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NeurIPS dips into health
At this year’s Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, researchers shared advances and challenges in machine learning applications in medicine and public health. In a presentation on AI and social justice, Microsoft Research senior principal researcher Mary Gray used the oft-cited example of Optum’s racially-biased algorithm as a call to action to develop datasets and algorithms to reduce disparities in outcomes, medical and otherwise. That mindset will be critical as academics experiment with new applications of machine learning, like a model presented by MIT researchers that can flag treatments for sepsis patients that are likely to lead to a ‘medical dead-end,’ the point after which a patient will die no matter what care is provided.
advertisement Equity and justice are also critical lenses for the researchers building training datasets, like a group of more than 50,000 audio samples that could be used to screen for respiratory diseases including Covid-19. The conference continues today with a workshop on applications in public health and the launch of Nightingale Open Science, a source of health imaging datasets for research.
CVS leans into digital-first health
advertisement After an announcement last month that it would be closing 900 locations in the next three years, CVS Health said in an investor meeting last week that it would be using a ‘digital-first, technology-forward’ strategy to continue its march into primary care. In addition to using its existing pharmacy locations to drive more interactions like point-of-care testing, the company plans to invest in more digital primary care tools to drive virtual and in-home care, according to a presentation from pharmacy services president Alan Lotvin, which could be wrapped into a ‘single digital front door to health.’
Telehealth’s 2021 report card
Stats about telehealth usage in 2021 are omnipresent, but a new report from Rock Health in collaboration with the Stanford Center of Digital Health contains more details about how patients are leaning into virtual visits — for some needs, at least. One significant takeaway from the census-matched survey of nearly 8,000 people in the U.S.: Despite the seeming fit between mental health services and virtual appointments, most patients still prefer in-person care. 510(k)s all day
Along with catching up on clearances for a pile of PPE that received emergency use authorization during the pandemic (congrats to String King, lacrosse supply maker-turned-gown manufacturer), the FDA has been busy issuing clearances to a number of health tech players. Here are a few of the recent standouts, courtesy of Brian Dolan’s Exits & Outcomes:
Sound Life Sciences got its app for breath sensing cleared, which can be used with a prescription to track respiration rates for patients with issues like COPD, asthma, congestive failure, and anxiety. The Breathe Easy Mobile Respiratory Monitor works by emitting sonar pulses that detect breaths.
AliveCor’s latest ECG device, KardiaMobile Card, got FDA clearance in a speedy 26 days, allowing the system to transmit data via Bluetooth instead of ultrasonic acoustics.
Grading digital depression tools
The list of digital interventions to treat depression continues to grow, but little is certain about which tools are right for different patients. One step toward understanding comes from a new meta-analysis of 83 randomized controlled trials of digital depression tools published over the last three decades, published in Psychological Bulletin. Overall, the studies showed meaningful effects of a wide range of tools, from apps to online therapy, though the authors emphasize that publication bias may skew the results toward positive outcomes. Two major lessons emerged: First, the largest effects were for tools that included some form of human guidance, rather than self-help.
And positive outcomes were significantly lower in studies that reflected real-world performance rather than highly controlled research settings. Going forward, attrition will be a large part of the effectiveness equation for digital mental health, given that just over half of participants in all the studies completed the full intervention.
Cyberattacks could threaten clinical AI algorithms
As hospital systems continue to adopt AI to support clinical decisions, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh highlighted a unique vulnerability of image-based medical AI. By generating false mammogram images with a computer program, researchers were able to fool an AI-based breast cancer diagnostic program nearly 70% of the time — a hack that could lead to misdiagnosis if used in a real world cyberattack. While AI-based systems may be especially vulnerable to this kind of targeted image swapping, the fake images sometimes fooled human radiologists, too.
Rounds big and small
Bright Health Group, the Tiger-backed health insurance technology company that went public back in June, has announced $750 million in financing after reporting high medical loss ratios in its Q3 earnings. Investors included Cigna Ventures, the VC subsidiary of the insurance company. The company raised $500 million in a late-stage round in September 2020.
Video game-based digital therapeutic company Mightier, developed by Boston Children’s and Harvard clinicians to support kids’ behavioral and emotional health, raised $17 million from groups including DigitTx Partners, Sony Innovation Fund, and PBJ Capital.
Personnel file
Verily’s plans to build up its platform for clinical trials is continuing with a spate of posted positions across the country, including a head of product. Other jobs posted in the last month: health data analysis and architects (in Boston and Salt Lake City), software engineers to support EHR integration, and a strategy lead for all of Verily’s interconnected health platforms.
Novadiscovery, a French health tech company that creates clinical trial simulations, brought on a new chief financial officer. Ehud Gelblum has previously served as finance VP at Flatiron Health and CFO for Sesame and Caresyntax.
Decentralized clinical trials company Thread hired Scott Pearson to be chief product officer. Pearson most recently had a stint at Amazon, as head of product for healthcare and life sciences.
Doximity competitor H1 announced a new member of its board of directors: Mike Derezin, COO of blockchain standard developer Chainlink Labs.
Digital post-hospital recovery platform Laguna Health appointed a new vice president of clinical product. Gil Kaminski joins after a long stint directing operations for DaVita dialysis centers.
What we’re reading
https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/14/cvs-digital-health-telehealth/
