Digital health news, funding round up in the prior week; February 13, 2023

ShiftMed raised $200M; CVS Health bought Oak Street Health; Blue Shield of California added Virta

Top Health News

• VideaHealth, a dental artificial intelligence platform, announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued 510(k) clearance for Videa Perio Assist, its AI-powered interproximal bone level measurement tool for periodontal disease assessment. With Videa Perio Assist, dentists and hygienists can easily measure interproximal bone level changes over time for patients 12 and older, resulting in faster and more accurate treatment recommendations and improved patient outcomes.
• Neatsy, a company deploying AI and AR to detect health issues with an iPhone camera, announced a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as the launch of a patient portal that will allow doctors to access the 3D model and AI risk assessments so they can confirm a diagnosis remotely. With this tool, over 20,000 orthopedists will have access to a dashboard that contains patient information, 3D foot scans, a proposed diagnosis, as well as treatment recommendations, including physical therapy and orthotic insoles.
• UnitedHealthcare introduced UnitedHealthcare Rewards, a new rewards program in which eligible members, including their spouses, can earn money by completing various daily health goals and activities.  For example, the member can put paid if they put on a wearable compatible activity tracker, including a smartwatch or smartpho, and achieve 5,000 steps or more each day. Other tasks include completing 15 minutes or more of activity per day, tracking sleep for 14 nights, getting a biometric screening, completing a health survey, and selecting paperless billing. The company says it will also be adding more qualifying activities throughout the year. Once these tasks are completed, the financial reward can either be added to a prepaid debit card or deposited into a health savings account. While the max they can earn is $1,000 per member per year, that will vary by plan and might be capped at $300.
• KeyCare, an Epic-based virtual care platform, announced that WellSpan Health is the latest health system to partner with KeyCare to provide patients a virtual care experience with licensed providers. WellSpan is initially providing patients with access to KeyCare's virtual care platform for their on-demand virtual care needs. WellSpan Virtual On-Demand Care is now live with KeyCare and patients are able to conduct appointments with Virtualist healthcare providers via WellSpan's MyChart portal. Virtualists will have access to each patient's WellSpan data as they provide care and complete encounter details on KeyCare's Epic platform and seamlessly share results with members of a patient's WellSpan care team.
• CareCloud, a provider of healthcare technology solutions for medical practices and health systems nationwide, announced the integration of Medicomp Systems’ Quippe Clinical Data Engine into its electronic health record platforms, ensuring that patient- and problem-specific clinical data is available to physicians of various specialties at the time of patient treatment.
• Huma.AI, a healthcare AI company, announced the launch of its AI platform for life sciences, which is designed to accelerate the development of life-saving drugs through better usage of their data. Historically, it has taken 10 years and approximately $2.6 billion to develop a new drug, with a 95% failure rate. This is primarily because 80% of the healthcare/life science data is text-based (unstructured) and siloed in 90-100 disparate data sources. The industry primarily relies on manual curation of data, leaving many critical questions unanswered. Huma.AI’s natural language processing (NLP) platform replaces and automates such manual curation. It connects and searches multiple, disparate, unstructured data sources, returning answers to questions in seconds.
• OMRON Healthcare selected Intertrust’s data management technology Intertrust Platform to securely govern system log data worldwide for OMRON’s OMRON connect healthcare data mobile app service. Leveraging the use of Intertrust Platform to centralize cross-management of output system log data, OMRON Healthcare is now able to virtually aggregate and analyze large volumes of distributed output log data without the additional expense and risk of moving the data to a centralized data repository. The company will also use Intertrust Platform to combine the virtually aggregated log data with other types of data sources such as databases and visualize the combined data while securely governing access to it. 
• VisiQuate, a provider of advanced analytics, intelligent workflow, and AI-powered automation offerings to healthcare providers, announced that Norman Regional Health System has finalized a multi-year agreement with the company to embrace data and advanced analytics as a key driver of daily operations. Norman Regional's leadership selected VisiQuate Denials Management Analytics and Revenue Management Analytics to optimize the organization's financial performance and drive revenue cycle yield improvement. The health system will also use the VisiQuate PayFlo solution to standardize and optimize various processes throughout its end-to-end revenue cycle operations.
