Digital health news, funding roundup in the prior week; July 5, 2022

Texas increased mental health funding; Walmart acquired Memomi; Nomad Health raised $105 million

Top Health News

• Following the Uvalde massacre, Texas leaders announced that they have agreed to dedicate $105.5 million in state funds to boost school safety and mental health services. $5.8 million will be spend on expanding telemedicine for children and $4.7 million will be used to increase the use of a treatment program for at-risk youth.
• The Department of Human Services announced a funding opportunity for home and community-based service providers to improve and strengthen HCBS programs and services to better serve HCBS participants. DHS will provide up to $40,000 per approved request in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help HCBS providers. The applications for funding requests will be accepted starting July 1, 2022, and the request submission period will remain open until December 31, 2022, or until funding has been exhausted. Approved providers then have until July 1, 2023, to spend this funding.
• Illumina, a provider of DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, announced its participation in Time Boost Capital I LP, a £30 million genomics venture fund dedicated to providing match funding to startups graduating from Illumina Accelerator Cambridge with the aim to advance breakthroughs in human health. Illumina Accelerator, located in both San Francisco and Cambridge, is a company creation engine that partners with entrepreneurs to create genomics startups and advance innovative applications.
• Softheon, an eligibility, enrollment, and billing provider for health plans and government agencies, acquired NextHealth Technologies, an AI-powered SaaS-based healthcare analytics platform
• Exo, a company looking to make ultrasounds cheaper, easier, and ubiquitous, partnered with Henry Ford Health so more caregivers can use it to improve patient outcomes at the point of care. Exo will partner with Henry Ford Innovations, Henry Ford’s commercialization arm, to make ultrasound easier to perform with artificial intelligence, validate cutting-edge ultrasound technology through large-scale deployment, and educate the next generation of point-of-care ultrasound users.
• Mayo Clinic and Sheba Medical Center signed an agreement that will make it easier to share health technology and support early stage startup companies. The initial focus of this collaboration will be on cross referral and participation of startup companies from the Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate and Sheba Medical Center's ARC Innovation Center. ARC stands for accelerate, redesign and collaborate. Launched earlier this year, the Mayo Clinic Platform_Accelerate program helps early stage health technology artificial intelligence companies get market ready.
• Atlas Healthcare Partners, which specializes in developing and managing ambulatory surgery centers, and MedAxiom, which is dedicated to cardiovascular organizational performance improvement, announced the formation of a cardiovascular-focused ASC company. Together, Atlas and MedAxiom will transform cardiovascular care by expanding access to high quality, patient-centered heart care in ASCs. The new company will collaborate with health systems and physicians to improve patient outcomes, experience, and access to cardiovascular care in ASCs. Atlas will lead ASC development and management while MedAxiom will oversee cardiovascular ASC clinical and operational outcomes.
• Siemens Healthineers and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center announced a new alliance, aimed at advancing personalized medicine and improving access to high quality, cost-effective healthcare. Through the five-year strategic partnership, Siemens Healthineers and Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, will provide comprehensive technology and services that will build on previous successful collaborative projects. The university and medical center will contribute research initiatives from scientists, physicians and patients. This work forms a living lab, a place where early scientific validation will speed breakthroughs in individualized medicine and health care delivery.
• CVS announced it is limiting the number of the emergency contraceptives commonly known as “morning after pills” and “Plan B” that people can buy on its website and in its stores after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade. The company said in a statement it had ample supply of the pills, but that it wanted to ensure “equitable access and consistent supply on store shelves.” CVS Health said it began limiting purchases of Plan B and Aftera, which cost $49.99 and $39.99, respectively, to three per order.
• Aetna and mental health education platform launched an Adolescent Treatment Training Series to meet the urgent needs of youth and young adults. This joint effort allows the 283,000 behavioral health and employee assistance program providers in Aetna’s commercial network, Aetna’s internal clinicians, and CVS Health’s licensed counselors at MinuteClinic in select HealthHUB locations with access to a no-cost, evidence-based curriculum in the form of courses and resources to identify and treat adolescents and young adults along a full continuum of care, from prevention through intervention, for those at risk of suicide.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Blue Care Network are expanding an existing travel reimbursement giving employers the option to cover travel for employees for services not available where they live, including for abortions. The new benefit option comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which now leaves it up to states to allow, restrict or ban abortions. Abortion remains legal in Michigan because of a court-ordered injunction.
• Google announced it will start to auto-delete visits to medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others, which can be particularly personal, from Location History soon after they visit. This change will take effect in the coming weeks.
• An administrative judge at the International Trade Commission sided with AliveCor in its case against Apple, ruling that the tech giant has infringed the company's patented electrocardiogram technology. The judge's ruling sets up a vote by the full ITC and could lead to an import ban on Apple Watches into the U.S. If affirmed by the full ITC, the administrative law judge's finding of a violation could lead to the issuance of a limited exclusion order barring the import of infringing Apple Watches. The commission is expected to issue a final decision by Oct. 26.

M&A

• Walmart acquired Memomi, an augmented reality optical tech company
• Evolent Health, which partners with payers and providers to reduce the total cost of care, improve clinical quality and simplify administration, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IPG, a provider of surgical management solutions for musculoskeletal conditions
• WebMD Health, an Internet Brands company and provider of health information services for consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, acquired Mercury Healthcare, a technology and data analytics company
• Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, completed its acquisition of healthcare data and analytics assets that were part of IBM’s Watson Health business 
• The Eczacıbaşı Group, a Turkish industrial group, entered an agreement to acquire a 99.96% stake in Turkish pharmaceutical company Gensenta from biotechnology company Amgen
• Lighthouse Health & Wellness, a public benefit corporation with a mandated mission of ensuring that every public safety agency can provide its employees with confidential and anonymous access to health and wellness resources, acquired Academy Hour, a provider of mental health education
• GHR Healthcare, the parent company of seven strategic staffing brands spanning healthcare, wellness, travel nursing, and education, acquired staff augmentation company Meleeo
• Emerson, a technology and software company providing solutions for customers in industrial, commercial and residential markets, acquired Fluxa, a company that uses software and technology architectures to accelerate the speed to market for new therapies, drugs and vaccines
• Affidea Group, a provider of advanced imaging, outpatient and cancer treatment services, made a series of acquisitions: diagnostics and outpatient services  Clínica Nuno Álvares and Clínica de Santa Mafalda; polyclinics Infanta Mercedes Medical Centre, El Mirador Polyclinic and Colmenar Viejo Radiodiagnosis; and medical centres Deva and Alba Iulia

Funding Roundup

• Tomorrow Health raised $60 million to bring more healthcare into the home
• Nomad Health raised $105 million to build out its healthcare staffing platform
• PicnicHealth, a company that collects, digitizes, and encrypts medical records, raised $60 million
• Centerline Biomedical, a provider of a system that improves visualization and guidance in endovascular procedures, raised $33 million
• Regard, a company developing an AI co-pilot for physicians to help diagnose medical conditions, raised $15.3 million
• Birdie, a home healthcare tech platform, raised $30 million
• Matter Health, a primary care company focused on solving the health crisis at home for older adults, raised $35 million
• Ria Health, a telehealth provider specializing in alcohol use disorder treatment, raised $18 million
• Visby Medical, developer of an instrument-free, rapid PCR test, raised $35 million
• Cordio Medical, a medical speech processing platform, raised $18 million
• Medsien, which connects patients, providers, and care partners in one platform to provide better access to care outside doctors' offices, raised $4.3 million
• Socially Determined, a healthcare analytics company that delivers Social Risk Intelligence to organizations committed to addressing the Social Determinants of Health, raised $26 million
• Cognito Therapeutics, developer of non-invasive neuromodulation to treat neurodegenerative diseases and improve human cognitive performance, raised $50 million
• Wondr Medical, which helps doctors and medical professionals across the world collaborate, connect and discover medical information, raised £12 million

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