HealthTensor, an artificial intelligence company that is creating software to help augment medical decision making, announced that it has raised a $5 million seed round of financing led by Calibrate Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, and Susa Ventures. The round also includes top-rated hospitals and physicians, including a Medical Officer at Amazon Health. Funds will be used to scale the company’s software engineering and implementation team to keep up with demand from major health systems.

HealthTensor’s software acts as a layer of intelligence between physicians and the troves of raw medical data from any given patient, which is often more than any individual doctor can handle. HealthTensor uses advanced algorithms to do AI-enabled diagnosis, ensuring no medical condition is overlooked. It was designed from the ground up with the physician workflow in mind, enabling frictionless adoption of the product by users.

“HealthTensor makes me a better doctor because it allows me to spend less time in front of the computer and more time in front of the patient,” said Dr. Tasneem Bholat, an early user of HealthTensor’s software. “HealthTensor synthesizes all the data from the patient’s chart, saving me from doing chart biopsy and surfacing diagnoses I might have otherwise missed.”

To date, HealthTensor has helped physicians write more than 2,000 notes and has identified overlooked medical conditions in 95% of cases. HealthTensor’s software is currently integrated within several hospitals and will expand to many more in the coming months.

“We think of HealthTensor as an AI-powered medical resident that is focused specifically on the tedious, data-driven aspects of medicine, which is what computers do best,” said Eli Ben-Joseph, co-founder and CEO of HealthTensor. “Many doctors are forced to spend a majority of their day focused on data aggregation from medical records, which leads to missed diagnoses, patient dissatisfaction, and physician burnout. HealthTensor frees up the physician to focus on the conceptual and emotional aspects of medicine, which is what humans do best.”

“HealthTensor makes doctors’ lives easier and helps provide better patient care ultimately generating revenue for hospitals, making it one of the rare startups that has massive global potential for both patients and healthcare providers,” said Jason Schoettler, general partner at Calibrate Ventures.

“It’s rare to see a tool that benefits multiple constituencies within a hospital or medical system, but HealthTensor has done just that,” said David Waxman, partner at TenOneTen Ventures. “HealthTensor’s software leads to improved clinical outcomes, benefiting patients, doctors, and hospitals alike, and we see great potential for the company as it expands into more exam rooms.”

About HealthTensor
HealthTensor is building AI-powered healthcare, starting with diagnostic algorithms. HealthTensor’s product analyzes doctors’ notes and lab results to accurately diagnose patients, and writes diagnoses, including required billing data, back into the medical record. It is the only product on the market that saves doctors time, improves patient outcomes, and increases revenue. HealthTensor is carving a path to bring top tier medicine to every physician and patient worldwide.

A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) smartphone app that can help detect kidney disease earlier is set to benefit hundreds of patients in the UK.

Developed by Healthy.io, the pioneering AI app turns a smartphone camera into a clinical-grade tool to detect early kidney disease then allows patients to transmit their results to their GP in minutes, without any need to leave their home.

Chronic kidney disease affects around 1 in 10 people in the UK. This new testing and technology is designed to reduce unnecessary trips to the GP and hospital, as well as to encourage more people to seek an early diagnosis.

Healthy.io will be supported by NHSX, the digital transformation arm of the NHS, to offer 500,000 patients technology-supported home-testing kits over the next three years, with more than 3,500 patients having already received one.
Revolutionising kidney disease detection

The technology is one of 42 innovations that are being supported by the first round of the AI in Health and Care Award programme, which is managed by the Accelerated Access Collaborative in partnership with NHSX and the National Institute for Health Research.

Patients will receive a test kit, which includes a standard urine dipstick, a urine collection pot and a patented colour board. The smartphone app guides the user through the test, which includes scanning the dipstick on the colour board using a standard smartphone camera. Using AI and colourmetric analysis, the app is able to read the dipstick results equivalent to a lab-based device. The app tests for results by analysing testing images and producing results regardless of lighting conditions, setting, or camera type.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is another brilliant example of how innovative technologies are transforming healthcare and improving lives. Patients are able to receive a diagnosis sooner, saving time for clinicians so they can spend more time on treatment, and ultimately saving more lives through earlier diagnosis. This innovation is another step forward in making high-quality healthcare more accessible – in some cases without leaving the comfort of your own home.”

Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX, said: “Artificial intelligence holds enormous potential for the NHS and in many areas is already providing radical benefits for patients and clinicians.

“The use of this latest testing technology is another huge step forward enabling us to provide earlier diagnosis of disease and improve patient care and treatment outcomes while also freeing up NHS staff.”

According to an independent evaluation by the York Health Economics Consortium, if rolled out nationally Healthy.io’s solution has the potential to save more than 11,000 lives and save the NHS at least £660m over five years.

Zulekha Hospital in the UAE and the Israel-based Health Plus have signed an agreement to cooperate in the field of medical tourism and strengthen both healthcare systems by sharing medical expertise and best practices.

By way of this agreement, patients from Israel who are undergoing dialysis will be able to receive treatment while in the UAE.

Under the programme ‘Holiday Dialysis’, patients who previously could not travel due to ongoing dialysis treatment will now be able to travel to Dubai once travel restrictions ease and continue their dialysis – combining their holidays with ongoing health treatments.

Other services facilitated by the agreement include health checks, advanced oncology, neurosurgery, neurology, and telemedicine too.

“We consider this to be a great collaborative opportunity between two healthcare entities and regions which will further support the socio-economic progress across borders. We are happy to create this joint progressive opportunity for Israeli and UAE healthcare professionals,” said Taher Shams, managing director of Zulekha Healthcare Group.

Health Plus, the international marketing arm of Hadassah University Hospital of Jerusalem, offers treatments at medical institutions across the world. Since 2008, Health Plus has been an approved representative of Hadassah University Hospital authorised to refer patients from Cyprus, Russia, Greece and other countries, while over the past year, it has been cooperating with hospitals across Israel as well as distinguished medical institutions in Cyprus, Paris, Greece and Germany.

“Dubai and Israeli medicine are very well known for their major achievements. When two renowned healthcare service providers become one, then the outcome can only be a commendable one. That is exactly what we aim at,” said David Berezin, CEO of Health Plus.

Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, and the Dutch SAZ (Association of Collaborating General Hospitals) group of 28 hospitals have signed a strategic partnership agreement for a minimum of 5 years in the field of connected care. The partnership will encompass the monitoring, observation and self-management of patients throughout the entire care journey, both inside and outside the hospitals, supported by Philips advanced patient monitoring and population health management solutions.

“The SAZ unites 28 regional hospitals, which are together making the move from being hospitals to a health organization,” says Bert Kleinlugtenbeld, President of the SAZ. “In doing so, the strength of the SAZ is that we act together and learn from each other. Our strategic direction is to move care to the patient’s home wherever possible. We also see an important role for prevention. In making this move, removing the burden from the patient and the care provider is central. With Philips, we will do this by using the latest technological innovations in the field of patient monitoring and population health management, strengthening our cooperation in patient-centric care.”

Prevent ICU re-admissions
During the course of 2021 about ten SAZ hospitals will start the collaboration focused either on hospital care or care in the community. In-hospital applications will include early detection of patient deterioration on nursing wards using Philips’ IntelliVue Guardian Solution, which the Bravis hospital in Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal, the Netherlands, already has experience of using. The Bravis hospital is also already using Philips’ wearable biosensor and will use it to make a better connection between patient monitoring in the hospital’s ICU and its nursing wards, reducing the length of stay in the ICU and helping to prevent ICU re-admissions. In addition, the solution will help a patient to return to a long term care setting or their own home. By creating an automatic link between the Philips biosensor, the Philips IntelliVue Guardian software and the hospital’s EMR system, the organization aims to reduce the time nurses spend on administration.

The SAZ has experience with multiparty collaborations to improve healthcare. In 2017 the 28 hospitals started the company BeterDichtbij BV. BeterDichtbij is now used by 35 hospitals in the Netherlands. As part of the strategic collaboration between SAZ a connection will be realized between BeterDichtbij and the Philips Engage platform.

