- Audio-Only Telehealth: A Health Affairs study from Harvard Medical School and RAND Corporation found that it’s difficult to predict the future of audio-only telehealth due to poor underlying data and reimbursement clarity. After attempting to estimate market share for different telehealth modalities, the authors found wildly varying results depending on the data source, with audio-only visits comprising 25% of total visit volume in claims-based studies, 50% in survey-based studies, and 55% in EHR-based studies.
- Apple’s Health Strategy: Not to be left out of last week’s big-tech-in-healthcare newscycle, Apple released a report outlining its two-pronged approach to digital health, which includes delivering more insights through Apple Watch / iPhone features and expanding its partnerships with traditional health systems. The report marks the first time Apple has provided a comprehensive view of its healthcare strategy, and while most of the post centers on current projects, it also makes it clear that future priorities will be focused on going all-in on RPM while integrating insights into clinician workflows.
- Patient Mobile Apps: A Gozio survey of 272 health system executives found that 90% of respondents believe a consumer-facing mobile app would help their organization achieve its digital strategy goals, yet only 22% currently have a custom-built solution. As a result, 82% plan to increase mobile technology investment over the next three years, prioritizing app features such as patient note taking, support for hospital-at-home services, and wayfinding.
- UC Irvine & Luna: UC Irvine Health is teaming up with Luna to provide the health system’s patients with in-home physical therapy through Luna’s nationwide network of more than 4k licensed physical therapists. The Luna platform intelligently matches patients to therapists based on specialty, geography, and schedules, allowing the same therapist to coordinate with the patient until the end of the treatment plan to ensure consistent care.
- Patients Want Access: A new PocketHealth report (n=242 patient users) shared strong evidence that patients benefit from better access to their healthcare information, finding that 71% of patients actively research their own medical conditions, but that 52% have difficulty accessing their imaging records. Nearly 85% of respondents reported an improvement in their overall healthcare experience from being able to access their own imaging records, while 61% felt more engaged with their treatment.
- Innovaccer + Curana: Innovaccer and Curana Health are partnering to build a value-based care solution for high-risk residents in senior living communities across the country. Curana has a presence in 26 states across over 1,000 senior living communities, and will now leverage the Innovaccer Health Cloud to create a unified view of patient clinical / utilization data to help it perform risk stratification and identify proactive interventions that can prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.
- Medable and Withings Partnership: Withings Health Solutions is bringing its at-home connected health devices to Medable’s decentralized clinical trial platform. Using Withings’ solutions, Medable can now remotely capture clinical-grade measurements (temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns, weight) to reduce the burden on trial sponsors and sites while enabling patients to participate in trials from home.
- iRhythm FDA Clearance: iRhythm Technologies received a second FDA 510(k) approval for its ZEUS (Zio ECG Utilization Software) System that works alongside a clinical-grade Zio Watch wearable to detect and characterize AFib. Developed in partnership with Verily, the ZEUS System’s latest clearance is for an AI algorithm that provides context into how much AFib a patient is experiencing over time before generating automated reports to aid in diagnosis.
- Reintroducing GE HealthCare: GE Inc.’s separation into three independent companies reached a major milestone, with the unveiling of the companies’ new names and branding. GE Healthcare will be (slightly) renamed GE HealthCare, adopting updated corporate branding that combines its long-established cursive “GE” logo with new “compassion purple” coloring. GE HealthCare will be the first company to first spin-off in early 2023 (Nasdaq ticker: GEHC), followed by GE’s energy business portfolio (renamed GE Vernova) and its aviation business (renamed GE Aerospace) in 2024.
