Morning Headlines 3/29/21

DOJ Extends Review of UnitedHealth, Change Healthcare Deal

The Department of Justice requests additional information from Change Healthcare about its proposed $13 billion acquisition by UnitedHealth Group’s Optum.

Preveta Raises $2M To Coordinate Care For Early Disease Detection

Los Angeles-based Preveta, which has developed care coordination software for cancer patients, raises $2 million.

ESO Receives Strategic Investment from Vista Equity Partners to Accelerate Delivery on Mission to Improve Community Health and Safety Through Data

Vista Equity Partners invests in ESO, which helps EMS agencies, fire departments, and hospitals share health data more effectively.

Morning Headlines 3/26/21

Amwell Announces Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020

Telehealth vendor Amwell reports Q4 results: revenue up 34% with a net loss of $50.6 million versus $22.7 million.

Everlywell Acquires PWNHealth and Home Access Health Corporation, Forming Everly Health

At-home lab test vendor Everlywell acquires testing company PWNHealth and self-collected lab test processor Home Access Health Corporation, valuing the company at a reported $3 billion.

Astria Health files complaint against former billing collection vendor

Astria Health (WA) blames Cerner for its bankruptcy and the closure of Astria Regional Medical center in bankruptcy court, contending that Cerner fraudulently misrepresented that Millennium would integrate seamlessly with its revenue cycle offerings.

Morning Headlines 3/25/21

Clearsense Secures $30 Million in New Funding to Fuel Growth as a Cutting-Edge Data Platform Technology

Health Catalyst Capital invests $30 million in health data management and analytics vendor Clearsense.

New York Life Accelerates Underwriting Through Collaboration with Cerner

Cerner works with New York Life to facilitate medical record retrieval as part of the life insurance company’s application and underwriting processes.

Ginger Announces $100 Million Series E Financing from Blackstone to Bring Value-Based Mental Healthcare to Millions of Employees and Health Plan Members

Mental health app company Ginger raises $100 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total raised to $220.7 million.

Morning Headlines 3/24/21

DexCare Announces $20M in Oversubscribed Series A Funding, the Providence Spin Out Delivers First Operating System for Digital Care

Providence Digital Innovation Group alum DexCare raises $20 million in a Series A financing round.

AppliedVR Secures $29 Million in Series A Funding to Make Virtual Reality the Standard of Care for Chronic Pain

AppliedVR, which offers virtual reality-based chronic pain treatments, raises $29 million in a Series A funding round.

Komodo Health Secures $220M in Funding Led by Tiger Global

Health data and analytics company Komodo Health announces a $220 million Series E funding round after raising $44 million in January.

Morning Headlines 3/23/21

Digital Health Startup Ro Raised $500 Million At $5 Billion Valuation

Ro, which now markets itself as a digital health clinic, raises $500 million in a Series D funding round that brings its total raised to $876 million.

Clearlake, Insight-backed Appriss snags PatientPing

Appriss, known in healthcare for its prescription drug monitoring program interface capabilities, acquires patient event notification vendor PatientPing in a $500 million deal.

Evidation Raises $153M to Scale Virtual Health Capabilities of Achievement™ Platform

Data aggregation and analytics company Evidation Health will use a Series E funding round of $153 million to offer more virtual health programs as part of its digital health research network.

Morning Headlines 3/22/21

VA announces strategic review of Electronic Health Record Modernization program

VA Secretary Denis McDonough orders a 12-week strategic review of the VA’s Cerner EHR implementation that will include optimizing productivity and clinical workflow and looking into patient-facing functions.

Riva Health Launches, Raises $15.5M for Breakthrough Mobile Cardiology Technology

Riva Health will use a $15.5 million investment from Menlo Ventures to help launch its app for hypertension management this summer.

Omega Healthcare Acquires Himagine Solutions

RCM vendor Omega Healthcare acquires Himagine Solutions, which offers medical coding and registry services.

Morning Headlines 3/19/21

Glen Tullman Joins Transcarent as Chief Executive Officer

The executive chairman of employer health insurance cost management software vendor Transcarent takes on the CEO role as well.

Epic opens COVID-19 vaccination appointments to all employees

Epic engages VaxPro to offer on-campus immunization after the state declares its employees to be essential.

Senate narrowly confirms Xavier Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary

The former California attorney general and 24-year Congressman is confirmed in a 50-49 vote.

