Healthcare Transformation Consultant Ann Richardson

Welcome to the last Digital Health Wire of 2023, as we’ll be taking a break for the holidays! Thank you to all of our readers and sponsors who make this newsletter possible, and keep an eye out for our next edition on January 4th.

Digital Health

Digital Health at the Turn of 2024

Rock Health is wrapping up the year in style by sharing the trends it believes are most likely to move the needle in 2024, based on where they stand along its “innovation maturity curve.”

The top trends were plotted along the curve to reflect their funding momentum, research volume, and partnership activity, revealing insights into which innovations are ready to make the leap from hype to impact.

• Food as Medicine (Maturity Score: Nascent) – Nutritional recommendation platforms are moving beyond their historically narrow set of use cases (“niche” support for type 2 diabetes) to a variety of conditions ranging from mental health to cancer. Keep an eye on: As legislation and reimbursement pathways continue to expand in 2024, more providers will start using food as medicine to differentiate their care delivery models.

• Digital Obesity Care (Maturity Score: Nascent) – Although GLP-1s were one of this year’s hottest topics, weight management support services like remote monitoring and behavioral coaching are also coming along for the ride. Keep an eye on: Supply chain and accessibility challenges will continue to constrain GLP-1s, and payors could push for more precise triage to determine who gets priority for medication-based programs.

• AI in Healthcare (Maturity Score: Developing) – AI startups were one of the only groups spared from the venture funding slowdown, raising nearly $2.8B across 101 rounds through Q3. Keep an eye on: Providers and payors will be solidifying their approach to AI governance and thoroughly assessing the tradeoffs between platform-level integrations (EHR plugins) and best-in-breed solutions (built for specific features).

• Value-Based Care Enablement (Maturity Score: Developing) – With the most partnership growth in the analysis, VBC enablement is gaining commercial traction and moving closer to maturity. Keep an eye on: As health systems continue to consolidate, VBC solutions might be pushed toward platform-ization to address more needs, especially in areas where they’re easiest to adopt (solidified, attributable care pathways).

• Data Interoperability (Maturity Score: Calibrating) – Interoperability infrastructure is still under construction, with the ONC only recently onboarding the first cohort of QHINs, but commercial partnerships are picking up as regulations stabilize. Keep an eye on: Data will be increasingly important as more powerful analytics tools become available, and disruptive solutions will need built-in insights capabilities as a value-driver.

The Takeaway

If 2023 was digital health’s transition year, Rock Health expects 2024 to be its recalibration year. Major innovations have begun their trek along the maturity curve, and it’s now time to build the strategies that will give them the staying power to keep progressing.

Discover Clear Arch Health’s RPM Platform

With ready-to-use devices, data-driven dashboards, and integrated analytics, Clear Arch Health’s turnkey RPM platform is designed to meet the evolving needs of care delivery. Find out how Clear Arch Health can help keep your providers connected to their patients and equipped with the actionable insights they need to improve outcomes.

The New Standard for Prescription Safety

Synapse Medicine’s quick-deploy Prescription Assistance API and components can be up and running in less than a day and instantly connect your HCPs to real-time drug data and prescribing support. Find out how easy it can be to equip your providers with the tools they need to ensure prescription safety and precision for their patients.

Master the Art of Provider Credentialing

Crafting better patient care experiences starts with refining your operations and nurturing provider satisfaction. Dive into Medallion’s new guide to discover top strategies for effective provider communication, accelerating processes through automation, and creating adaptable workflows. Elevate your credentialing game with Medallion.

The Wire

• Season Raises $7M: Season Health loaded its plate with $7M in fresh funding to help its food-as-medicine platform capitalize on the momentum within the broader obesity management space. The raise comes just weeks after Season expanded its provider roster through the acquisition of Wellory, which set it up to scale its diet-based clinical programs to more patients with conditions such as diabetes, CKD, obesity, and high-risk pregnancy. 

• HHS AI Transparency Rule: AI transparency is once again in the headlines with HHS’ publication of a final rule that sets transparency requirements for predictive AI algorithms used in healthcare. Specifically, EHR vendors will have to disclose their training data sources, explain how their models were tested, and share a strategy for identifying and controlling risks. The rule also includes a range of new provisions directed toward data interoperability and information blocking.

