<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Hello! Lydia here, back from my wedding and honeymoon and ready to dive into this week's deluge of healthcare news. As my colleagues likely filled you in, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/fashion/weddings/lydia-ramsey-andrew-pflanzer.html">I got married</a> in August over in Evanston, Illinois then popped over to Spain for a few weeks of sun, water, and so many tapas. I hope everyone's final weeks of summer were as full as fun <a href="https://twitter.com/lydiaramsey125/status/1166357475236491264">and cake</a> as mine was! I made it home just in time to start training for the New York Marathon - which I'll be writing more about for Business Insider, so please send your best marathon training tips/questions/story ideas to me at lramsey@businessinsider.com.Are you new to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/dispensed">our newsletter</a>? You can <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">sign up for Dispensed</a> here.That meant I also made it home in time to see SmileDirectClub go up for its initial public offering on Thursday. It was a roller coaster of a day: First, the stock priced above its range at $23 a share, but then it began trading below that. By the close Thursday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smiledirectclub-stock-price-digital-health-ipo-2019-8">the stock was down 28% from where it priced. </a>Even if things didn't quite go to plan for the SmileDirectClub team, the IPO still made some of the company's key execs (including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smiledirectclub-cofounders-jordan-katzman-alex-fenkell-2019-9">30-year-old cofounders Alex Fenkell and Jordan Katzman</a>) billionaires. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investors-in-smiledirectclub-before-initial-public-offering-2019-8">Buzzy healthcare startup SmileDirectClub just went public. Here are the execs and investors who stand to benefit the most.</a></h3><ul><li>SmileDirectClub, a company that provides clear aligners to straighten your teeth, tumbled 28% in its stock market debut Thursday after pricing its initial public offering at $23 a share.</li><li>SmileDirectClub ended its first day of trading with a $6.4 billion valuation.</li><li>Here are the top investors in SmileDirectClub, including CEO David Katzman and cofounders Jordan Katzman and Alex Fenkell, and how much their stakes are worth.</li></ul>Elsewhere, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/zachary-tracer">Zach Tracer</a> and I caught up with Sean Slovenski, Walmart's president of health and wellness, about the retail behemoth's new health clinics and how they fit into Walmart's overall health strategy.Seems like these first few locations are just the beginning. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-slovenski-on-walmart-healthcare-strategy-clinics-home-care-2019-9">Walmart is opening health clinics, but that's just the start. We got the full story from the exec leading its push into the $3.5 trillion US healthcare industry.</a></h3><ul><li>Walmart is wading deeper into the massive $3.5 trillion US healthcare system.</li><li>The retailer is opening a health clinic in Dallas, Georgia, on Friday that has primary care, dentistry, and counseling services. It plans to open another in Calhoun, Georgia, as well.</li><li>If the tests are successful, Walmart could expand into more locations in northern Georgia, quickly making the retail giant the largest provider of basic healthcare in the region.</li><li>The centers are just the beginning of Walmart's larger healthcare ambitions, which include more home services, as well as mobile units offering specialty services, according to Sean Slovenski, Walmart's president of health and wellness.</li><li>Walmart has tried different versions of health clinics in the past. The most recent iteration comes as Amazon, CVS Health, and Walgreens are all bulking up their focus on healthcare.</li></ul>Over the weekend, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/erin-brodwin">Erin Brodwin</a> had the scoop on an MIT Media Lab project about a "personal food computer" that... didn't live up to the hype.Among the wildest tidbits: Ahead of demonstrations, staff were told to place food that was grown elsewhere into the device. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mit-media-lab-personal-food-computers-dont-work-fake-staff-say-2019-9">The Epstein-funded MIT lab has an ambitious project that purports to revolutionize agriculture. Insiders say it's mostly smoke and mirrors.</a></h3><ul><li>An ambitious MIT project that purported to turn anyone into a farmer with a single tool is scraping by with smoke-and-mirror tactics, employees told Business Insider.</li><li>Ahead of big demonstrations with MIT Media Lab funders, staff were told to place plants grown elsewhere into the devices, the insiders said.</li><li>In other instances, devices delivered to local schools simply didn't work.</li><li>"It's fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant," one person said.</li></ul>Erin's also been covering all of the latest between e-cigarette-makers like Juul and regulators. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-warns-juul-marketing-ecigs-safe-schools-2019-9">You can read her latest on the issue here</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emma-court">Emma Court</a> is having a fine time over in Italy right now, but that didn't keep her from turning in a few stories before she left. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-focused-on-health-tech-first-round-jumpstart-foundry-2019-8">VCs just bet $3.5 billion that tech will transform the future of healthcare. These are the top 9 firms making the most digital health investments.</a></h3><ul><li>The field of digital health, where companies take a tech-based approach to healthcare, has been exploding.</li><li>Venture capital firms First Round and Jumpstart Foundry are the most active VCs in the space, according to a recent report from CB Insights.</li><li>It's a crowded field: seven other VCs are tied for the number two slot, the report found.</li><li>These firms are investing in companies like Alma Health, which makes coworking spaces for therapists, and the digital therapeutics startup Omada.</li></ul>She also spoke to three VCs - from F-Prime Capital, Echo Health Ventures, and Jumpstart Foundry - about where they're placing their next bets. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-firms-on-top-healthcare-investing-trends-2019-9">Read where they think the industry is headed here.</a>Clarrie Feinstein tuned into the Apple event on Tuesday, bringing you all the details of the three new health studies Apple has underway. (What I got out of it was how much <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-5s-vs-iphone-xr-what-its-like-to-switch-2018-11">I wish I could've waited a year</a> to pick up the new purple iPhone. Alas.)<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-launches-three-health-studies-with-apple-watch-iphone-11-2019-9">Apple is set to launch 3 new health studies using data from the iPhone and Apple Watch. Here's what they plan to investigate. </a></h3>Clarrie also teamed up with cannabis reporter Jeremy Berke to bring you a post full of tips from a top investor on a cannabis-focused fund on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-a-successful-pitch-according-to-investors-2019-9">how to successfully pitch your company</a>. Certainly useful for those in the cannabis space or elsewhere. Among the team, we had some little features on companies that have caught our eye. <ul><li>First: Clarrie took a look at online pharmacy startup NimbleRx's strategy. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nimblerx-partners-with-independent-pharmacies-to-deliver-drugs-2019-9">A buzzy startup raised $60 million to give hundreds of independent pharmacies a new weapon in their fight against CVS and Amazon</a></li><li>Then: I spoke to the CEO of eHealth about the company's massive stock-price growth over the past year. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ehealth-stock-performance-after-pivoting-to-medicare-advantage-2019-9">How a health-insurance seller run by the former CEO of Playboy became the hottest stock on Wall Street</a></li></ul>That's all from us this week. Like I said, I'm jumping back into training for the New York Marathon and plan to write a lot about it for BI. Would love to hear what burning questions you have about the race, events like marathons, or especially tips from veterans of what I (a newbie to this course) should look out for. You can find me at lramsey@businessinsider.com, or reach the whole team at healthcare@businessinsider.com.- Lydia<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health-3"></a>

Dispensed: A digital health IPO bust, Walmart's push into healthcare, and an MIT project that didn't live up to the hype

For all of us, visiting a hospital for our loved one is no less than a nightmare. It’s not just painful to see our dear ones lying in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Watson-enters-India-to-provide-individualised-cancer-care-across-the-country/articleshow/50014760.cms">hospital</a> bed in pain, it’s also the long lofty bills that can really hurt our pockets. 
	 
	But, there’s an alternative to it! Home <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-what-is-killing-India/articleshow/49918471.cms">healthcare</a> services is increasingly being preferred by many in the city in order to not just give the best health care but also to save themselves a few grand. 
	 “We offered our services to a patient who lived in Khirki Extension in Delhi and needed intensive care. The patient was spending nearly Rs 70,000 per day at Max hospital in Saket. We gave him an ICU like setup at his home for Rs 10,000 per day. Thus, it home care is such cost-effective alternative,” Dr. Gaurav Thukral, vice president and business unit director at <keyword id="1910437" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Healthcare-At-Home">HealthCare at Home</keyword>, a joint venture between the <keyword id="3163103" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Burman-Group">Burman Group</keyword> and UK’s leading home care services firm Home Care at Home, told BI India in an exclusive interview. 
	 
	Off late, the home care segment in the health care sector has been attracting a lot of start-ups. However, the challenges are many. While logistics continue to be a challenge for many, it’s the expectations of their clients that remain the biggest task. 
	 
