Digital Health bits | April 22nd 2021

Note: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer

#DigitalHealth #Innovation #AI #DigitalTherapeutics #TeleHealth #TeleMedicine

Infographic: The drive for digital health trends

We are a society dependent on technology. You are probably reading this on your phone right now. Our increased internet access means that our preferences have changed drastically. We are no longer content to wait for information as we were before. We have to have things instantly, which commonly means that we value convenience, especially when it comes to digital health practices.

Our lives are also highly scheduled, and as such, we often don’t have time for setbacks or delays when it comes to our appointments. It is no surprise then that many people no longer are willing to wait for medical appointments and services. 

This tension between patients’ wants and physician wants has been boiling for a while, and we are now starting to see the changes made in the healthcare industry. One of the largest changes is the rapid conversion to digital health. 

Digital health is an extensive term here. The medical field has commonly been synonymous with reluctance to embrace technology, but now they are more than willing to make the switch. From records to virtual appointments, it seems that there is no end to what they want to be converted. 

This conversion is beneficial for both patient and physician. The patients get convenience and access to virtual medical care, increased access to medical information, and better overall interaction with their physicians. The physician has easier access to medical records and literature, the ability to see more patients, and a safer environment like the pandemic. 

The conversion to digital healthcare should have happened earlier; however, both sides need to embrace it now that it is here. This could be the solution to revitalizing an industry that is desperate for innovation. It could also be the wake-up call for patients to take an active role in their health journey and thrive.

Explore this recent infographic from TECHAERIS with 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE RAPID ACCELERATION OF DIGITAL HEALTH:

Metabolic disorders the most suitable area for the use of digital health tools: Poll

Digital health tools can play a significant role in enhancing patient care and improving healthcare overall. Verdict has conducted a poll to analyse what the most suitable areas are for the use of digital health tools.

Metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity were opined to be the most suitable area according to 24% of the respondents, followed by cardiovascular diseases (14%), infectious diseases (11%), and sleep disorders (10%).

Further, oncology, pain management, respiratory diseases, and behavioural disorders were opined by 9% of the respondents each as the most suitable areas for the use of digital health tools, while a lesser 5% of the respondents voted central nervous system disorders as the suitable area.

The analysis is based on 336 responses received from the readers of Pharmaceutical Technology, a Verdict network site, between 02 February 2020 and 19 April 2021.

Digital diabetes company Virta Health lands $133M to "reverse diabetes"

Digital diabetes management company Virta Health scored $133 million in a Series E funding round led by Tiger Global.

This financing comes on the heels of Virta’s $65 million Series D in December, which propelled it into becoming a unicorn company. With the latest cash infusion, Virta says it has doubled its valuation to $2 billion.

Virta claims it can reverse Type 2 diabetes with its treatment program that combines tracking, coaching and remote monitoring capabilities with a nutrition-based ketogenic diet.

Although ketogenic diets can be controversial for their carbohydrate restrictions, Vitra was able to help 84% of patients enrolled in its study achieve an estimated HbA1c of under 6.5%, or reduce theirs by 1% or more after 90 days.

The treatment is available to employers and health plans at 100 percent risk, meaning customers will only pay if Vitra succeeds in reversing Type 2 diabetes and getting patients off diabetes medications.

The company also offers treatment options for prediabetes and obesity.

AI tool can identify risk of heart attack ‘years before it strikes’

An artificial intelligence tool that can identify people at risk of a heart attack years before it strikes is now ready to be rolled out in the NHS.

The CaRi-Heart tool, developed by Caristo Diagnostics and based on research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), predicts possible heart disease using routine heart scans.

It works by scanning “ticking-time-bomb” arteries that could become clogged to cause a heart attack. Looking at regular heart scans the artificial intelligence (AI) technology produces a ‘fat attenuation index score’ (FAI-Score), which accurately measures inflammation of blood vessels in and around the heart.

It’s this inflammation that could eventually lead to a heart attack.

Those identified at high risk of a future heart attack can then be given personalised medication, as well as being monitored more closely, to prevent a life-threatening situation.

It received its CE accreditation in March and is now ready for use by doctors across the UK and Europe.

The role that 'Fitbit-style cough-tracking' could play in the future of digital health

In the realm of digital healthcare, it’s frustrating to see the most sophisticated and cutting-edge technology used to increase click rates on social media, while the medical industry relies on decades-old processes, writes Joe Brew, CEO and Co-Founder of Hyfe.

