Vamonos! Runkeeper adds support for new languages in global sprint
Fitness tracking app Runkeeper has launched in six new languages in an effort to reach a larger international audience. Read more »
Where are the shortest doctor wait times? Vitals crunches the numbers
Nationwide, the average doctor wait time decreased, but doctor reviews site Vitals reports that the general trend is toward longer wait times as more patients seek health care and doctors see more patients. Read more »
The AARP is looking for some good Baby Boomer entrepreneurs to back
photo: Yuri Arcurs
From their founding teams to their target audience, startups tend to be all about youth. But the AARP says 50+ market has huge potential. Read more »
A doctor’s office of the future? Google Ventures leads $30M investment in One Medical Group
photo: Brian A Jackson
One Medical Group, a San Francisco-based medical practice aiming to use technology to bring concierge-style medicine has raised $30 million in a round lead by Google Ventures. Read more »
What mobile health app developers need to know about looming government regulation
photo: iadams
This week, Congress held three days of hearings on regulating mobile health. The FDA hasn’t yet released its final guidance, but here are a few details on how it views the market so far. Read more »
Personalizing health online: where can you go for medical information that matches you?
photo: Mopic
By gathering personal health data, companies like HealthTap and WebMD are looking to customize health information online. Read more »
Omada Health raises $4.7M to take on diabetes and other diseases
photo: baki
With $4.7 million in new funding, Omada Health says it will support its online program that helps people with prediabetes lower their risk, as well as expand into other disease categories. Read more »
Jawbone brings its UP fitness bracelet to Android, returns to Europe
photo: Jawbone Facebook
Four months after releasing its new and improved UP fitness bracelet, Jawbone has launched an app for Android users. Read more »
Castlight hopes new drug shopping tool is “stepping stone” to more health care consumerism
Castlight launched a new drug price comparison tool to help consumers be more savvy about purchasing their medications and become more cost-conscious about their health purchases in general. Read more »
Meet the 10 digital fitness startups in the new Nike, TechStars accelerator
Nike and TechStars have announced the 10 startups that will be in its new accelerator program for digital fitness startups. Read more »
Tictrac opens up to help make health tracking more mainstream
Tictrac, a startup that helps people aggregate data from various tracking devices, apps and other non-health tools, this week opened to the public. Read more »
Meet Neurotrack, the winning health startup at SXSW
photo: Lightspring
Neurotrack, a startup built on years of neuroscience research, says it can identify patients at risk for developing Alzheimer’s years before the onset of the condition. Read more »
Health tech’s monthly checkup: more deals, but less investment in February (infographic)
photo: Shutterstock
Last month, total funding in digital health may have been down, but deal volume was up. Take a look at a graphic showing some investment highlights from February in health tech. Read more »
GE and NFL take the wraps off their $40M research project for tackling concussions
photo: Flickr / schluesselbein
A new research project and innovation challenge backed by GE and the NFL aims to uncover new technologies for preventing and treating traumatic brain injuries. Read more »
Lean government? How HHS is following Silicon Valley’s lead
Government agencies will never be as nimble as a Silicon Valley startup, but, at SXSW, Bryan Sivak, CTO of the Dept. of Health and Human Services, describes how the tech world is influencing his agency. Read more »
Designing for health tech? Remember the 7 deadly sins
photo: Basis
Public health has long focused on awareness and attitude in promoting behavior change. But health behavior experts and others say that’s not enough — you need to trigger emotion. Read more »
Basis raises $11.5M for health-tracking wristwatch, adds Deepak Chopra to advisory board
Basis Science has raised a $11.5 million for its wristband that uses sensors to track several health indicators. The company also said that Esther Dyson and Deepak Chopra had joined its advisory board. Read more »
What ed tech can learn from health care when it comes to data access
Amid parent concern over new efforts to harness student data, an education technologist talks about how public discussion over health data could positively influence current debates over the use of student data. Read more »
Alt12 is tackling digital health, pregnancy and parenthood one comment at a time
How to answer women’s questions about digital health, pregnancy, and parenthood on mobile? One entrepreneurial couple decided to tackle these issues with a social approach in Pink Pad, Baby Bump and Kidfolio. Read more »
Practice Fusion buys mobile health startup 100Plus to power patient tools with clinical data
In its first major acquisition, electronic health records provider Practice Fusion has purchased 100plus, a personalized health prediction mobile startup. Read more »
4 ways mobile health could save $400B in health costs
photo: iadams
A report from the GSMA and PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that mobile health could save developed countries $400 billion in 2017. Here are four uses of mobile technology that could help make that happen. Read more »
When will we see more billion-dollar health tech companies?
A recent survey compares the perspectives of health tech entrepreneurs and investors on areas of opportunity and challenges in health care information technology. Read more »
5 startups from Rock Health that want to use technology to make you healthier
Rock Health, the startup accelerator that works with digital health companies, presented its fourth batch on Wednesday in San Francisco. The group of companies look to target different ways of improving health through technology. Read more »
With $3M Breakthrough Prize in life sciences, tech titans want to turn scientists into superheroes
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sergey Brin, investor Yuri Milner and other Silicon Valley leaders have created a multi-million-dollar prize recognizing researchers in the life sciences. Read more »
Skip Skype, workout with friends online with Wello
Wello, a Kleiner Perkins-backed online personal training startup, has added group lessons to its online training options. The webcam-enabled live sessions let groups of up to five (including family and friends or strangers) workout together online. Read more »
As genome sequencing becomes more affordable should you do it?
photo: Mopic
As genome sequencing drops to a price that’s palatable for more consumers, two doctors debate whether those without medical conditions should do it. Read more »
Health startup Keas ‘reboots’ to turn your work colleagues into virtual gym buddies
photo: dotshock
Employee wellness startup Keas has announced a new management team and new product meant to make it feel even less like an enterprise product and more like a gamified consumer social network. Read more »
Amiigo and its exercise database want to make your fitness device look dumb
The secret to Amiigo’s intelligent fitness tracker is a collection of sensors and a reference database full of information about hundreds of activities. The more data users feed it, the smarter it gets. Read more »
GAIN Fitness unbundles the exercise class with new platform – and new funding
GAIN Fitness, a San Francisco-based startup backed by InterWest Partners, former Square COO Keith Rabois and Practice Fusion co-founder Matthew Douglass, is launching a new marketplace of workout apps from top trainers. Read more »
Docs flock to private social networks amid tighter laws; 20 pct of U.S. doctors join Doximity
As doctors become more aware of the privacy risks related to electronic communication, San Mateo, Calif.-based Doximity, a secure, physician-only social network, said it’s attracted one in five U.S. doctors to its network. Read more »
70 percent of Americans track their health, but most go low-tech
photo: daniaphoto
A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that 7 in 10 American adults tracks a health indicator like weight, diet, exercise or a symptom. But half say they track “in their heads” and about a fifth use technology. Read more »
Speed dating for startups: NYC and Health 2.0 pair health organizations with entrepreneurs
A new program launched by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Health 2.0 aims to play matchmaker for digital health startups and key healthcare organizations in the city. Read more »
‘Robodocs’? ‘Tricorders’? How telemedicine will shape the future of health
photo: iRobot
News that the FDA has cleared iRobot’s medical robots for use in hospitals stoked interest across the web, but ‘robodocs’ are just one way telemedicine could keep healthcare costs down, improve care and increase access to patients. Read more »
What’s inside your vitamins? Rock Health-backed LabDoor launches app to help you find out
LabDoor, a San Francisco-based startup backed by digital health accelerator Rock Health, on Thursday launched web and mobile apps to help people research dietary supplements. Read more »
Education and health startups may be ‘cloaked in nobility,’ but how good are they, really?
As companies in education technology, as well as health care and clean tech, pursue both market- and mission-driven agendas, B Lab co-founder Andrew Kassoy argues that it’s important to remember that these industries are “cloaked in nobility.” Read more »
GigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013
Given how CES is now a barometer for such a wide array of technology segments, GigaOM Research decided to ask our readers which way the tech winds will blow over the next year based on what they saw in Las Vegas. (Subscription required) Read more »
Are health care companies prepared for the new HIPAA privacy and security rules?
photo: Chad McDermott
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services said it made the most “sweeping changes” to the HIPAA privacy and security law. But though the industry has expected the changes, companies are all over the map when it comes to being prepared. Read more »
John Sculley-backed health startup Audax raises $21M, SEC filing says
Audax Health, a Washington, DC-based digital health company that partners with insurance companies to offer social, personalized heath management support to consumers, has raised nearly $21 million, according to a recent filing with the SEC. Read more »
Diabetes startup Glooko goes for the hat trick: new CEO, new product and FDA clearance
Mobile diabetes-management startup Glooko has hired its first CEO, former Intuit Health executive Rick Altinger, launched a new product in the U.S. and recently received FDA clearance to sell its products to patients over the counter. Read more »
Dr. Google is as popular as ever — can real doctors adapt?
For at least a third of American adults, the internet — and, in particular, search engines — is a diagnostic tool. But physicians are only slowly adapting to this new reality. Read more »