Morning Headlines 3/18/21

Amazon is expanding Amazon Care telehealth service nationally for its employees and other companies

Amazon plans to expand Amazon Care, its virtual and house call care service, to employees in all 50 states and other employers.

Clarify Health Announces $115m Series C Funding to Accelerate the Adoption of On-demand Healthcare Analytics

San Francisco-based analytics company Clarify Health raises $115 million, bringing its total funding to $178 million.

Unite Us Announces It Has Raised $150M to Scale Nationwide Social Care Infrastructure

Care and social services coordination software company Unite Us reaches unicorn status with a $150 million Series C funding round.

Viz.ai Raises $71 Million Series C Round Led by Scale Venture Partners and Insight Partners

Viz.ai, developer of AI-powered care coordination software for stroke patients, raises $71 million.

Harmonize Health Announces $10 Million Series A to Help Medical Groups Better Serve High Risk Patients

Harmonize Health, which offers remote patient monitoring, chronic care management, and outcomes tracking for elderly and high-risk patients, raises $10 million in a Series A funding round.

Morning Headlines 3/17/21

Tegria Acquires Cumberland To Provide New and Enhanced Offerings for Healthcare Providers and Payers

Tegria, Providence’s recently formed rollup of its nine health IT acquisitions, acquires health IT consulting firm Cumberland.

Glooko Raises $30 Million Financing Round

Digital diabetes management company Glooko raises $30 million in a Series D funding round that brings its total raised to over $100 million.

Karuna acquired by Commure

Healthcare development platform vendor Commure acquires Karuna Health, a digital patient communication startup based in San Francisco.

Strive Health Raises $140 Million Led by Alphabet’s CapitalG to Tackle $410 Billion of Unmanaged Kidney Disease Spend

Strive Health, which focuses on kidney care optimization using analytics and care navigators, raises $140 million in a Series B funding round led by CapitalG.

Grand Rounds merges with Doctor On Demand to form multibillion-dollar digital health company

Employer-focused care navigation company Grand Rounds merges with Doctor on Demand.

Morning Headlines 3/16/21

Meet Dr. B, the startup promising a better way to distribute leftover vaccines

ZocDoc founder Cyrus Massoumi launches Dr. B, a website that helps eligible people locate thawed COVID-19 vaccines in danger of going to waste.

Dagrosa Capital Partners LLC Invests in Telemedicine Company, Hoy Health LLC

DaGrosa Capital Partners invests in Hoy Health, a bilingual telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and medication access company based in Morristown, NJ.

Well Health Provides Management Update and Makes Seed Investment in Fertility Start-up Venture

Canadian Well Health Technologies makes a seed investment in startup fertility clinic Twig Fertility, which plans to open a location in Toronto with digital health offerings

Morning Headlines 3/15/21

Healthcare artificial intelligence company establishing headquarters in Loudoun

India-based healthcare AI vendor Zasti will open its US headquarters in Loudoun County, VA.

$2.8M Deal Ends Suit Over Pocketed Health Trade Show Fees

HIMSS pays $2.8 million to settle class action charges brought by HatchMed and other HIMSS20 exhibitors who complained that they received no refund when the conference was cancelled.

Crossover Health Announces Expansion of Amazon’s Neighborhood Health Centers and Virtual Care Services

Crossover Health expands its health centers and virtual care for Amazon employees and their dependents to five regions in Texas, Arizona, Kentucky, Michigan, and California.

Morning Headlines 3/12/21

Brainlab Acquires Mint Medical to Advance Quality and Structure of Data Gathered in Clinical Routine and Research

Germany-based imaging workflow vendor Brainlab acquires Mint Medical, which provides a structured workflow for analyzing medical images.

100Plus Announces $25M Funding by Prominent Investors to Transform the Remote Patient Monitoring Market with its Rapidly Expanding Solution

AI-enhanced remote patient monitoring vendor 100Plus raises $25 million and has signed distribution agreements with AdvancedMD, DrChrono, and Athenahealth.

Forward Health Raises $225M to Expand Nationwide

Forward Health, which offers direct primary care at a flat fee of $149 per month in eight US cities, raises $225 million in a Series D funding round.

Tausight Closes $20 Million Series A Financing to Discover and Help Secure Protected Health Information (PHI)

Tausight, a Boston-based startup focused on securing PHI, raises $20 million in a Series A funding round.

