimeHealth, a health technology company that simplifies medical device service through automation and predictive analytics, raised $4.5 million
• Elaborate, a tool that doctors and their staff use to deliver contextualized, action-oriented lab results to patients, raised $10 million
• Pearl Health, a company focused on physician enablement and risk bearing in value-based care, raised $75 million
• Angle Health, a digital-first health insurance provider, raised $58 million
• Precision Neuroscience, a brain–computer interface that developed a minimally invasive implant, raised $41 million 
• Medsi, a Mexican healthcare marketplace offering financial products, including a line of credit, to help members access care, raised $10 million
• Viking Analytics AB, a company developing AI-based machine health monitoring technology, raised over €3 million
• TRIPP, a developer of XR wellness technologies for consumers, enterprises, and clinics, raised an undisclosed amount of funding 
• People Science, a direct-to-consumer scientific research company providing a scaled research and development platform for alternative medicines, raised $5.3 million
• Smile Digital Health, a FHIR health data fabric and exchange solutions provider, raised $30 million
• Refined Laser Systems, developer of a microscopy procedure to support pathology in diagnosing cancer, raised €2.7 million
• Pearl Health, a company focused on physician enablement and risk bearing in value-based care, raised $75 million
• Alleviant Medical, amedical device company developing a no-implant interatrial shunt for heart failure, raised $75 million
• Paradigm, a healthcare technology company focused on improving access to clinical research for patients, launched with $203 million
• Starling Medical, an at-home urine diagnostic patient-monitoring platform, raised $3.4 million
• Miach Orthopaedics, a company transforming the treatment of anterior cruciate ligament tears from reconstruction to restoration, raised $40 million
• Mental Health Partnership, which helps mental health practices expand their outpatient psychiatry, counseling, and therapy services, raised $5 million

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