Sunstone Partners, a growth-oriented investment firm focused on tech-enabled services and software companies, has invested in RSource Healthcare, a leading provider of revenue cycle management (“RCM”) services to hospitals and health systems. Sunstone Partners’ strategic investment will help drive RSource’s rapid growth and provide new capital to invest in the expansion of the Company’s service offerings while further enhancing the customer experience.

RSource provides specialty RCM services that help hospitals and health systems to efficiently manage complex areas of the revenue cycle, including clinical denials, patient-involved denials and accident claims. Beyond these core offerings, RSource assists its customers with eligibility services, low-balance insurance recovery and legacy system conversions. The Company delivers industry-leading performance through the combination of a multidisciplinary approach and cross-functional expertise, driving measurable ROI for its clients across the country.

Sunstone Partners also announced the appointment of seasoned executives Jim Riley and Kirk Reid as independent Board members. Jim Riley is a proven Chief Executive Officer with over 20 years of experience in the healthcare technology and services sector. Jim most recently served as the President & CEO of Capario (sold to Change Healthcare) and since has held board positions in a variety of private equity backed software and tech-enabled services companies, including: Verisma Systems, Imagine Software, Stratasan and Envera Health. Kirk Reid has over 30 years of significant healthcare experience in sales, business development, marketing and general management. Kirk most recently served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Chamberlin Edmonds (sold to Change Healthcare) and has since held board positions in a variety of health care focused companies, including: Healthcare Financial Inc., Advantum Health and Liquid Compass.

Larry Reid & Robert Smith, Co-founders of RSource, said, “This investment is a very exciting milestone for RSource. Our RCM solutions address significant pain points for our clients, and we are looking forward to this next chapter as we expand our existing solutions, build complementary solutions, and acquire talent and technology that will ultimately allow us to better serve our customers. We are thrilled to partner with Sunstone Partners, Jim and Kirk and to leverage their deep healthcare and operational experience to power us through our next phase of growth.”

“As hospitals continue to come under margin pressure, we believe driving appropriate reimbursement from the most complicated claims in the revenue cycle will be a top priority. RSource brings significant and lasting improvements in revenue recoveries to its hospital customers through a combination of deep clinical expertise, proprietary workflow and technology,” said Arneek Multani, Managing Director of Sunstone Partners. “We are excited to work with Larry and Robert to further bolster and expand RSource’s platform through continued investment in organic growth and strategic acquisitions.”

Brentwood Capital Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to RSource for this transaction.

About RSource Healthcare
RSource helps major health systems and hospitals across the U.S. recover maximum dollars from all types of third party-payer claims. Specializing in denials, complex claims and RCM optimization, RSource deploys an experienced, tech-enabled team to customize receivables management solutions. RSource’s programs are designed to accelerate and maximize netback, enhance patient satisfaction, and provide actionable feedback to improve front-end processes.

About Sunstone Partners
Sunstone Partners is a growth-oriented equity firm that makes majority and minority investments in technology-enabled services and software businesses. The firm seeks to partner with exceptional management teams, often as their first institutional capital partner, to help accelerate organic growth and fund acquisitions. Founded in 2015, the firm has $800 million of committed capital to its first two funds.

Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba Medical Centre, and the United Arab Emirates’ APEX National Investment announced yesterday that they signed a preliminary agreement to collaborate on healthcare solutions.

The agreement seeks to promote healthcare technologies in the Gulf region and establish an “innovation hub” using Sheba’s expansive data infrastructure.

APEX National Investment Chairman Khalifa Yousef Khoury said the agreement “reflects the extent of the two countries’ interest in developing and reaching the highest standards in the field of health to serve the people in the region, as well as an extension of both states efforts in developing cutting-edge innovation in the medical field.”

The signing ceremony is expected to take place later this month in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi.

READ: UAE-Israeli normalisation, ‘peace’ and the Nobel Peace Prize

Sheba Director Professor Yitshak Kreiss said the agreement was reached after a year of negotiations. “We are proud to be the first Israeli hospital to sign such a historic agreement with a renowned company in the UAE,” he said.