• DarioHealth, a digital therapeutics company, announced an agreement with Dexcom, a provider of real-time continuous glucose monitoring technology, to integrate its market-leading CGMs, into Dario's multi-chronic condition platform. Dexcom CGM uses a small, wearable sensor to continuously measure and send glucose levels to a receiver or smart device, enabling people with diabetes to make real-time decisions about their health. This agreement enables the integration of data from Dexcom CGMs directly into Dario's metabolic solution, making it easy for people using the wearable device to benefit from Dario's highly personalized support.
• U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) called on three telehealth companies, Cerebral, Monument, and Workit Health, to protect their patients’ sensitive health data. The senators expressed their concern over reports that these online health companies are tracking and sharing their customers’ personally identifiable health data with social media platforms for advertising purposes. These reports come despite company promises to prospective patients that their user data, including information about mental health and addiction treatment, will remain confidential. Last May, Klobuchar and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) urged the Federal Trade Commission to protect the data privacy of women seeking reproductive health care.
• Lunit, in conjunction with Agfa HealthCare, announced the successful 'GO LIVE' of it breast imaging AI solution, Breast AI Analysis Package, at Dubai Academic Health Corporation Dubai Hospital. The Breast AI Analysis Package is a workflow-centric, evidence-based AI package part of Agfa's RUBEE for AI framework, embedded in Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging solution. Powered by Lunit INSIGHT MMG, the solution package helps improve radiologists' screening and diagnostic workflow by providing advanced visualizations, workflow orchestration and triage benefits, dedicated reading protocols, and report notifications—thus helping early detection of breast cancer through cost-effective, quality diagnostic services.
• Online birth control pharmacy The Pill Club reached an $18.3 million settlement with California authorities for allegedly defrauding the state's Medicaid program. According to the California Department of Justice, the company billed Medi-Cal for services it hadn't provided, allegedly submitting claims for 30-minute face-to-face counseling sessions when its nurse practitioners didn't have direct or real-time contact with patients. The California Department of Insurance said the birth control provider would bill for in-person visits when nurses were only reviewing patient questionnaires. The state DOJ also claimed The Pill Club dispensed female condoms to beneficiaries who didn't want or ask for the contraceptives, billing Medi-Cal significantly above the retail price. The settlement calls for $15 million to be paid to the DOJ, while $3.3 million will go to the CDI. It comes days after a state court unsealed a whistleblower complaint against The Pill Club, where former nurse practitioners also alleged the company had defrauded private insurers in at least 38 states, including California.
• Albertsons announced the launch of Sincerely Health, a digital health and wellness platform that is accessible on 16 of its banners’ grocery app and websites, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Shaw’s, Jewel-Osco, Acme, and Tom Thumb. Backed by science, Sincerely Health is designed to help improve lives by connecting, educating, encouraging and rewarding customers on their health and wellness journey so they can make informed choices regarding food, physical activity, sleep and mindfulness. Sincerely Health is a platform built in collaboration with healthcare providers, insurance companies and technology organizations who share a broader purpose to improve the health and well-being of every community they serve. The teams also gleaned valuable insights gathered from over 10,000 customers and associates.
• Albertsons, which owns Safeway, Vons, Shaw’s, Jewel-Osco, Acme, and Tom Thumb, among others, announced the launch of Sincerely Health, a new digital health and wellness platform with the aim of helping customers make informed choices regarding food, physical activity, sleep, and mindfulness. To use Sincerely Health, users start by filling out a questionnaire that measures their Health Score, which based on seven dimensions of well-being, such as age, gender, nutrition, lifestyle choices, and mental health. Users can also link their activity trackers, such as Apple Health, Fitbit and Google Fit, to the service, and also log their vitals and medication regimen. Once they've done this, customers can then set goals for themselves to improve their Health Score, and track their progress. They will alo receive recommendations, which they can use to earn rewards: users earn additional points customers when they set a health goal or respond to a health recommendation.  Sincerely Health also offers an online pharmacy tools to help customers manage their prescriptions, schedule vaccine appointments, and connect with general practitioners via telehealth. In addition, customers who join Sincerely Health from their grocery app will receive an initial incentive of up to $25 off an upcoming grocery purchase.