Blessing Health System has launched a new virtual care program allowing patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to recover safely from home under the watchful eye of the Blessing care team. The Blessing Enhanced COVID Recovery Program uses a combination of remote patient monitoring and telehealth technology from digital health provider Cloud DX.

Under the Blessing Enhanced COVID Recovery Program, patients discharged from one of Blessing Health System’s hospitals with mild to low-risk COVID-19 symptoms are sent home with the Cloud DX Connected Health Kit including easy-to-use FDA cleared devices to remotely self-monitor their critical vitals, such as pulse oxygen saturation, blood pressure and temperature, with vitals data flowing in real-time to a clinical dashboard overseen by Blessing’s care team. Patients and family members also receive an included tablet computer and the Cloud DX mobile app and survey to track daily symptoms. Patients receive care from a Blessing hospitalist, care coordination nurse or home health nurse depending on the individual and their care needs.

If vitals or symptoms change indicating a deterioration in a patient’s condition, the Cloud DX system sends a notification to the Blessing care team, triggering a telehealth follow up video visit.

“Our first objective is always better care for our patients and better patient outcomes,” says Dr. Irshad Siddiqui, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief of IT/Innovation for the Blessing Health System. “It’s imperative that we ensure capacity within our hospitals for the most critically-ill patients, while maintaining a watchful eye on those patients who are recovering at home.

Dr. Irshad Siddiqui continued, “This is a time of great urgency for the entire US healthcare system. In mere weeks, my team, alongside the Cloud DX team, were able to stand up a solution that provides us with an innovative way to effectively and efficiently deliver scalable, 24/7 remote monitoring for COVID-19 patients under our care, allowing them to safely leave the hospital and recover in the comfort and security of their own homes. And when this pandemic resides, we have a remote patient monitoring solution that can easily be applied to other areas of patient care, for instance, chronic disease management.”

“Virtual care, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth, is rapidly becoming a way for healthcare providers to affordably deliver an enhanced level of quality patient care through the pandemic and beyond,” said Robert Kaul, CEO of Cloud DX. “From COVID-19 patient management, to post-surgical follow-up, to ongoing care management for patients with chronic illness, hospital systems can leverage modern, clinical-grade technology to provide quality of care safely and at scale. We are delighted to support Dr. Siddiqui, his team at Blessing and their patients, as they strive to overcome the very pressing care challenges that have arisen because of this global pandemic, with a highly cost-effective solution for COVID-19 remote patient monitoring. At an average cost of just $175 per patient — a fraction of the cost of hospitalization — our solution offers dramatic financial savings to hospitals without compromising patient care.”

Blessing Health System
Blessing Health System is an integrated health system, based in Quincy, IL, consisting of two award-winning hospitals, two physician group practices, an accredited college of nursing and health sciences, a network of medical specialty businesses and a charitable foundation. Serving a primary market area of west central Illinois, northeast Missouri and southeast Iowa, Blessing Corporate Services, Inc., is the parent company of the System providing support and direction to Blessing Hospital; Illini Community Hospital; Blessing Physician Services; Hannibal Clinic; Denman Services, Inc.; Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences and The Blessing Foundation. The Mission of Blessing Health System is to improve the health of our communities. Blessing Health System employs more than 3,500 people.

Cloud DX
Cloud DX is a leader in virtual healthcare and digital medicine. Our complete remote patient monitoring platform incorporates proprietary medical devices, mobile apps, clinical dashboards, artificial intelligence and EMR integration. Cloud DX now provides products and services to hospitals, healthcare providers and provincial health departments across North America. In 2020, Cloud DX was a co-recipient of the Roche COVID Challenge award and is widely recognized for their ground-breaking med tech innovations, including winning the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Bold Epic Innovator Award, Fast Company magazine “World Changing Idea” and most recently a 2021 Edison Award nomination.

