Sadly conferences have all gone digital, but Jess and I are still here covering deals on Health in 2 Point 00. On Episode 130, DispatchHealth gets $136 million, providing in-home health care by sending a tech to your house, BrightInsight gets $40 million to help biopharma and medtech companies leverage connected devices and develop digital health tools, Cedar raises $102 million for their medical billing software, Big Health raises $39 million for digital mental health tools Sleepio and Daylight, Redox lays off a quarter of their staff, and Plume raises a $2.9 million seed round, providing telehealth for trans individuals. —Matthew Holt
Will the Public Health Emergency Policy Changes for Telehealth & Remote Monitoring Stick?
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
With about one month left on the existing 90-day Public Health Emergency that’s eased regulations and improved reimbursement to help make telehealth, remote monitoring, and other virtual care services easier for providers to implement and patients to use, health tech companies across the US are wondering what it will take to make these changes permanent. One of digital health’s few ‘DC Insiders,’ Livongo Health’s VP of Government Affairs, Leslie Krigstein, gets us up-to-speed on what’s happening on Capitol Hill and what we can expect moving forward. What changes will (literally) require an Act of Congress? And what can be handled by HHS and CMS? From codes and co-pays to e-visits and licensing, Leslie breaks it down and tells us whether or not we can continue to expect a ‘health tech-friendly’ agenda in Washington DC.
Omada Health’s Acquisition of Physera: Sean Duffy & Dan Rubinstein on ‘The Deal’ & What’s Next
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
Omada Health put to use part of their recent $57M funding round to acquire Physera, a musculoskeletal care company that uses telehealth and digital interventions to deliver ‘virtual physical therapy’ to those suffering from back, knee, and neck pain. How does the acquisition fit into Omada’s growth strategy? WTF Health’s Jessica DaMassa chats with both Omada Health’s CEO, Sean Duffy, and Dan Rubinstein, CEO of Physera, about the acquisition, the IPO buzz that continues to swirl around Omada, and whether or not the opportunity that COVID-19 has created for digital care will be lasting as we move forward.
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 129 | Kaia Health, RapidSOS, Abacus Insights, Ready, and Doximity
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we have more deals to cover continuing off of yesterday’s episode! Jess and I talk about Kaia Health raising $26 million in a B round led by Optum Ventures, RapidSOS gets $21 million for their emergency response tech, Abacus Insights raising $35 million, and Ready raising $48 million pairing home visits from EMTs and nurses with telehealth. In other news, Target is now offering free access to telehealth visits through CirrusMD, and Doximity is acquiring THMED (which is changing its name to Curative) to put together a database of doctors to improve healthcare staffing/recruitment. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 128 | Proteus, Walmart, Kyruus, Headspace and CareAcademy
On Episode 128 of Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I talk about Proteus filing for bankruptcy, Walmart buying the tech from CareZone for prescription drug management for an unconfirmed $200 million, Kyruus raising another $30 million for referrals and scheduling for large health systems, Headspace raising another $47.7 million, and CareAcademy raising $9.5 million in a Series A to provide online training for professional caregivers for seniors. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 127 | AireHealth, Sharecare, PlushCare, & PatientPing
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess asks Matthew about AireHealth merging with BreathResearch, adding machine learning-based diagnostics to their respiratory health remote monitoring devices, Sharecare acquiring behavioral health platform MindSciences, the “digital One Medical” telemedicine company PlushCare raising $23 million in a Series B, and PatientPing raising $60 million to expand their e-notifications network to achieve greater interoperability and coordinated care. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 126 | A triple-episode ft. Bigfoot, Tictrac, Lifestance & many more
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, there’s been so much movement in digital health funding this week that we have a triple-episode. Bigfoot Biomedical raised $55 million in a Series C, Tictrac raised $7.5 million for employee wellness, Lifestance Health raised a whopping $1.2 billion, Maven acquired Bright Parenting, Higi raised $30 million, Bright.md raised $16.7 million, Tia raises $24 million, Doktor.se raising €45 million, Orbita raised $9 million, Curatio’s undisclosed A, Siren raised $11.8 million, 100plus raised $15 million, Ubie raised $18.7 million, Change Healthcare acquired 2 different companies—PDX for $208 million and ERX for $213 million, and special funds by Andreessen Horowitz and Softbank supporting founders of color. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 125 | Amwell, Mindstrong, Big Sky Health, Medwing
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we have more than $300 million in deals to cover! On Episode 125, Jess asks me about Amwell raising $194 million although they haven’t gone public (yet), Mindstrong getting $100 million and a new CEO from Uber in another big raise for their mental health app, Big Sky Health landing $8 million for its intermittent fasting, meditation and alcohol consumption apps, Tava Health raising $3 million to expand its teletherapy program, and German startup Medwing getting $30 million to address Europe’s shortage of healthcare workers. Don’t miss Jess speaking at the AHIP discussion on How Digital Self-Care is Transforming Mental Health Care tomorrow at 1pm ET! —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 124 | Omada Health, Meru, Noom, and Alike
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess asks me about Omada Health raising $57 million and then spending $30 million acquiring Physera, Holmusk raising $21.5 million, digital mental health company Meru raising $8.1 million, Noom partnering with LifeScan for digital diabetes care and Alike raising $5 million.—Matthew Holt
THCB Gang: Episode 9
Episode 9 of “The THCB Gang” was live-streamed on Wednesday (instead of our normal Thursday slot) on May 13th at 1pm PT- 4pm ET! Watch it below! Next week we’ll be back to Thursday
Joining me were health “IT” girl Jessica DaMassa (@jessdamassa), health futurist Ian Morrison (@seccurve), health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn (@healthythinker), patient safety expert Michael Millenson (MLMillenson), and MD & hospital system exec Rajesh Aggarwal (@docaggarwal). The conversation looked at the likelihod of big picture change, Medicare Advantage expansion, whether the move to remote care is real and sustainable, and at one point got us to war with China!
If you’d rather listen, the “audio only” version is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels from Thursday onwards— Matthew Holt