• Included Health, a company that integrates virtual care and navigation, wants to help its members navigate from that virtual care visit to an in-person setting, so it announced a partnership with Solv, a company with a national network of in-person urgent care providers. This integration will expand the Included Health member experience to include same-day, in-person medical visits. By partnering with Solv, Included Health’s care team will be able to schedule urgent care visits, or facilitate the next step of a virtual primary care appointment for its members. In order to help bridge the gap from online navigation and virtual care to in-person care, Solv announced the launch of Solv Final Mile Network, which uses Solv's APIs and tools to link virtual and online care to in-person care with real time appointment availability and EHR interoperability. Solv Final Mile connects local, in-person care to national healthcare players, so they can deliver care seamlessly across the web and mobile properties. Included Health will be a Solv Final Mile partner at launch.
• Oscar Health announced the first provider partnership for its Campaign Builder tool: Associated Medical Care, a Miami-based provider group, will deploy the tool to find new efficiencies in its operations. AMC, a management services organization built for several independent primary care practices, conducted much of its business in call centers. A digital tool that can automate some of that member outreach, like Campaign Builder, will help it take engagement to the next level.
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement of more than $215 million against the Centene Corporation over allegations that the national healthcare company overcharged California’s Medi-Cal program by falsely reporting higher prescription drug costs incurred by two of its managed care plans. In doing so, Centene is alleged to have violated the California False Claims Act. California Health & Wellness and Health Net, the two managed care plans, provide healthcare services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in over 20 California counties. More than 80% of Medi-Cal beneficiaries receive care from a managed care plan contracted with Medi-Cal.
• Doximity, a digital platform for medical professionals, debuted a beta version of a ChatGPT tool for doctors that helps streamline some of their time-consuming administrative tasks, such as drafting and faxing pre-authorization and appeal letters to insurers. The open beta site, called DocsGPT.com, is an integration with ChatGPT that works with Doximity’s free fax service. Using the free open beta site, doctors who are Doximity members can fax letters directly to insurers with the company's digital fax service. The site features a growing library of best medical prompts where the AI-based writing assistant has been trained on healthcare-specific prose.
• ChenMed, a senior-focused primary care provider, signed a new five-year agreement with Humana providing in-network care for Humana’s Medicare Advantage members at all ChenMed locations, including Chen Senior Medical Center, Dedicated Senior Medical Center and JenCare Senior Medical Center. The agreement continues the long-standing relationship that has existed between the two companies for decades and provides stability for Humana’s Medicare Advantage members and high-quality care at all three ChenMed brands. The agreement also includes CarePlus Medicare Advantage members in Florida.
• League, a provider of healthcare consumer experience platform technology, announced a new partnership with HealthSparq, a Kyruus company delivering innovative transparency and guidance solutions to health plans. The exclusive collaboration will combine League’s award-winning digital infrastructure and HealthSparq’s personalized, compliant healthcare cost and quality information to transform member experiences. HealthSparq’s comprehensive SaaS platform delivers personalized information to close to 100 million health plan members so they can compare provider cost and quality, understand conditions and recovery, get rewarded for high-value care choices, and schedule care. The new partnership will allow plans to guide members to preferred providers through League’s healthcare CX platform, giving members the highly personalized healthcare experience they expect from their health plan.
• Royal Philips entered into a long-term strategic partnership with TriHealth, an integrated healthcare delivery system, to adopt Philips’ integrated portfolio of cardiology solutions for its new TriHealth Heart & Vascular Institute on the campus of Bethesda North Hospital and the Harold and Eugenia Thomas Comprehensive Care Center. The agreement allows TriHealth to expand cardiac care and deliver on its promise to the community: provide high quality care, act for the benefit of the community, cooperate with the physicians and other providers to coordinate health services, and to educate the next generation of healthcare providers.'