	“We also cater to very high-end clients, who sometimes are unreasonable. For instance, we have had clients, who demanded infection-free environment at their homes or wanted the nurse to keep standing for 12-hours continuously,” added Thukral. 
	 Globally home <keyword id="6354525" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Healthcare">healthcare</keyword> services constitute 6% of the overall healthcare industry. However, in India, this segment segment is still in nascent stages despite having the best nurses and health practitioners in the country. 
	 
	At present, the largest players in the market include Portea Medical, India Home Health Care (IHHC) &amp; Homital. HealthCare at Home currently operates primarily in Delhi, Punjab, Jammu, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The company aims to expand rapidly pan India and plans to raise funding for its future course of action. 
	 
	Image Credit: ehealth.eletsonline.com

Here’s
how home care services are a better bet than expensive hospitals!

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Lyft is completely rebranding itself, the company announced Tuesday.
"We're rolling into 2015 with a brand new look, starting with the Glowstache," Lyft said in a blog post Tuesday. "As the latest evolution of our iconic mustache, the Glowstache pays tribute to the spirit and personality of the original 'stache while delivering a more sophisticated, illuminated in-car experience."
<a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/01/lyft-finally-ditching-furry-pink-mustache/">Wired reported last week</a> that Lyft would be replacing its trademark fuzzy mustaches - which drivers place on their cars' front grill to indicate that they're a Lyft driver - with a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-shaves-the-pink-mustache-2015-1">less-cuddly "glowstache."</a> Glowstaches are plastic mustaches the size of a banana that get attached to the driver's dashboard with magnets. At night, they glow. 
"The easily attachable Glowstache makes it easier than ever for drivers to switch into Lyft mode. And with Lyft drivers reaching milestones of 10,000 rides and more, we knew we needed to toughen up our 'stache with new fade-resistant dyes and an unmissable glow."
Lyft, which has expanded into more than 45 new US markets in the past year, is also rolling out a refurbished app, a new color palette, and new partnerships.
Here's what the updated app's loading screen looks like when you open Lyft on your phone. Gone is the whimsical pink balloon that used to be on Lyft's loading screen and app icon:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>
In addition, Lyft announced Tuesday the company is partnering with eHealth, AutoNation and Intuit to help its drivers, who are independent contractors, find health insurance, file their taxes, and buy cars that meet Lyft's standards. 
Lyft was last valued at $850 million. The company <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lyft">has raised $332.5 million in VC funding</a> and is reportedly raising a new round of funding to help it catch up to Uber, <a href="http://recode.net/2015/01/16/lyft-seeking-new-mega-funding-to-battle-uber/">Re/code reports</a>.
As competition in the on-demand car-hailing space heats up, Lyft's fundraising efforts will inevitably be compared to those of its rival, Uber. Uber <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-just-raised-12-billion-2014-12">just raised a $1.2 billion round of funding at a $41 billion post-money valuation</a>, and operates in 53 countries and more than 200 cities globally.

Lyft Is Completely Overhauling Its Look, Starting With Its Fuzzy Pink Mustaches

<ul><li><keyword id="3873233" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Medlife">Medlife</keyword> is currently witnessing an 8% month-on-month growth and hopes to achieve 100% year-on-year growth over last year.</li><li>It will continue to focus on digital marketing, and come up with hyper-local personalized content to target consumers.</li><li>Medlife is looking at almost doubling its consumer base from last year’s 1.5 million to 2.5 million this year.</li></ul> It’s been about three months since <keyword id="6397414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ananth-Narayanan">Ananth Narayanan</keyword>, former CEO of Myntra and Jabong came on board as the Co-founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based health-tech company Medlife. Since then, Narayanan has focused on coming up with strategies to scale up the business, always keeping the consumer at the core. Founded in 2014 by Tushar Kumar and Prashant Singh, Medlife, which started out being an online medicine delivery platform has today diversified its offering to <keyword id="164597" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="diagnostics">diagnostics</keyword> and online consultations. The company is currently witnessing an 8% month-on-month growth and hopes to achieve 100% year-on-year growth over last year. It is also looking at expanding its diagnostics presence across 50 cities within the next 24 months. In a recent conversation, Narayanan told us that Medlife’s marketing strategy would revolve around coming up with hyper-local digital content to target different areas in the cities they launch and will back that up with BTL as well as Radio. “However, our aim would be to do a 360 degree surround for our consumers. When they think of healthcare, Medlife should be the first port of call for them,” says Narayanan. Edited excerpts: Q) From growing Myntra in the fashion e-commerce space to now growing Medlife in the online healthcare space, how has the journey been so far? I am a consumer-backed person and look for large markets to play in. Both Myntra and Medlife are a $100 billion market, however in India, access, consumer journey and having standardized processes and procedures to make healthcare simple is a problem. So it felt like a very large problem to solve. Medlife started four years ago and is in the process of solving at least two or three of these problems. I met the founders Tushar and Prashant at that time, and it felt like we're very complementary. While Tushar played more of a strategy role, Prashant and I went on to run the business. It seemed like a good idea to come together and see if we could scale it. My vision for Medlife is to build it into a trusted brand partner and serve all the healthcare needs of the 100 million plus Indians, by keeping technology at the core. Since you joined Medlife, what have your areas of focus been? There have been three to four focus key focus areas for me. The first is to improve consumer experience. We’ve launched a new react native app and have reduced the lead time for delivery. We're scaling Express which is our two-hour delivery service in eight cities. So consumers have been a big focus. Secondly, we need to make the business sustainable. In the next six to eight months, we want to reach unit economics breakeven, which means at the unit level, we don't lose money anymore. Once we achieve that, we can scale as much or as little as we want. Thirdly, there’s a continued focus on ramping up the team. We already have a terrific team of 400 people but are working on strengthening it further. We want to strengthen the tech, product and the operation side of the team. Also, we're a very small part of a very large business and our aim is to sustain a healthy growth. What kind of growth has Medlife been witnessing? Today, the online penetration of health is less than 2%. We want to grow 8% month-on-month. By the end of this year, we'll have a 100% year-on-year growth over last year. It looks like we will be ahead of our original plan for the year. Have you set a target for yourself, in terms of Medlife’s growth? In the next five years, I want to be 10X of what I am today. And if we continue to see 100% growth year-on-year, we will easily reach there. Also, I want to be able to serve multi-million customers. By when do you expect Medlife to become a profit-making entity? The key milestone is unit economics. Hopefully, as I said, six to eight months from now, we'll get there. And after that, it's really a matter of choice as to when you want to become profitable. How big is your consumer base right now and what kind of growth are you seeing in that regard? Last year, we served 1.5 million customers, and we continue to grow. This year, we will serve 2.5 million customers. Since you have diversified to diagnostics and consultation, which segments are performing the best for you? We started out being a medicine delivery platform and that's still 85-87% of the business and still growing rapidly. But that gives us a large customer base to do diagnostics with. Diagnostic is a newer business which we started about a year ago and is growing very fast for us, the unit economics are already profitable. On the <keyword id="387573" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-consultation">online consultation</keyword> front, we have about 1,500 doctors on board and again, that number is growing rapidly too. In terms of growth, medicine delivery is growing at 6-7% and the other two are growing in double digits month-on-month. How have you built the consumer’s trust on your platform? In the businesses we operate in, the way to build trust is by sticking to your promise. We measure a lot on NPS and consumer experience. We work hard to ensure that we deliver whatever we commit to the customer. We are also very careful about quality, whether it's our medicines, diagnostic test results or the consultations. We do a lot of checks, tech-driven and otherwise, that allow us to make sure that the quality of our offering is great. Your vision is to turn Medlife into an e-health provider. Can you expand on that? Our aim is to own the consumer journey and provide them with everything they need. Today, we may be into medicine delivery, diagnostics and consultation but there are many other things that the customer actually wants. They want home healthcare, primary and secondary care and health insurance. We don't intend to do all of this but we’re trying to partner with the ecosystem to provide customers all of these offerings. What are your strategies to grow your market share and expand reach? Like I said, the current penetration is 2% and we have 10x growth ahead of us. We’ve built a good supply chain network. We have over 40 fulfillment centers all over. Extending the supply chain is one way of penetrating the market. The second is continuing to reach people through digital marketing. And the third is by starting to expose them to the multiple services that we actually offer. There are roughly 62 million online transacting customers in India today and we only serve 2 million, so there’s a huge opportunity. Are your consumers primarily from the metro cities? The age range of our customers is between 26 and 86, so it's a much broader range than e-commerce. Secondly, about 60% of our consumers are from the top 30 cities and 40% come from beyond. Medlife has made some strategic acquisitions with <keyword id="8296503" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="medlabz">MedLabz</keyword> and <keyword id="304370" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myra">Myra</keyword>. Are more acquisitions on the cards? We will continue to do strategic acquisitions. We acquired MedLabz when we realized diagnostic is important for us. Express delivery was an important capability. The market today has chronic needs and acute needs. Acute needs account for roughly half the market, but you need to be able to supply within one to two hours. That's why we acquired Myra. So we will keep looking for capabilities to buy. How will be your broad marketing strategy going ahead? The healthcare space works micro-market by micro-market. So we look at 10 parts of Mumbai as 10 different markets. We think of personalizing the digital marketing in each of these areas very differently. We will also do Radio and BTL to get to our consumers. But the key is to start doing a 360 degree marketing around the customer so that Medlife becomes a part of their lives. Medlife needs to be the first port of call for them, whenever they think of health needs and that’s what we're trying to establish. Our brand proposition is, ‘Health comes home’. Where do you want to see Medlife in the next few years? There's still a lot of scale left to be had in the medicine delivery side of business. We want to expand our Express rapidly. We are offering diagnostics in 20 cities currently, we'd love to be in 40-50 cities. So we'll scale it up in the next 24 months. Thirdly, we will also work on creating personal online consultation into a paid consultation service, not just a complimentary one. Where do you anticipate the next phase of growth for Medlife will come from? We will grow with deeper penetration in the current cities that we’re in. I believe that in all the big cities that we're in for pharma, labs will start to become big. Medicine delivery will expand beyond the top 30 cities and we're starting to think about supply chain infrastructure beyond the top 30 cities.