Medisafe, a leading digital therapeutics company, named Best Medication Reminder App by OnlineDoctor.com while AVA Digital Awards named Medisafe a Platinum Award Winner in the ‘App for Medical’ category. These recognitions highlight the company’s contributions in improving medication management and advancing innovation in digital health.

OnlineDoctor.com, a trusted source for content and information about online medical and healthcare services, examined digital health platforms based on several key criteria and customer feedback. The high-ranking platforms must deliver optimal platform accessibility, service availability, and communication methods to gain recognition. Medisafe fared well due to its unique uses of dynamic persona profiles, patient journey maps, and behavioral science to create a unique experience for every patient.

Separately, AVA Digital awarded Medisafe with its highest honor, the Platinum Award – App for Medical. AVA Digital recognizes outstanding achievement for creative concepts, direction, design, and production that supports digital communication channels. Out of more than 200,000 entries, the Medisafe platform was selected for its ability to digitally support patients throughout their medication journey with medication-specific, branded educational content, videos, measurement reporting and even patient outreaches.

“It is a great honor to receive recognition for our engaging and interactive patient experience, becoming a trusted resource for patients managing a medical condition and medications to support their overall health,” said Medisafe Chief Medical Officer Daniel Sands, MD. “We know our platform provides a solution for the global health crisis of medication mismanagement, and it is always rewarding to see others recognizing the strides we have made in achieving better outcomes by supporting patients throughout their entire journey.”

Medisafe is a leading digital therapeutic platform with more than 7MM users who utilize the system to help manage their medication therapy, stay engaged on their medication therapy, and engage with other users to create a virtual support system in living healthier lives, while managing acute and chronic conditions.

Weave, the complete business toolbox for service-based businesses and one of the fastest-growing companies in tech, announced Weave Unify, a sophisticated patient engagement and communication platform created specifically for multi-location service businesses.

Weave Unify empowers healthcare businesses with multiple locations to leverage each others’ patient bases, schedules, and call-handling staff to streamline operations, improve communications, increase revenue, and provide a modernized and personalized patient experience across the entire practice.

“It’s complex for healthcare practices to efficiently communicate, attract, and engage with their patients, and this becomes even more complicated when a business operates multiple practices across various office locations,” said Roy Banks, CEO at Weave. “Weave Unify enables multi-location businesses to leverage each other’s staff and strengths to help grow the organization more quickly and efficiently, provide better brand experiences, all while reducing operational costs.”

According to a recent survey of more than 300 multi-location healthcare business owners and operators, multi-location practices that frequently cross-schedule patients are 63% more likely to always have a full schedule, helping to maximize each healthcare professional’s time.

Weave is hosting a webinar on February 11 with Dr. Eric Roman, a practicing dentist who built and sold two multi-location dental service organizations (DSOs), on the ways healthcare businesses should be rethinking their growth and communication strategy in 2021.

Weave Unify is the latest addition to Weave’s growing set of solutions for healthcare businesses, which includes solutions for payment processing, email marketing, and patient experience and communications to make healthcare practices more efficient and profitable.

About Weave: Weave is the complete business toolbox for service-based businesses. From the first phone call to the final invoice, Weave’s unique integration of hardware and software solutions helps streamline and simplify business growth, retention and communication across the entire customer journey. With approximately 20,000 customers, Weave was the first Utah company to join Y Combinator and has received several renowned awards, including the Fortune 100 Best Companies 2019, Forbes 2020 and 2019 Cloud 100, the 2019 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in America and Forbes 2020 Next Billion-Dollar Startup.

ShiraTronics, Inc. a privately held medical device company, announced today that it has been granted a Breakthrough Device designation by the Center of Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the FDA for its innovative neurostimulation therapy targeting the millions of chronic migraine sufferers.

The FDA Breakthrough Device Program is intended to help patients receive more timely access to breakthrough technologies that have the potential to provide more effective treatment or diagnosis for life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions.

“We are thrilled to have received this important designation from the FDA. This reinforces the severity of the disability these patients suffer and the importance of new therapy options,” said Lynn Elliott, Chief Executive Officer of ShiraTronics, Inc.

“We applaud FDA’s Breakthrough Device designation on behalf of the millions of patients suffering from chronic migraine who are actively seeking treatment options to deal with this life limiting and severely disabling condition,” said Mudit K. Jain, PhD, a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of ShiraTronics, Inc.

Puzzle Medical Devices Inc., announced that the U.S. FDA has granted the company a Breakthrough Device Designation for its revolutionary transcatheter pump to address heart failure.

The FDA Breakthrough Device Program is intended to help patients receive more timely access to certain medical devices that have the potential to provide more effective treatment for life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions, including a prioritized review of market approval regulatory submissions.

“The FDA’s recognition of Puzzle Medical’s heart pump as a Breakthrough Device is a testimony to the innovative and disruptive nature of this device,” said Philippe Généreux, MD, interventional cardiologist at Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute, Morristown Medical Center, New Jersey, USA, and Chief Medical Officer of Puzzle Medical. “This novel technology has the potential to help millions of patients suffering from heart failure who currently have no treatment option other than medical therapy.”

Puzzle Medical’s focus is to improve patient quality of life and reduce the global economic burden related to heart failure. Puzzle Medical is developing a proprietary transcatheter heart pump associated with minimal trauma to the blood components, allowing for safe and efficient heart support without open-heart surgery.

“I have been impressed by the progress made by the Puzzle Medical team so far. Their device clearly answers an unmet need among patients suffering from heart failure,” said Professor Alain Cribier, MD, of Rouen, France.

“Puzzle Medical is excited about this important milestone and is thankful to the FDA for the Breakthrough Device Designation,” said Jade Doucet-Martineau, co-founder and CEO of Puzzle Medical. “Leveraging decades of expertise in the development of transcatheter therapies, the Puzzle Medical team will fiercely continue the development of the most efficient and safest heart pump ever created.”

About Puzzle Medical Devices Inc.

Puzzle Medical Devices Inc. is a Canadian company specializing in the development of a minimally invasive transcatheter heart pump. Puzzle Medical enables mechanical hemodynamic support to be more efficacious, safer, and more economical, resulting in increased accessibility, improved patient quality of life and reduction of the global economic burden related to the disease. To date, Puzzle Medical has successfully completed acute in-vivo preclinical implantations with tremendous success.

NextGen Healthcare, Inc., a leading provider of ambulatory-focused technology solutions, announced that Loden Vision Centers, a Nashville-based provider specializing in cataract and LASIK surgery, is leveraging NextGen® Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Services for more efficient medical billing across its five locations. After implementing the services during the COVID-19 health crisis, Loden Vision Centers experienced a 32 percent increase in payments above its 12-month average and has reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) by 16 percent.

In partnership with NextGen® RCM Services, the practice has improved charge capture accuracy and billing while enhancing its reimbursement processes for retinal condition injections. The centers also use the platform’s financial analytics to assess the effectiveness of its LASIK surgery marketing efforts in specific geographic locations.

“The COVID-19 pandemic immediately impacted our practice volume and working with a trusted advisor like NextGen Healthcare has enabled us to weather the storm,” said Matthew Pierre, chief executive officer for Loden Vision Centers. “The NextGen RCM Services team keeps up with our needs and allows our staff to focus on patient care versus dealing with billing and collections during this exceptionally turbulent time in eye care. We now have much better insight into our metrics and can quickly analyze performance to make data-based decisions that improve our clinics and more effectively serve our community.”

“For specialty practices such as ophthalmology, the pandemic has highlighted the need to stabilize revenue and optimize operations,” said John Beck, chief solutions officer for NextGen Healthcare. “By integrating NextGen® RCM Services, eye care providers can sustain and increase revenue while enhancing patient engagement with a seamless billing experience.”

About NextGen® RCM Services

NextGen® RCM Services helps practices prevent denials, improve velocity of collections, increase net collections, reduce days in accounts receivable and enhance the patient experience. NextGen Healthcare’s RCM team serves approximately 6,000 providers across the U.S., manages more than 12 million claims annually and collects more than $2 billion per year.