Month: November 2021

Kareo and PatientPop Merge to Help Private Practices

Posted on by Jason Barry

Cloud-based software developer Kareo and private practice growth company PatientPop announced the closing of their merger and unveiled the combined company’s new name, Tebra.

Tebra currently supports over 100k providers and is looking to combine the technology of both companies to help modern private practices along every step of the patient journey.

  • PatientPop helps physicians grow their practices through marketing assistance, virtual scheduling, and an online platform to practice care remotely. The company offers cloud-based solutions that automate tasks such as scheduling and referrals to grow bookings.
  • Kareo provides software that supports EHRs and financial services for independent practices. The technology includes features supporting practice management, patient engagement, and third-party app connectivity.
  • Tebra, as in “vertebrae,” aims to be the backbone of private practices, integrating PatientPop’s growth solutions with Kareo’s operations tech to allow physicians to work at the top of their licence while meeting the rising patient expectations for seamless digital experiences.
  • Advantages of scale might emerge as Tebra continues expanding its client base, such as networking its physicians to drive more referrals, or even the possibility of facilitating consolidation of the offices it helps grow.

Industry Impact

As healthcare systems invest heavily in digital innovation, Tebra’s practice management platform is a lifeline for private practices trying to keep up. Without the financial buffer of larger systems, independent physicians were severely impacted by the post-pandemic declines in patient volumes, and offloading administration and growth functions onto a company like Tebra could be a piece of the solution.

Landmark Study Investigates Mobile Health Data

Posted on by Jason Barry

Medical researchers have typically relied on self-reported health data to establish patient metrics such as activity levels and heart rate, but a recent paper published in the Lancet by Michigan Predictive Activity & Clinical Trajectories in Health (MIPACT) aims to form a sturdier baseline for future digital health interventions.

The study is unique in its large sample size (n = 6,765) and the scale of collected information, capturing health data from underrepresented age groups, races, ethnicities, and underlying conditions.

While the preliminary results include only the first 90 days of the ongoing three-year observational study, the authors published the aggregated data to allow for comparison of groups (age, race, ethnicity, gender, body-mass index, beta-blocker use, medical conditions) to longitudinal patterns of activity, heart rate, and blood pressure data.

  • Methods – The study enrolled a diverse set of 6,765 US adults (54% women, 18% 65 or older, 17% Black, 17% Asian) of whom 10% have diabetes, 33% have hypertension, and 27% have depression. Participants were provided Apple Watches, Omron blood pressure cuffs, and a MyDataHelps smartphone app to record data on heart rate, blood pressure, step counts, and distance walked.
  • Results – A total of 200m heart rate measurements and 1.1m blood pressure readings were collected over the 90 day period. Participants 65 and older had significantly lower heart rates, while women had average resting heart rates 3 bpm higher than men. Heart rates and activity levels varied by race, ethnicity, and underlying conditions, underlining the importance of patient-specific context when interpreting data from wearables.
  • Discussion – Researchers noted that upon the study’s completion the participant data will span from before the pandemic to after its onset, enabling the evaluation of its impact on physiologic parameters due to illness and lifestyle changes.

Study Impact

Wearables have made longitudinal vitals monitoring a reality, allowing clinicians to paint a more complete picture of patient activity in daily life. As the study continues with its three-year monitoring phase, MIPACT intends to contextualize the patient data with information from EMRs and surveys, furthering its goal of creating better baselines for future digital health research. In the meantime, the authors hope that the easily navigable preliminary results will be used to improve study design and clinical recommendations.

Mental Healthcare Demand Pressures Psychologists

Posted on by Jason Barry

Following a pandemic-driven surge in demand for mental healthcare, a new American Psychological Association survey is indicating an even greater demand increase in 2021, with psychologists reporting heavier workloads, longer waitlists, and low capacity for new patients.

The APA surveyed 1,141 doctoral-level active psychologists in the US between August 30 and September 17, providing insights into the evolving mental health landscape in 2021.

Psychologist capacity highlights:

  • 43% reported an increase in overall number of patients (up from 29% last year)
  • 65% reported no capacity for new patients due to current caseload
  • 46% reported feeling burned out (up from 41% last year)

Psychologist telehealth adoption:

  • 96% reported treating patients remotely (slight decrease from 97% last year)
  • 50% reported hybrid in-person / remote treatment (up from 33% hybrid last year)
  • 46% reported seeing all patients remotely (down 64% all remote last year)

Changes in treatment areas:

  • 82% reported an increase in demand for anxiety disorder (up from 72% last year)
  • 70% reported an increase in demand for depression(up from 58% last year)
  • 2021 demand increases for: trauma (58%), substances (27%), sleep (38%)

The Takeaway

More psychologists reported increased demand across all treatment areas than before the pandemic, a trend that has accelerated since last year. While nearly all psychologists are providing remote services to meet rising patient volumes, a growing number of them are still reporting no capacity for new appointments, highlighting a continued need for digital health solutions that address the supply and demand imbalance for the specialty.

FemTec Health Emerges From Stealth, Acquires Birchbox

Posted on by Jason Barry

Former Livongo executive Dr. Kimon Angelides announced that FemTec Health, a technology-focused women’s health sciences company, is emerging from stealth with $38m in funding and the acquisition of subscription box pioneer Birchbox.

FemTec was originally formed in May 2020 with the aim of using technology to personalize care for women across the health continuum, from specialty and reproductive care to mental health and chronic condition management.

  • At launch, FemTec has over 10m members, two in-progress clinical trials, and 150 employees. Using a combination of AI and predictive analytics, it is looking to create a unified experience for its products and services across multiple channels, including D2C, B2B (employers, health plans), and subscriptions.
  • BiomeAI is the data analytics platform around which most of FemTec’s solutions revolve, which customizes care by using machine learning to transform data (consumer, genetic, microbiome, biometric) into personalized product and treatment recommendations.
  • Key acquisitions have helped FemTec launch with an established member base, such as digital cosmetics store Mira Beauty, social marketing platform Liquid Grid, and beauty box early mover Birchbox. FemTec announced plans to re-launch Birchbox later this year with a focus on BiomeAI-curated skin and healthcare products as opposed to beauty supplies.

The Takeaway

While FemTec is first and foremost a female health company, its acquisition history and BiomeAI recommendation platform show that it will likely focus more on consumer products than other competitors in the space. Female health is a giant market and one that’s been historically underserved, opening up plenty of runway for FemTec to meet unmet demand for personalized care.

Get the top digital health stories right in your inbox

You might also like..

Select All

You're signed up!

It's great to have you as a reader. Check your inbox for a welcome email.

-- The Digital Health Wire team

You're all set!