Today at Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I are presenting at the Going Digital: Behavioral Health conference today — tune in later for that. On Episode 212, our buddies at DayTwo get $37 million for the gut microbiome. Hello Heart raises $45 million, bringing their total to $68.2 million – this is for high blood pressure management. Pack4U, which is like the knockoff version of Pill Pack, raises $20 million. Swedish telemedicine company Doktor.se raises $50 million, and Curebase raises $15 million for decentralized clinical trials. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 211 | Noom, Akili, Unmind, Eleanor Health & Clearing
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess gives us a little tour of Chicago before we dive into some deals. Noom raises $540 million, bringing their total to $657 million with a $4 billion valuation. What are they going to do now with all this money? Digital therapeutics company Akili raises $160 million – maybe this will bring them out of ADHD. Unmind, a mental health company out of the UK, raises $47 million, Eleanor Health raises $20 million for their addiction-focused mental health clinic, and finally Clearing raises $20 million in a Series A tackling chronic pain. —Matthew Holt
Teladoc Health’s Mental Health Move: Unite Best of Livongo, Virtual Care in myStrength Complete
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
The Teladoc Health-Livongo merger continues to expand Teladoc Health’s virtual care capabilities — this time in mental health. Dr. Julia Hoffman, Head of Mental Health Strategy for Teladoc Health, gives us the inside story on the launch of myStrength Complete, the souped-up, next-gen version of the digital mental health app that Livongo acquired in 2019 and integrated into its “AI-plus-AI whole person health” platform. So, what’s new now that all this is part of Teladoc? Think full-service mental health care, akin to what you might find in a digital mental health point solution, but with more providers… sitting on top of a gold-standard telehealth and remote monitoring infrastructure… and ready-to-move on an outsized opportunity for integration into Teladoc’s virtual primary care offering, Livongo for Diabetes, Livongo for Hypertension, and so on.
myStength Complete is now more than just a smart, cognitive behavioral therapy app; it’s the entry point into an entire mental health care continuum of services. Teladoc Health’s physicians stand ready for telehealth consults alongside a robust portfolio of coaching and self-service mental health care programs that are bolstered by the data-driven “health nudges” made famous by Livongo’s ever-improving AI-AI engine. Looking forward, the data integration strategy has a lot of potential to do a lot of good. Julia talks about how her team is already leveraging learnings from the Livongo products into a better intake process for members, helping them more quickly, easily, and accurately find the type of care they need. This is no small feat, especially when we find out that Teladoc Health consumer survey data shows that about 60% of people seeking mental health care say they have no idea where to start, or what their diagnosis would be. We get into all those survey findings (a little gold mine for those interested in consumer sentiment and digital mental health) and a full “under-the-hood” poking around of myStrength Complete in advance of its July roll-out to employers. This interview is one to watch now for the full details on how Teladoc Health is pushing further into virtual mental health care.
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 210 | Babylon acquires Meritage IPA, Ro acquires Modern Fertility & more
This week on Health in 2 Point 00, we’ve got big money, acquisitions, CVS Health starting its own decentralized clinical trials business, AND we’ve got Morgan Health. On Episode 210, Jess asks me about Babylon buying Meritage IPA, looking to add their digital front end to this doctors’ network, and Ro acquiring Modern Fertility for $225 million. Next, telehealth company Wheel gets $50 million in a Series B and digital pathology startup PathAI gets $165 million. Finally, SymphonyRM gets $25 million in a Series B. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 209 | Funding for Lyra, DrFirst, Jasper Health & Cue Health
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we catch Jess on the road again! On Episode 209, Jess is shocked at Lyra’s $200 million raise, bringing their total to a whopping $675 million – and their valuation is somewhere in the $4 billion range. What does this mean for the mental health space? Next, DrFirst gets $50 million. They were doing e-prescribing back in the day, what are they up to now? Jasper Health raises $6.75 million for a new play in cancer navigation. Finally testing company Cue Health raises $235 million, bringing their total to $405 million, plus they’ve got some really big federal grants. —Matthew Holt
Komodo Health’s CEO on $220M Series E & What’s REALLY Happening with Big Data in Healthcare
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
You know all that “magic” that machine learning is meant to bring to seemingly lackluster healthcare data and our limited understanding of it? Komodo Health’s co-founder & CEO Arif Nathoo demystifies the wizardry of one of our favorite buzz phrases, “The Algorithm,” and gives us a colorful overview of how his startup is making data useful to the way payers, health systems, and pharma co’s study populations at-scale. Komodo’s raised $314M to-date, closing a MASSIVE $220M Series E backed by Tiger Global Management, Casdin Capital, ICONIQ Growth, Andreessen Horowitz, and SVB Capital in April, and after hearing this enthusiastic explanation of what they’re working on – and the market potential for it – we understand why.
At its most simplistic, Komodo is using de-identified healthcare claims data as a base from which to learn how patients flow through the healthcare system. Other data sets are brought in and layered onto that “patient-flow, dollar-flow” claims trail in effort create a new vantage point for seeing what’s happening within the system, at a population level. That insight can then be used to predict patient behavior and provide evidenced analysis for how the system can be improved. Don’t worry: Arif provides lots of detailed examples and talks through exactly what kind of data can (and currently can’t) be pulled into the mix. If you want to get smart on the “Big Data” opportunity in healthcare and how it’s going to be impacting the future of care delivery and virtual care delivery, this is one chat you won’t want to miss!
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 208 | Cedar acquires Ooda & funding for Medically Home, Huma
Today Jess is bored with consistent $100m+ deals and yawns in the face of the Tiger! No matter– I explain what Cedar acquiring Ooda for $425m means, why $100m for Medically Home is a departure for Mayo but not Kaiser, and what the heck Huma is all about (OK, I don’t really know). Does Jess get more interested by the end? You’ll have to watch to find out!–Matthew Holt
THCB Gang Episode 54, Thursday May 13
Episode 54 of “The THCB Gang” was held on Thursday, May 13. Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) was joined by regulars: policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1); medical historian Mike Magee (@drmikemagee), THCB regular writer Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard) employer health expert Jennifer Benz (@jenbenz); and WTF Health host & Health IT girl Jessica DaMassa (@jessdamassa).
The topic ended up looking at the role of employers in dealing with inequality in health care, and whether the digitally enabled primary care navigation organizations could help. A great discussion!
Then video is below. If you’d rather listen, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels.
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 207 | Aetion, Halodoc, Vori, Heartbeat Health & Memora Health
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, the survey says digital health is optimistic! Find out more on the other side. On Episode 207, Jess asks me about Aetion getting $110 million bringing its total to $212 million working on real world evidence for pharma companies, and Indonesian telehealth company Halodoc gets $80 million. MSK startup Vori Health gets $45 million—can they compete with Hinge? Next, Heartbeat Health gets $20 million for cardiovascular health. Finally, Andreesen throws $10.5 million in a Series A to Memora Health which is a patient messaging system. Don’t forget to join us on Clubhouse tonight for more! —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 206 | Walmart buys MeMD, Science 37 SPACs out, Vim & Zoe
Today in #Healthin2Point00, Jessica is not impressed by my stock trading and it’s all Walmart’s fault (well, Amazon’s too)! Part of the reason for that is Walmart buying a no-name telehealth company–well it has a name but not one anyone knows. There’s a SPAC exit on the horizon for fast growing remote clinical trials company Science37, and funds for Vim which does scheduling (we think!), and Zoe which sells a diet so expensive you might actually stick to it!–Matthew Holt
