Portfolio News

Men’s wellness startup Hims rolls out telepsychiatry

Once upon a time, Hims was just another men’s wellness company offering hair loss and ED treatments, mail-order supplements, and other health tools. But with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company accelerated its plans to launch virtual primary care and mental health care. In April, Hims began offering anonymous group therapy sessions through its website. Now the company is expanding its mental health care options again. It has added telehealth psychiatry consultation, starting with patients in New York and California and expanding to other...

Startups talk about what it’s like to raise money in a pandemic

You might think it would be hard for a digital health startup to raise money in a pandemic, but judging from recent reports, that’s simply not the case. MedCity News recently spoke to the CEOs of Evidation and BrightInsight, two startups that have recently announced funding rounds amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of July, Evidation raised a $45 million Series D round led by B Capital with participation from several other investors including McKesson Ventures; and on June 23, BrightInsight announced the close...

Diversity in Digital Health

Rock Health and Dr. Ivor Horn, former Chief Medical Officer at Accolade, have partnered on a new research initiative on diversity in digital health. Dr. Horn is working on an ongoing basis as an academic and pediatrician to address inequities in healthcare. “Right now, there is no means of baselining the racial and ethnic diversity of leadership at digital health startups,” the Rock Health team wrote. The initiative will include a national survey for leaders of healthcare technology startups that will capture and report aggregate data...

The Forward Momentum Coalition Aims to Increase Diversity in Research and Develop New Digital Resources for Men with Prostate Cancer

BlackDoctor.org, Evidation Health, Movember, and Myovant Sciences have launched Forward Momentum, a coalition working on innovative projects to increase diversity in research and develop new digital resources for men with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent form of cancer and second leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men, and Black men are twice as likely to die from the disease. Even though a lot of progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, the Forward Momentum coalition believes...

Telehealth’s Promises and Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has already spurred many health systems and patients to adopt telehealth as a substitute for in-person doctor visits. Questions remain, however, about telehealth’s impacts on the long-term cost and quality of care, the limitations of remote practice, and the adequacy of conventional healthcare policy to address this growing service. Private payers and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have adopted regulatory and payment changes, and privacy regulations, for telehealth, but what will happen when life returns to normal? On July 8, 2020,...