Every week, we compile the most popular and thoughtful stories on MedCity News. Among this week’s highlights, Boeing has contracted directly with MemorialCare for employees in Southern California, implantable device-maker CVRx has raised a $46 million round and Peter Thiel-backed Counsyl has added an oncology business unit.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
In another sign of growing frustration with rising health costs, aerospace giant Boeing Co. has agreed to contract directly for employee benefits with a major health system in Southern California, bypassing the conventional insurance model.
2. Maker of neuromodulator to treat heart failure, CVRx, raises $46M
Minneapolis’ CVRx has raised $46 million from unnamed investors in support of its implantable neuromodulator to treat high blood pressure and heart failure, bringing its total equity funding to $237 million over 5 rounds, according to CrunchBase.
3. Here’s why Apple HealthKit, CareKit stand to have a big impact on healthcare
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
What has Apple done? As an extension to HealthKit, they’ve built a Consolidated-Clinical Document Architecture (CCDA) viewer which can display transition of care documents in a patient friendly format. They’ve modified Apple mail and the Safari browser to understand CCDA XML headers and automatically offer to open the documents in HealthKit.
The end result is that developers can easily enable download since a URL to a CCDA or email attachment works seamlessly. Beth Israel Deaconess developed the code in minutes.
4. Genetics company Counsyl targets oncologists in bid to boost patient screening
Until this year, San Francisco-based Counsyl, which was established in 2007, has marketed its family planning, pregnancy and inherited cancer genetic screening products to obstetricians and gynecologists. However, last month, Counsyl announced that is launching an oncology business unit and expanding from 24 to 36 the genetic mutations its inherited cancer screening product tests for. That followed news in April that the Peter Thiel-backed company had cut its sales, marketing, design and engineering staff.
5. Dr. Google goes to school for new symptom search function
After years of serving as the starting point for so many health-related searches, Google has finally done the inevitable: introduced a symptom searcher, at least to its mobile app. With help from Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic, the symptom-search function promises to be more accurate and useful than Dr. Google of the past.
Photo: Flickr user Vox Efx
