December 08-11, 2023

MedTech Impact 2023

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News & Insights

MEDTECH IMPACT MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS

MedTech Insider: Digital Health Market On Track for Its Best Year Ever

MedTech Insider: Digital Health Market On Track for Its Best Year Ever

 

Digital Health Market On Track for Its Best Year Ever

A new funding report compiled by Mercom Capital Group has shown that the first half of 2019 has drawn in the largest funding numbers within digital health than any year prior, setting the market to reach unprecedented numbers come the year’s end. In line with previous reports completed by Rock Health and MobiHealthNews, the findings show a to-date funding of $5.1 billion raised by 318 deals (2018 drew $4.9 billion from 383 deals). The report further broke down the market funding through highlighting the highest funding market segments. Analytic startups currently lead the market with $1.1 billion, followed by telemedicine with $896 million and mobile health apps with $627 million. The findings have led many industry experts and stakeholders to express hesitant concern on a possible market bubble, such as Cercom Capital Group CEO, Raj Prabhu who shared: “We are in an ‘invest first and ask questions later’ environment where investors are more worried about missing out in this hot space. After a long hiatus, we are seeing several digital health companies entering the IPO market in the US. Successful IPOs could open the floodgates, whereas if IPOs fizzle out, it could shut the IPO exit path for many digital health companies.”

 

Mount Sinai Collaborates With LabCorp on AI Pathology Center

LabCorp and The Mount Sinai Health System have announced an additional aspect of their ongoing partnership: the two organizations will work together to develop the Mount Sinai Digital and Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Pathology Center of Excellence. LabCorp, which has previously implemented the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution into four of its laboratories will introduce the technology to all remaining location. In utilizing its expertise in digital pathology, LabCorp will help lead the integration into clinical practices throughout Mount Sinai’s hospitals. In a statement, Dr. Carlos Cordon-Cardo, chairman of the Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System shared: “Digital pathology gives us the unprecedented opportunity to expand our services to the community at large, and engage members of our department, considered key opinion leaders in their field, to provide expert diagnostic opinions in complex cases.” As one of the largest academic departments of its kind nationwide, the department processes over 80 million diagnostic tests each year.

 

First AI Pathology Tech With “Clinical Grade Accuracy”

Researchers associated with medical tech startup, Paige and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have published a new article which details its artificial intelligence based detection system for identifying prostate cancer, skin cancer, and breast cancer. Published within the peer-reviewed medical journal, Nature Medicine, the company claims to have achieved “near-perfect accuracy.” In the article, the researchers describe the tech as having employed deep learning train on a data set of almost 45,000 slide images taken from more than 15,000 patients across 44 countries. In a statement, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Paige, Dr. Thomas Fuchs shared: “After years of in-depth, comprehensive modeling, training, and testing, we are thrilled that Nature Medicine has published our paper, which demonstrates our ability to train accurate classification models at unprecedented scale, and validates our mission to create the world’s first clinical-grade, artificial intelligence in pathology.” The next step for the company is to begin the commercialization of the tech.

 

Physician Interest In Telemedicine Doubles

A new analysis completed by professional medical network, Doximity, has demonstrated a significant increase in physician interest in telemedicine. The analysis found that the number of physicians who self-reported telemedicine as a skill double between 2015 and 2018 and continues to trend upwards by 20%.  According to a recent JAMA study, the trend correlates with the growing number of telemedicine patient visits which has increased by 261% annually between 2015 and 2017. The Doximity report noted: “In 2018, the global telemedicine market was valued at over $38.3 billion. By 2025, it’s projected that this market will exceed $130.5 billion.”

 

 

MedTech Insider: FCC Votes on $100M New Funding For Telehealth

 

New Research Demonstrates How AI Can Improve Cost of Care Models

A recent report published by Innovacer–a health data and population health management consulting company– highlights the ways in which advanced machine learning algorithms can improve risk models to better manage and predict the cost of care. The report model analyzes data from multiple sources including claims data, electronic health records, and social determinants of health. The company’s report suggest that using advanced analytics to analyze the impact of key clinical and lifestyle metric on overall health outcomes could save time and cut costs. In a statement, former Geisinger CEO, and current vice chair of the Health Transformation Alliance, and advisor to Innovacer noted: “The transformation from volume to value requires innovative strategies for assessing risk and predicting outcomes. […] This innovation must be based on a solid data foundation and it’s encouraging to see Innovaccer’s data-driven approach being applied to an AI-based risk scoring model – something that can address one of the most pressing needs in healthcare today.”

 

FCC Votes on $100M New Funding For Telehealth

In mid June, FCC commisioner Brendan Carr announced that the agency would be holding a vote to advance the $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program to help expand telehealth access to low-income individuals, and veterans across the United States. The commissioners have since voted unanimously to move forward with the funding program, which would develop a three year pilot to help healthcare providers with the associated costs of broadband service. The program will cover up to 85% of particular internet connectivity costs for broadband-enabled telehealth services which connect patient to physicians. The move received wide approval and praise from several leading tech and health organizations include AT&T, Connected Health, and The App Association among others. The agency is currently seeking public input on the appropriate budget, structure, eligible participants, and duration on the pilot.

 

Researchers Develop Artificial Muscles Capable of Achieving Powerful Pulling Force

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a way to imitate the coiling and pulling function found in natural muscles to produce contracting fiber that can be used as artificial muscles for robots, prosthetic limbs, or a variety of biomedical applications. The new, light-weight fiber-based system surpasses previous approaches in response time and agility. The new fibers were developed using a fiber-drawing technique to combine two dissimilar polymers into a single strand of fiber. The fibers are capable of spanning a wide range of sizes from “a few micrometers (millionths of a meter) to a few millimeters (thousandths of a meter) in width, and can easily be manufactured in batches up to hundreds of meters long.” The researchers tests have demonstrated that a single fiber is capable of lifting loads of up to 650 times its own weight.

 

FTC Approves UnitedHealth Group $4.3B Acquisition of DaVita

The Federal Trade Commission has granted approval of UnitedHealth Group’s $4.3 billion acquisition of DaVita Medical Group, with conditions. In response to the FTC allegations that the deal would impair competition in healthcare markets within Clark and Nye Counties in Nevada, both companies agreed to divest DaVita Medical Group’s provider organization in the Las Vegas Area to Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, within 40 days following the acquisition. Two commissioners were prepared to challenge the acquisition court, but chose to accept the decision after the Attorney General of Colorado agreed to taken action in “an effort to address some of the harmful effects of the merger in a separate action.” In a released statement, Commissioners, Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson exaplained: “We do not rule out the possibility that vertical mergers can harm competition under a RRC (raising rivals’ costs) theory. But vertical mergers often generate procompetitive benefits that must also factor into the antitrust analysis. A major source of these benefits is the elimination of double-marginalization, which places downward pressure on prices in the output market.”

 

NHS Teams Up With Amazon To Develop Alexa-Enabled Health Information

The U.K.’s National Health Serves (NHS) is teaming up with Amazon to provide Alexa users with “reliable health information.” The agency announced that the technology would allow patients to receive “profession, NHS-verified health information in seconds” using voice-assisted technology. A developed algorithm will connect information from the NHS website to provide patients with appropriate responses to medical questions. Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care noted that the move demonstrated “a great example of how people can access reliable, world-leading NHS advice from the comfort of their home, reducing the pressure on our hardworking GPs and pharmacists.” 

 

 

 

MedTech Insider: FCC Votes on $100M New Funding For Telehealth
MedTech Insider: UK Announces New Funding Mandate for Health Tech

MedTech Insider: UK Announces New Funding Mandate for Health Tech

White House Release Updates to AI Transparency

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy has released an update to its National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan with a new set of objectives for federal AI research. The updated plan highlights explicit strategies for the development of safe and effective AI and machine learning technologies for healthcare and additional industries. The report emphasized the importance of transparency of AI developments within healthcare especially, explaining: “Many algorithms, including those based on deep learning, are opaque to users, with few existing mechanisms for explaining their results. This is especially problematic for domains such as healthcare, where doctors need explanations to justify a particular diagnosis or a course of treatment. […] Researchers must develop systems that are transparent, and intrinsically capable of explaining the reasons for their results to users.”

UK Announces New Funding Mandate for Health Tech

UK Health Minister Nicola Blackwood has announced a new funding mandate for health technology to be introduced in 2020. Speaking at the Association of British HealthTech Industries, Blackwood explained that the U.K. government has plans to build  “a finance innovation ecosystem which promotes collaboration between the NHS and industry, to ensure new technologies meet NHS priorities and therefore have a ready-made market within the UK”. The funding mandate will function as a part of the Accelerated Access Collaborative–a UK organization which serves the NHS and industry partners. The AAC will develop a process which works to identify valuable new innovations which match the needs of patients and clinicians. Minister Blackwood noted: “The combination of a health tech funding mandate and a globally leading testing infrastructure will ensure the best new innovations get into the NHS, and to patients, faster.”

United Health Group Acquires Patients Like Me

After losing it’s majority stakeholder in April under direct pressure from U.S. regulators, health tech company, Patients Like Me, has been recently purchased by United Health Group. In an announcement, the company explained that in following with the acquisition, Patients Like Me will now join as a part of United’s research arm centered upon healthcare innovation. In a message to members, CEO Jamie Heywood shared: “We’ve chosen to join with UnitedHealth Group Research & Development because they share that same drive to improve health at the individual level and to ensure that healthcare outcomes across the board are more effective.”

Premier & UPMC Partner on New Pharma Supply AI Technology

Health improvement company Premier has partnered with UPMC owned cognitive supply chain company Pensiamo to launch a new pharmaceutical supply chain. The technology tool, CongnitiveRx, monitors market demand and utilizes machine learning to help maintain inventory levels during pharmaceutical shortages. The technology predicts and manages challenges related to drug shortages including inflation, declining reimbursement, and other significant supply chain factors. In a released statement, Pensiamo CEO Jim Szilagy shared: “CognitiveRx provides access to market exclusive recommendations that predict drug supply disruption risk, and support the rapid identification of clinical, purchasing and inventory solutions.”

University of Chicago Faces Lawsuit Over Patient Data Sharing With Google

The University of Chicago has been accused of sharing identifiable patient data in a recent potential class action lawsuit. Filed on behalf of a former University of Chicago Medical Center patient (with the goal of expanding to a class action lawsuit if additional patients come forward) the lawsuit claims that University disclosed confidential medical information to Google. Two years ago, the University of Chicago announced a plan to partner with Google to study ways which electronic medical records can make discoveries to improve healthcare standards. Both organizations have stated that the collaboration only included de-identified patient data. The lawsuit claims: “Publicly, Google and the University touted the security measures used to transfer and store these records, along with the fact that they had been ‘de-identified.’ In reality, these records were not sufficiently anonymized and put the patients’ privacy at grave risk.”  In a statement to Fierce Healthcare, Matthew Fisher, a partner with Boston-based law firm Mirick O’Connell explained: “An implied question seems to be whether data can truly be de-identified at this point in time, especially when provided to a big tech company like Google.”

MedTech Insider: Convincing Boards To Make Cybersecurity A Priority

Convincing Boards To Make Cybersecurity A Priority

Due to sensitive and valuable data gathered by healthcare providers, medical organization are among the most likely and vulnerable targets for cybercrime. Read More

MedTech Insider: Convincing Boards To Make Cybersecurity A Priority