Digital health news, funding round up in the prior week; January 23, 2023

Gympass and Headspace partnered; Bayer bought Blackford Analysis; SetPoint Medical raised $80M

Top Health News

• Privia Health Group announced it launched two new Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”), now including providers in Delaware and North Carolina, which are participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. This expands the total number of Privia-owned ACOs to nine, serving beneficiaries across the District of Columbia and ten states, including California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Effective January 1, 2023, the Privia ACOs (collectively “Privia Quality Network”) will now include more than 2,500 independent providers delivering high-value, cost-efficient care to over 191,700 Medicare beneficiaries. Five of the nine ACOs are participating in the MSSP Enhanced Track with substantial, potential upside and downside financial risk.
• WellSet, the first digital holistic health studio, introduced an emotional and mental health benefit to help employers address the burnout epidemic using science-backed holistic practices. WellSet provides unlimited access to thousands of live and on-demand classes spanning 20+ evidence-based practices designed to improve mind, body, and emotional health, like Acupressure, Self-Hypnosis, and EFT/Tapping, in addition to Yoga, Mindfulness, and more. WellSet also announced that CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the largest not-for-profit health plan in the mid-Atlantic region, is now including WellSet as a portfolio option for employer group accounts.
• Sumitovant Biopharma, a technology-driven biopharmaceutical company accelerating the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics, announced it identified more than 80 peptide drug candidates for manufacturing, using the company's DrugOME computational platform. As part of a collaboration with Neochromosome, Sumitovant used extensive natural language processing to systematically explore libraries of traditional and non-traditional data sources. The identified protein candidates enable Neochromosome to pursue actionable opportunities for its genome-scale engineering technology and its neoYeast protein discovery and manufacturing platform.
• Gympass, an employee wellbeing platform, announced a partnership with Headspace Health to add Headspace, its mindfulness and meditation-based wellness offering, to its suite of wellbeing apps and services. Headspace will join the Mind category on Gympass, which has grown by 233% since 2020. Gympass Mind partner apps and resources are being utilized by employees at over 10,000 companies around the world, many of whom are prioritizing employee mental health alongside fitness and nutrition to foster 360-degree wellbeing. Headspace, which includes more than 1,000 hours of premium mindfulness content, from guided meditations, to sleep, focus and movement exercises, will become available to help Gympass members manage stress and conquer the burnout that so many encounter at work. 
• Lucet, a behavioral health optimization company for health plans, launched and unveiled a new solution for payers to improve care access, quality and measurement for their members. Lucet brings together 20+ years of member-centric behavioral health experience from New Directions Behavioral Health, and 20+ years of clinical research and technology expertise from Tridiuum. By combining this expertise, Lucet launched a new tech-enabled solution to address the most critical behavioral health challenges payers face ensuring their members receive quality care, quickly.
• Charlie Health, a provider of virtual Intensive Outpatient Programming for young people and families in crisis, announced its expansion into Florida. The company's mental health services arrive at an urgent time for the state. Currently, 1 in 6 adolescents in the state experience a mental health disorder each year, and more than half of Florida adolescents with depression are unable to receive care due to financial and regional barriers.
• wellconnected, the developer of allco, a centralized social care platform, partnered with DrFirst to connect its community of care providers with each other and clients for referrals, services, and follow-up. wellconnected's network comprises community-based organizations that provide social services, medical care, and mental health care, including close to 200 medical practices and hundreds of community agencies in upstate and western N.Y. wellconnected will integrate DrFirst's Backline care collaboration platform into allco, allowing its partner agencies and community of providers to use an integrated directory of resources for service referrals and information sharing. Backline's HIPAA-compliant environment keeps all information related to healthcare services protected, secure, and private.
• Hapbee Technologies, a digital wellness technology company that aims to help people take control of how they sleep, perform and feel, announced a partnership with Oura that combines biometric sleep data gathered from Oura Ring and the novel features of Hapbee's Smart Sleep Pad. Oura, the creator of the renowned Oura Ring and a leader in the wearable sleep and wellness tracking category, has granted Hapbee use of its proprietary Application Programming Interface for the development of a sleep tracking plus sleep enhancement application. The application is designed to provide personalized Hapbee sleep optimization routines tailored to user-specific sleep patterns and challenges measured by Oura Rings. As an example, for those with a poor or less than suitable sleep pattern, the Company's Application aims to help raise users' Sleep Score through the tailored, timely release of the most appropriate Hapbee Sleep and Relaxation Routines, delivered via the Hapbee Smart Sleep Pad and Hapbee Mobile App.
• Reproductive care company carafem launched a new process that aims to provide faster access to abortion pills. Patients living in Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico and Maryland can be evaluated for the medications without a mandatory telephone or video call. After completing a form on carafem's website, medical staff members review patient history and share information about the process and options for care using the pills. The company said a medical professional will then approve the prescription, and the pills will be sent in the mail. Patients will also be able to use Cara, the company's virtual assistant, who can track shipments, provide more information about the pills and answer questions.
• Socially Determined, a social risk analytics and data company that empowers health care organizations to manage risk, improve outcomes and advance equity at scale, announced a partnership with Datavant, the leader in helping organizations securely connect health data. This partnership enables Socially Determined to provide curated, de-identified and linkable social risk data on the patient-level. This capability will empower life sciences organizations to comprehensively assess and systematically address the impact of social risk on health outcomes.
