Health & Workout

ASX-listed health tech firm CardieX announced its subsidiary, medical technology company ATCOR, will partner with AI-enabled health tech company Invaryant to conduct joint clinical research on maternal health and cardiovascular disease.  

Invaryant’s health platform will integrate digital vascular biomarkers gathered from ATCOR’s SphygmoCor arterial technology, which measures the central aortic pressure waveform, to allow for closer patient monitoring of risk factors associated with hypertensive disorders. 

Georgia-based Invaryant will also utilize the CONNEQT Pulse, which measures central blood pressure, to obtain multiple arterial health indicators. Health analytics platform CONNEQT is another subsidiary of CardieX. 

“It’s exciting to see patient-driven technologies expand and enhance decentralized clinical trial outcomes. The ATCOR and Invaryant partnership will integrate the best in personalized vascular biometric monitoring with Inara’s advanced AI and machine learning [Invaryant’s AI bot platform] to help educate patients about their vascular health and improve patient-reported outcomes. I’m excited to leverage our combined technologies

Leaders in the digital health space told MobiHealthNews their predictions about investors’ priorities in the coming year and what companies will need to watch out for.  

Following 2021’s expansive investments and the decrease in funding in 2022, alongside significant layoffs, stakeholders expect funders to be more selective in 2023 – scrutinizing companies’ business models and considering whether they’ve demonstrated they can improve patient outcomes.

Mark Luck Olson, CEO of RecoveryOne

“A tightening capital market will punish those healthcare disruptors that grew at all costs and failed to maintain basic financial discipline. New venture investment will disproportionately go toward players that have established product-market fit, compelling outcome evidence, strong EBITDA margins, and have grown enough to have line-of-sight to profitability.

“Employers and health plans alike will rationalize their portfolio of digital health solutions, pruning those that fail to generate sufficient engagement, or who can only be delivered as stand-alone, monolithic solutions.”

As 2022 draws to a close, MobiHealthNews asked digital health executives about the biggest surprises and most noteworthy events that took place over the past year.

While the economic environment proved more challenging for startups, leaders noted several major deals – particularly by large retail players – and argued that consolidation could be a bigger trend next year. 

Guillaume de Zwirek, founder and CEO of Artera (formerly WELL Health)

“Though not surprising, the market downturn was a noteworthy event this year. Even when you spot a market bubble, you often don’t know when it will burst. Another noteworthy trend is how retailers are moving aggressively to reshape their businesses and provide care for large populations. Examples: Walgreens with VillageMD, CVS with Signify Health, Best Buy with Current Health and Amazon with One Medical.”

Russell Glass, CEO of Headspace Health

“Point solutions across virtual care, and in particular, virtual mental

Sociodemographic and health-related factors are associated with long-term use of digital health devices, according to a study published in npj Digital Medicine.

Researchers followed a cohort within the long-running and ongoing Framingham Heart Study that used three digital components: a smartphone app, a blood pressure cuff and a smartwatch. 

Participants received app-based surveys at enrollment and every three months. Step count and heart rate data were collected daily from the smartwatch, while blood pressure measurements were taken weekly. During in-person exams, researchers collected sociodemographic information as well as data about health status and behaviors.

The study found that older age (55 years and above) was associated with higher use of each device over the yearlong follow-up period. Women and participants with higher levels of education were more likely to complete the app surveys. Higher scores for depressive symptoms and lower-than-excellent self-rated health were linked to lower smartwatch use. 

“These

San Francisco-based Augmedix has progressed from a Google Glass-based clinical documentation startup to a publicly-traded, AI-enabled ambient automation platform that documents patient encounters and generates medical notes that can be transferred to an EHR.

The company, founded in 2012, also provides pre- and post-visit documentation offerings to give providers a more complete digital picture of a patient’s health journey. 

Ian Shakil, founder, director and chief strategy officer at Augmedix, spoke with MobiHealthNews to discuss the company’s evolution and its anticipated release of a new product in 2023. 

MobiHealthNews: Can you tell me about Augmedix and how it works in the ambient documentation space?

Ian Shakil: I started the company about 10 years ago with the mission to rehumanize the provider/patient interaction. Originally, we were only operating on Google Glass. What we did is we put technology at the point of care when providers and patients are having conversations.

What

MobiHealthNews spoke with several digital health stakeholders about 2022’s funding environment and how it affected digital health startups.

Investments in 2022 decreased drastically compared to the swells of financial capital raised in 2021, and that lack of funding forced companies to rethink their business models.

Read digital health execs’ insights on how this year’s decreased funding forced layoffs, business model redesigns and an increased focus on company value.

Dr. Jon Bloom, cofounder and CEO of Podimetrics 

“The funding environment for digital health startups in 2022 was, well, rough. As an industry, we went from being a beacon of innovative hope amid the pandemic to an unintentional harbinger of bloated valuations and a destroyer of shareholder value.” 

Dr. Jennifer Schneider, cofounder and CEO of Homeward

“The current market dynamics have forced entrepreneurs to focus clearly on what truly matters for the business and the industry more broadly. While the recent widespread

After digital health startups scooped up huge amounts of investor dollars last year, the market slowed down significantly in 2022. But it’s still a relatively new field, and there’s plenty of room for startups that can prove their ability to improve care, says John Beadle, managing partner at Aegis Ventures.

He sat down with MobiHealthNews to discuss the growth in partnerships with health systems and venture capital firms, the changing funding environment, and what digital health investment in 2023 could look like.

MobiHealthNews: What are some of your big takeaways when you look back at digital health in 2022?

John Beadle: Despite the macro environment obviously turning down, the transformation and care delivery and innovation that was spurred by COVID is definitely continuing to accelerate in a lot of different areas. I think the industry has really hit a tipping point, and we should continue to see innovation advancing at

Aledade, which works with primary care providers to build tech-enabled accountable care organizations, hired Ananya Banerjee as chief commercial officer. 

Sean Cavanaugh, who had previously managed the role, will remain at Aledade as chief policy officer. 

Before joining Aledade, Banerjee served as chief of strategic payer partnerships at ChenMed, a primary care company geared toward seniors. ChenMed recently sued Banerjee and Aledade, alleging she broke her confidentiality agreement in favor of a competitor. 

Banerjee had also previously worked at Optum and McKinsey & Company.

“In every step of my career, I’ve looked for opportunities to support structural alignment within the healthcare system to bring higher-quality care to more people at lower costs,” she said in a statement. “Aledade’s model, mission, scale and trusted relationships drew me to the company, and I am excited to support the next phase of its growth.”

Aledade recently raised $123 million in a Series

Employee wellness company Wellable acquired DailyEndorphin, which offers corporate wellness challenges in which employees can set up group fitness or nutrition programs and invite their colleagues to participate. 

DailyEndorphin offers challenges for exercise, step count, nutrition, weight and hydration.

Boston-based Wellable will add DailyEndorphins assets to its Wellable Wellness Platform, which also includes an incentive program and support model, a personal wellness assessment and clinical event verifications (where flu shots and preventative care are verified). The employee-focused company also has health content and on-demand classes.

“We are thrilled to support the next chapter for DailyEndorphin and welcome them to our thriving Wellable community. DailyEndorphin was a pioneer in the wellness challenge industry, and we look forward to delivering customizable, affordable and effective wellness programs for their customers,” Geoff Geredien, chief growth officer of Wellable, said in a statement.

THE LARGER TREND

In September, Wellable acquired Sweat Factor, a fitness