• Signify Health, a healthcare platform that leverages advanced analytics, technology and nationwide healthcare networks to create and power value-based payment programs, announced its intention to participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Advance Investment Payments incentive program to support providers in rural and underserved communities. AIP is modeled after the ACO Investment Model that provided upfront loans for rural providers to participate in the MSSP. The AIM program generated $382M in savings to CMS over three years. Caravan Health, now Signify Health, sponsored 21 of the 41 ACOs in AIM and helped drive significant improvements in quality and cost savings for its participants.
• Meharry Medical College, a historically Black academic health science center, announced a new partnership with Heritage Group, a private equity firm focused on investments in the health care industry. The partnership seeks to diversify the entrepreneurial landscape and pave the way for the next generation of minority business owners by providing Meharry students the opportunity to learn more about health care finance. A Meharry-Heritage Fellowship is the centerpiece of the partnership. Each semester, a student will be chosen from a pool of applicants to work with members of the Heritage team, developing and refining an investment thesis, conducting market research and performing due diligence on potential investments. Fellows will determine their own schedules with Heritage Group and collaborate with portfolio company management teams on strategic and operational initiatives. Heritage Group will provide students with financial knowledge and access to a network of individuals that will enhance their own entrepreneurial endeavors.
• The PATHWAYS Indigenous Health Collaborations, a community-driven health project fund led by Bimaadzwin and Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., added four more new Indigenous communities to meet the needs of thousands of members burdened with diabetes. The four pilot projects selected for funding are: Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario; Siksika Health Services, Siksika Nation, Alberta; Municipality of Baker Lake, Nunavut; and Ebb & Flow First Nation Health Authority, Manitoba.
• Carestream Health, a provider of medical imaging systems, partnered with Robarts Research Institute to increase and demonstrate the clinical value of digital X-ray, digital tomosynthesis and dual energy technologies to help improve the outcomes of patients with cardiothoracic and pulmonary diseases. Carestream is providing a state-of-the-art imaging system and software to Robarts, the research institute of Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in Canada, to advance its multidisciplinary translational research.
• The U.S. General Services Administration launched the Applied AI Healthcare Challenge, a prize competition seeking diverse and practical solutions to help federal agencies provide the highest level of medical care. The Centers of Excellence is working in partnership with Challenge.gov, both housed within GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), a part of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, to invite teams with new and existing AI technologies to participate in this competition as part of the Year of Open Science. In particular, GSA encourages large and small enterprises, women-owned, minority-owned, small disadvantaged, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses to participate.
• Novarad Corporation announced a partnership with Ikonopedia to enhance clinical excellence with a complete breast care platform, NovaMG Pro. The solution utilizes both an efficient and easy-to-use viewer and next-generation software tracking and reporting. Novarad excels as an industry leader in breast care and has been providing advanced imaging solutions to hospitals and imaging centers for more than 30 years. With Ikonopedia's modern cloud-based breast imaging reporting system, and Novarad's advanced viewing and image management technology, the Novarad-Ikonpedia partnership is a dramatic step into the future of better breast imaging. Both systems were built by radiologists for radiologists.
• Wellstar Health System announced it is extending its partnership with Moth+Flame to further utilize its virtual reality training technology throughout the enterprise. Moth+Flame is an award-winning VR communication technology developer and premier enterprise-grade immersive learning provider offering innovative and adaptive learning programs for mastering technical and cognitive skills. Their platform includes content focused on emotional intelligence. When learners put on their headsets, they inhabit and interact with immersive simulated environments. They decide in the moment how to respond and see for themselves the impact their words and decisions have on others—and reflect on how to improve. Trainees receive an empathy rating score at the end of their session.