• Palantir Technologies, a builder of operating systems for the modern enterprise, and Cleveland Clinic announced a multi-year partnership to deliver an operations "Virtual Command Center" for Cleveland Clinic. The Virtual Command Center brings an innovative approach to driving operational excellence and improving patient access by enabling data-driven decision making and resource allocation on hospital frontlines. Cleveland Clinic provided its expertise to advise in the development of Palantir's Virtual Command Center and will continue to be a thought partner with Palantir. The Virtual Command Center is in use today at Cleveland Clinic to help improve care delivery across all avenues of operations, including streamlining staff allocation, wait times, hospital bed assignments, and overall utilization of critical resources. 
• Ginkgo Bioworks announced that it expanded its support for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program to include a pilot study monitoring influenza viruses in addition to SARS-CoV-2. The partners continue to grow the program's capabilities to provide an additional source of viral surveillance to inform the selection of influenza vaccine viruses for the forthcoming 2023-2024 flu season.
• NAMUH, an infant nutrition company, and Ginkgo Bioworks, a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced a multi-product collaboration to develop functional oligosaccharides that are structurally identical to those found in human breast milk. Currently, NAMUH's proprietary technology provides for a cost-effective source of a family of HMOs via yeast fermentation. Through this partnership, NAMUH will leverage Ginkgo's expertise in yeast strain engineering and fermentation process development to enable the production of various HMOs through yeast fermentation and work to unlock the possibility of making infant formula nutritionally robust and much closer to human breast milk.
• ShiftMed, an on-demand workforce platform for care settings, introduced a new technology partnership with UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions for all people. With more than 315 technology and services partners, UKG provides one of the largest and most collaborative partner ecosystems in the HCM industry focused on creating better employee experiences for all people, to improve business outcomes. With this collaboration, organizations that utilize both ShiftMed and UKG Dimensions can seamlessly access ShiftMed's 350,000+ contingent workforce within UKG and manage the scheduling of all personnel from one system. With ShiftMed and UKG, once a facility's open shift is claimed by one of ShiftMed's healthcare professionals, that credentialed worker is automatically populated within UKG as an employee and assigned to the schedule. No manual input of employee data or schedule update is required by the administrator in UKG Dimensions.
• Unite Us, a cross-sector collaboration technology company connecting health and social care, and PointClickCare Technologies, a healthcare technology platform enabling meaningful collaboration and access to real-time insights, announced a new partnership that will help address unmet social determinants of health needs for Oregon residents. Work has kicked off in Oregon. Care managers, social workers, and others within the clinical ecosystem using PointClickCare will be provided with actionable information about the non-medical needs of patients served through Unite Us' coordinated care network. Non-medical needs can include housing, food, transportation, and other assistance.
• Vim, a point-of-care connection platform, announced an agreement with Stellar Health, a healthcare technology company leading the industry in operationalizing value-based care arrangements for payors and providers. The customer partnership will help Stellar meet providers where they are through Vim’s flagship technology, Vim Connect, to optimize value-based workflows that deliver improved patient care and reward providers and their staff for the time it takes to complete those workflows. Vim’s flagship technology, Vim Connect, will link timely in-EHR actions to Stellar’s granular action recommendation and real-time incentivization. The initial deployment will include Vim’s suspected condition and care gap solutions. The partnership and time to go live at the first practice were achieved in fewer than 90 days due to the synergies between the organizations and Vim’s ability to scale quickly across diverse EHRs.
• Qualifacts, a provider of electronic health record platforms for behavioral health, rehabilitative, and human services organizations, announced that Child and Family Services of Erie County has selected the Credible EHR platform for its Residential Treatment, Family Support, Foster Care & Adoption, Domestic Violence and Counseling Services.
• Interwell Health, a physician-centered organization dedicated to reimagining kidney care, announced an expansion of its work in a government value-based care model that aims to improve the lives of people living with chronic kidney disease, with almost 62,000 Medicare beneficiaries now under management through partnerships with more than 1,300 nephrology providers in 26 states. These partnerships comprise 24 Kidney Contracting Entities (KCEs) within the Kidney Care Choices model, a program developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and first launched at the start of 2022.
• VieCure announced a new strategic partnership with value-based care organization, Oncology Care Partners, which will assist OCP in its provision of care to patients across its growing U.S. network. This collaboration will support OCP’s providers in creating personalized treatment plans using VieCure’s Halo Intelligence Platform and help OCP to advance its commitment to overall health equity for the patients that they serve. This partnership will be impactful as both companies are dedicated to revolutionizing the way that cancer patients are treated.
• Medtronic joined the Global Health Equity Network (GHEN)(opens new window). GHEN is a World Economic Forum initiative that brings the private and public sectors together to drive change in health equity – mobilizing CEOs and business leaders to prioritize action in organizational strategy and purpose. As part of the GHEN agenda, Medtronic has signed the Zero Health Gaps Pledge, which provides 10 areas where committed organizations agree to help drive progress within health equity across their workforce, their companies, and in their communities by 2050.
• Ethos Asset Management announced a new long-term financing partnership with The Ohio Health Information Partnership, a non-profit operating the statewide health information exchange, CliniSync. CliniSync electronically connects 156 hospitals, 13 health plans and thousands of providers, ensuring they have access to the information needed to improve care coordination for patients across Ohio. Ethos has committed to providing significant capital infusion that will continue for several years.
