DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to launch healthcare company - Mobile tech is transforming hospitals - Omada Health launches new trial

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CORPORATE GIANTS TO LAUNCH NEW HEALTHCARE FIRM: Three corporate giants, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, have partnered to form an independent healthcare company to address the needs of their US employees. The project, which will be "free from profit-making incentives," aims to improve employee satisfaction by providing high-quality, transparent care at a reasonable cost.

The three firms provided few details, however, they did state that "technology solutions" would be the initial focus of the new company. Some of these solutions could potentially include:

• Telemedicine services to increase access to affordable care. Telemedicine offerings not only improve access to care by letting patients connect remotely with physicians, but the technology does so at a lower cost - in a HealthMine survey, 93% of patients who have used telemedicine services reported cost savings.
• Machine learning technology to drive value-based care. By leveraging machine learning technologies, and healthcare data, such as electronic health records (EHRs) and claims information, patients could get care recommendations on which drugs, procedures, and doctors will best fit their needs. This could lower readmissions and unnecessary testing, thus improving the patient experience and lowering costs.

This isn't the first time that corporate giants have come together in order to tackle rising healthcare costs. In 2016, 20 US companies formed the Health Transformation Alliance to improve how corporations provide healthcare. Over the last few years, the alliance, which now has over 40 members, has struck partnerships with pharmacy benefit managers to negotiate lower medication costs for their employees, created a specialized doctors network, and has partnered with IBM to use its AI technology for improved health outcomes.

However, Amazon, Berkshire, and Chase could be setting up for something much bigger. Although this project, at first, will focus on the employee's of the three companies, it could expand to a much larger audience - the goal is to create solutions that potentially benefit "all Americans," according to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. In order to accomplish this, each firm will likely lean on the unique health solutions they already deploy. Chase offers payment processing services for both providers and payers, Berkshire offers healthcare liability insurance to providers through MedPro Group, and Amazon offers healthcare specific cloud solutions.

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CLINICAL MOBILITY ADOPTION IS ON THE RISE IN HOSPITALS: Hospitals are facing a global crisis they're unequipped for - from aging populations to staff shortages and increasing healthcare costs. However, the rising adoption of clinical mobility - the use of mobile devices such as mobile computers, tablets, smartphones, and cordless barcode scanners for healthcare purposes - could mitigate the impact of these challenges, according to a newly published survey by mobile tech company Zebra Technologies. By 2022, 97% of bedside nurses and 98% of physicians expect to be using mobile devices in the hospital setting. That's up from 65% of bedside nurses and 51% of physicians in 2017.

This rise in mobile tech adoption is expected to improve hospital operations and workflows in three key ways, according to Zebra:

• Improving communication between departments, nurses, and physicians. A lack of communication has a significant negative bearing on quality of care and efficiency - around 70% of medical errors can be attributed to a break down in communications. Adopting and deploying mobile solutions, such as having mobile access to real-time patient data could help break down the barriers that exist in a traditional hospital setting. Already, 67% of nurse managers in the study have noted that clinical mobility is responsible for improving staff communication and collaboration.
• Enabling real-time location tracking for devices, patients, and clinicians. Connected mobile technology allows for real-time location systems (RTLS), which can help hospitals keep track of patients, staff, and medical devices and equipment. This can help reduce operational inefficiencies that can lead to delayed procedure start times, decreased clinician productivity, and lost equipment.
• Allowing better access to precision medicine and predictive analytics. Clinical mobility devices can help in the collection and computing of patient data, which can help nurses and physicians with clinical decision making. By 2022, 98% of surveyed IT decision-makers anticipate mobile devices will provide clinicians with predictive analytics and early notification of life-threatening conditions, such as sepsis and infection.

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OMADA HEALTH LAUNCHES DIGITAL THERAPY CLINICAL TRIAL: Omada Health, a digital therapeutic provider, is collaborating with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Wake Forest University to launch the largest-ever randomized control trial of diabetes prevention with a virtual program. The Preventing Diabetes With Digital Health and Coaching for Translation and Scalability (PREDICTS) trial will include approximately 500 participants that have been deemed eligible for Omada's CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program. Participants in the 12-month trial will be selected at random to either be a part the Omada Program or UNMC's current clinical practice. The trial will then track weight loss, reduction in A1c blood sugar levels, quality of life, stress levels, and healthcare utilization. According to Omada, many of these measures are being tracked in a randomized controlled trial of a digitally-delivered diabetes prevention program for the first time. With this trial, Omada hopes to resolve concerns over the effectiveness of digital diabetic programs and to move towards them being viewed as an effective solution to reduce the risk of developing the chronic disease - there are 451 million people diagnosed with diabetes globally, according to Fortune.

TYTO CARE RAISES $25 MILLION IN FUNDING TO SUPPORT GLOBAL TELEHEALTH EXPANSION: Tyto Care, an Israeli telehealth startup known for its range of telehealth products for remote medical examinations, closed its series B funding round with $25 billion led by Ping An Insurance, according to MobiHealthNews. Returning investors include Walgreens, Cambia Health Solutions, and LionBird. The company plans to use the funding to support its continued rollout of telehealth solutions in the US, as well as expansion into European and Asian markets - Ping An Insurance and Tyto Care will enter into a strategic partnership that will help Tyto Care launch its services in China, as part of the deal. The telehealth market - an umbrella term that encompasses video- and voice-telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and health apps - is expanding rapidly as healthcare systems continue to seek new ways to improve the availability of healthcare. In the US, for example, 75% of health organizations either already are, or are planning to provide telehealth services in 2018, according to Vidyo.