Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I cover some big news! Accolade has filed its IPO, so on Episode 132 I give my take on this health care navigation service. We also cover Somatus getting $64 million for chronic kidney disease care, NexHealth raising $15 million, Tatch raising $4.25 million for sleep apnea diagnosis, Simply Speak raising a $1.1 million seed round, and optimize.health raising $3.5 million for its remote monitoring platform. —Matthew Holt
What’s Ahead for Livongo & the Health Tech Market in 2020? | Glen Tullman, Livongo
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
What does Glen Tullman, Chairman of Livongo, expect from the health tech market in 2020? Livongo may have started a “race for the exits” in digital health with its 2019 IPO, and Glen says he “wants a healthy, consumer-facing digital health market” to help his own business thrive. Does that mean he anticipates more IPOs from the health tech sector this year? We get Glen’s predictions after we catch up on Livongo’s recent moves to partner with DexCom and test a new pathway to reimbursement via Express Scripts’ Digital Health Formulary.
Filmed at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, January 2020.
Health Catalyst’s New Data-Driven Life Sciences Business | Sadiqa Mahmood, Health Catalyst
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
As if an IPO weren’t enough big news for Health Catalyst in 2019, the company also launched a brand-new life sciences business, basically setting forth a new solution for a completely new set of healthcare clients. Sadiqa Mahmood, Senior VP for Medical Affairs, explains how Health Catalyst is building off their deep expertise analyzing clinical care data and adding to it the molecular data typically collected by pharma companies, biotechs, med device manufacturers, and even digital health companies in order to open up a new era of precision medicine. The idea is to enable these innovators to better define patient cohorts for targeted therapies by creating a more robust data-set that integrates clinical measures. Was this strategy part of Health Catalysts’ larger plan to go public? How have life sciences companies responded so far? Sadiqa gives us some insight on Health Catalyst’s growth plans.
Filmed at Frontiers Health in Berlin, Germany, November 2019.
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 108 | OneMedical IPO, Hinge Health, & Humana
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we’re starting out with a riddle: what’s the similarity between the 49ers Super Bowl performance and digital health? Find out on Episode 108, where Jess and I discuss other news in health tech starting off with another IPO, OneMedical. Now worth more than Livongo at $2.7 billion, this went better than anyone could’ve expected. Hinge Health raises $90 million in a Series C round, offering physical therapy at home and tapping into the loads of waste that goes towards back surgeries. Finally, Humana partners with a private equity company to expand primary care centers, what is the deal with this? —Matthew Holt
A New Era for One Digital Health’s First Unicorns? | Maeve O’Meara, CEO, Castlight Health
BY JESSICA DAMASSA, WTF HEALTH
Is Castlight Health suffering a case of ‘first-mover’ curse? One of digital health’s first unicorns, Castlight Health, IPO’d back in 2014 with a valuation of over $3 billion dollars (reportedly, 107 times revenue) at a share price of $40. Today, the stock trades around $1.20, and the company has endured years of frustration from shareholders who’ve complained about customer churn and questioned the company’s business model. A recent change in leadership at the top of the organization has ushered in new CEO Maeve O’Meara, a long-time employee of the trailblazing company, who’s now responsible for blazing a new path toward forward herself. Refreshingly candid about the road ahead, Maeve explains how some new high-touch (but cost-effective) offerings are opening up new markets for the biz and hints at potential partnerships emerging with Big Tech. A must-watch for any digital health startup, investor, or industry analyst who wants longitudinal perspective on health tech’s market resilience and the importance of timing. Maeve, who was a health investor herself before joining Castlight, sums up the challenge of trailblazing tech in healthcare like this: “In healthcare, you always want to be one step ahead and not two steps ahead — you can get burned easily by being two steps ahead.”
Filmed at HLTH 2019 in Las Vegas, October 2019.
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 104 | OneMedical, KRY, ClassPass, Komodo Health & LeanTaaS
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I have a million deals to talk through. My Softbank rumor from last week hasn’t been announced yet, but there’s still plenty to discuss before JP Morgan. In this episode, get key takeaways from OneMedical’s S1, Swedish company KRY raising $155 million, ClassPass reaching unicorn status with a $285 million round, Komodo Health raising $50 million, and LeanTaaS raising $40 million. Be sure to follow along with all the JPMadness next week. —Matthew Holt
Will Omada Health be Digital Health’s Next Big IPO? | Sean Duffy, Omada Health
By JESSICA DAMASSA, WTF HEALTH
Sean Duffy, CEO of Omada Health, proves why his company is one of those digital health startups everyone’s watching in the chronic condition management space. Never mind the buzz around their latest massive funding round or Livongo’s IPO, the real story here is Sean’s idea about building a “completely digital” care provider for folks with pre-diabetes, type II diabetes, hypertension, and mental health issues — or, at least that’s the goal for the next decade. What does a “full-stack view of supporting someone’s care look like? How do you get there? Tune in to find out about Omada’s proprietary tech-testing litmus test, “The Sean Duffy’s Mom Test,” and some good advice for other health tech startups about what it takes to win over clinicians with your tech.
Filmed at Health 2.0 in Santa Clara, California in September 2019.
Jessica DaMassa is the host of the WTF Health show & stars in Health in 2 Point 00 with Matthew Holt. Get a glimpse of the future of healthcare by meeting the people who are going to change it. Find more WTF Health interviews here or check out www.wtf.health.
Livongo’s Post-IPO Plans? | Glen Tullman, Livongo
By JESSICA DAMASSA, WTF HEALTH
What’s next for digital health’s premier IPO, Livongo? Executive Chairman Glen Tullman says “the best day of going public is the day you go public,” but there’s got to be more to it than that right?! We get inquisitive about acquisitions, keeping the market happy, and how his applied health signals company is blurring the lines between tech and healthcare. Is Livongo a tech company or a healthcare company? What does that AI-plus-AI really add up to?
Filmed at the HIMSS Health 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, CA in September 2019.
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 97 | Walmart and Fertility
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess is in Berlin for the Bayer G4A Signing Day where they’re announcing which startups are going to get deals and Glen Tullman is doing a fireside chat with Eugene Borukhovich. In Episode 97, Jess and I talk about Walmart and fertility. Fertility benefits startup Progyny files for IPO and I’m blown away by this relatively new company. Another startup—Halle Tecco’s Natalist—raises $5M to send care boxes to help women get pregnant. Finally, Jess has a conspiracy theory, noticing that Walmart is sneaking into all aspects of health tech… Walmart is expanding Grand Rounds, partnering with Doctor On Demand and HealthSCOPE to offer telehealth to their employees, Sam’s Club is offering $1 telehealth visits to members, and they just announced a partnership with Embold Health for employees in the southeast. Finally, I’ll be at Society for Participatory Medicine next week in Boston—see you all there. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00 Episode 89 | IPOs, Oscar and Fitbit
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, it’s IPO day! On Episode 89, Jess asks me about the recent IPOs, Oscar Health getting into Medicare Advantage, and Fitbit accuracy in people of color. Jess asks me to weigh in on whether Livongo’s IPO was better than we expected and it’s safe to say that they are growing fast. On the flip side, the “silent” IPO that no one seems to be talking about is Health Catalyst, which is also doing quite well with a $1.6 billion valuation although they are not growing as fast as Livongo is. Next, Oscar Health decided to enter into Medicare Advantage, which is not surprising because that’s where the real money is in the insurance side. Finally, Fitbits and other wearables may not be tracking heart rates accurately in people of color, so what does this mean for the wearables industry—and their potential use for medical purposes? —Matthew Holt