• Zocdoc Users Want Speed: Zocdoc’s inaugural What Patients Want Report surfaced some interesting trends from its booking platform data, including the fact that speed-to-appointment is now a top priority. Discerning Zocdoc users look at an average of 26 provider options before scheduling, and nearly half of all appointments now take place within four days of booking. Providers who offer both virtual and in-person appointments also see 51% more bookings than those who offer exclusively in-person visits, and a whopping 217% more bookings than those taking the virtual-only route.

• Doctors Split On AI: Doctors are split on how AI will impact them, but their level of concern matched their level of excitement in a new AMA survey of nearly 1,100 physicians. Respondents expect the most immediately promising AI use cases to center around practice efficiency, particularly in processes related to visit notes, medical charts, and prior auths. While physicians viewed AI as a potential risk to patient relationships and privacy, they pointed to liability protection for AI errors and third party product validation as ways to encourage quicker adoption.

• GLP-1 Deep Dive Podcast: The Plain English podcast put out as good of a discussion on GLP-1s as you’ll find anywhere, broken into two parts that are both excellent for their own reasons. Part 1 has endocrinologist Dr. Beverly Tchang breaking down the science behind the drugs and the questions they’re raising about obesity treatment, while Part 2 features a conversation between Ro CEO Zach Reitano and pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig on everything from GLP-1’s potentially massive economic impact to the barriers that might prevent them from living up to the hype.

• CancerX Data Sprint: CancerX released the results of its first Data Sprint demonstration project, which convened its 150+ member organizations to identify high-value research questions around real-world evidence and provide themes to inform a comprehensive cancer research data set. It’ll be exciting to keep an eye on CancerX as it provides mentorship, funding, and clinical partnerships to an accelerator cohort that’s tackling the ambitious goals laid out in the White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.

• Pandemic Health Impact: The latest Gallup data shows that the prevalence of obesity and diabetes has hit an all-time-high, with the percentage of US adults classified as either obese (38%) or diabetic (14%) spiking since the start of the pandemic. Although exercise habits were a bright spot since they’re still flat from 2019, Americans reported less healthy eating, higher cholesterol, and lower self confidence. One of the more eye-catching stats from the poll was that only 24% of adults feel active and productive every day, down from 50% prior to COVID.

• MA Gold Rush Days Are Numbered: The Medicare Advantage “gold rush” could be coming to an end, with a recent Wall Street Journal article predicting that the days of MA mega-margins are numbered due to slowing enrollment, less favorable reimbursement, and more payor competition. The piece follows United Healthcare’s forecast that 2024 MA enrollment growth will likely be less than half of what it saw this year, yet another signal that the MA market is cooling off quickly.

• Cholesterol Vaccine: University of New Mexico researchers published study results for a cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 vaccine that they say could be administered once a year for less than $100 a dose. The virus-like particle bivalent vaccine displays two PCSK9-derived peptides that stimulate the immune response against PCSK9, reducing cholesterol levels by up to 30% in mice and monkeys. The UNM researchers are now seeking funding for human trials. 

• Medefy Series A: Mobile-first benefits navigation startup Medefy Health closed $10M in Series A funding to help employees find healthcare services with real-time assistance. Medefy’s chat-based platform allows members to see a tailored view of their health plan and benefits offerings, connecting them with a human navigator that’s available 24/7 to help compare solutions, schedule appointments, and coordinate care.

• Pharmacies Investigated For Record Sharing: The largest pharmacy chains in the US frequently give patient medical records to law enforcement without warrants, according to a congressional investigation on the issue. Pharmacy records are often shared across locations in different states, which gives law enforcement in states with abortion bans the ability to locate the records as a way to determine if a person received reproductive care in another state. The probe uncovered that eight high profile pharmacies turn records over without warrants.

Bolster Your Workforce With W2 Classification

As we navigate the biggest nursing workforce shortage of our time, understanding the nuances of clinician classification and protecting your community from risk is more important than ever. Even for the most flexible schedules, assigning 1099 status to nurses could be leaving your organization vulnerable to lawsuits. Find out how connectRN’s W2 staffing solution protects you and your business from liability.

Glooko Outcomes Using Real-World Data

Modern diabetes management requires personalized, always-on, and connected care. Explore Glooko’s latest clinical studies to see how remote patient monitoring is making real-word improvements across multiple glycemic outcomes.

What is Patient Engagement for a CMIO?

In its patient engagement guide for hospital execs, Nuance examines the goals and challenges of Chief Medical Information Officers, highlighting the ways that AI-powered patient engagement solutions can help CMIOs reduce physician burnout and improve care delivery.