• Element Biosciences, the developer of a DNA sequencing platform disrupting genomics, and Bio-Rad Laboratories, a provide of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, announced a partnership to demonstrate the capabilities of the Bio-Rad SEQuoia RNA Sequencing Library Preparation portfolio on the Element AVITI™ Benchtop Sequencer. The Element AVITI Sequencing Platform's novel Avidity Sequencing chemistry can be easily adapted for use with the Bio-Rad SEQuoia Complete Stranded RNA Library Prep Kit and the SEQuoia Express Stranded RNA Library Prep Kit to obtain RNA sequencing accuracy and repeatability among samples and different RNA inputs.
• Bioweg, a producer of highly functional and customizable bio-based materials, and Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced a collaboration to optimize the production of bacterial cellulose and to produce novel variants of cellulose with improved performance to serve a variety of end markets.
• United Imaging announced the signing an MOU with I-ONE Nuclear Medicine & Oncology Center by for a collaboration and research agreement for the first PET/MR uPMR 790 in the gulf countries, as well as the signing of an agreement with My Doctor Medical Center, a private hospital in Qatar that chose United Imaging's full solution suite, including high-end 1.5T MRI, cardiac CT and digital X-ray. The two organizations will cooperate on cutting-edge technologies like fast MRI imaging and low-dose CT imaging. United Imaging also announced a package agreement with Health Garden Clinic that included the installation of the first uMR680, the most advanced wide bore 1.5T MRI, in Morocco.
• Griffith University committed to a three-year partnership with a leading health technology accelerator program based within the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct. The LuminaX Healthtech Accelerator is a 14-week innovation program that fast-tracks commercialisation and market-readiness for up to 10 Australian health technology startups each year. Cohort Innovation Space, one of Queensland’s largest innovation spaces and a centrepiece of the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, launched LuminaX in 2021. Under the agreement, startups who are chosen through a national competitive process, will be mentored by Griffith’s globally regarded health and science academics and access the university’s cutting-edge research facilities and resources.
• Scottsdale Mental Health & Wellness Institute announced that it joined the Turnwell Mental Health Network. The partnership will enhance the Institute's ability to provide high-quality mental healthcare to patients in the Scottsdale and Tempe communities and beyond. The partnership between SMHWI and Turnwell will allow the Institute to share its cutting-edge mental health care services on a national level, reaching more patients in both large cities and rural communities. With the shared goal of promoting mental health and wellness, SMHWI and Turnwell are excited to embark on this journey together.
• Huma Therapeutics, a company that advances digital-first care delivery and research to help people live longer, fuller lives, announced a partnership with Camden Health Partners and UCLPartners to deliver a digital-first programme aimed at identifying more people living in North Central London who are at high risk of, or who have undiagnosed, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and helping them to adopt new behaviours to help modify the condition. The programme will form a blueprint for potential national adoption.
• BüddyCentral Group, a South African-based financial services group, announced the Beta release of its new platform that enables the people of South Africa to access telehealth services regardless of their location. Additionally, the system helps users create a personal electronic health record they can keep and share as needed. These services are provided through an exclusive licensing agreement with Eagle Intelligent Health, a global healthcare technology leader. MediBüddy sees this as a strategic initiative which will complement the groups' insurance offerings and which will not only make a difference in the lives of individuals but companies alike, keeping their workforce productive, healthy, and looked after. We are also excited about the strategic partnerships we forged with solid South African companies that truly make a difference in the lives of our people. In time we will be able to reveal more about these.
• CardieX Limited, a global health technology company focused on patient-centric healthcare research and improving clinical trial patient outcomes, announced a partnership between its ATCOR subsidiary and Power, a fast growing patient recruitment marketplace democratizing access to clinical trials for all patients. The new partnership will allow ATCOR and Power to conduct collaborative research and advance underrepresented patient access to clinical trials and clinical research within Alzheimer's disease, women's health, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
• Aluna, a connected care platform and at-home spirometer, announced a partnership with ModuleMD, ONC Certified EHR, practice management and EHR SaaS solution for allergists and pulmonologists, to improve patient and provider access to the latest technology in lung health. Patients with asthma and cystic fibrosis will now be able to seamlessly share their daily fluctuations in lung health with their doctor, enabling better outcomes and fewer attacks through earlier and more frequent interventions. This collaboration will facilitate seamless sharing between providers, payers, and patients throughout the Aluna RPM care management platform with all the details integrated into the providers' workflow in ModuleMD.
