Fabric CEO Aniq Rahman

Today’s a big day for Digital Health Wire, because it’s the day we’re launching our new video interview series – The Digital Health Wire Show! 

For our first guest, we had the honor of sitting down with connectRN’s VP of Home Health, Cora Jaulin. We dive into everything from the role that nurses are playing in transforming home care, to predictions on the overall staffing landscape, and tons in between. Check out our full interview here.

Startups

Fabric Acquires Conversational AI Startup Gyant

It was another action-packed week in what’s shaping up to be a busy 2024, with healthcare operations enabler Fabric acquiring conversational AI assistant Gyant.

If the name Fabric doesn’t ring a bell, that’s because the acquisition announcement was also the grand debut of Florence’s rebranding to the new moniker.

Florence – now Fabric – launched last March with $20M in seed funding to address what it views as the most significant constraint in care delivery: clinical capacity.

• The first stop for Fabric, as with a growing number of patients, was the ED. Using Fabric’s mobile platform, patients in the ED can complete intake forms, update clinical information, initiate self-discharge, and schedule follow-ups.

• The idea is that patients get real-time updates, providers get better ED throughput, and everyone goes home happy.

Fabric then went on to pick up Zipnosis off of Bright Health less than two months after closing its seed round, broadening its product suite with asynchronous telehealth and accelerating its roadmap to new sites of care – particularly the home.

• The cherry on top of the acquisition was that Zipnosis also brought along 50+ health system customers, giving Fabric a foot in the door to start offering its other services.

Enter Gyant, which fits right into Fabric’s clinical capacity strategy by providing a conversational AI assistant that “empowers patients to self-navigate, connecting to them wherever they prefer to engage.”

• Fabric had an existing integration with Gyant that allowed patients using the symptom checker within Gyant’s assistant to initiate telehealth visits powered by Fabric (courtesy of Zipnosis). 

• Just to call a DFD a DFD, Gyant basically helps serve as Fabric’s digital front door.

Fabric’s “optimize capacity, streamline admin” value proposition is reaching provider ears at the right time. Since kicking off operations not too long ago, Fabric’s added 70 health systems to its client roster, and has apparently climbed from zero to eight-figures in ARR.

The Takeaway

Through its acquisition of Zipnosis last year, the company then known as Florence made it clear that it was looking to become an end-to-end healthcare operations enablement platform through any path necessary, including M&A. Now with the addition of Gyant, Fabric is walking the talk.

Selecting Your Drug Database and CDS Solution

Do your providers need easy access to real-time drug knowledge and clinical decision support? Explore Synapse Medicine’s complete guide to drug database advantages, use cases, challenges, and factors to consider when selecting the right solution for your organization.

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.

Clinical Support, Whenever It’s Needed

connectRN makes working and staffing in Home Health even more flexible, empowering clinicians to decide when to work and supporting staffers with talented clinical help whenever it’s needed. Secure talented and qualified clinical support with connectRN.

The Wire

• Deepfake Heist: One Hong Kong-based employee recently had a long day at the office after transferring the equivalent of $32.6M to a deepfake scammer. The scam was initiated through a video conference call that included AI-generated deepfakes of the company’s CFO and other staff needed to authorize the move, underscoring an increasingly convincing technological threat. The news just-so-happened to coincide with a warning from the AHA that social engineering schemes are running rampant at US hospitals.

• Papa Launches Impact Programs: Senior support company Papa, best known for its Papa Pals service that provides companionship or assistance to the elderly, is expanding its business with new impact programs designed to address SDOH and improve CMS star ratings. The new programs leverage Papa’s large companion care workforce and social care navigators to support health plans in closing critical care gaps, such as by promoting annual wellness visits, immunizations, or transportation access.

• Top 25 Health Systems by EHR: Becker’s published a helpful list of the primary EHRs used at the top 25 largest US health systems by revenue, and there’s (a little) more diversity than you might expect. The three largest systems had the widest mix, including HCA Healthcare (Meditech), CommonSpirit Health (Epic and Oracle Health), and Ascension (Athenahealth, Epic, Meditech, and Oracle Health). That said, one four-letter vendor that starts with E was clearly the most well-represented.

