Author Archives

Matthew Holt

Health 2.0: Exclusive Interview with Susannah Fox, CTO of HHS

Sep 28, 2015

By DEEPA MISTRY

Susannah Fox, CTO of HHS, shares how she is fostering patient empowerment and engagement through technology. Matthew Holt, Co-Chairman of Health 2.0, had the opportunity to personally chat with Susannah and learn more about the democratization of healthcare!

Don’t miss Susannah Fox at the 9th Annual Health 2.0 Fall Conference. Purchase your tickets here!

Matthew Holt: Matthew Holt here, delighted to be on with a really wonderful amazing person in healthcare who is not only my friend but also the CTO of HHS, Susannah Fox. Susannah, thanks so much for joining us.

Susannah Fox: I am thrilled to be talking with you.

Matthew Holt: Well, so those of you who don’t know — Susannah originally was a journalist at U.S. News and World Report and spent many, many years at Pew Research, and is basically leading the survey research understanding the patient experience — probably in healthcare as a whole but studying the patient experience with the use of technology. She happens to be the first proper keynote speaker we ever had at a Health 2.0 conference back in 2008, attended Health 2.0 in many different places with us, and has been a great friend and colleague.

The HDE Project coming to Health 2.0’s annual Fall Conference!

Sep 28, 2015

By ALEXANDRA HUBENKO, MATTHEW BIETZ, & KEVIN PATRICK

The Health Data Exploration project, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is building a network of academic, public sector, and corporate partners working together to catalyze the use of personal health data to conduct research that benefits the public good.

Individuals are tracking a variety of health-related data via a growing number of wearable devices and smartphone apps. More and more data relevant to health are also being captured passively as people communicate with one another on social networks, shop, work, or do any number of activities that leave “digital footprints.” Self-tracking data can provide better measures of everyday behavior and lifestyle and can fill in gaps in more traditional clinical or public health data collection, giving us a more complete picture of health.

Health 2.0 announces Launch! and Traction Finalists

Sep 22, 2015

By DEEPA MISTRY

Big news for the Health 2.0’s upcoming 9th Annual Fall Conference!

Launch!

Our annual Launch! competition is on the last day of the conference, Wednesday, October 7^th. Ten digital health companies will demo their products for the first time. The audience votes for their favorites. Previous Launch! winners have included Castlight Health, Basis, and OM*Signal. This year’s finalists:

Bloom Technologies will debut their discrete, wireless wearable for expecting mothers to track contractions and other changes to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Flow Health connects consumers, providers and payers around shared patient data including Patient Check-In, an iPad app replacing the standard medical clipboard.

Sensentia is a fully-automated inquiry using natural language processing and more to empower patients to make better health care decisions.

Qualcomm Life adds inpatient strategy with Capsule purchase

Sep 14, 2015

Qualcomm Life has built a big ecosystem of device partners on its 2net platform, focusing mostly on moving data from devices used by patients in their home. Today they sped up that development by buying Capsule which has a strong business on integrating data between different devices in the hospital.

I had a quick interview with Rick Valencia, GM of Qualcomm Life about their business. Two quick things to note. 1) I’m on the Qualcomm Life Advisory Board (although I knew nothing about this acquisition beforehand) and 2) I caught Rick at the end of a long day and tried to get him to talk about some recent customer data but neither of us could remember the reference. I was hoping he’d tell me more about this successful roll out of the 2net ecosystem in Northern Arizona, which is well worth a read. Meanwhile for more on Qualcomm & Capsule, watch the interview.

Pilot Health Tech NYC 2015 Launches Today!

Sep 8, 2015• 1

By GRAEME OSSEY & JL NEPTUNE

The New York City Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with Health 2.0 and Blueprint Health, is proud to announce today’s kickoff of Pilot Health Tech NYC 2015. Pilot Health Tech NYC is a pioneering innovation initiative: a unique marketplace for digital health technologies, connecting buyers and sellers through curated matchmaking, technical assistance, and competitive commercialization awards.

Since launching in 2013 the Pilot Health Tech NYC program has been a resounding success, stimulating the growth of the digital health ecosystem in New York City and beyond. The program has provided $2,000,000 in funding grants to early-stage health care technology companies working in partnership with key NYC health care service organizations and stakeholders. Pilot Health Tech NYC grant awardees have gone on to raise $170M in venture funding, create more than 100 high-tech jobs, and impact the lives of countless patients in the city of New York.
Continue reading…

The Finns are coming, the Finns are coming (to Health 2.0!)