• WellSky, a health and community care technology company, announced its partnership with Dialyze Direct, a provider of home hemodialysis services in SNFs. To help reduce readmissions and streamline care, hospitals and health systems using WellSky’s CarePort Care Management or CarePort Discharge care transition solutions can now coordinate with Dialyze Direct the appropriate next level of care for patients requiring onsite dialysis treatment. This partnership between WellSky and Dialyze Direct connects medical teams across the continuum by closing gaps in patient care through care coordination workflows. Utilizing WellSky’s CarePort solutions, care coordinators and case managers can simplify the discharge process to Dialyze Direct service sites and help create better patient outcomes. Together, Dialyze Direct’s innovative dialysis treatment approach and WellSky’s connected networks of 2,000 hospitals and 130,000 post-acute and community providers using CarePort solutions ensures patients needing dialysis and managed rehabilitative services can receive higher quality kidney care without leaving the SNF.
• Spencer Health Solutions announced that it signed a collaboration agreement with Perigon Pharmacy 360 (Perigon). This agreement will expand the reach of its innovative, in-home digital medication adherence-promoting technology with the help of Perigon’s existing end-to-end, specialty pharmacy support programs for patients living with rare, chronic, and complex conditions.
• Sukoon, an insurance provider in the UAE, in continuation of its partnership with Aster DM Healthcare, announced the launch of two new health insurance plans designed to meet the needs of large to mid-sized corporates as well as individuals. Affordability and accessibility often pose a barrier to corporate employees and individuals taking positive steps to improve their physical well-being. To address this, Sukoon and Aster DM Healthcare have launched two innovative healthcare plans to offer access to a wider network. The two new health insurance plans, ‘Shield Saver’ and ‘Shield Saver Plus’ have been designed with customer convenience and accessibility in mind. Both plans feature access to a wider network, tapping into Aster DM Healthcare’s strong geographical presence.
• Arima Genomics, a company leveraging 3D genomics to reveal actionable insights to empower researchers and clinicians seeking to improve human health, and Pierian, a precision engine company which enables the democratization of omic data across clinical and research applications, announced co-marketing and licensing agreements that will provide enhanced gene fusion detecting capabilities to clinical labs. Under the terms of the agreement, Velsera will integrate Arima Genomics’ targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing pipelines into the Pierian Clinical Genomics Workspace, a cloud-based platform that provides clinical labs more streamlined and accurate NGS data analysis, interpretation, and reporting. The combined solution will enable clinical laboratories to more easily implement sample-to-answer Arima gene fusion testing, helping them identify gene fusions and other structural variants.
• HealthTrio, a Software-as-a-Service provider for health plans, third-party administrators, and other risk-bearing healthcare organizations, and OptMyCare, a healthcare predictive and descriptive analytics SaaS platform that provides risk stratification and mitigation outputs to risk-bearing entities, announced their partnership. HealthTrio's digital engagement platform connecting members, providers and payers will now include OptMyCare's analytics on risk stratification and mitigation pathways. This combination will use data to identify patients who are at high risk for disease progression and will roll out actionable disease mitigation pathways to the patient.
• MetiStream, a company transforming unstructured health data into usable clinical insights, is expanding its relationship with Carilion Clinic to identify high-risk colon cancer patients using MetiStream's Artificial Intelligence enabled Ember Platform. Ember analyzes and transforms clinical notes and text at scale to more accurately pinpoint patients who should be screened based on various risk factors found in their medical records. Carilion will use MetiStream's solution to process over five years of patient information, specifically focusing on transforming unstructured clinical notes into a usable form to identify and correlate specific risk factors not found in discrete fields of the electronic medical record. Key attributes such as existing conditions, symptoms, family history, genetic markers, and social determinants of health will be used to identify which patients face the highest risk. The objective is to proactively target patients who should be screened to significantly impact cancer prevention and improve outcomes.
• Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare launched a digital transformation journey for patient care through a new partnership with electronic health record company, Epic. MLH joins nearly 2,400 hospitals across the country in this transition to the Epic platform, which will align patients' electronic health records from every Methodist Le Bonheur care setting into one state-of-the-art digital platform as well as increase interaction between physicians, clinical staff and their patients.
• Virginia Mason Franciscan Health launched VMFH Home Recovery Care at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma in collaboration with Contessa, an Amedisys company. Home Recovery Care brings all the essential elements of a hospital into the comfort of patients' homes, offering a convenient and safe alternative to the traditional inpatient stay. The program will expand access to high-acuity care and increase crucial inpatient capacity while reducing the overall cost of care. Eligible patients at St. Joseph Medical Center can choose Home Recovery Care instead of a hospital stay. Patients are transported back to their homes to receive hospital-level care the same day, supported by staff and the medical equipment they need for their recovery. The service is ideal for patients with a variety of acute conditions who would otherwise be admitted to the hospital, such as COVID-19, RSV, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, and urinary tract infections. The program is initially available only to Medicare fee-for service patients. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is exploring opportunities to expand to additional locations and include patients with other health plans in the future.
• HealthTech Arkansas and Kx Advisors partnered to provide support to the biotherapeutics startup companies participating in the BioAR Trial accelerator program. Kx Advisors provides advisory services to help leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technology, digital health, and diagnostics companies fully capitalize on product opportunities, navigate the environment with greater certainty, and maximize the lifetime commercial value of their portfolios. As part of the partnership, companies selected for the BioAR Trial cohort will participate in a virtual seminar on growth strategies presented by Kx Advisors, in addition to one-on-one follow-up sessions.
• LifeBank signed an agreement with benshi.ai, an AI organisation, to use its AI and Machine Learning platform to improve the quality of care for patients across LifeBank’s over 2500 customers. LifeBank’s partnership with benshi.ai will allow LifeBank to synergise its blockchain & data science technologies with benshi.ai’s AI & ML platform. Resulting in the expansion of LifeBank’s current suite of innovative solutions aimed at rapidly accelerating the digitisation of the healthcare supply chain and service delivery across the African continent.The partnership with benshi.ai will immediately help LifeBank strengthen its industry-leading medical supplies offering through the Nerve app. Access to millions of bite-sized and digestible data points will allow LifeBank to scale Nerve’s last-mile distribution network to an exponential level. Thus, improving patient outcomes in all LifeBank partner hospitals.
• Blue Shield of California announced an expanded partnership with Virta Health, a type 2 diabetes reversal company, as Virta joins the nonprofit health plan’s statewide provider network for 2023. Virta is the first digital diabetes solution to be fully covered for eligible members under Blue Shield’s benefits program. Combining advanced telehealth technology and clinically proven personalized nutrition, Virta’s approach helps patients reverse type 2 diabetes and other chronic metabolic diseases. It becomes available this month to Blue Shield members enrolled in Preferred Provider Organization plans for Individual and Family, Fully Insured, Administrative Services Only, and Medicare Advantage. Blue Shield is the first health plan in the state to offer Virta’s solution to members across multiple lines of business.
• TripleBlind, a provider of automated, real-time data de-identification, announced an expanded relationship with Mayo Clinic Platform. For the first time in healthcare, the use of TripleBlind’s Privacy Builder software will enable healthcare systems, via Mayo Clinic Platform, to strategically collaborate on developing the next generation of digital healthcare solutions within secure environments.
• Lightbeam Health Solutions, a provider of population health management solutions and services, announced a partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Health Disparities Research, by which their Area Deprivation Index data will be incorporated into the Lightbeam application. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s ADI is based on a measure created by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) over 30 years ago. Since its creation, UW’s ADI has been refined, adapted, and validated to the Census Block Group neighborhood level by the Center for Health Disparities Research team. It allows for rankings of Census Block Groups (neighborhoods) by socioeconomic disadvantage in a region of interest. The ADI includes factors for the theoretical domains of income, education, employment, and housing quality.
• Syneos Health, a fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization, announced a strategic partnership with Haystack Health, a Roivant Health portfolio company developing advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing solutions, to improve the identification and enrollment of patients for clinical trials. The combined capabilities of Syneos Health and Haystack Health will more effectively and efficiently identify and match clinical trial opportunities for patients. For sponsors and sites, this partnership will deliver valuable research tools and workflow efficiencies that result in improved timelines and increased patient recruitment. Initially, these new data solutions will only be available for Syneos Health sites in the US, with a focus on oncology and immunology. Later this year, the partnership plans to expand to include additional therapeutic areas and sites across the globe.

M&A

• CVS Health entered into a definitive agreement to acquire value-based primary care platform Oak Street Health
• GE Healthcare acquired ultrasound guidance startup Caption Health
• MediBuddy, an Indian digital healthcare platform, acquired primary healthcare service provider vHealth by Aetna 
• Globus Medical, a musculoskeletal solutions company, and NUVASIVE, a spine technology company, announced they entered into a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction
• Lantheus, a company committed to improving patient outcomes through diagnostics, radiotherapeutics and artificial intelligence solutions that enable clinicians to Find, Fight and Follow disease, acquired Cerveau Technologies, a provider of information and technology to researchers and clinicians in order to improve brain health
• Pharmaco acquired dental products distribution business Oraltec
• Abbott acquired Cardiovascular Systems, a medical device company with a atherectomy system used in treating peripheral and coronary artery disease
• HID, a provider of identity solutions, acquired GuardRFID, a provider of real-time location services hardware and software solutions in the healthcare space
• Takeda, a values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company, completed its acquisition of all shares of Nimbus Lakshmi from clinical-stage, structure-based drug discovery company Nimbus Therapeutics
• Prime Healthcare Group acquired a Truebeam radiotherapy system and Bravos afterloader system from Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company
• ZS, a management consulting and technology firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Trials.ai, an intelligent study design company
• MedHQ, a provider of technology-enabled expert services including human resources, staffing, and financial management to outpatient healthcare providers, acquired outpatient advisory firm Avanza Healthcare Strategies
• Amulet Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity investment firm focused exclusively on the healthcare sector, acquired Eruptr, a healthcare digital marketing provider
• Envision Pharma Group, a technology-enabled commercialization, integrated medical capabilities and solutions, and data analytics partner to the life sciences industry, acquired OKRA.ai, a developer of AI solutions for the life sciences industry
• Avania, a medical technology contract research organization, acquired MAXIS, a medical technology development service provider
• Select Medical and OhioHealth today announced that their joint venture partnership, OHRH, signed a definitive agreement with Reunion Hospital Holdings to acquire the operating assets of Reunion Rehabilitation Hospital

Funding Roundup 

• ShiftMed, a nursing staff platform, raised $200 million
• Simple HealthKit, an at-home testing kit provider, raised $8 million
• Tuned, a company offering a hearing healthcare benefit to employers and organizations,  raised $3.5 million
• Predicta Med, a startup helping medical clinics and institutions identify and work-up immune-related diseases earlier, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• Marker Learning, a provider of remote learning and attention disability services, raised $15 million
• Ciba Health, a platform addressing and reversing chronic disease conditions, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• Fort, an online mental health practice specializing in children and adolescents, raised $4.5 million
• The Rounds, a collaboration network for physicians and healthcare professionals, raised $1.6 million CAD
• Asa Ren, a DNA data company, raised $8.15 million
• Ooca, a Thailand-based mental health telemedicine firm, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• SwipeRx, a platform for pharmacies in Southeast Asia, raised $10 million
• Yodawy, a pharmacy benefits management platform, raised $16 million
• Faro Health, a cloud-computing company that is developing digital infrastructure for smart clinical trials, raised $20 million
• Slingshot Biosciences, a biotechnology company building an on-demand synthetic cell platform for customizing cell and cell line mimics, raised $11 million
• Viventium, a SaaS-based human capital management solution specializing in the health services sector, raised an undisclosed amount of funding 

(Image source: homecarepreferred.com)