Medlife hopes to achieve 100% growth by the end of this financial year, will take its diagnostics offering to 50 cities within the next 24 months

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">GuardtimeMike Gault, Guardtime founder and CEO.</div></div></div>Guardtime, a startup that uses the technology underpinning bitcoin to secure public and private data, has signed a deal with the Estonian government to secure all the country's 1 million health records with its technology.The deal with the Estonian e-Health Authority comes alongside a partnership with Estonian Information Systems Authority, which will see more government data move to Guardtime's technology.Guardtime uses blockchain technology, first invented to underpin bitcoin, to verify data and prove that its trustworthy. It has created a network that citizens, private companies, and the government can also access to verify information on it.Estonia has one of the most digitally advanced societies in the world and helped to incubate Guardtime's technology. Estonian citizens carry a smartcard that stores their data and gives them access to over 1,000 government services.Mike Gault, co-founder and CEO of Guardtime, told Business Insider: "The only thing that you can't do online in Estonia is get married or get divorced. Otherwise you don't need to go to a government office."Gault said adopting Guardtime's technology for healthcare records would allow Estonia to "effectively eliminate lies," saying: "Every update to healthcare records and every access to healthcare records is registered in the blockchain. That makes it impossible for the government or doctors or anyone to cover up any changes to healthcare records and that's really powerful."If you're in the <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> and you say what's happened to my healthcare records? You just have to trust the NHS."Gault says Guardtime and the Estonian government now plan to migrate more data onto its "industrial blockchain." First launched in 2007, it is also used by the US Department of Defence and Ericsson.Blockchain technology - also known as distributed ledger technology - is a non-centralised database that allows a network of users to sign off and police data.Data being added to the network is inspected by a majority of member of the network to make sure its accurate and once it's signed off the data is coded using complex cryptography which means it cannot be changed once it's added to the blockchain. It uses duplicated ledgers across a variety of servers, meaning if one is compromised the data is still intact.Banks and finance firms have been <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/itbit-ceo-on-private-blockchain-adoption-in-finance-2016-2">getting excited about the cost cutting potential of the technology</a>, as it would allow them to deal directly with each other rather than working through clearing and settlement houses who police trade to make sure no one gets ripped off.R3, an industry-wide consortium of over 40 banks, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r3-fixed-income-trading-blockchain-experiment-2016-3">announced on Thursday that its members had tested out issuing, trading, and redeeming fixed income products on 5 blockchains</a>, signaling another step towards mainstream adoption.But Gault told Business Insider: "We see the real opportunity for blockchain technology as data and data security."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">GuardtimeMatthew Johnson, Guardtime CTO.</div></div></div>Guardtime's CTO, Matthew Johnson, joined the company after performing due diligence on it for the US Department of Defence, which was keen to work with the business.Johnson told BI: "The more I got involved with the company over the year 2012/13 I was absolutely convinced that what Estonia had built was indeed game-changing. I quit my job and moved to Estonia for the better part of a year to mature the technology roadmap."Guardtime had revenues of $25 million last year and Gault confirmed the company has contracts with Ericsson, defence giant Lockheed Martin, and the US military. Of the latter, he said: "It's not something we can talk a lot about." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-speech-for-mark-zuckerberg-axel-springer-award-berlin-2016-2">Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel explains precisely how Mark Zuckerberg changed the world</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RrbDNkMTE6KF4LVuh3LthYN1-O6vJybj" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Estonia is using the technology behind bitcoin to secure 1 million health records

Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.</a>Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: <a href="mailto:lbeaver@businessinsider.com">lbeaver@businessinsider.com</a>.FDA GREENLIGHTS FIRST 'DIGITAL PILL': The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm584933.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> Monday the approval of the first pill embedded with a sensor that can tell patients, doctors, and caregivers if and when a patient is taking their medication. The approval could lead a wave of dose-tracking drugs that could give doctors and researchers better insights into medication adherence rates. Nonadherence is projected to cost between <a href="http://www.imshealth.com/files/web/IMSH%20Institute/Reports/Avoidable_Costs_in%20_US_Healthcare/IHII_AvoidableCosts_2013.pdf">$100 billion and $300 billion each year</a> in the US, in large part because patients who do not follow protocol often worsen and need additional treatment. The new pill, Abilify MyCite, was developed by drug-maker Otsuka and sensor-creator Proteus Digital Health. It works by having the pill transmit information to a wearable patch worn by the patient. The patch then sends information to the patient's mobile app. Patients can then allow caregivers and physicians to access this information via a web portal.Abilify MyCite could face a number of hurdles as it enters the market.<ul><li>There's not yet any evidence yet that Abilify MyCite's sensors can improve medication adherence, according to the FDA. More so, the drug's label warns that the tech should not be used in emergencies because real-time detection may be delayed, or simply not occur.</li><li>Patients can opt-out of sharing their data at any point. If a patient decides they no longer want to share information, the tech loses its usefulness.</li><li>There could be backlash from privacy pundits concerned of insurance companies using coercive measures to get patients to use pills with sensors in them. Insurers could offer incentives so appealing that they're almost coercion, Scripps Translational Science Institute director Dr. Eric Topol <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/health/digital-pill-fda.html?_r=1">said</a>.</li></ul>Nevertheless, this first FDA-approval could pave the way for other sensor-embedded products in the pipeline. These include generic versions of blood pressure pill Lisinopril and the standard diabetes drug Metformin, <a href="http://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/new-digital-abilify-big-brother-isn-t-watching-but-your-mother-could-be?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpaa1ptTmpZakZoWlRVeSIsInQiOiJNWjl2UGtnUWFUNUlmellWVzl5YWJjRjhYOWNNSG9YbXN6ZzBEMDVNVk5qT2UybnlRQk1uY2plRVQrZWo1ZURuZEtRS">according</a> to FierceHealthcare. Eventually, the tech could expand to things like ensuring post-op patients are taking the correct amount opioid medication, or to confirm that clinical trial patients correctly took the drugs being tested.Enjoy reading this briefing? <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up</a> and receive Digital Health Briefing to your inbox.PAIRING WEARABLES WITH AI TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP DOCTORS DETECT MAJOR HEALTH CONDITIONS: Wearables, such as Apple Watches and Fitbits, can accurately detect hypertension and sleep apnea when paired with Cardiogram's deep neural network, DeepHeart, <a href="https://app.upbeatpr.com/stories/cardiogram/cardiogram-android-3/?ref=ng7tLw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to a collaborative study between digital health startup Cardiogram and UC San Francisco's eHealth Study. DeepHeart is an artificial neural network - a form of AI - that uses heart rate and step count data obtained from wearables to detect medical conditions. The study found that DeepHeart was able to recognize hypertension with 82% accuracy and sleep apnea with 90% accuracy. These conditions are commonly undiagnosed - around 80% of people with sleep apnea don't know they have it and 20% of hypertension cases go undiagnosed. The results show how advances in emerging technology, such as wearables and AI, can be used to improve the rate of diagnosis. It could also help to pick up on warning signs associated with chronic and preventable illnesses, which could help cut down on healthcare costs. Combined, <a href="https://app.upbeatpr.com/stories/cardiogram/cardiogram-android-3/?ref=ng7tLw">sleep apnea</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hypertension</a> account for almost $200 million in medical costs, lost productivity, and car accidents annually. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a0c7e5d3dbef484008b63ae-960/bii deepheart diagnosis.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>CONNECTED AMBULANCE COULD HELP STREAMLINE EMERGENCY CARE: ViaSat, the broadband service and technology company, is <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/viasat-the-university-of-aberdeen-nhs-highland-and-the-scottish-ambulance-service-trial-new-connected-ambulance-program-to-bring-enhanced-emergency-care-to-patients-in-transit-300554429.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">piloting</a> a new SatCare program in the UK that enables paramedics to send high-resolution videos and images from a connected ambulance to doctors and specialists prior to a patient's arrival at a hospital. The company partnered with The University of Aberdeen's Centre for Rural Health, NHS Highland, and the Scottish Ambulance Service for the pilot, which is expected to last for one year. It will include five ambulances in the Scottish Highlands, all of which will be equipped with scanning equipment and ViaSat's satellite broadband communications system. The ability to send scanned images, rather than just having a phone conversation, is expected to help both medical providers and patients by giving doctors and specialists more information about the patient's condition before they arrive at the hospital. This could allow doctors to give paramedics critical information en route to the hospital as well as allow paramedics to discuss the best hospital to take patients to based on their condition and the hospital's specialty. Although the current goal of this service is to provide better care for patients on long journeys to hospitals in rural areas, if successful, it's reasonable to think that this technology could eventually be used in any emergency situation. PATIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT PORTAL RECEIVES $8M: Welkin Health, a US patient relationship management portal, raised $8 million in its latest funding round, increasing the company's total funding to $12 million, <a href="http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/welkin-health-gets-8m-scale-build-out-patient-relationship-management-offering">according</a> to MobiHealthNews. The San Francisco-based platform sells its customer relationship management tool to digital therapeutics companies to allow them to manage and coordinate with large groups of people at the same time. Digital therapeutics refer to the use of digital and online health tech, such as websites and mobile apps, to change a patient's behavior for the treatment or prevention of medical conditions. For instance, a type II diabetes patient could be guided by a digital therapeutics service to maintain or improve their condition through monitoring blood-sugar levels, exercise, and diet. Welkin Health will use the funding to make its platform more functional to businesses and to support its growing staff - the company almost doubled in size, from 17 to 31, in 2017 alone. Looking ahead, services like Welkin Health will likely become increasingly important given that prevention and maintenance of disease can help alleviate the growing cost of healthcare. In the US, chronic diseases and the health risk behaviors that cause them account for most health care costs, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm">according</a> to the CDC. By 2025, US healthcare spending is projected to <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2017/02/16/spending-growth">account</a> for nearly 25% of GDP. Get the latest Fitbit stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/FIT-Quote"> here.</a>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: FDA greenlights first 'digital pill' - Wearables, AI can detect major medical conditions - UK paramedics trial image, video scanning

Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new newsletter providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by Business Insider Intelligence.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing?IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.</a> Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: <a href="mailto:lbeaver@businessinsider.com">lbeaver@businessinsider.com</a> GOOGLE'S CLOUD HEALTHCARE API AIMS TO SOLVE POOR INTEROPERABILITY: Google <a href="https://blog.google/topics/google-cloud/google-cloud-healthcare-new-apis-customers-partners-and-security-updates/">introduced</a> the Cloud Healthcare API during the HIMSS 2018 conference on Monday, which aims to make it easier for health organizations to collect, store, and access health data. The application programming interface (API) will extract data from Google Cloud customers' electronic health records (EHR) using machine learning. Algorithms will then use the data to create actionable insights for providers and health systems. Google is trialing the Cloud Healthcare API with a select group of partners, such as the Stanford School of Medicine, with plans to roll out the product more broadly over the next 12 months.Google aims to improve two areas of healthcare with its Cloud Healthcare API:<ul><li>Interoperability. EHR, including lab results and X-rays, are often held by the department the patient received care in, and are difficult to share between departments let alone organizations, which can lead to costly duplicate tests and procedures. Just 20% of US health system use EHR data from outside sources, <a href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/ehr/interoperability-usability-research-ehrs-onc-health-it-health-systems">according</a> to Health Affairs. By automating the process of health data collection and making it easier for providers to access medical records, Cloud Healthcare will help lower the chance of duplicate tests and procedures.</li><li>Predictive medicine. Machine learning algorithms can sort through massive caches of historical health data to predict outcomes in the ER, Alphabet technical advisor and former executive chairman Eric Schmidt said at HIMSS. Making it easier to collate information will give organizations more information to feed into Google's Cloud analytics, in turn leading to better, more actionable insights. This can improve inefficiencies in the workflow by alerting healthcare providers of potential patient issues. </li></ul>The update comes as Google faces growing competition in the healthcare cloud market as Amazon and Microsoft continue to ramp up their efforts. In November 2017, Amazon Web Services AWS, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-health-briefing-amazon-to-enter-major-healthcare-partnership-apple-watch-aids-in-treating-depression-ibm-watson-shows-its-power-in-cancer-study-2017-11">announced</a> its partnership with healthcare tech giant Cerner to help medical providers use their data to make effective health predictions. Meanwhile, in February, Microsoft introduced a tool for its Azure platform to give its customers access to precision medicine tech. The global cloud healthcare market is <a href="https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/cloud-computing-healthcare.asp">projected</a> to grow at an annualized rate of 21% between 2015 and 2020 to reach $9.5 billion, according to MarketsAndMarkets. Enjoy reading this briefing? <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing?IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up and receive</a> Digital Health Briefing to your inbox.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Business Insider Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aa03da3e647cf23008b45ac-960/bii reasons for switching to cloud.png"></a>Business Insider Intelligence</div></div></div>LYFT, ALLSCRIPTS PARTNERSHIP EXPANDS NEMT ACCESS TO 7 MILLION US PATIENTS: Ride-sharing platform Lyft <a href="https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2018/3/2/revolutionizing-patient-transportation-with-lyft-concierge-api">announced</a> Monday that it's partnering with health IT company Allscripts to develop a platform that will let 2,500 providers in the US order their patients Lyft rides non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). Allscripts will integrate its electronic health records (EHR) into Lyft's Concierge application programming interface (API), allowing providers to reach some 7 million patients, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/03/05/lyft-deal-allscripts-lets-180-000-doctors-call-rides-their-patients/389122002/">according</a> to USA Today. Patients aren't required to have a smartphone, an app, or a credit card, to receive the service, which is paid for by providers.This is just the latest effort by Lyft to reach more hospital networks with its NEMT service. Lyft made a similar announcement in February 2018, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-health-briefing-google-ai-can-predict-heart-attacks-from-eye-scans-lyft-hitch-health-partner-for-medical-transport-nokia-executive-sees-no-path-for-digital-health-2018-2">partnering</a> with EHR company Hitch Health to find patients who could benefit from a free-ride to their appointment. And there's already a substantial list of healthcare organizations that have access to the Lyft Concierge API, including American Medical Response, American Logistics Company, Carelinx, GoGo Grandparent, and One Call. But Lyft isn't the only ride-sharing platform moving into health and follows closely on the heels of Uber's health platform <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-health-briefing-uber-launches-ride-sharing-platform-for-hospitals-teladoc-nearly-doubles-revenue-google-sister-verily-plans-insurance-market-play-2018-3">announcement</a> last week.For their part, Healthcare organizations are viewing Lyft's and Uber's moves into NEMT as an opportunity to stem the massive annual loss of revenue caused by missed appointments. In the US, missed appointments cost healthcare providers as much as $150 billion each year, with no-show rates as high as 30%, according to SCI Solutions. It's worth noting that while Uber and Lyft are actively striving to increase their health audience, it's not yet clear whether ride-sharing has a significant, or positive, impact on appointment no-shows, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2671405">according</a> to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.SAMSUNG HEALTH USERS GAIN ACCESS TO WELLDOC'S DIABETES PROGRAM: Samsung Health and digital therapeutic company WellDoc have <a href="https://news.samsung.com/us/welldocs-digital-platform-type-2-diabetes-powers-diabetes-wellness-program-within-samsung-health/">joined</a> forces to give Samsung's customers access to WellDoc's new consumer version of its Diabetes Wellness Program (DWP). Samsung Health is a personal health and fitness platform that displays user activity trends, health insights, telehealth services, and a portal to connect with friends and experts. Now users will also have access to the DWP - a 12-week program designed to help adults with type-2 diabetes manage the chronic illness. This could help alleviate the massive cost associated with diabetes, which afflicts more than 422 million people globally. In 2017, diabetes among American adults cost the US economy $245 billion in healthcare expenditures, <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/221078/diabetes-costs-economy-estimated-266b-annually.aspx">according</a> to Gallup. Digital solutions, including mHealth, for chronic illnesses are a growing field of healthcare. Several tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Fitbit, and Sony, have launched efforts recently with the aim of making it easier for patients, providers, and payers, to monitor and manage patients' illnesses. For example, Sony and Ericsson announced plans to develop a glucose-monitoring wearable for diabetics. And wearables, such as Apple Watches and Fitbits, can be used to accurately detect early signs of diabetes when paired with Cardiogram's deep neural network, DeepHeart, according to a collaborative study between digital health startup Cardiogram and UC San Francisco's eHealth Study.TWO-THIRDS OF US PATIENTS WANT BETTER DIGITAL INTERACTIONS: Almost two-thirds of US healthcare consumers want their digital interactions to more closely resemble the retail experience, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180305005288/en/NTT-DATA-Study-Finds-Two-Thirds-Consumers-Expect">according</a> to new NTT Data. These digital interactions include processes like filling prescriptions, accessing test results, and making doctor appointments. The findings from the study are reflective of the increasing consumerization of healthcare, which is being heavily influenced by the way customers are interacting with major online retailers such as Amazon, Apple, and Southwest Airlines. And this is impacting not only how patients are accessing healthcare, but also their willingness to change providers to get what they want. For instance, 78% of the "tech-savvy" group of study participants, dubbed "explorers," said that digital customer experience in healthcare needs to improve. Moreover, 50% these explorers said they would leave their current doctor for a better digital customer experience. As this trend continues to gain traction, healthcare organizations will need to find ways to engage with their patients and customers, or risk losing out to organizations that are staying ahead of the curve.Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: Google targets hospital interoperability - Lyft, Allscripts partner for medical transport - Samsung Health gets diabetes program

Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.</a>Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: <a href="mailto:lbeaver@businessinsider.com">lbeaver@businessinsider.com </a>.TELEHEALTH RESTRICTIONS LOOSENED AFTER TRUMP REQUEST: Restrictions on telehealth services are being loosened after acting Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Eric D. Hargan <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2017/10/26/hhs-acting-secretary-declares-public-health-emergency-address-national-opioid-crisis.html">declared</a> the opioid epidemic a public health emergency at the request of US President Donald Trump. HHS stated that it would expand access to telemedicine services on addiction treatment, which includes remote prescribing of medicines commonly used to treat substance abuse or mental health. Telemedicine, a part of telehealth, relates to the use of telecommunications for remote diagnosis and treatment of patients.The HHS is likely hoping that the expansion of telemedicine access will help address existing limits in health care that are making it more difficult to combat the opioid epidemic. Telemedicine could help overcome these barriers in a number of ways:<ul><li>Improving access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services. Telehealth gives patients in rural and remote areas access to treatments and support services that they may otherwise be unable to take advantage of. In some cases, this might include remote prescription fulfillment and diagnoses for addiction.</li><li>Strengthening health data collection and sharing. Telehealth simplifies data collection from patients and sharing between facilities and research centers. This data can be used to improve research and treatment. In a 2017 survey of medical professionals, the ability to send clinical documentation via telemedicine technologies was rated as critical or valuable by 80% of respondents, <a href="http://reachhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-US-Telemedicine-Industry-Benchmark-Survey-REACH-Health.pdf">according</a> to REACH Health.</li></ul>If telemedicine is successful in solving existing shortcomings in the healthcare industry, we could see an acceleration of telemedicine-related regulations. This could help drive adoption of the technology in the US. The US telemedicine market is projected to grow at an annualized rate of 6% over the next three years to reach almost $7 billion in value by 2020, <a href="https://www.medgadget.com/2017/04/united-states-telemedicine-market-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecasts-2016-2021.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Orbis research.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f9dd8b4d05ac1f008b4bda-960/telehealth barriers 2.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>Enjoy reading this briefing? <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up</a> and receive Digital Health Briefing to your inbox.AI-POWERED HEALTH APP RAISES $47 MILLION IN LATEST FUNDING ROUND: Ada Health, a Berlin-based artificial intelligence (AI) health app, <a href="https://www.pehub.com/2017/10/ada-health-raises-47-mln/">raised</a> 40 million euros ($47 million) in its latest round of funding led by Access Industries. Ada Health is one of the fastest growing medical apps of 2017, TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/31/berlins-ada-health-raises-47m-to-become-the-alexa-of-healthcare/">reports</a>, and has already been used by more than 1.5 million people since launching in late 2016. The app works by having its AI, called "Ada," ask a series of personalized questions about the user's ailments in order to provide the user with a list of possible causes of their symptoms. It then connects the user with real-world doctors. The company plans to use the funding to improve the functionality of its app, onboard new hires, and expand its footprint in the US with a new office. AI-powered health management solutions, such as Ada, will become increasingly popular with consumers as the experience is fine-tuned and awareness of these services grow. The health intelligent virtual assistant market is projected to grow at an annualized rate of 31% between 2017 and 2024 to exceed $1.5 billion in value by the end of the forecast period, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2017/09/28/MN99455">according</a> to Global Market Insights.5G WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY: The rollout of 5G will be a significant driver of growth in the health care sector, enabling more than $1 trillion in sales globally by 2035, <a href="https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2017/10/26/5g-economy-enabling-new-era-personalized-health-care-and-significant-growth">according</a> to a Qualcomm report conducted by IHS Markit. The higher speeds of 5G networks - possibly up to 12 times <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/what-is-5g-a-rough-guide-to-the-next-generation-of-mobile-networks">faster</a> than 4G LTE - will be able to support devices that are beyond the capabilities of existing tech, such as remote surgery, high-fidelity virtual reality, and more reliable IoT for use in hospitals. Outside of the monetary impact of 5G, the network standard will also help usher in a new era of "personalized health care," in which massive volumes of patient data can be used to develop predictive analytics which can then be tailored to an individual patient and their illness.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f9de5858a0c131008b4c1f-960/bii 5g rollout.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>POLAR OPENS PLATFORM TO THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS: Sports technology company, Polar Electro, announced that it will open its application programming interface (API) to third-party developers to build apps that use Polar data, <a href="https://www.wareable.com/polar/polar-open-access-link-developers-5289">according</a> to Wareable. The API gives any user with a Polar Flow account access to training and daily activity data from Polar's smartwatch and fitness trackers. However, Polar device users need to give permission before their data can be accessed. Health and fitness data is valuable in part because it's a verifiable measurement of patient/customer behavior. Insurers can use health data to reward customers engaging in good behaviors that maintain a healthy lifestyle. That can save these companies on costs associated with chronic illnesses. More generally, remote monitoring for congestive heart failure patients alone could save up to $10 billion in the US each year for invested healthcare businesses, Deloitte <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/accelerating-the-adoption-of-connected-health.html">estimates</a>. Insurers are already offering incentives to encourage consumers to provide access to their health and fitness data. US health insurer, Aetna began offering a discount on Apple Watches to its employees in September 2016, for example. Moreover, 63% of insurance companies believe that wearable technologies will be adopted broadly by the insurance industry within the next two years, according to a <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150505005225/en/Insurers-Set-Embrace-Wearable-Technologies-Significant-Impact#.VhfzSxNVikr">2015 Accenture survey.</a> These incentives could be offered in form of discounts for Polar devices as well. MINTHEALTH ANNOUNCEMENT: Last week, MintHealth announced the launch of a personal health data record that aims to give patients ownership of their health data and oversees permissions to it, <a href="http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/minthealth-launches-blockchain-driven-mobile-health-records-platform">according</a> to MobiHealthNews. The platform will use blockchain technology, to provide individuals with a global identifier, which they can use to access their health data in real-time through a mobile or web app. The technology also allows any healthcare provider to access a patient's data, once the patient has given them permission. MintHealth is aimed at helping solve the issue of interoperability of electronic health records (EHR) between patients, insurers, and medical professionals, which can cause treatment bottlenecks. A <a href="https://www.ehidc.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/Provider%20Perspectives%20on%20Patient%20Information_Results%20of%202017%20Survey_Webinar%202017-FINAL_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey</a> by eHealth Initiative of provider organizations and health insurance exchange businesses found that 71% of participants said strong interoperability is a key IT requirement for a successful transition to value-based care, while 68% of those surveyed said that current interoperability solutions in the market are not meeting their needs. MintHealth plans to drive usage by selling digital tokens, or "vidaments," to participating health insurers, which can then be offered to customers for practicing healthy behaviors. Customers can use vidaments to pay for healthcare-related costs such as co-pays, premiums, and pharmacy expenses.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f9d90a4d05acc3008b4b42-960/bii impact on providers from increased access to patient data.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: US telehealth restrictions loosened after Trump request - AI-powered health app raises $47 million - Polar opens API

Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by Business Insider Intelligence.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing">Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.</a>Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: <a href="mailto:lbeaver@businessinsider.com">lbeaver@businessinsider.com</a> POPULAR WEARABLES CAN BE USED TO DETECT DIABETES WHEN PAIRED WITH AI: Wearables, such as Apple Watches and Fitbits, can be used to accurately detect early signs of diabetes when paired with Cardiogram's deep neural network, DeepHeart, according to a collaborative study between digital health startup Cardiogram and UC San Francisco's eHealth Study. DeepHeart is an artificial neural network - a form of AI - that uses heart rate and step count data collected by wearables to detect medical conditions. The study, which used data from 14,011 users of Cardiogram's app for the Apple Watch and Android Wear, was able to recognize diabetes with nearly 85% accuracy. Why is this important?Diabetes impacts a large portion of the US population and is a massive strain on the healthcare system - there are over 100 million US adults that live with diabetes or prediabetes, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the CDC. More so, these conditions commonly go undiagnosed - one in four cases of diabetes goes undiagnosed, and 88% of individuals with prediabetes are unaware they have the condition. Giving people an easy and affordable way to detect common conditions could lead to reductions in undiagnosed cases, improvement in care, and a drop in associated costs. In 2017, diabetes among American adults cost the US economy $245 billion in healthcare expenditures, <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/221078/diabetes-costs-economy-estimated-266b-annually.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Gallup. How will this impact the digital health industry?Cardiogram's study highlights the power of wearables as a healthcare tool, which could lead to increased interest in the technology by providers. Tools that enable doctors to detect, monitor, and treat conditions in their infancy when they are much more manageable will become essential for providers moving to value-based care models of payment. Value-based care payment models calculate payments based on the quality of service and positive outcomes, unlike traditional models that charge per treatment or test. As a result, we could see providers using wearables not only to improve care but to also drive revenue - Anthem, one of the largest health insurance companies in the US, is paying out 58% of its reimbursements via value-based care models, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2017/04/27/anthem-blue-cross-nears-60-value-based-care-spend/#4a28a8296fe7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Forbes. As the positive impact wearables have in healthcare becomes clearer, we could see major wearable vendors integrating more health advancements into their offerings. One company that's already taking steps to make health monitoring a core feature of its wearable business is Apple. The tech giant is developing advanced heart monitoring features that it's looking to include in future versions of its Apple Watch, according to <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11718526.0/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMTctMTItMjEvYXBwbGUtaXMtc2FpZC10by1kZXZlbG9wLWVrZy1oZWFydC1tb25pdG9yLWZvci1mdXR1cmUtd2F0Y2g/57d844d117893faf778b549fBa9d3be0c" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11718526.0/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMTctMTItMjEvYXBwbGUtaXMtc2FpZC10by1kZXZlbG9wLWVrZy1oZWFydC1tb25pdG9yLWZvci1mdXR1cmUtd2F0Y2g/57d844d117893faf778b549fBa9d3be0c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1518204794484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzJh5FxK5jKUsJigKOnAX9szIgfQ">Bloomberg</a>. The new feature would allow the device to play a much larger role in medical care by giving healthcare professionals access to data needed to diagnose and monitor medical conditions.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f72c393e9d2591628b46ef-960/bii wearables forecast 2.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>KANSAS DOCTORS PUSH TO PASS TELEHEALTH REIMBURSEMENT BILL: Medical providers in Kansas are pushing to pass legislation that would require insurers to cover telemedicine visits at the same rate as in-person visits, <a href="http://kcur.org/post/more-health-care-workers-want-kansas-telemedicine#stream/0">according</a> to KCUR. Reimbursement is one of the biggest barriers in the way of provider adoption of virtual care solutions. If passed, House Bill 2512 could encourage physicians and healthcare professionals in the state to adopt the technology, which is seeing growing demand from consumers in part because it's often more convenient for patients and can <a href="http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/telemedicine-improves-rural-er-response-time?sthash.3o7lFlHo.mjjo">reduce</a> the length of some medical visits. It can also help alleviate ongoing pain points for providers and insurers, such as unnecessary visits to clinics or the ER, which can overload hospitals and clinics, and increase costs for insurers. Moreover, for physicians in Kansas, not providing telemedicine could be negatively impacting their patient-base. Around 20% of consumers said they would switch primary care physicians to gain access to virtual care, according to an American Well survey. Kansas is among the last few states and districts in the US to pass parity laws for telehealth solutions. At the moment, 32 states and the District of Columbia have telehealth parity laws, the American Telemedicine Association <a href="http://www.americantelemed.org/policy-page/state-policy-resource-center">reports</a>.GE BRINGS PERSONALIZED CARE TO THE OLYMPICS: GE Healthcare and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180205005561/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partnering</a> on a new cloud-based analytics tool that will drive personalized care at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea and the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. The analytics tool, named the GE Athlete Management Solution (AMS), integrates valuable information, such as an athlete's injury history, vitals, health scans, and sport-specific information to provide medical staff with a comprehensive view of the athlete's health. This information can then be accessed via a real-time dashboard on a mobile tablet, enabling team doctors to digitally collaborate on personalized treatment plans. With the healthcare industry moving to more data-driven solutions to provide care, precision medicine tools will only continue to grow in popularity - the global precision medicine market is expected to grow at an annualized rate of 12% to reach $89 billion by 2022, up from $39 billion in 2015, <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11799734.461/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWFya2V0cmVzZWFyY2hmdXR1cmUuY29tL3JlcG9ydHMvcHJlY2lzaW9uLW1lZGljaW5lLW1hcmtldC05MjU/57d844d117893faf778b549fBe3462bf3" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11799734.461/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWFya2V0cmVzZWFyY2hmdXR1cmUuY29tL3JlcG9ydHMvcHJlY2lzaW9uLW1lZGljaW5lLW1hcmtldC05MjU/57d844d117893faf778b549fBe3462bf3&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1518210896778000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECdbY2cbcoKIRIqxNBv5M0eNB8iA">according</a> to Market Research Future. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a4d52fb396e37ef1a8b4909-960/the global precision medicine market .png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>GENETICS STARTUP HARNESSES BLOCKCHAIN TO GIVE CONSUMERS CONTROL OF THEIR DNA DATA: California-based startup Nebula Genomics plans to offer a genome sequencing service that will give consumers control of their genetic information, <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610221/this-new-company-wants-to-sequence-your-genome-and-let-you-share-it-on-a-blockchain/">according</a> to the MIT Technology Review. The test, which is expected to roll out over the next few months, will cost around $1,000 and will include insights into consumers' health information. The genetic information will be secured on a blockchain and given back to the customer, allowing them to do whatever they want with it. They could share it with healthcare providers, for example. This differs from many other genetic testing companies, such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, that own their customers' genetic information. Additionally, Nebula customers will be able to earn money by selling their genetic information to companies, such as pharmaceuticals and biotech firms, for cryptocurrency tokens on Nebula's platform. Pharmaceuticals and biotech companies need large amounts of genetic data for things like developing new drugs, which they typically purchase from academic institutions and genetic testing companies' stores of customer data. The use of blockchain technology is important since it enables transparency around how consumers' genetic information is being used and by whom, while also allowing the consumer to remain anonymous. Nebula isn't alone in offering a platform for people to sell their genetic information, some other startups include EncrypGen, Luna DNA, and Zenome.In other news…<ul><li>Jeff Immelt, the former chairman and CEO of GE, is the new chairman of cloud-based healthcare services provider Athenahealth, <a href="http://newsroom.athenahealth.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=253091&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=2331045">effective</a> Wednesday, February 7. While at GE, Immelt helped expand GE Healthcare's portfolio of solutions, and made digital health a core focus of the business. The announcement comes one week after Athenahealth reported its Q4 2017 earnings, which showed a marked improvement over previous quarters, with revenue growing 14% year-over-year to reach $329 million. </li></ul><div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:90px; padding:10px;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://read.bi/bitcoin-101-free"></a>EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT: The Bitcoin 101 Report by the BI Intelligence Research Team. <a href="http://read.bi/bitcoin-101-free">Get the Report Now »</a></div>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: Cardiogram uses Apple Watch, Fitbit to detect diabetes - Kansas physicians weigh-in on telehealth bill - GE to bring health solution to the Olympics