Sep 2, 2015

By MATTHEW HOLT

One of the great things that I’ve seen in a couple of decades of watching health tech has been the democratization of technology, and the amazing ideas coming from all across the globe. Health care is no exception and one of the most active regions in health technology has been a tiny European country most people don’t know much about–other than they once had a phone from there on which they played snake. In fact the relative demise of Nokia has been a big boost for tech startups in Finland because it freed up so much technical talent.

Some 100 entrepreneurs, technologists, finance & government types will represent Team Finland at Health 2.0 on oct 4-7. Companies will include the cancer patient communication app NoonaHealthcare, the sleep tracker Beddit, and Jamie Oliver backed You-App, and many, many more. Late last month I interviewed Ilona Lundtsröm, the Executive Director at the Finnish Innovation Fund Tekes to find out more about what was happening in Finland, and why the rest of the world should pay attention.

Can We Tame The Wild West of Health Care Pricing?

Aug 27, 2015• 4

By TORBEN NIELSEN

Health care pricing is like the Wild West and it is only a matter of time before it catches up with us. In July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) confirmed what many consumers, employers and health plans already knew: there is no cost and quality standard in the American health care system.
Improving our system starts with driving payers and consumers to high value providers. But first, we must know who is charging what. Price transparency tools offer that important information, enabling people to actually comparison shop for their health care services.

In early July, CMS released a proposed rule aiming to address price variation by starting with joint replacements. According to CMS, there were more than 400,000 Medicare inpatient joint procedures, resulting in more than $7 billion in hospitalization costs in 2013. The average Medicare expenditure for surgery, hospitalization and recovery ranged from $16,500-$33,000 depending on geography, with widely varying rates of infection and implant failure post-surgery.

To address this variation, CMS outlined a new payment model that would make some hospitals accountable for the costs and quality of care from the time of surgery through 90 days after. Continue reading…

The New Laws for Hope(Lab)

Aug 18, 2015• 2

By MATTHEW HOLT

HopeLab, which is funded by the Omidyar eBay fortune, has for near a decade produced games to promote kids’ health, like Re-Mission for kids with cancer, and Zamzee, promoting activity for all children. But the real impact on the population of poor health environments for kids is only really just starting to be acknowledged more generally in society.

So it’s fabulous that HopeLab has appointed a new CEO, Margaret Laws. She was previously responsible for CHCF’s Innovation Fund, aimed at getting technology to move the needle for the underserved. She took the time to explain to me why she took her new role (think impact on children and their communities). And on a personal note, having known Margaret for several years, I think HopeLab made an excellent choice. This is a fascinating interview, even if the headline may be the worst pun in THCB history. Margaret also suggests where partners both in the health world and the tech world might work with HopeLab.

Intersystems emerging from behind the scenes

Aug 16, 2015

By MATTHEW HOLT

I’m steadily getting all those interviews I did 3+ months ago at HIMSS up onto THCB. (For those of you not paying attention we had a bunch of tech issues at THCB needing a big change and had to forswear videos for a while. But we’re baaack…)

Intersystems has grown dramatically in recent years as its Cache database tends to get sold in conjunction with Epic’s EMR. But Intersytems not only has its own EMR (sold outside of the US) but is a big player in the HIE business. At HIMSS 2015 they unveiled a new solution called the “Healthshare Personal Community” which allows providers and others to build patient accessible records on top of their HIE solution Healthshare. I interviewed Paul Grabscheid, VP of Strategic Planning about the company, the technology and what he’s seeing. (Ignore the last question as I ran out of disk space before he could answer!)

TRACTION: Contest Deadline TODAY

Aug 14, 2015

By Jennifer David Sponsored Content

Who will be the Startup Champion of Fall 2015? Traction is the perfect opportunity to hone your skills and impress these venture capitalists to invest in your startup!

Traction will be launching the Health 2.0 Annual Fall Conference on Monday, October 5, 2015 at 8 AM. This competition specifically recruits companies ready for Series A in the $2-12M range.

Enter your company TODAY and pitch your startup to venture capitalists, angel investors, government officials, and even healthcare industry experts. Increase media exposure while forming connections with leading investors, while gaining the opportunity to gain advice from over 30 mentors and experts to further refine your business model.

The application deadline is TODAY Friday, August 14th at 11:59 ET.

In early September, 10 teams will be selected as finalists for two different tracks: professional facing and consumer facing tools. Emerging live at the conference, the competition will grant these lucky finalists access to exceptional mentors and fight for the title of “Startup Champion.”

Apply today to be selected as one of the 10 finalists to pitch live at Health 2.0’s Annual Fall Conference!

And of course you can buy tickets to Traction as an add on to the Health 2.0 conference itself.

Jennifer David is a program manager at Health 2.0