Propeller Health General Manager Susa Monacelli

Startups

XRHealth and Amelia Virtual Care Merger

The extended reality (AR/VR) market has a new XR therapeutic powerhouse after XRHealth and Barcelona-based Amelia Virtual Care announced plans to merge into a new company capable of addressing both physical and mental health issues.

The combined company will retain the XRHealth branding as it becomes the largest XR therapeutics platform in the world, used by over 2,500 physicians globally and generating $7M+ in annual revenue.

XRHealth operates virtual therapeutic care rooms that allow patients with complex conditions (i.e. Parkinson’s, MS, chronic pain, fibromyalgia) to receive treatment from a medical professional without having to leave their homes.

• Since its founding in 2016, XRHealth has raised $35M and counts XR hardware manufacturers such as LG and HTC among its shareholders. 

• XRHealth isn’t in the hardware business, but the platform is compatible with most commercially available devices. XRHealth CEO shared a nice look at how far that tech’s come recently.

Amelia Virtual Care takes a different approach, offering a VR platform with over 140 environments intended to treat anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and different phobias through systematic desensitization or Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET).

• VRET sessions last around 20 minutes, and physicians can access the content library for a monthly subscription “like a Netflix for mental health professionals.” 

In an interview with PlantaDoce, Amelia CEO Xavier Palomer acknowledged that a difficult funding environment makes partnerships more necessary than ever, and that the merger will help consolidate costs and offer bundles between their clients.

• Palomer went on to say that the combined company now expects to break even in 2024, and that “nuestros objetivos concuerdan con un posible salto al parqué en 2025” – which if your Castilian’s a little rusty means we could have a Nasdaq debut in a couple years.

The Takeaway

After an early adopter craze led to a decent sized bubble in extended reality tech, a growing body of clinical evidence and strategic mergers like XRHealth are setting the stage for a new wave of growth… not to mention extended reality is one catalyst away from really breaking mainstream. By combining XRHealth’s virtual care rooms with Amelia’s VRET content library, the new XRHealth is making sure it’s positioned as well as possible to catch that wave when it gets here.

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The Wire

• Kaiser Acquires Geisinger: A blockbuster acquisition is underway between Kaiser Permanente and PA-based Geisinger, marking a fresh chapter in KP’s expansion as it launches a new company, Risant Health, to support nonprofit community health systems. Risant Health will operate independently – Geisinger will be folded in and keep its name – while it looks to extend KP’s value-based care model nationwide. KP is planning to invest $5B in Risant over the next five years (revenue was $95B in 2022), and expects to add up to six health systems to Risant in that time.

• 2021’s Healthcare Bounce Back: After an abrupt decline at the beginning of the pandemic, health spending bounced back in a big way in 2021, per the Health Care Cost Institute. An analysis of claims data found that per-person spending grew 15% in 2021 after postponed care caused a 3.5% decline the year prior. The spending increase spanned beyond COVID-related care to both inpatient and outpatient services, although the report found that inflation accounted for over half of the increase between 2017 and 2021.

• Apple Health Coaching: Apple is planning to launch an AI health coaching service and new mood tracking tech, according to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg. The coaching service, codenamed Quartz, is designed to motivate users to exercise, improve eating habits, and get better sleep using tailored programs based on their iPhone and Apple Watch data. Quartz isn’t expected to debut until next year, but a new emotion tracking tool that lets users log their mood and view trends appears to be coming to the iPhone within a few months.

• Interop Investment for Home Care: A recent survey from Brightree found that 99% of hospitals are more likely to send post-acute care referrals to providers that meet their interoperability needs, yet only 20% of HME suppliers and home infusion providers are set up to be able to receive referrals through electronic data exchange. That gap has over half of these home care providers planning new interoperability investments.

• Oracle’s VA Record Overhaul Paused: The Veterans Affairs Department hit another roadblock in its ongoing multi-billion dollar health record overhaul. The VA is officially halting deployment of the Oracle-Cerner EHR to focus on improving its functionality at the few sites currently (attempting) to use the tech. The Chief Officer of VA Connected Care, Dr. Neil Evans, said that “for the past few years, we’ve tried to fix this plane while flying it – and that hasn’t delivered the results that veterans or our staff deserve.”

• connectRN Nashville Expansion: Nurse staffing community connectRN is leaning into its health system expansion with the announcement that nurses have begun using its platform to find shifts at multiple Nashville hospitals. Clinicians and nurses were previously using the connectRN app to find flexible shifts at Nashville’s skilled nursing facilities and home health settings, but hospital availability is now rolling out nationwide starting with Tennessee and Florida.

• Ozempic Popularity: A survey of 1k US adults from Tebra wrapped some numbers around diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic’s sudden rise in popularity… and the numbers were pretty wild. Nearly a quarter of respondents had asked their doctor for an Ozempic prescription, and apparently 15% of Americans have personally used Ozempic for weight loss. The demand is making it hard for diabetes patients to source their medication, and this breakdown of Ozempic’s popularity by state makes it look especially hard to come by in the South. 

• 5 Healthcare Predictions: Transcarent CEO Glen Tullman laid out five predictions for the future of healthcare during last week’s HIMSS conference. These are usually tough to summarize, but Tullman also has a knack for getting his point across in under five words: 1) Consumers are in charge; 2) AI will inform the experience; 3) Care will happen in 60 seconds; 4) Health systems will be the hub… maybe; 5) At risk is no risk.

• Neteera Adds $13M for Contactless RPM: Neteera Technologies completed a $13M Series B round (total raised now $21.5M) to advance the commercialization of its radar-based contactless patient monitoring solution and further develop the medical sensing platform. Neteera also launched a strategic partnership with Omega Healthcare Investors, which was among its Series B investors, and will offer Neteera’s remote monitoring solution across Omega’s network of long-term care and skilled nursing facilities in the US.

• CVAUSA Acquires NovoCardia: Cardiology practice management company Cardiovascular Associates of America (CVAUSA) acquired VBC cardiology network NovoCardia, combining the two group’s practices (now 11 w/ >100 locations and >200 physicians in 8 states) and making NovoCardia “the Value-Based Care Division” of CVAUSA. NovoCardia built a name for itself through innovative “telehealth-first” programs to support chronic patients and give its practices a streamlined alternative to using a fragmented combination of virtual tools.

• Elevance Expands Concierge Care: Elevance Health is expanding its concierge care program to chronic conditions such as Crohn’s disease, diabetes, and cancer. The concierge service was initially introduced for members recovering from COVID-19, offering 12 to 16 week programs with high levels of personalization through nurse matching, targeted educational materials, and a gamification element that creates “intense engagement,” although details were sparse on the last part.

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