“The agreement with APEX represents the culmination of our year-long effort to establish ties with the Gulf, in the aftermath of the meetings I had at the ‘Peace to Prosperity Conference‘ in Bahrain.”

Israel and the UAE on August 13 agreed to normalise relations, making the UAE the first Gulf country and the fourth Arab state to do so when a final accord is signed.

APEX and Sheba will cooperate on key medical challenges ranging from combatting COVID-19 and medical education through innovative simulation, as well as medical tourism and research.

Yoel Hareven, the director of Sheba International at Sheba Medical Centre, said: “We’ve embedded existing Israeli telemedicine technology which allows us to provide medical care to coronavirus patients while minimising risk to the medical teams – this is of great interest to the Emirates.”

Boston Scientific has initiated a limited market release of the fourth generation Vercise Genus Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) system in Europe, following the receipt of CE Mark approval for the system.

Vercise Genus system is designed for the treatment of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), essential tremor and dystonia. The system delivers precisely targeted electrical stimulation in the brain to offer optimal symptom relief.

The new Vercise Genus system incorporates clinician software that optimises programming with integrated visualisation. The software uses patient imaging through the company’s exclusive partnership with Brainlab.

Additionally, it comes with added features for patients, including a low-profile two-in-one extension with the option of abdominal placement.

Boston Scientific Neuromodulation senior vice-president and president Maulik Nanavaty said: “For patients, the Vercise Genus DBS System continues the tradition of small, thin devices and it provides Bluetooth programming, which is important during times of social distancing.

“Combined with the option of a 25-year rechargeable battery, as well as the expanded MRI conditional feature available on our primary cell devices, patients can find the best option to suit their specific needs.”

In Europe, Vercise Genus DBS system is approved for use in unilateral or bilateral stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus or internal globus pallidus for treatment of levodopa-responsive PD and for treatment of intractable primary and secondary Dystonia for people aged seven years and older.

Thalamic stimulation, using the Vercise Genus system, is indicated for the suppression of tremor not adequately controlled by medications in patients diagnosed with essential tremor or PD.
Over ten million people are living with PD worldwide. This progressive and neurodegenerative disorder leads to stiffness, slowness and tremors due to the decrease of dopamine in the brain.

Dystonia, which affects over half a million men, women and children across Europe, is considered to be the third most common movement disorder after essential tremor and PD.
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Samsung Medison and Intel are collaborating on new smart workflow solutions to improve obstetric measurements that contribute to maternal and fetal safety and can help save lives. Using an Intel Core i3 processor, the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit and OpenCV library, Samsung Medison’s BiometryAssist automates and simplifies fetal measurements, while LaborAssist automatically estimates the fetal angle of progression (AoP) during labor for a complete understanding of a patient’s birthing progress, without the need for invasive digital vaginal exams.

“Samsung Medison’s BiometryAssist is a semi-automa1ted fetal biometry measurement system that automatically locates the region of interest and places a caliper for fetal biometry, demonstrating a success rate of 97% to 99% for each parameter. Such high efficacy enables its use in the current clinical practice with high precision.”

— Professor Jayoung Kwon, MD PhD, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Yonsei University Health System in Seoul, Korea

Why It’s Needed: According to the World Health Organization, about 295,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2017, even as maternal mortality rates decreased. While every pregnancy and birth is unique, most maternal deaths are preventable. Research from the Perinatal Institute found that tracking fetal growth is essential for good prenatal care and can help prevent stillbirths when physicians are able to recognize growth restrictions.

“At Intel, we are focused on creating and enabling world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on Earth,” said Claire Celeste Carnes, strategic marketing director for Health and Life Sciences at Intel. “We are working with companies like Samsung Medison to adopt the latest technologies in ways that enhance the patient safety and improve clinical workflows, in this case for the important and time-sensitive care provided during pregnancy and delivery.”

How It Works: BiometryAssist automates and standardizes fetal measurements in approximately 85 milliseconds with a single click, providing over 97% accuracy. This allows doctors to spend more time talking with their patients while also standardizing fetal measurements, which have historically proved challenging to accurately provide. With BiometryAssist, physicians can quickly verify consistent measurements for high volumes of patients.

“Samsung is working to improve the efficiency of new diagnostic features, as well as healthcare services, and the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit and OpenCV library have been a great ally in reaching these goals,” said Won-Chul Bang, corporate vice president and head of Product Strategy, Samsung Medison.

During labor, LaborAssist helps physicians estimate fetal AOP and head direction. This enables both the physician and patient to understand the fetal descent and labor process and determine the best method for delivery. There is always risk with delivery and a slowing progress could result in issues for the baby. Obtaining more accurate and real-time progression of labor can help physicians determine the best mode of delivery and potentially help reduce the number of unnecessary cesarean sections.

“LaborAssist provides automatic measurement of the angle of progression as well as information pertaining to fetal head direction and estimated head station. So it is useful for explaining to the patient and her family how the labor is progressing, using ultrasound images which show the change of head station during labor. It is expected to be of great assistance in the assessment of labor progression and decision-making for delivery,” said Professor Min Jeong Oh, MD, PhD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korea University Guro Hospital in Seoul, Korea.

BiometryAssist and LaborAssist are already in use in 80 countries, including the United States, Korea, Italy, France, Brazil and Russia. The solutions received Class 2 clearance by the FDA in 2020.

What’s Next: Intel and Samsung Medison will continue to collaborate to advance the state of the art in ultrasounds by accelerating AI and leveraging advanced technology in Samsung Medison’s next-generation ultrasound solutions, including Nerve Tracking, SW Beamforming and AI Module.

Smiths Medical announced that University Health System (UHS) in San Antonio, Texas has gone live with the PharmGuard Infusion Management Software System with Bi-Directional Interoperability with Epic.

Smart pump programming will allow Medfusion® 4000 pumps at UHS to be programmed with a few simple steps. The provider places the order, pharmacy verifies, and then the nurse sends program parameters to the pump to review and start the infusion. Interoperability can eliminate 75% of infusion-related medication errors.

Data from the Medfusion pump flows back into Epic supporting Auto Documentation, thereby assisting UHS clinicians in their speed and accuracy of medication documentation.

Smart pump programming and Auto Documentation are supported by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information.

IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Effective interoperability and efficient workflows are possible by using IHE defined integration profiles that use established data standards for system integration.

SonoScape Medical Corporation introduced today its new generation high-end ultrasound systems: the ELITE series, integrating artificial intelligent solutions, advanced features, and remarkably improved system processing capability.

The all-new SonoScape ELITE ultrasound solutions

The ideal and value-backed choice: With a pool of the parts that are used in the high-end models, as well as components with similar design principles, the ELITE series is a wealth of technology advancement lying on the cutting edge SonoScape engineering core – Wis+ intelligent ultrasound platform. Features such as AI-based automated tools like S-Fetus, Auto OB and lucid imaging technologies are built into the platform as standard, making the lineup a value-backed choice beyond expectations.

“We developed the ELITE series in intensive cooperation with clinical experts”, said Zhou Wenping, Head of R&D at SonoScape Medical Corporation. “I believe that this new series will substantially increase diagnostic confidence and empower clinicians to take advantages of the next level technologies such as CEUS.”

Classic core, new approach: The new offering has four times the data processing capability and ten times the system response rate of previous systems, according to its official announcement. This kind of improvements greatly enhances clinicians’ workflow and diagnostic confidence, featuring advanced rendering modes such as S-Live Silhouette, Color 3D and others.

“The soft launch of the ELITE series has drawn a lot of attention”, said Hover Zheng, Product Manager at SonoScape. “This new addition could be a real game changer of its segment, as you are getting the best of both worlds, premium configurations and reasonable cost.”

With a focus on optimizing image acquisition and diagnostic patient management workflows, SonoScape is providing practical solutions to hospitals and clinics as they seek to step up their performance by simultaneously improving the patient experience, health outcomes, and staff experience, while lowering the cost of care.

