Service industries like consulting, hospitality, restaurants or the local car mechanic, are judged on experience. Healthcare folks would like to think that it's all about outcomes but no one would argue that experience is just as important. And most healthcare experiences suck from a patient's point of view. Docent Health caught my attention last year in July when they raised a healthy $15M...
Virta burst on to the digital health scene recently boasting a $37M funding round and a tech-heavyweight CEO Sami Inkinen who previously co-founded Trulia, the online real-estate platform. Virta is the latest digital health star to follow the trend of what I'm now beginning to identify as tech-enabled care management. Think of it as a healthcare service delivery model where traditional care...
The idea is certainly not new. Using VR immersion as a part of mental health treatment has been a subject of academic research and debate for a couple of decades. What usually makes news are opinion articles and university research projects. I've seen commercially-oriented companies (like VirtuallyBetter) but none that gave me the impression of a true 'VR platform for Psychiatrists'. Limbix...
I know nothing more about Careticker than what their spartan website says. But the first time I read it, something clicked. Careticker is a sort of personal (health) productivity app that lets users manage their interaction before, during and after hospital stays. I think that is a great niche. Except for hypochondriacs, no one likes hospital stays. Most of the anxiety related to a hospital stay...
People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin in a similar way their pancreas would produce if it were normal. Older therapy used to be multiple daily injections, which were poor approximation of the insulin need. In Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (CSII) or Insulin Pump therapy, a small device delivers a constant stream of rapid-acting insulin through a tiny tube; according to a...
As I mentioned previously, the hype of personalized medicine is breeding a new industry-direct to consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing. These companies offer to test, analyze and store your genetic information for you. Navigenics entered this arena in April'08, with some stellar credentials in terms of team, funding (KPCB, Sequoia among others) and collaborations (Mayo, Partners, Duke, Scripps,...
I'm not a fan of direct to consumer genetic testing, but that market is hard to ingore now. deCODEme (excellent name choice, btw) will analyze your genetic information, store it securely and provide you with updates on your genetic profile "as new knowledge becomes available in the field". There is no doubt that our genes hold valuable information that can help predict and treat diseases. There...