• Foodsmart Adds $10M: Food-as-medicine startup Foodsmart bolted on an extra $10M through a Series C extension as it launches its new “Foodscripts” program geared toward health systems. Foodscripts allows physicians to prescribe nutritional regimens much in the same way that they’d prescribe medications, with Foodsmart dietitians offering subsidized meals tailored to specific conditions. The announcement also revealed a trio of new health system partnerships in Advocate Health, Memorial Hermann, and Intermountain Health.

• Eroding Adolescent Mental Health: About 20% of adolescents between ages 12-17 report feeling anxious or depressed, according to a new KFF analysis of federal survey data. In line with similar surveys, females were over twice as likely as males to report anxiety and depression, while 43% of LGBT+ adolescents reported symptoms of anxiety (along with 37% who reported depression). Negative mental health contributors called out in the responses included bullying (34%), emotional abuse by a parent (17%), and neighborhood violence (15%).

• Ezra Raises $21M: Whole-body screening provider Ezra raised $21M in the latest sign that investors still have an appetite for premium wellness imaging firms. Ezra will use the funds to fuel a US expansion that should grow the company from 18 locations to 50 sites in 20 cities across the US by the end of 2024. Ezra also intends to reach positive margins in the next 18 months, after recently receiving clearance for its Ezra Flash AI brain MRI software. 

• Inovalon Acquires VigiLanz: Inovalon recently acquired clinical safety and surveillance software company VigiLanz, which Inovalon is looking to combine with its existing suite of data and analytics resources to help providers and life sciences orgs reduce adverse outcomes. VigiLanz can now be offered to Inovalon’s massive installed customer base of nearly 20k healthcare organizations, which Inovalon expects to increase its total addressable market by upwards of $6B.

• Rise in Medical Malpractice Verdicts: Medical malpractice cases are on the rise, with recent verdicts surpassing nine figures. A chilling new article in Medscape details the trend, citing statistics from TransRe showing 2023 set records for massive verdicts, including $120M in a New York case where a stroke was missed on a brain CT scan. A rollback of tort reform is cited as one reason, as well as anger at the healthcare system following the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Amazon Slashes Healthcare Jobs: Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs across its healthcare business amid a broader cost-cutting campaign. According to Business Insider, these “adjustments” will result in the elimination of a few hundred roles within Amazon Pharmacy and One Medical. The news arrives shortly after Amazon’s announcement that One Medical will be integrating with Amazon Pharmacy to give patients and providers better access to medication consultations. 

• Amgen Enters Weight Loss Arena: The weight loss drug segment could welcome yet another pharma heavyweight, after Phase 1 results showed that Amgen’s GLP-1/GIP-agonist maridebart cafraglutide (MariTide) yielded significant weight loss with acceptable adverse events. Among 49 patients with obesity and no underlying conditions (e.g. diabetes), patients on the highest doses of MariTide lost 14.5% of their body weight, while maintaining that weight loss for another 70 days. That’s notable given that GLP-1 patients typically regain weight shortly after stopping treatment.

• 3M to Complete Healthcare Spinoff H1 2024: 3M is on track to spin off its healthcare unit in the first half of 2024, the company confirmed during its recent Q4 investor call. The Medical Solutions Division reported revenue growth in the low single digits, while revenue for 3M’s other business units continued a downward trend. The spinoff plan was originally announced in July 2022, and is expected to net $7B in one-time dividends.

Patient-Centered Design for Diabetes Care

Glooko’s recently overhauled Mobile App makes it easier than ever for diabetes patients to organize, log, visualize, and share their data. Head over to this conversation with Glooko’s product and design team for a behind-the-scenes look at how patient-centered design is improving diabetes outcomes.

Creating an Exceptional Engagement Experience

With a surge in experience‑oriented disruptors entering the healthcare industry, patient engagement is becoming a crucial competitive differentiator. Get your copy of Nuance’s guide to  delivering intelligent interactions and a better experience at every touchpoint.

Bridge Remote Care Gaps With RPM + PERS

Head over to our Q&A with Clear Arch Health CEO Robert Flippo to see how combining remote patient monitoring and PERS into a turnkey solution that’s easy to implement for both patients and providers can help more people remain independent as they age in place.