When should health startups turn to the crowd for cash?
photo: Michelangelus
Crowdfunding in healthcare isn’t without challenges but it can still be compelling option for digital health startups — as long as you learn the ropes. Read more »
After sorting out mobile carriers’ APIs, Apigee targets healthcare and the airlines
Ever wanted a single app that check you into any airline or an app that could aggregate healthcare data from multiple doctors and insurance companies? Apigee’s new API Exchange aims to make those apps possible. 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 »
How can health tech get beyond early adopters to reduce care disparities among the masses?
Health tech entrepreneurs and a report released this week look at ways to bridge knowledge and behavior gaps in health technology. Read more »
BetterDoctor takes on ZocDoc with streamlined doctor discovery app, now on iOS
BetterDoctor, a startup that takes a data-driven approach to helping people find quality doctors in their area, this week launched its first mobile app on iOS. 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 »
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 »
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 »
Digitizing the doctor’s office: 7 ways technology will shape healthcare in 2013
photo: Brian A Jackson
What does the boom in digital health mean for the health care industry overall? As a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report lists the top issues in health care, we take a look the ways in which technology could shape the industry in the coming year. Read more »
How MiGym plans to quantify the health club workout
photo: Shutterstock / Kzenon
Chicago app developer MiGym is giving health clubs an app store presence, but it has bigger plans. It hopes to make the gym a critical element in the quantified self, tracking members’ workout data and sharing that information with fitness and health platforms. Read more »
Healthcare needs a lesson in cybersecurity 101, report says
The rise of electronic health records, other digital health platforms and connected devices has made healthcare more vulnerable to security breaches almost any other industry, according to a recent investigation by The Washington Post. Read more »
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Health care and big data in 2012
Opportunities for big data and data-analytics firms in health care are likely to expand dramatically in the coming years. Driving this are trends such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the use of data to address inefficient processes, and the rapid growth of mobile health. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
NYC shapes up with new health tech incubator
Backed by the New York Economic Development Corporation, the Bio & Health Tech Entrepreneurship Lab will next month announce its first class of startups. Although it doesn’t provide funding or space, it is the latest program to provide health tech funders with mentorship and coaching. Read more »
Next digital health IPO: Practice Fusion, Castlight or ZocDoc?
A survey conducted by venture capital firm Interwest Partners found that 100 digital health entrepreneurs think Practice Fusion, Castlight or ZocDoc could be the next health tech IPO. The entrepreneurs also shared their biggest challenges and the companies they wished they had founded. Read more »
HealthTap wants to get the vote out – for the country’s top docs
Hoping to bring more transparency to the quality of care doctors provide, Palo Alto, Calif.-based HealthTap is announcing a ongoing competition on its site that lets patients and doctors vote for top physicians in each field. Read more »
QuantiaMD raises $12M for online community for doctors
QuantiaMD, a Waltham, Mass.-based company that provides an online collaboration and communication platform for doctors, has raised $12 million from existing funder Fuse Capital. Launched in 2008, the company said it has more than 160,000 physicians on its network. Read more »
3 health tech startups to watch from the DC to VC showcase
Ten forward-looking health tech startups pitched Wednesday at the DC to VC showcase in San Francisco, an annual event bridging Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Take a look at three companies that won the judges’ and audiences’ endorsement. Read more »
Blueprint Health demo day: 5 startups fixing health for patients
New York-based Blueprint Health, an accelerator for health-related startups, on Thursday graduated its second class of companies. Take a look at five aiming to improve the patient experience. Read more »
HealthTap adds peer-reviewed research to keep ‘cyberchondria’ at bay
To help patients and caregivers access easy-to-understand, cutting-edge medical research, HealthTap is adding the full library of peer-reviewed medical research from the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed. The goal is further educate patients as well as help disseminate new information through the physician community. Read more »
Corporate VCs participate in $2.1 billion in Q2 financing, highest in last five quarters
Corporate venture capital participated in $2.1 billion in financing in Q2, with one of the best quarters in the past five and an uptick in early-stage and standalone investments. Read more »
New York startup wants to be your ‘AAA for healthcare’
A New York startup, launched by an OpenSky co-founder and former About.com executive, helps patients and caregivers navigate the often confusing healthcare landscape by pairing them with trained patient “careplanners” with a range of expertise. Read more »
Kleiner Perkins joins Rock Health in sponsoring digital health startups
Kleiner Perkins and Rock Health have joined together to support digital health startups, a growing area for VC investment and interest as tech makes advances in the field possible. Read more »
Meet YouConnect: Maybe carriers and developers can get along
France’s three big mobile operators are cooperating to put out a common API that mobile retail sites and apps can use to autofill customer data into a purchase screen. It’s a small achievement, but a notable one, considering operators past failures to lure in developers. Read more »
7 women-led health tech startups to watch
Women are underrepresented at the top of the health field, including in entrepreneurship. According to health startup accelerator Rock Health, the lion’s share of VC funding goes to startups founded or led by men. But several new women-led startups are emerging. Take a look. Read more »
Wired cashes in on health tech boom with new conference, online vertical
photo: Christos Georghiou
As investments in health tech and consumer interest in health-tracking devices and apps continue to rise, Wired magazine said it is partnering with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to host its first conference on digital health and the future of healthcare. Read more at paidContent »
Sobering health stats get a Healthy Dose of Imagination
Healthy Dose of Imagination, a microsite launched Tuesday by the values-based venture fund Collaborative Fund, gives a lighter spin to the wonky world of healthcare with whimsical infographics visualizing innovations in health. Read more »
Mobile health is taking off but what’s still in its way?
Innovation and investment in mobile health apps continue to grow but health tech experts say the vast majority of mobile apps fail to engage consumers and the category as a whole has yet to win over doctors. Read more »
Health tech’s big year: by the numbers
The big health news of the summer will undoubtedly be last week’s Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act. But the industry has also made headlines for the major investments in health tech startups. Here’s a look at how it’s tracking so far. Read more »
Hadoop meets healthcare in new partnership
The Mount Sinai School of Medicine is about to get a lesson in big data thanks to Cloudera Chief Scientist Jeff Hammerbacher. He’s partnering with the school’s clinical and academic faculty to develop new methods and systems for analyzing data in a variety of important areas. Read more »
Fat databases, small pipes: The problem of data inertia
photo: Pinar Ozger
As datasets get fatter and cumbersome, it’s becoming harder to move them around. Even the fattest pipes look like cocktail straws when you’re talking about petabyte databases. It’s getting more and more difficult to move these massive troves of data to the applications that use them. Read more »
IBM’s Watson for “important” decisions where you need an advisor
photo: Pinar Ozger
IBM’s Watson will team up with Memorial Sloan Kettering this fall and plans to launch in a handful of cancer care centers this year, but Dan Cerutti, IBM’s VP of Watson Commercialization, said today at GigaOM Structurethat Watson could be used in other fields too. Besides […] Read more »
Doctors on demand: 5 startups wiping out the waiting room
An emerging group of health tech startups is trying to make healthcare more convenient by connecting patients and doctors for phone calls, Web video chats or written replies. Read more »
FCC working with startups, researchers to accelerate mHealth
Trying to give the still nascent mHealth sector a motivational kick in the pants, the Federal Communications Commission has begun working directly with startups and universities to help bring new wireless telemedicine and healthcare technologies to market faster. Read more »
New medical spectrum will untether patients from their monitors
Soon, a stay in intensive care will no longer mean being physically tethered to every monitoring device imaginable. The FCC has designated a slice of radio airwaves for medical body area networks, which will allow hospitals to cut the cord on bulky vital-signs monitoring gear. Read more »
ZocDoc CEO on why there aren’t more health tech startups
About five years after its launch, ZocDoc is not only used by more than 1.2 million people every month, it’s paving the way for an emerging wave of health startups. Read more »
How can tech help health care target Gen Y?
Gen Yers do everything from shop to socialize with their smartphones; it’s no surprise that a recent ZocDoc survey found that they feel disconnected from analog era health care services. Here’s how emerging health tech startups are addressing the Millenial patient’s pain point. Read more »
Can social media help heal healthcare?
For all of the debate, one thing is for sure: social media in medicine is here to stay. But when it comes to the availability of trustworthy information, we still have a ways to go. Avvo.com’s Mark Britton offers his prescription for better online healthcare. Read more »
Health Datapalooza takes the pulse of mHealth
Curious about where mHealth and Health 2.0 innovations are headed? Check out the third annual Health Data Initiative Forum, aka Health Datapalooza, June 5–6. If the success of previous programs is any indicator, several hot new startups should emerge from this year’s event. Read more »
Doxo wants to take the paperwork out of healthcare
The healthcare industry is one step closer to going paperless. Doxo, the Seattle-based startup that makes “digital file cabinet” software, has signed up a number of major healthcare providers who will now use the system to send medical bills and collect patient fees online. Read more »
Vimeo debuts Focus Forward, a film series about the big ideas in tech
Vimeo has joined forces with General Electric and video publisher Cinelan to launch “Focus Forward” — a micro documentary series that aims to showcase big, world-changing technology innovations in a compelling way. All the videos will be three minutes long and posted online. Read more »