• Cognite, a global leader in industrial software, announced B. Braun, a medical technology company, has selected Cognite Data Fusion as the core of its Manufacturing Data Management solution. By integrating Cognite’s Industrial DataOps platform with its manufacturing domain knowledge, B. Braun leverages digital twins and AI-powered applications to achieve operational excellence across production, maintenance, and sustainability.
• Innovaccer, a health cloud company, announced that Evergreen Nephrology, a nephrology focused value based care organization, has chosen the Innovaccer Health Cloud and Innovaccer's full solution suite to accelerate transformation of kidney care for its fast-growing network of nephrology practices and the patients they serve. Innovaccer's cloud-native solutions selected by Evergreen include tools to optimize care management, physician engagement, patient engagement, referral management, advanced analytics, and dashboard-driven insights to optimize delivery of value-based specialty care. By partnering with Innovaccer, Evergreen Nephrology will accelerate its ability to enable nephrologists to deliver exceptional experiences for people living with kidney disease.
• UnitedHealthcare expanded its suite of behavioral health offerings with virtual behavioral coaching. More than 5 million UnitedHealthcare commercial members now have access to virtual behavioral coaching at no added cost. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the virtual behavioral coaching program, administered by Optum, provides support for adults experiencing symptoms of mild depression, stress and anxiety, through digital modules and 1:1 video or telephonic conferencing and messaging with trained coaches. In addition to the more than 5 million eligible fully insured members, self-insured employers may purchase the virtual behavioral coaching program for their employees. This program is the latest addition to UnitedHealthcare’s suite of behavioral health offerings, which includes self-help tools, in-person and virtual visits, coaching, a family support program and employee assistance programs, allowing individuals to access support in a variety of ways.
• Digital Gadgets, a global manufacturer and distributor of technology products, and Northwell Health, New York State's largest health care provider and private employer, signed an agreement to bring a line of Northwell-branded innovative wellness products to market. DG Surgical, a division of Digital Gadgets, will be the exclusive manufacturer and distributor to retail & health care customers of Northwell-branded products. The agreement combines Northwell's best-in-class clinical care and expertise with Digital Gadgets' industry-leading manufacturing and distribution capabilities to introduce innovation-driven, provider-approved wellness products to the marketplace.
• Neuronetics, a commercial-stage medical technology company focused on designing, developing, and marketing products that improve the quality of life for patients who suffer from neurological health disorders, and Greenbrook, a provider of transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, announced an expanded commercial partnership through year end 2028. Under the partnership agreement, Neuronetics will be the exclusive supplier of TMS equipment to Greenbrook. Over time, Neuronetics’ NeuroStar devices will replace competitive TMS devices at Greenbrook locations. The companies will work jointly to grow through co-branding and co-marketing programs, enhanced patient and clinician awareness, improved patient access to care, and collaboration on product development and publications. The agreement also has minimum purchase commitments, and all treatment session purchases will convert to a “per-click” consumable model.
• Health in Tech, an insurtech company that delivers disruptive innovation that reimagines self-funded health plans, announced that it partnered with 6 Degree Health, which ocuses on providing cost containment and payment integrity solutions, and 90 Degree Benefits, which guides employers the pathways for success by creating and administering self-funded benefit plans that fulfill their specific needs, to form a new value-based, level-funded health plan, effective in January, 2023.
• Intermountain Healthcare, a health system of 33 hospitals in seven states, and Story Health, a health technology and services company that provides scalable specialty care beyond the clinic, entered into a strategic partnership to improve access to specialty care for patients with heart failure. The partnership combines Intermountain's leadership in clinical quality improvement and excellence in healthcare delivery with Story Health's specialty care platform solution to extend access to high-quality heart and vascular care for patients with heart failure.
• Royal Philips and Masimo, a global medical technology company, announced an expansion of their partnership to augment patient monitoring capabilities in home telehealth applications with the Masimo W1 advanced health tracking watch. The W1 will integrate with Philips’s enterprise patient monitoring ecosystem to advance the forefront of telemonitoring and telehealth. The combined innovation, which draws upon the two global medical technology leaders’ extensive expertise in monitoring, connectivity, and automation, will be highlighted later this month at Arab Health 2023.
• Paige announced a collaboration with Microsoft to apply the power of artificial intelligence to digital pathology images to develop and deliver a new generation of clinical applications and computational biomarkers to transform cancer diagnosis and patient care. Microsoft will also make a strategic investment in Paige to accelerate the development and deployment of life-saving AI diagnostics. Paige will use Microsoft Azure as its cloud provider for the Paige Platform, a comprehensive solution to power a lab’s digital pathology workflow that consists of data management, cloud storage options and FullFocus®, an FDA-cleared whole-slide image viewer. As part of this collaboration, Paige will become a Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare partner and enable Microsoft to enhance its own offerings for healthcare customers.
• Reliq Health Technologies, a company developing Virtual Care solutions for the healthcare market, signed new contracts with three multi-physician clinics in North Texas and another five single physician practices providing care to patients in California and Nevada. These eight contracts are expected to add at least 5,000 new patients to Reliq’s iUGO Care platform over the next two quarters, at an average revenue of $65 per patient per month with a 75% gross margin. Onboarding of these new patients is expected to begin this month.

