EpiWatch, the Apple Watch-based ResearchKit study on epilepsy led by Johns Hopkins, shared some early results at a conference last week. The results shared were of 598 participants over 10 months who used the app to track their seizures and provided information to researchers about what was happening before the seizure struck. The most common trigger, named in 37 percent of cases, was stress....
Apple has hired Dr. Mike Evans, a Toronto doctor who boasts 70,000 followers on his medical-themed YouTube channel. Evans was formerly a staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. As CBC reported, Evans is a mobile health enthusiast who has talked on his YouTube show about a future in which he might precribe an Apple Watch app for high blood pressure. Apple doesn't typically comment on...
This year is shaping up to be a big one for acquisitions, if not for the money (many are for undisclosed amounts) but for sheer volume. We’ve seen 30 so far, and with a little over three months to go, 2016 may well end up eclipsing 2015’s total of 37 deals. Rather than just list the companies, we've broken them down into different categories based on who the acquirer is, to try to outline some...
Earlier this week, Facebook announced a new platform for its Messenger app that allows companies to create chat bots that communicate with users. Already about three dozen companies have launched Facebook bots, including CNN, weather tracking company Poncho, and 1-800-Flowers. Among the initial batch, one health-focused company, HealthTap, launched a chat bot.
More than 900 million people use...
Palo Alto-based health tech company HealthTap has quietly acquired Docphin, a startup that makes it easier for physicians to find and read medical research, for an undisclosed sum. Docphin was a member of Rock Health's second accelerator class back in 2012 as well as StartUp Health's second class of startups later that same year. The company, which was founded in 2010, never publicly announced a...
It can be a little hard to keep track of exactly what Palo Alto-based HealthTap does these days. What began as a doctor Q&A service that has since expanded into doctor ratings and app curation, as well as launching its HealthTap Prime service for video visits, which also helps connect patients to lab tests via an integration with Quest Diagnostics. Now the digital health company is tackling...
HealthTap and Quest Diagnostics are partnering to add lab tests to HealthTap's video visits. Doctors on HealthTap's platform will be able to order diagnostic tests for their patients, who can then make an appointment with the nearest Quest lab to have the tests done. The results will then be accessible to the doctors via HealthTap's platform and to patients online or via Quest's MyQuest app.
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Chris Bergstrom
Recent months have brought with them a number of important hires and departures at digital health companies. Here's a roundup of some of the ones we've been tracking. Feel free to add your own in the comments below.
Chris Bergstrom has stepped away from his full-time position of Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at WellDoc, but he will remain an advisor to the company. As a...
Palo Alto-based HealthTap has released a ranking of health, wellness, and medical apps based on the public endorsements of thousands of doctors who use the HealthTap AppRx platform. Although not every doctor in HealthTap's network participated and those that did didn't see all the apps, the system is designed to give each app equal exposure and to minimize bias on the part of physician reviewers...
HealthTap, the doctor Q&A service that has since expanded into both doctor ratings and app curation, announced its newest product, a paid, voice-activated app called Talk to Docs.
The app, which will be available on Android or iOS phones for $0.99, leverages archived answers from HealthTap's free Q&A platform. It uses natural language processing to parse user's health questions and search...