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>I just started a new job at Business Insider, and had to pick a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-healthcare-costs-are-turning-employers-into-activists-2018-5">health insurance plan</a> for the first time.</li><li>Figuring out which plan to choose was really complicated - and I've been writing about healthcare for years.</li><li>Here's what I learned about how to pick a health insurance plan, and why I didn't just go with the cheapest option.</li></ul>I recently got a new job here at Business Insider.And for the first time, I had to pick a health insurance plan, from among the four that our parent company, Insider Inc., offers.I should be pretty well-positioned to do that. I've been writing about healthcare for years, and I'm married to a doctor.Yet I found the choices confusing, and had a tough time figuring out which plan would be the best one for me. So I asked a couple experts (<a href="https://twitter.com/ZTracer/status/1053666089782202368" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and the Internet</a>) to help me pick the right plan.Here's what I learned.The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/well/live/how-to-pick-a-health-plan.html">standard advice</a> for picking a health insurance plan goes something like this: choose one with a monthly cost (known as a premium) that you can afford, and that covers the drugs and doctors that you need.If you're relatively healthy and don't expect to go to the doctor much, pick a plan with higher out-of-pocket costs and lower monthly premiums. If you need to see a doctor more or take prescriptions regularly, you might want a more expensive insurance plan that costs more each month.<h2>Comparing insurance plans - it's complicated</h2>It turns out, though, that actually picking the right plan is a lot more complicated.I asked <a href="https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/david-anderson">David Anderson</a>, a researcher at Duke who used to work at a health insurance company, to take a look at my options. (He also wrote up a <a href="https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/10/18/going-through-my-choice-structure/">blog post</a> on how he picks his own family's insurance-I found it really helpful, and it inspired the picture at the top of this article).I'm thankfully pretty healthy, so I don't really go to the doctor or take prescriptions much at all.Anderson ran a couple simple scenarios for me: one in which I have to go to the emergency room for something relatively simple, at a cost of $1,000. And one where something terrible happens (getting hit by a bus, let's say), and I end up needing $50,000 of medical care.Anderson found something surprising. In either case, the plan where my total costs would be lowest was my company's "high deductible" plan. That's might not always be the case, depending on the specific medical care that I needed. But it's worth digging in to understand why - and why I still didn't choose my company's cheapest plan.Here's part of the analysis that Anderson did. I've rounded some of the figures, because Insider asked me not to reveal too many details of our plans. All of these costs are for a single individual who gets all of his or her care from doctors and hospitals that accept Insider's health insurance (what's known as being `in-network').<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div> You'll often hear people talking about insurance "deductibles." A deductible is the amount of money you have to spend out of your own pocket on medical care, before your health insurance kicks in at all. But you'll notice that in the chart above, I don't mention deductibles at all.Instead, I'm focusing on another feature that's just as important. That's the out-of-pocket maximum, which is a term for the total amount your insurance plan will require you to spend on medical care in a single year. Once your spend more than that amount, the health insurance will cover the rest of your care.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-ge-ceo-jeff-immelt-on-employer-funded-health-insurance-2018-8">The former CEO of GE pinpoints the moment he realized healthcare was his problem</a>(When your spending is higher than your deductible but below your out-of-pocket maximum limit, you'll still be required to pay some of the costs of seeing a doctor or picking up a prescription. This can be a flat $25 or $50 to go in to a clinic, known as a copayment, or it can be calculated as a percentage of the cost of a visit, in which case it's called coinsurance). A note: If you don't have access to a health-policy researcher to run this analysis, one quick trick is to add up your total annual premium and the maximum out-of-pocket limit of your insurance choices. That'll give you a quick sense for how much you could wind up paying, in total, if something really bad happens.<h2>What does a deductible <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w21632">do</a>, anyhow?</h2>Your health insurance company should also do a similar analysis for you, though it's typically buried in the middle of a document that you get from HR or from the insurance company, called the <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/summary-of-benefits-and-coverage/">Summary of Benefits and Coverage</a>.Above, you can see that the high deductible plan (called an HSA plan, which refers to a kind of savings account that goes along with it) has a big financial head start on the other options, because Insider offers it to employees for free - there's no annual premium. And the company will give you a few hundred dollars to spend toward your medical care, too. The next-cheapest plan costs nearly a thousand dollars a year.I should note that our high deductible plan is actually pretty generous. It limits the total amount that you could end up spending on healthcare in a given year to about $3,000.Above that, all your care is free. The main caveat is that the limit only applies to care that you get from doctors who are in-network with the insurance.All in all, it's a really good choice for a lot of people. Margaret Bowani, who oversees the health insurance here, told me that she picked it for her own family, and that it's also popular with a lot of the company's younger employees.Ashish Jha, a physician and health policy researcher at Harvard, has written about his own experience using a high deductible plan for his family. I'd definitely recommend <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/06/health-insurance-high-deductible-experiment/">reading his article</a> before going with a high deductible plan.<h2>Avoiding a financial catastrophe</h2>I didn't end up picking the high deductible plan. One big reason to have insurance is to reduce the chance of a financial catastrophe. And on that score, I was worried the HSA plan would come up short.There are three other plans listed.I'm pretty much ignoring the EPO plan-it might be a good option for someone who needs to see a doctor regularly and is willing to stay within a more limited network of clinicians. The plan doesn't offer any coverage if you go to a doctor or hospital that isn't included in its network. It's a lot more expensive than the HSA plan and wouldn't make sense for me, because I don't need much care.The two PPO plans offer a <a href="https://www.simplyinsured.com/health-insurance-companies/oxford-freedom/new-york">broader selection of doctors</a> than their less expensive counterparts. The 'High PPO' plan has a lower deductible and out-of-pocket spending limit, but its upfront cost is much higher. Since I'm hoping that I won't end up needing much medical care, that's not a good option for me, either.That leaves the 'Low PPO' plan, which is the one I ended up picking.The PPO plans, in addition to their broader networks, will also pay for out-of-network care, though it would be really expensive. The HSA and EPO plans doesn't cover any care provided by doctors or hospitals that aren't in their network, except in an emergency.<h2>Why I chose a more expensive plan</h2>It's tough to tell which doctors are being left out of the smaller network-you can look up individual clinicians or facilities, but it's impossible to get a more holistic view of who's in and who's out.I've heard enough <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-11/private-equity-backed-air-ambulances-leave-behind-massive-bills">horror</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/23/17353284/emergency-room-doctor-out-of-network">stories</a> about people getting five- and six-figure bills for care their insurance didn't cover, and the data back me up that <a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/an-analysis-of-out-of-network-claims-in-large-employer-health-plans/">it's a really big problem</a>. While nothing short of a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/solving-surprise-medical-bills/">change in federal law</a> can stop that from happening entirely, I figured that picking a plan with some out-of-network coverage could help (New York has some <a href="https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumer/hprotection.htm">state laws</a> that protect me, too).<a href="http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/mspia/faculty-and-staff/full-time-faculty/dahlia-remler.html">Dalia Remler</a>, a health economist at the City University of New York's Baruch College, has also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/facing-brain-surgery-a-health-economist-finds-the-health-care-market-hard-to-navigate/2012/11/05/0a931b5c-fcf1-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html">written about</a> why out-of-network coverage can be important if you're sick, based on her own experience trying to find a neurosurgeon to treat a rare kind of tumor.For what it's worth, both Anderson and Tom Loach, the director of carrier relations at the insurance-shopping site <a href="https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/">eHealth</a>, told me I'd probably be fine with the more limited coverage."You really can't make a bad decision because you're not going to use it anyway," is what Loach said.Still, I figured I'd opt for better protection. So I'm spending about $1000 a year for the 'Low PPO' plan.Hopefully, when next year comes around, I still won't be going to the doctor much, and that thousand dollars will have been money wasted.But I know there's a small chance it'll have been well worthwhile. Who knew that healthcare could be so <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/politics/trump-health-care-complicated/index.html">complicated</a>?Want to tell us about your health insurance experience? Email the author at ztracer@businessinsider.com. <h2>See also:</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-healthcare-costs-are-turning-employers-into-activists-2018-5">'Waiting for its Uber moment': America's biggest companies are shaking up the healthcare system</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employer-sponsored-healthcare-initiatives-from-apple-and-amazon-2018-2">Massive companies like Apple and Amazon are exploring new ways to care for the health of their employees - and it could upend the way healthcare's done</a></li></ul>

My company offers free health insurance - here's why I decided to spend $1,000 more on a better plan

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Rahul Khullar has faulted the Centre’s Digital India initiative for lacking specifics, especially on the critical aspect of content development, and called the 2019 deadline to implement the project “ambitious”. “Is it possible to get a birth or a death certificate online in Delhi? If not, what sorts of applications are we really talking about? A lot more thinking and resources must be devoted to flesh out these applications instead of simply calling them e-health or e-education,” Khullar, <keyword id="6364480" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chairman">chairman</keyword> of the <keyword id="30356" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Telecom-Regulatory-Authority-of-India">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</keyword> (TRAI), said in an interview. 
 
