Portfolio News

How do providers strike the right balance between in-person care and telehealth?

In a recent Healthcare IT News article, Aledade Chief Policy Officer and Chief Commercial Officer Sean Cavanaugh offered his expert insight into virtual care after the pandemic ends. During the peak of the pandemic, up to 50 percent of all primary care visits were conducted via telehealth. That happened in part because of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ quick actions to loosen restrictions around telehealth, which led to an uptick in telehealth adoption by Medicare beneficiaries. Now, as vaccine distribution continues and more in-person care appointments are...

Women’s Digital Health Startups Reap Record VC Funding on Covid Surge

After being seen as an overly risky niche for years, women-focused digital health startups are finally beginning to see significant funding come their way. According to research and investment firm Rock Health, funding for women-focused digital health startups rose 105% last year to $418 million spread across 22 deals—nearly twice the number from the year before. But despite the recent jump in investor interest, Rock Health says femtech companies only account for 3% of overall digital health funding in 2020. “Proving the return on investment is...

Health Data Analytics Startup Komodo Health’s $220M Series E propels it to $3.3B valuation

Komodo Health announced a $220 million Series E funding round led by Tiger Global Management and joined by Casdin Capital. Existing investors ICONIQ Growth, Andreesen Horowitz, and SVB Capital also participated in the round. The funding has propelled Komodo into the unicorn club with a valuation of $3.3 billion. Komodo’s primary business is to offer providers, pharma, and other life sciences stakeholders with a variety of services based on its Healthcare Map, an AI and data analytics tool Komodo says is tracking more than 325 million...

The Apple Watch in clinical trials: Current uses and future possibilities

The use of wearables has been of great benefit to clinical trials: researchers can gather far more data, more often, more objectively, and more easily than ever before. And over the past year, digital tools for remote measurement made it possible to continue trials that otherwise would have been halted. Of all these wearables, the Apple Watch has earned the highest rankings when it comes to gathering health data. Steady improvements in software, firmware, and form factor over the years have led to the Apple Watch...

Grail Signs on Quest Diagnostics to Provide Phlebotomy for Cancer Detection Test

GRAIL has entered an agreement with Quest Diagnostics to provide phlebotomy services in support of its multi-cancer early detection blood test. The test, called Galleri, is expected to go to market in the second quarter after its PATHFINDER multi-site interventional study. Under the agreement, Quest’s phlebotomy network, which is composed of approximately 2,200 patient service centers and 5,000 mobile phlebotomists, will help GRAIL with its specimen collection when Galleri is launched. “Today, the majority of cancers go undetected until too late when outcomes are often deadly, and we...