What is Hyfe, in a nutshell?

Hyfe is an artificial intelligence platform that is dedicated to pioneering the emerging field of “acoustic epidemiology” – that is, using sound to identify and quantify symptoms, detect and track disease, and predict health outcomes.

Hyfe’s main focus is on coughing since it is medically important, and acoustically unique. We are most well-known for our “cough tracker” apps (which we recently launched in the UK on both iOS and Android). The apps are freely available to the general public who want to track their coughs, but our main focus is on our researcher suite of tools, which encompasses our researcher phone app, dashboard and data analysis platform.

How do researchers use Hyfe?

Researchers use Hyfe’s apps in a wide variety of ways. The most common research applications we have seen are:

• Cough as a biomarker: When participants come to clinics for medical tests, their coughs are collected and paired with their medical tests. When participants return for subsequent tests (e.g., after the onset of treatment), cough is collected again to produce a longitudinal cough dataset.
• Remote cough monitoring: Between initial and follow-up visits to a clinic, participants are given a study phone with the Hyfe Research app installed. This phone captures all coughs during the monitoring period. They are asked to carry this phone with them until they return.
• Inpatient monitoring: Phones are placed next to hospitalised patients to track their coughs over the course of their stay.
• Cough screening: Cough collection is integrated into a medical screening centre (e.g., COVID-19 testing site) using either the Hyfe Research app or the Hyfe Screening website, allowing researchers to pair participants’ coughs with other test results.
• Syndromic surveillance in a population: Participants download Hyfe Cough Tracker on their own phones and go about their lives. De-identified locations are tracked by the app, if users opt in.
• Veterinary medicine and livestock monitoring: The Hyfe Veterinary application (not yet released) is placed in an area with one or more animals. Coughs are quantified over space and time.

AXA launches digital healthcare platform with Microsoft

Insurance company AXA has launched a digital healthcare platform in partnership with Microsoft.

Using Microsoft’s expertise in cloud-based computing and artificial intelligence alongside AXA’s experience in healthcare and insurance, the platform aims to provide a “virtual healthcare system that is open to all”.

Following a successful pilot, including a self-assessment tool and teleconsultation, the platform was launched in late 2020.

It is currently open to all AXA customers in Germany and Italy, with the service expected to be rolled out in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland in 2022.

The platform is based on technology available in the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, including Azure API for FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), which enables patient insights without impacting privacy.

The digital healthcare platform will offer a self-assessment and prevention tool; a medical concierge; a teleconsultation interface; a digital document vault; home care services including medicine delivery; and a directory of healthcare professionals.

Women’s digital health startups reap record VC funding on COVID surge

Once considered too niche or risky by the venture capital community, women’s health startups have seen a surge in investments as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed more services online.

Funding for women-focused digital-health startups rose 105 percent last year to $418 million and was spread across 22 companies, nearly twice the number from a year earlier, according to Rock Health, a San Francisco-based seed and early-stage venture fund. The firm tracks deals of $2 million or more among US-based digital-health companies. It counts 55 companies in the “femtech” category, which includes those that tackle issues such as reproductive health, maternal care, and chronic disease.

The digital mental health market is booming. Here’s why some experts are concerned

The digital mental health space was growing rapidly even before the COVID-19 pandemic but stress and anxiety brought on by the health crisis have accelerated demand for virtual behavioral health services.

The success of digital mental health startups means that more people can access mental wellness than were potentially able to do so before. 

“I think the benefits are clear. We can increase access to care, at our fingertips, and we can hopefully personalize care to our exact needs. There is the potential to provide care that is more affordable, personalized and accessible,” John Torous, M.D. director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston told Fierce Healthcare.

There are more than 380,000 health apps available through Apple and Android operating systems, and around 20,000 of them address mental health, according to the European Connected Health Alliance.

But with the market growing rapidly, some experts are concerned about whether digital mental health tools deliver what they promise.

“There is still much we do not know about how the tech part works and for whom,” said Torous, also an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

“With direct-to-consumer advertising and marketing, companies will sometimes exaggerate what these apps can do. They will take a small pilot study and extrapolate that it can work for huge populations,” said Torous, whose research focuses primarily on direct-to-consumer apps.

Note: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer