Kaiser Permanente VP of AI Daniel Yang, MD

Digital Health

IT Leaders Are Ready For New Solutions

The future’s looking bright for digital health after the Peterson Health Technology Institute’s 2024 State of Digital Health Purchasing Survey found that decision-makers across the industry are ramping up their tech investments.

• The headlining stat: 97% of employers, 86% of health systems, and 84% of health plans intend to maintain or increase digital health spending in the coming year.

Three quarters of purchasers have already grown their budget for new solutions, motivated primarily by consumer demand (83%) and improved outcomes (62%).

• Cost advantages were cited as a top investment driver for 60% of health plans and 49% of health systems, versus just 34% of employers.

• Across all three groups, 43% have acquired enough solutions to address 6+ conditions, and it was interesting to see how their clinical priorities varied.

Purchasers are more hawk-eyed than ever when it comes to their contracts and vetting processes.

• 59% of contracts have a duration under two years, leaving a short window for solutions to demonstrate clinical improvements and illustrate their value.

• When comparing vendors, a proven track record was usually the deciding factor, beating out both ROI and ease-of-use for every group.

Looking ahead to next year, value-based care is top of mind, with 100% of employers expressing interest in risk-based contracts for new solutions, as well as 60% of health plans and 50% of health systems. Other top goals include:

• 72% of health plans are looking to reduce costs and improve member experience
• 74% of employers are looking to improve productivity
• 80% of health systems are looking to improve patient experience

The Takeaway

Health plans, employers, and health systems all seem to be embracing the transformative magic of digital health, and this report gave vendors a way stack their decks with data on the unique priorities of each group.

Navigate the Future of Healthcare AI at Elevate

Join Medallion at Elevate on October 30th and experience the top minds in healthcare coming together to share bold ideas and connect in an informal, down-to-business setting. This was hands-down the best virtual conference we attended last year, and the lineup for 2024 is packed with execs from orgs like from VillageMD, Multiplan, and Community Health Systems. Take advantage of Elevate by registering here.

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Curate, Create, & Share at the Point of Care

It’s hard to find a more unique vantage point on AI than Playback Health co-founder Dr. Langer, whose role as the Chair of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill allows him to actually use the platform he helped create. Head over to Dr. Langer’s latest blog to see how Playback is helping him spend more time caring for patients and enabling providers to “Curate, Create, & Share” at the point of care.

The Wire

• Healthie Series B: Healthie landed $23M in Series B funding to fuel the next stage of growth for its API-first EHR that gives virtual care delivery orgs the flexibility to fine-tune their clinical experiences across 25+ specialties. The fundraise builds on the momentum of launching Healthie Harbor earlier this year, which enabled Healthie’s partner ecosystem to build into its APIs and help other clinicians deliver the “the last-mile tailored experiences that drive healthcare outcomes.”

• How is the FDA Regulating AI? If that question is keeping you up at night, a JAMA article co-authored by FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf has you covered. The piece outlines the agency’s approach to monitoring the skyrocketing number of FDA-approved AI medical devices, noting that the “scale of effort” needed to evaluate these models “could be beyond any current regulatory scheme.” The FDA plans to play a key role in overseeing the technology, but called on the industry to “ramp up assessment and quality management of AI.”

• Kyruus Reaches for Listings: Kyruus Health launched its Reach listings management solution for health systems looking to extend their reach, drive appointments, and improve patient acquisition. Reach syndicates data across listing websites and the Kyruus Health network (100+ payors, care navigation orgs, the VA) within a centralized solution for managing provider, location, service, and scheduling details.

• Social Media > Doctors: More people are taking health tips from social media than their doctor, at least according to a recent Healthline poll. Over half of the respondents who implemented a “health tactic” in the last year (wellness products, resources, trends) discovered it on social media, compared to just 34% from their provider. Those numbers aren’t too surprising considering it’s tough for doctors to give advice to patients they don’t see, with 58% of respondents skipping their annual physical.

• Transparency Turmoil: CMS is still bogged down in hospital cost transparency compliance issues, with a GAO report showing that the agency isn’t doing its diligence to check the accuracy of the data. While CMS stated that it doesn’t have the resources to verify the mountains of data shared by hospitals, GAO stressed that the agency has cost-effective enforcement options it should be considering, such as risk-based or random sampling.

• Reveleer + Curation Health: VBC-enabler Reveleer acquired Curation Health to add advanced clinical insights to its comprehensive value-based care platform that handles everything from risk adjustment and provider workflows to quality improvement and member enrollment. The acquisition brings along Curation’s proprietary set of 1,400 clinical rules for actionable intelligence delivery and EHR integration expertise, equipping Reveleer users with relevant patient details, documentation, and quality measures at the point of care.

• RadiantGraph Raises $11M: RadiantGraph raised $11M in Series A funding to advance the development of its AI platform that helps healthcare organizations build deeper connections with patients through tailored outreach and marketing. The fresh funds will build on the 3.5M personalized campaign models that Radiant has delivered since 2023.

• Surgeons Support Digital Tech: Medtronic’s State of Surgery report highlighted a budding confidence in digital health tools as a way to close the gap in surgical expertise for underserved communities. Of the 1k surgeons surveyed, 84% see potential in telemedicine for remote consultations, while 82% believe live streaming procedures could improve outcomes through real-time knowledge sharing. Over 4 in 5 surgeons are also looking to level the educational playing field using new tech like VR, digital training platforms, and cloud-based patient records.

• Teleprehab Pre-surgery: In related news, JACC brought another example of how digital solutions are making their way into the physical world of cardiac surgery. A new study showed that teleprehabilitation – pre-surgery training to boost mental and physical fitness to reduce adverse perioperative outcomes – can reduce major adverse cardiac events in elective heart surgery patients. In 394 patients, those receiving teleprehab had fewer MACE events (16.8% vs. 25.5%). Teleprehab also improved smoking and depression, but didn’t shorten hospital stays.

• TytoCare Teams Up With Frontier: Direct primary care provider Frontier Health is teaming up with TytoCare to give its members access to high-quality virtual care using the Home Smart Clinic. TytoCare’s flagship device allows patients to conduct remote physical exams and share the data with their providers in real-time, helping Frontier make timely diagnoses and keep patients out of the ED.

K Health’s First-of-its-Kind AI Knowledge Agent

K Health’s AI Knowledge Agent is a first-of-its-kind GenAI system purpose-built for the clinical setting, with a familiar feel hiding some major innovation under the hood. Discover how the AI Knowledge Agent is bringing new levels of personalization to answering patient medical questions and changing what it means to have a “digital front door” in the process.

Clear Arch Health Reduces Readmissions at Altru

When Altru Health System set out to reduce hospital readmissions, it turned to Clear Arch Health to find the solution. Learn how Clear Arch Health’s complete RPM platform and clinical monitoring system helped Altru lower readmissions while improving post-acute care quality.

RPM Designed to Streamline Your Workflow

Discover Withings’ suite of connected devices and user friendly platform where you can benefit from dedicated tech support, ensuring continuous monitoring and minimizing any disruptions in patient care.

The Industry Wire

1. UnitedHealth lowers forecast as cyberattack costs rise.
2. Philadelphia nurses struck in hit-and-run while helping patient.
3. Amazon same-day prescription delivery expanding to half of U.S.
4. Walgreens to close 1,200 stores over the next three years.
5. Say hello to JAMA+ AI.
6. FTC ramps up premerger reporting requirements.
7. UHS faces $895M in damages from patient abuse cases.
8. AHA opposes HHS interoperability rule: 6 things to know.
9. Notable speakers at next week’s HLTH conference.
10. UPMC taps health plan CEO.