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Telehealth backers join forces in Washington
Major players in telehealth are banding together in D.C. ahead of a major lobbying blitz to preserve regulatory flexibilities granted during the pandemic. The new campaign, called Telehealth Access for America, brings together a broad group of well-funded interests. It includes industry giants such as Amazon and Walmart, as well as the American Hospital Association, AARP and major health systems such as Johns Hopkins. Lawmakers who will ultimately decide the future of the regulatory landscape punted on many of the biggest questions facing telehealth until February, giving interested parties a couple more months to make their pitches.
advertisement TELEHEALTH AS A PERCENTAGE OF MEDICARE PART B VISITS, BROKEN DOWN BY RACE, ETHNICITY, AND LOCATION. (ASPE) But getting their message across to lawmakers skeptical about costs, quality, and health equity could prove difficult. The Biden administration released new data Friday that calls into question whether telehealth can really meet a major goal of promoting health equity. Our colleague Rachel Cohrs has the full story.
Can care for complex mental health conditions go virtual?
advertisement Two years into the pandemic, behavioral health treatment for common conditions like generalized anxiety and depression is forever changed, as patients and providers recognize the value of virtual visits for regular therapy. Now, behavioral health providers and startups like NOCD and Equip Health are testing whether intensive care for complex diagnoses like obsessive compulsive disorder and eating disorders can shift to virtual permanently, too. Published research on the efficacy of such outpatient experiments is scant so far. In a new story, Mario dives into the early evidence and explores where these virtual programs are headed next.
Digital health’s supply chain for Covid pills
Virtual care companies think they could speed up the process of getting patients new oral antivirals for Covid-19 in the window when they are most effective. Last week, digital health company Truepill announced it would launch a platform to support telehealth consultations, prescriptions, and next-day delivery of the new drugs, from Merck and Pfizer, when authorized. Carbon Health, which has both brick-and-mortar clinics and virtual care, plans to extend its acute Covid care program to include the oral antivirals. And direct-to-consumer company Ro says it has the capability to prescribe and deliver the drugs and expects to make them available through its platform. Read more in Katie’s story.
Digital diabetes care goes off-label
Continuous glucose monitors are only indicated for use in patients with diabetes, but there’s growing interest in using them in broader populations. This month, virtual care company Carbon Health has taken the unusual step of prescribing CGMs off-label to some patients in California determined by company physicians to be at risk of diabetes. The company will use two weeks of CGM data to craft a ‘metabolic health assessment’ that will inform a preventative care plan for patients. ‘We think there’s huge potential to address a much broader swath who may be at risk and don’t know it,’ Myoung Cha, Carbon’s chief strategy officer said. Katie has the full story.
Another look at wearables as Covid predictors
A new algorithm may be able to alert the wearers of Fitbits, Apple Watches, and other fitness trackers to pre-symptomatic Covid-19 infection, according to a study published in Nature Medicine that builds on proof-of-concept research published last year by Michael Snyder and colleagues at Stanford. Spotting the signs of Covid-19 and other respiratory infections before symptoms develop has become a hot area for research. In the new study, researchers developed a system that generated alerts based on changes in overnight resting heart rate and tracked them over the course of several months. The system sent alerts to 80% of people who went on to test positive for Covid, picking up the signals a median three days before symptoms set in. But the alerts didn’t always point to Covid: user surveys revealed they also, in most cases, simply signaled other infections, stress, or poor sleep.
Recursion lands a big deal & Pear’s debut
The AI drug discovery company Recursion has inked a contract with the pharmaceutical giant Roche and its member company, Genentech, to identify drug targets for cancer and neurological conditions. The deal, which will pay Recursion $150 million up front plus future performance-based payments, will involve the use of the company’s AI models to analyze chemical and genetic mutations in cell types to clarify disease processes and identify potential treatment approaches.
The U.K.-based digital care provider Babylon has launched an AI-powered triage tool in Rwanda to help call center nurses collect relevant information about patients’ symptoms and assign them to the right care pathway. The product launch is part of a 10-year partnership with the government of Rwanda to develop a digital-first health care system.
The Japanese remote patient monitoring company OMRON Healthcare has signed a partnership with the Singapore-based telehealth company Doctor Anywhere to provide stepped up cardiovascular care. The deal will integrate data from Omron’s blood-pressure monitor and other devices into telehealth consultations to support more timely treatment.
The digital therapy company Pear Therapeutics surged in early trading during its first day on the Nasdaq exchange Monday, before dropping closer to its opening price later in the afternoon. The company’s debut followed a merger with Thimble Point Acquisition Corp. in a SPAC deal that generated about $175 million to Pear.
CVS Health and Microsoft said they will team up to provide AI-driven health recommendations to the pharmacy chain’s customers as part of a broader digital transformation at the company. The deal will leverage Microsoft’s Azure platform to further automate pharmacy services and deliver more customized care.
What we’re reading
https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/07/telehealth-lobbying-pear-therapeutics/