M&A

• Bayer acquired global strategic imaging AI platform and solutions provider Blackford Analysis
• Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a specialty generic pharmaceutical company, executed a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company Concert Pharmaceuticals
• An affiliate of Bausch + Lomb Corporation, a global eye health company, acquired AcuFocus, an ophthalmic medical device company
• Occupational health and wellbeing specialist PAM Group acquired MedProtect, a provider of mobile health screening services to companies across the UK and Ireland
• P&R Dental Strategies, a dental insights company, acquired of Dentistat, a dental Credential Verification Organization, and go2dental.com, a digital resource center for dental benefits plan members
• Home Care Pulse, a provider of experience management, benchmarking, training, and reputation management, acquired Activated Insights, a satisfaction analytics platform in seniors housing, and Pinnacle Quality Insight, an employee retention and customer satisfaction for senior care and senior living
• Shockwave Medical, developer of Intravascular Lithotripsy to treat severely calcified cardiovascular disease, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Neovasc, a company focused on the minimally invasive treatment of refractory angina
• Arrive Health, a provider of real-time benefit tools and integrated solutions that improve patient affordability, acquired a suite of patient engagement and automation technologies developed by UPMC Enterprises and the UPMC Pharmacy Network
• SCIRIS, a global healthcare communications company, acquired Source Health Economics, an agency specialising in health economics and outcomes research
• The Corridor Group Holdings, provider of outsourced coding, revenue cycle and education solutions to the post-acute healthcare industry, acquired the outsourced services business unit of Select Data
• Natus Medical Incorporated, a provider of medical device solutions focused on the screening, diagnosis and treatment of central nervous and sensory system disorders, closed its acquisition of Micromed Holding SAS, a provider of neurophysiology solutions

Funding Roundup 

• SetPoint Medical, a clinical-stage healthcare company dedicated to patients with chronic autoimmune diseases, raised $80 million
• Posterity Health, a digital male fertility center of excellence that offers personalized advice, educational resources, and effective male fertility treatments, raised $7.5 million
• Breathe Well-being, a diabetes reversal healthtech startup, raised $6.14 million
• knownwell, a weight-inclusive healthcare company, raised $4.5 million
• Oya Femtech Apparel, a line of performance wear engineered for feminine health, raised $1.3 million
• Rx Redefined, a provider of medical supply services for group practices, raised $8 million
• Eagle Genomics, a platform business applying network science to biology, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• Synergia Medical, a preclinical medical device company that has developed a non-metal optoelectronic neurostimulator for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, raised €3.8 million
• Prescribe FIT, a remote monitoring and virtual lifestyle health startup, raised $4 million

(Image source: pymnts.com)