Halle Tecco of Rock Health at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Every week, we compile the most popular and thoughtful stories on MedCity News. Among this week’s highlights were the official exit of Halle Tecco from Rock Health, who went out with a Tweet six years after she founded the seed stage fund and incubator digital health startup, and Siemens Healthcare’s bizarre marketing initiative, Healthineers.
1. Halle Tecco quits Rock Health, leaving venture fund’s future in question
Management shifts appear to have had an unsettling effect on the organization in the past year. In addition to Tecco’s departure, Malay Gandhi, who led Rock Health as its CEO and managing director, left the organization in November 2015. He currently advises health tech companies.
2. Siemens inadvertently (?) channels Disney with bizarre new name (watch)
It’s hard to get past the fact that the name Healthineers evokes Disney’s Imagineers or, worse, Mouseketeers. Maybe if Siemens hired Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears as spokespeople? (Unfortunately, Annette Funicello died in 2013.)
3. 4 medical device M&A deals I’d like to see, with an eye to Abbott-St. Jude’s Medical
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
MedyMatch is little-known at the moment, but would be a tremendous fit for IBM’s Watson Health unit, assuming its unapproved Big Data technology works as intended. Former Philips Imaging CEO Gene Saragnese believes his company’s image analysis software can quickly and accurately determine the occurrence and type of stroke.
4. You won’t believe what CMS did on patient engagement in MACRA
By law, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System score determines provider bonuses or penalties based on four domains: quality measures, efficiency measures, meaningful use of electronic health records and clinical practice improvement activities.
5. Big Data heavyweights IMS Health and Quintiles to merge in $23B deal
“This combination addresses life-science companies’ most pressing needs: to transform the clinical development of innovative medicines, demonstrate the value of these medicines in the real world and drive commercial success,” said Quintiles CEO Tom Pike.
Photo: Getty Images/Steve McFadden