About

Founded in 2002 in Shenzhen, China, SonoScape has committed itself to “Caring for life through innovation” by providing ultrasound and endoscopy solutions and delivering first-rate services. It now has seven R&D centers in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Harbin, Wuhan, Tokyo, Silicon Valley and Seattle. Ranked as the top 10 ultrasound brands globally, SonoScape invests heavily into R&D annually, with more advanced products to be introduced into the pipeline.

LumiThera Inc., a commercial stage medical device company creating a photobiomodulation (PBM) treatment for ocular disorders and disease, announced it is collaborating with Diopsys, a leading provider of modern visual electrophysiology solutions. Diopsys’ technology helps eye care professionals accurately and objectively measure retinal and visual pathway function.

The joint effort supports a prospective, pilot, human clinical trial in U.S. subjects diagnosed with dry Age-related Macular Degeneration. The study will be conducted by Dan Montzka, M.D. and Larry Perich, D.O. at the Perich Eye Center, New Port Richey, Florida. The study will evaluate the ability of Photobiomodulation (PBM) treatment using the Valeda® Light Delivery System to improve Electroretinogram (ERG) outcomes in subjects with dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Subjects will be followed for up to six months. Subjects will receive three PBM treatments per week for three weeks for a total of nine sessions over three weeks. The primary analysis will examine multi-focal ERG function changes.

AMD is a leading cause of vision loss for people age 50 and older. It destroys the macula, the part of the eye that provides sharp, central vision needed for seeing objects clearly. Losing your central vision can make it harder to see faces, drive, or do close-up work like cooking or fixing things around the house. If you have early AMD, you may not experience vision loss for a long time. For other people, AMD progresses faster and can lead to central vision loss in one eye or both eyes.

“ERG produces objective, functional results in visual outcomes and enables improved patient management,” stated Larry Perich, D.O., Faculty, HCA/USF Ophthalmology residency program. “ERG testing can help doctors manage many common disorders like dry AMD, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and other indications. ERG outcomes combined with PBM treatment could identify patient improvements, monitor progress and optimize retreatment.”

We are excited to work with LumiThera and the goal is to use ERG testing as a diagnostic monitoring test to work with LumiThera’s PBM treatments to further characterize patient benefits on visual function,” indicated Joe Fontanetta, CEO, Diopsys. “This study will further establish ERG as the diagnostic tool for novel treatments such as PBM.”

“PBM shows improvements in ERG functional testing in animal studies and is a gold-standard for visual function, and ERG testing can be used very early in the disease stage to identify visual disturbances,” stated Clark E. Tedford, Ph.D., President and CEO, LumiThera, Inc. “As we bring forward the PBM platform for ocular disease and disorders, we want to couple PBM treatments with diagnostic and imaging modalities to help doctors diagnose, monitor and treat patients early and effectively. This study will allow us to examine ERG changes over time and set the foundation for treatment practices.

In 2018, LumiThera obtained a CE mark to commercialize the Valeda Light Delivery System in Europe for the treatment of dry AMD. Currently LumiThera is investigating the benefits of the Valeda Light Delivery System in dry AMD and Diabetic Retinopathy patient clinical trials.

About Diopsys

Diopsys, Inc. is the world leader in modern visual electrophysiology medical devices that help eye care professionals analyze the entire visual pathway for visual and neuro-visual disorders. The company provides both Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) and Electroretinography (ERG) vision testing technology. It is this technology that powers Diopsys, Inc.’s medical devices – the Diopsys® NOVA™, Diopsys® ARGOS™, and Diopsys® RETINA PLUS™ ERG and VEP Vision Testing System product series and the Enfant® Pediatric VEP Vision Testing System.

About LumiThera Inc.
LumiThera is a commercial-stage medical device company focused on treating people affected by ocular disorders and diseases including dry age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in adults over 65. The company is a leader in the use of PBM for treatment of acute and chronic ocular diseases and disorders. The company is developing the office-based Valeda® Light Delivery System to be used by eye care specialists as medical treatments.

The Valeda Light Delivery System has been granted authorization to use the CE Mark by an EU Notified Body as required for commercial use in the European Union only. Valeda is not approved for use by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA.