WELL Health to Boost its Digital Health SaaS Revenue and to Expand EMR Business to International Markets with Proposed Acquisition of Intrahealth

Vancouver-based Well Health will acquire Intrahealth, a New Zealand EHR vendor, for $15 million.

Morning Headlines 3/11/21

MRO Announces Acquisition of Cobius Healthcare Solutions

Release-of-information and clinical data workflow software vendor MRO acquires Cobius Healthcare Solutions, which offers reimbursement and compliance risk management technologies.

PatientPoint Combines with Outcome Health to Create PatientPoint Health Technologies

Digital pharma advertising and patient education company Outcome Health has merged with competitor PatientPoint to create PatientPoint Health Technologies.

Hack of ‘150,000 cameras’ investigated by camera firm

Hackers use a “super admin” account to tap into Verkada security cameras in hospitals, clinics, manufacturing plants, jails, and businesses.

Morning Headlines 3/10/21

Cedar Closes $200M in Series D Funding to Continue Fueling Growth as a Leading Patient Financial Engagement Platform for the Healthcare Industry

Patient payment vendor Cedar raises $200 million in a Series D investment round led by Tiger Global Management, giving it a $3.2 billion valuation.

Rennova Terminates Discussions with TPT Global Tech, Inc.

Rural hospital operator Rennova Health cancels plans to sell its software and genetic testing interpretation divisions to InnovaQor, which would also include telehealth technology that Rennova had licensed from TPT Global Tech.

Health Recovery Solutions, Remote Patient Monitoring and Telehealth Leader, Completes Series C with LLR Partners

Remote patient monitoring and telemedicine vendor Health Recovery Solutions announces a Series C funding round led by LLR Partners.

Ibex Medical Analytics Raises $38 Million to Accelerate Adoption of AI-powered Cancer Diagnostics in Pathology

AI-powered cancer pathology diagnostics vendor Ibex Medical Analytics raises $38 million in a Series B funding round, increasing its total to $52 million.

Ambulnz (dba DocGo), a Leading Provider of Last-Mile TeleHealth and Integrated Medical Mobility Services, Announces Agreement to Become Publicly Traded via Merger with Motion Acquisition Corp.

Emergency medical services-focused telemedicine company DocGo will merge with Motion Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly traded company with a $1.1 billion valuation.

Morning Headlines 3/9/21

Former Practice Fusion Sales Executive Pleads Guilty To Obstructing Government Investigations Into Purdue Pharma And Practice Fusion

Former Practice Fusion Director of National Accounts Steven Mack pleads guilty to attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into the relationship between Practice Fusion and Purdue Pharma after admitting he deleted relevant computer files.

Heal Appoints Veteran Operational Leader Scott Vertrees as Chief Executive Officer

Investor Scott Vertrees joins Heal as CEO, replacing co-founder Nick Desai, who remains a shareholder.

HIE Networks Relaunches as Centralis Health

Tallahassee, FL-based health data exchange vendor HIE Networks rebrands to Centralis Health.

Morning Headlines 3/8/21

Harris acquires US-based healthcare software provider Bizmatics Inc.

Harris acquires Bizmatics, which offers the PrognoCIS EHR/PM.

Saudi-backed $2 billion health firm Babylon is selling its Canada operations as part of a $70 million licensing deal

Canadian telecommunications company Telus will acquire Babylon Health’s Canadian operations, and license virtual care technology used in the Babylon by Telus Health app since 2019.

TytoCare Extends Series D Funding with Additional $50M for a Total of $100M Raised in 10 Months

Telemedicine and related device vendor TytoCare doubles its Series D round of funding, first announced last April, to $100 million.

Morning Headlines 3/5/21

Leading Health Innovators Launch Alliance To Advance Care In The Home

Several health systems and home-based care companies form Moving Health Home, a coalition that will try to convince the federal government to permanently pay for telehealth, remote patient monitoring, virtual disease prevention and management, caregiver support, and medical record sharing as an alternative to in-hospital care.

Startup co-founded by Duke health execs aims to help people with multiple chronic health conditions

New Duke University personalized chronic care spinout ZealCare will launch later this month, co-founded by former Duke University Health System CEO Ralph Snyderman, MD and personalized healthcare research fellow Connor Drake, PhD.

Dräger Partners with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on Medical Device Interoperability Initiative

Medical and safety technology vendor Dräger will work with several healthcare organizations to develop medical device interoperability standards in a US Army-funded project that will use IEEE’s service-oriented device connectivity (SDC) standard.