Ladies first

As families prepared their Mother’s Day celebrations, the digital health sector saw its first public exit this year—by a maternal health company. Nuvo, which provides remote monitoring solutions for pregnancy, exited onto the Nasdaq via SPAC, becoming the first digital health public exit in 21 months. Nuvo’s exit comes alongside other recent moves in maternal and women+ health, including the introduction of the Mamas First Act in Congress to support midwife and doula coverage for Medicaid members, as well as the launch of the Wonder Women Collaborative, a collective of digital health startups addressing women+ health needs. Partnership and funding activity is also sprouting in women+ digital health: Q1 2024 saw seven raises for women+ digital health companies totaling $105M, compared to a total of $73M across seven deals for Q3 and Q4 2023 combined—though we have yet to see what will fully bloom across 2024.

Headlines

'Telehealth 1.0 Is Dead,' But Don't Count Out Digital Health Just Yet
Telehealth companies will need to evolve and differentiate in order to succeed Yahoo Finance

House Committee Advances Bill That Would Extend Telehealth Flexibilities
Legislators have until year-end to extend Medicare flexibilities through 2026 Healthcare Dive

Apple Pushes Into Clinical Trials With New FDA Nod For Apple Watch
FDA approves Apple Watch as first qualified digital tool in medical device clinical trials STAT

Vitamin Shoppe's Telehealth Service To Provide Access To Weight-Loss Drugs
Whole Health Rx offers subscription to cover drug costs without requiring insurance Reuters

Gates, Novo, And Wellcome Commit $300M To Climate Change, Infectious Diseases, And Nutrition
New partnership supports global health R&D with individual commitments of $100M each Forbes

Otsuka Launches New Company To Commercialize Rejoyn, The First FDA-Cleared PDT For Depression
New subsidiary will also commercialize additional digital therapeutics and connected health products MedCity News

Medicaid Redeterminations Losses Exceeding Predicted Levels In Some States
Medicaid beneficiaries lose coverage as states exceed projected disenrollment Healthcare Dive

Recent Funding

  • Rad AI banks $50M to streamline and automate radiology workflows using AI
  • AI-based revenue cycle management and billing solution Sift Healthcare reels in $20M
  • Opmed.ai raises $15M to optimize operating room scheduling and efficiency through AI
  • Triomics garners $15M to develop a Gen AI tool for oncology clinical trials
  • Pediatric mental health startup Backpack Healthcare secures $14M
  • Blackwell Security adds $13M for its healthcare-focused cybersecurity platform
  • Ciba Health collects $10M to use digital-first, whole-person medicine to treat chronic conditions
  • Acclinate nabs $7M to enhance diversity in clinical trials through community engagement
  • In-House Health, a nurse scheduling optimization and management tool, seeds $4M
  • AI-powered risk stratification and analytics solution OptMyCare picks up $3M
  • Credentialing and clinical employee engagement solution DoorSpace raises $2M