HealthTech Horizons: Edition 8

What’s In This Edition:

Insight Spotlight: Epic Systems unveiled a suite of AI-powered features for its electronic health record software at its 2024 User Group Meeting, including automated patient messaging, voice-assisted charting, and AI-driven clinical decision support tools, aiming to streamline workflows and improve patient care while addressing clinician burnout.

Innovator's Radar: Digital health companies, focusing on in-home elder care, precision surgery, kidney disease treatment, virtual care, and healthcare administration automation, have secured significant funding rounds totaling over $400 million to advance their respective technologies and market expansion efforts.

Decoding Digital Health: A comprehensive analysis of telehealth adoption patterns offers valuable insights for policymakers and healthcare leaders as they consider the future of virtual care policies in the United States. With congressional telehealth flexibilities set to expire at the end of 2024, understanding these trends is crucial for shaping regulations that ensure equitable access to care and optimal patient outcomes.?

Industry Pulse: Healthcare executives remain bullish on AI for the fourth consecutive year, citing generative and ambient AI as key technologies to tackle clinical care and provider burnout, while also emphasizing the continued importance of telehealth, interoperability, and patient engagement solutions to address operational challenges and improve care delivery, according to the Center for Connected Medicine's annual survey.

Hot Topics: OMNY Health launches a GLP-1 database, offering unprecedented insights into the effects of these popular medications across diverse patient populations, potentially revolutionizing treatment decisions and research in diabetes management and weight loss.

Data Dive: A new Deloitte report reveals that half of American women are skipping or delaying medical care, exposing a stark gender divide in healthcare access driven by cost barriers, limited availability, and negative experiences that could have far-reaching consequences for public health.

Insight Spotlight:

EPIC unveiled a range of new AI-powered features at its 2024 User Group Meeting, showcasing the company's aggressive push into artificial intelligence integration within electronic health records (EHRs).

• The company has developed an AI tool with ambient voice technology to assist in charting progress notes, currently implemented in 186 organizations.
• Epic is working on over 100 generative AI projects, including auto-adverse drug reaction tagging, patient-friendly report summaries, and a hospital billing coding assistant.
• A new AI feature that searches patient charts to surface important information for clinicians is scheduled for release in February 2025.
• Epic launched an open-source AI validation tool in May 2024 to help healthcare organizations test and monitor AI models.
• The company's Cosmos research database, containing 270 million patient records, is being used to develop point-of-care tools like "Look-Alikes" for rare disease identification and "Best Care Choices for My Patient" for treatment recommendations.
• Epic is expanding its payer platform to improve communication between insurers and providers, with major insurers now included.

Why it matters:

Epic's rapid integration of AI technologies into its EHR system represents a significant shift in how healthcare information is managed and utilized. These innovations aim to address critical issues such as clinician burnout and inefficiencies in healthcare delivery. However, the success of these AI initiatives will depend on factors such as cost-effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and demonstrated improvements in patient outcomes. As Epic leads this AI-driven transformation, it sets a precedent for how health IT companies can leverage advanced technologies to reshape the healthcare landscape.

Innovator's Radar:

Here is the latest roundup of digital health financing rounds:

• Habitat Health, founded in 2023 to provide care support to older adults at home, secures $50 million in capital
• Precision surgery software company Caresyntax secures $180 million in a series C extension funding round.
• Pathalys raises $105M series B to prepare Japan-approved kidney disease drug for FDA
• Vesta Health raises $65M to expand virtual care platform
• Plenful picks up $17M to automate administrative tasks

Decoding Digital Health:?

A recent study published in Health Affairs reveals significant variations in telehealth adoption across physician demographics and specialties, providing insights into the evolving landscape of virtual care delivery.

• Telehealth usage patterns differ markedly among physician age groups and practice areas, with some specialties embracing virtual care more readily than others.
• Female physicians were found to be more likely to offer telehealth services, potentially due to the flexibility it provides for balancing professional and personal responsibilities.
• Psychiatrists lead in telehealth adoption, with 23% providing all or most of their services virtually, followed by neurologists and infectious disease specialists.
• Rural areas show lower telehealth adoption rates compared to metropolitan regions, highlighting potential disparities in access to virtual care.
• Primary care physicians utilizing telehealth more frequently tend to serve patients with more complex medical and social needs.
• Significant regional variations exist, with telehealth provision by primary care physicians and medical specialists ranging from 1.4% to 17.3% across states.
• The majority (77.9%) of primary care physicians provided less than 10% of their services via telehealth in 2022.

Why it matters:

This comprehensive analysis of telehealth adoption patterns offers valuable insights for policymakers and healthcare leaders as they consider the future of virtual care policies in the United States. With congressional telehealth flexibilities set to expire at the end of 2024, understanding these trends is crucial for shaping regulations that ensure equitable access to care and optimal patient outcomes. The study's findings could inform strategies to address disparities in telehealth adoption, particularly in rural areas, and guide the development of specialty-specific approaches to virtual care delivery.

Industry Pulse:

The healthcare technology landscape is evolving rapidly, with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as a key focus for health system leaders, according to a recent survey by the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM) at UPMC.

• AI was identified as the most exciting and improved technology for the fourth consecutive year, with executives particularly interested in its potential for healthcare administration, operations, and clinical care.
• Generative AI was highlighted as the most promising AI application, with potential uses in clinical decision-making and care delivery.
• Ambient AI, capable of generating clinical notes from patient interactions, was noted as a significant development, with executives hoping it could help alleviate provider burnout.
• Telehealth and virtual care solutions have seen continued progress post-pandemic, with health systems exploring in-patient applications such as connecting patients with specialists.
• Integration/interoperability and patient engagement technologies were also cited as areas of improvement over the past two years.?
• Health system leaders are prioritizing the use of these technologies to address ongoing challenges in patient care, access, and provider burnout.
• Operational issues, including efficiency, profit margins, and staffing, have gained increased attention from executives in 2024.

Why it matters:?

The sustained enthusiasm for AI and other digital health technologies among healthcare leaders signals a significant shift in how healthcare organizations are approaching patient care and operational efficiency. As these technologies continue to mature and integrate into healthcare systems, they have the potential to transform care delivery, improve patient outcomes, and address persistent industry challenges. However, the implementation of these technologies must be balanced with considerations for data privacy, security, and the maintenance of high-quality patient care.

Hot Topics:

OMNY Health, a national data ecosystem company, has launched a specialized GLP-1 database to address the growing impact of these medications on healthcare:

• The database contains electronic medical record data from 645,000 patients who have taken GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound.
• This resource aims to help healthcare providers make more informed decisions about GLP-1 prescriptions by addressing uncertainties about their long-term effects.
• The database covers 75 million lives and will be available to life sciences partners, health systems, and AI-driven health tech companies.
• It includes valuable information on pediatric GLP-1 use, revealing that the average pediatric user is 16 years old, with 72% being female patients.
• The resource incorporates social determinants of health data to provide a comprehensive view of patient care journeys.
• OMNY ensured the data is representative of the U.S. population in terms of race and ethnicity to support adequate research on minority populations.
• The constantly updating database tracks GLP-1 patients through their care journeys and beyond the time of medication use.

Why it matters:

This comprehensive GLP-1 database represents a significant step towards understanding the broader impacts of these increasingly popular medications. By providing detailed, real-world data on GLP-1 use across various patient populations, it has the potential to inform more precise treatment decisions, support research into new applications, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. The inclusion of pediatric and minority population data addresses critical gaps in current knowledge, potentially leading to more equitable and effective healthcare strategies.

Data Dive:

A new Deloitte report reveals alarming disparities in healthcare access and utilization between women and men, highlighting significant challenges in the U.S. healthcare system:

• 50% of adult women skip or delay medical care, primarily due to high costs, limited access, and poor healthcare experiences.
• Women are 35% more likely to skip or delay necessary medical care than men, and 31% more likely to forgo care due to high costs.
• 21% of women cite high medical costs as the main barrier to healthcare access, up from 15% in 2015.
• Women pay $15.4 billion more in out-of-pocket healthcare costs annually than men, even when excluding maternity care.
• 15% of women skip care due to long appointment wait times, while 8% are deterred by long clinic or hospital waits.
• Women are twice as likely as men to face transportation barriers to care.
• 80% of women who have tried virtual care prefer it for its convenience.
• 7% of women avoid care due to previous negative experiences, with 40% citing poor treatment by providers or staff as a reason for skipping care.
• Women's symptoms are often misdiagnosed or ignored due to limited understanding and narrow views of women's health needs.

Why it matters:

These findings underscore a critical gender gap in healthcare access and quality, potentially leading to poorer health outcomes for women. The disparity in costs, access, and experiences highlights the need for systemic changes in healthcare delivery and policy to ensure equitable care. Addressing these issues could significantly improve women's health, reduce healthcare disparities, and ultimately lead to better overall population health outcomes. The report also emphasizes the importance of considering gender-specific needs in healthcare research, diagnosis, and treatment approaches.

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