If the government doesn’t put more thought into content, the private sector, which has raced ahead in developing applications, will in all likelihood “end up being leaders in delivering content to end-consumers” using the government’s broadband network, he said. 
 
The Rs1.13 lakh-crore Digital India initiative aims to deliver government services to the common man mainly through applications on mobile phones. The initial announcements, which came after the Cabinet ratified the project last week, spoke about the government delivering health, education, judicial, banking and other social services over a mobile device, but didn’t specify who will be responsible for developing content for the applications on various services. 
 
Khullar said just announcing a plan wasn’t enough as it wasn’t an infrastructure project like a Bhakra Nangal Dam for which a team of engineers and architects could draw up a blueprint and execute a plan. “The government needs to set up expert panels across areas of education, medicine, public services, and in whichever field it wants to deliver content. This will have to be a wide-ranging consultative process, without that quality of applications will be in doubt. That, in turn, will affect actual pickup of the service by the end consumer,” Khullar said. Also, the content has to be in multiple languages to ensure wide adoption. 
 Khullar’s comments come just over a week after Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> spoke about his vision of a digitally connected India through the Digital India initiative, while delivering his maiden Independence Day speech at Red Fort. 
 
The TRAI chairman doubted if the government will be able to meet the 2019 timeline, given that backbone for the venture – the National Optic Fibre Network project – is running over three years behind schedule, since being launched under the previous UPA-II government. 
 
“There are legacy issues pertaining to infrastructure rollout for digitally connecting the country. Moreover, there is a challenging task of devising the relevant content to be delivered in terms of e-governance. Given the mammoth task, I think it (2019) is an ambitious target,” he said. “Nevertheless, at least if the government does put its mind to the issue, it one of readying the e-governance content will be more difficult.” 
 
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Only 8% of the 1.8 lakh kilometres of optic fibre ordered has been delivered so far, Khullar said. Of the 6 lakh km of planned ducting, only 2,000 km has been done, while the actual cable pulled is just 250 km, or about 0.05% of the target. 
 
Khullar said Trai will next month float a consultation paper on broadband to find ways to address severe delays in laying down the fibre and discuss alternative options for lowering broadband costs. 
 <keyword id="46149" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Telecom-minister">Telecom Minister</keyword> Ravi Shankar Prasad has recently admitted to ET that the optic-fibre project had seen virtually “no progress” for the past three years. But with the current focus on Digital India, which is being monitored by the prime minister himself, the project will meet all its deadlines henceforth, he said. Prasad said the government will continue to implement the project through public sector units Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Power Grid Corporation and RailTel. 
 
Khullar was of the view that the private sector should be involved both in the optic-fibre rollout as well as in designing content. “Involvement of private players could significantly reduce the costs of the entire project, thereby lowering final tariffs,” he said. 
 
Digital India will be built around nine pillars of broadband highways, providing universal access to phones. It seeks to completely substitute imported electronic equipment through domestically manufactured ones, focus on IT literacy, public Internet access programmes, e-governance, electronic delivery of services and early harvest programmes. can easily achieve the first leg of laying optic fibre in about two years. The second

Government Must Focus On Content Development; Digital India Plan Lacks Specifics: Rahul Khullar, TRAI Chairman

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<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Noel Celis/AFP</div></div></div>Thanks to <keyword id="6579869" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="ObamaCare">Obamacare</keyword>, the health-care industry is going to get a big makeover during the coming years and venture capitalists have wasted no time looking for ways to cash in.
"This is the greatest opportunity I've seen in my lifetime. It's the first time we are seeing really fundamental changes happen. And there's a lot of money that can be made as this chaos is sorted out," said Lisa Suennen, the co-founder and managing member of Psilos Group, a health-care-focused venture capital firm.
With trillions of dollars estimated to be spent on <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101063100" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101063100">Obamacare</a> as it gets going and trillions more to be reallocated, it's no wonder VCs see this as a huge opportunity.
The Affordable Care Act, which expands coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans, makes coverage mandatory.
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With that many people coming online, health-care providers will essentially be forced to find new ways to manage patients and costs, experts say. Consumers will be affected in a similar manner.
"Obamacare will do a couple of different things. The No. 1 thing it has already done is it has brought the health-care system to the national stage. People are thinking about how health care is brought to them," said Ted Maidenberg, a general partner at The Social+Capital Partnership.
"People will be thinking about better ways to consume and manage health, their pocketbook will be more affected and in general that will have consumers wanting more options. And health-care providers, they aren't going to build more hospitals and hire more doctors. They are going to to have to find new ways to inject millions of people into the system through technology."
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<h3>Exchanges</h3>
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So venture capitalists are placing their bets on a slew of different companies that they believe will profit from the overhaul of the system and one of the biggest areas some see potential in is the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101063238" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101063238">exchanges</a>.
(Read more: <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101063238" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101063238">Here's how health insurance exchanges work</a>)
<a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/EHTH" target="_self" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="51200" data-inline-quote-symbol="EHTH">EHealth,</a> a publicly traded company that owns Ehealthinsurance.com, is one of these companies benefiting from the federal mandate. Its stock is up 50 percent since July.
Investors are also betting on companies that provide the backbone of support for both new government run health insurance exchanges as well as the growing sector of private health exchanges.
(Read more: <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101113730" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101113730">Young people may not 'get' Obamacare</a>)
The government Obamacare exchanges were established to offer insurance to the uninsured so they can comply with the new mandate to have insurance. The private health exchanges are being used by companies to offer a variety of insurance options to both current and retired employees.
GetInsured and Liazon are just a couple of the venture-backed companies looking to power these types of exchanges. Extend Health, which Psilos had invested in, was also a player in the space but was recently acquired by <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/TW" target="_self" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="37017" data-inline-quote-symbol="TW">Towers Watson</a>.
(Read more: <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101117597" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101117597">Vast majority of Obamacare exchange visitors don't enroll</a>)
"Just like when the Internet first came about, it was the guys who built routers and servers that made all the money it will be the guys building the backbones and enterprise software systems for these exchanges that will make a lot of money," said Suennen.
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Not surprisingly investors also see a promising future for software companies focused on data-driven solutions in the health-care space. But not all are as obvious as you might think.
(Read more: <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101118773" target="_self" class="inline_asset" data-nodeid="101118773">Veeva Systems IPO shows updraft in cloud business</a>)
For example, Maidenberg is invested in a company called Propeller Health, which is a company that uses a sensor on an asthma patient's inhaler to collect data about the patient's condition. The collected data can be shared with the physician to remotely monitor the patient's condition and know when a change in treatment is necessary.
The doctor can easily monitor a roster of asthma patients with the company's software, which is basically a dashboard that looks a lot like the Salesforce interface. The software helps the doctor to determine who is more likely to be hospitalized based on their behavior and helps the doctor to know when to be proactive about adjusting care.
Data companies also will be key in helping companies decide whether or not they should adopt a private exchange or keep their health plans, said Michael Yang, managing director of Comcast Ventures.
Basically, employers will need to figure out which health-care option is more affordable for them to provide and that creates demand for companies that can analyze data about their current and past employees, Yang said.
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<h3>Consumerization of health</h3>
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Companies that help make the health-care industry more consumer friendly will likely also get a boost, experts said. And this starts with educating people about their options, Yang said.
"Consumer education and marketing of these exchanges is so underserved," Yang said. "The advertising and marketing world could do a lot to help private exchanges and the government market to advertise these exchanges."
Yang said his firm is advising all of its ad tech investments to look at exchanges as "newfound" sources of revenue and is encouraging them to seek out opportunity in the space.
There also will be a need for finance management products that make it easier for the consumer to understand costs, Yang said.
Maidenberg is invested in a software company called Simplee, which is a financial services company that works with clients to simplify billing processes. Simplee is a good play in Obamacare, though, because hospitals have a lot of billing problems, he said.
"The bill you receive is often very different from the bill from the physician. And providers tend to have a big receivables issue because of this, because hospital bills are extremely confusing," Maidenberg said. "They can't afford to have the billing issues they currently have."
So what Simplee does is work with the hospitals to change the way bills are presented to hospitals and the company has already seen some success. One California hospital that is a Simplee client saw its online bill pay go from 2 percent to more than 30 percent in just six months, Maidenberg said.
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You Searched For "eHealth" and got 12 results

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