The first digital session of Medical Device Innovation Summit concludes on a positive note with industry leaders addressing burning topics to promote innovation in the medical equipment industry. From challenges like lack of regulatory systems to its new found potential of manufacturing indigenous products on a large scale, the summit successfully addressed discussions on new growth opportunities for the overall development of the sector.

The current pandemic situation has converged the entire medical industry and academia in a never seen before momentum. It has led to mass production of innovative medical products along with awareness of diagnosis and diagnostic tests that will help improve the quality of health in the future. From conducting 1,000 tests per day to 9 lakh tests per day to detect symptoms of COVID-19, India has showcased immense potential to become the global producer and supplier for quality indigenous medical equipment and technologies.

Scheduled on 29 August 2020, Messe Frankfurt India’s first ever webinar for the medical device industry saw prominent names from the industry as speakers like:

• Mr Vijay Kumar, Head of Strategic Marketing & Innovation, Roche Diagnostics India, Neighbouring Markets

• Ms Veena Kohli, CEO, Vanguard Diagnostics & President, ADMI – Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI)

• Dr Uma Nambiar, Executive Director, Gimcare Hospital and Chairperson, Digital Health India Association (DHIA);

• Mr Vijay Simha, CEO, Audicor Cardiometrics & Advisory Member-Health Start-up Committee, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry( FICCI )

• Dr Jitendar Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ)

Moderating this highly insightful live webinar was Mr Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) & Managing Director, Hindustan Syringes & Medical Device Ltd. The summit received strong support from Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED), Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI), Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ), and Digital Health India Association (DHAI).

India’s take on digital transformation in the medical industry

The current situation has brought in an open mindedness to the Indian medical system where everyone is latching on to the digital evolution and healthcare facilities. Homecare, tele-care and tele-medicines are a few expansions that hospitals will provide in increasing numbers in the future.

Dr Jitendar Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ) emphasised on the need for innovation in the therapeutic/treatment segment. He said: “We are fairly good and independent in the diagnostic segment. But on the therapeutic side, robotic surgery, gama knife and linear accelerator are the only kind of major new products currently available on a global level in last five to eight years. This is where Indian entrepreneurship and science can come into picture. To do so, we need a Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) with calibrated customs duty structure. We must also invest in shareable infrastructure that is technology oriented such as done at AMTZ for benefit of medical device industry.”

Outlook on non-COVID (IVD) test industry for 2020

The in vitro diagnostics (IVD) is recorded to mark a year on year growth of 30% in 2020 which will be double the market rate in average 10 years.

Explaining the statistic in detail, Ms Veena Kohli, CEO, Vanguard Diagnostics & President, ADMI – Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI) shared: “The Indian In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) industry is expected to record a year on year growth of 30% in the year 2020. This will be double the rate at which the industry has been growing in the past decade. The size of IVD industry in the year 2019 was INR 7500 Crore which was slated to grow at a CAGR of about 15% before the COVID crisis. COVID related products have already added INR 3400 Crore to the market size during the first half of the year and by the end of the year, this figure is expected to touch an estimated amount of INR 7300 Crore. Even if the size of non-COVID routine diagnostics products plummet to one third its original value, a base value of 2500 Crore will still remain, taking the total industry size to a value of INR 9800 Crore.”

The de-growth in the IVD industry may sound alarming but the sharp surge in COVID test and large production of indigenous products will more than make up for the loss this year.

Other important topics discussed during the session were the future of healthcare in India, impact on supply chains, manufactures and hospitals during the lockdown, need for a regulatory system for medical equipment industry and choosing quality over price competency to ensure ethical products and technologies in the medical field.

Messe Frankfurt India plans to launch Medical Device Innovation Summit as a large-format Conference and Exhibition in 2021.

Background information on Messe Frankfurt

Messe Frankfurt is the world’s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds. With about 2,600 employees at 29 locations, the company generates annual sales of around €736 million. We have close ties with our industry sectors and serve our customers’ business interests efficiently within the framework of our Fairs & Events, Locations and Services business fields. One of the Group’s key USPs is its closely knit global sales network, which extends throughout the world. Our comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent).