Opportunities + obstacles in primary care innovation
With tight margins, stretched staff, and physician shortages, delivering quality primary care remains a critical challenge in U.S. healthcare. Select startups innovating in primary care have raised fresh capital, with recent rounds going to Aledade and Hint Health. Aledade, with its focus on value-based care, intends to grow its Medicare Advantage presence (MA has grown to 42% of the Medicare population), while Hint Health offers membership and billing support to direct primary care clinics. The dynamics of primary care remain unforgiving, often requiring hard choices and quick pivots (e.g., Carbon Health recently restructuring its corporate workforce). Nonetheless, efficient workflows, empowered practitioners, expanded sites of care, and emerging payment models (that are not without controversy) continue to signal an area ripe for further innovation and disruption.
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Headlines
Virta Health Reports Positive Results From Diabetes Reversal Study
Rock Health port co presents five-year data showing sustained type 2 diabetes reversal Drug Delivery Business News
Wearables Market Sees First Ever Decline In Q1
Wristband wearable shipments decline 40.5% YoY in Q1, while smartwatches grow 9.1% MobiHealthNews
Apple Adds Medication Tracking Feature To Its Health App
+ Apple Watch’s AFib History feature gets new FDA clearance The Verge
Walgreens Adds Virtual Oncology Care To Its Digital Health Platform
Jasper now available on Walgreens’ Find Care platform Becker’s Hospital Review
New AI Algorithm For Detecting Pulmonary Hypertension
FDA grants breakthrough device designation to hypertension algorithm HealthTechInsider
Digital Twins And The Promise Of Personalized Medicine
Why it’s important to know-thy-digital-self, and how digital twins can help The Medical Futurist
Scorching Digital Behavioral Health Market Primed For Consolidation
But ‘expectations mismatch’ could put deals on ice Behavioral Health Business
Many Black Cancer Patients Say They Aren’t Offered The Chance At Clinical Trials
Racial biases in clinical trial construction leave behind patients STAT
Recent Funding
- CareBridge pulls in $140M to enable value-based care in post-acute settings
- Aledade closes on $123M to expand its tech-driven ACO services
- AI-enabled drug discovery startup Owkin locks in $80M
- Bicycle Health raises $50M for virtual opioid use disorder treatment
- Boulder Care grabs $36M for telehealth to support opioid use disorder
- Online training for professional caregivers CareAcademy lands $20M
- H1, a data platform for life sciences companies, adds $20M
- Digital birth control support Aavia collects $3.7M