Important Industry News
May 2017 Financial Technology, Data, and Analytics
Hospital Makes $120 million bet on VR
The University of Nebraska Medical School has broken grounds on $120 million facility which will be used to train physicians and nurses on next generation care delivery using virtual and augmented reality technology. We are slowly finding out that the use of this technology expedites recovery and helps with depression; and that is just a start.
Apple buys AI company Lattice Data for $200 million; a specialist in unstructured dark data
Lattice has an inference engine to take unstructured “dark” data and turn it into structured information. Although the company’s technology is relevant to many verticals, rumors are that the main reason Apple picked up the company was for healthcare applications. The engine has the ability to parse through reams of unstructured healthcare data including the ones residing in EMRs. Lattice has previously raised $20 million from the likes of Google Ventures. According to IBM, 90% of the data produced to date has been produced in the past two years, with 70-80% being unstructured.
Merck and Amazon join hands to develop a diabetes app for Alexa
The two companies are challenging developers to build an Alexa app for diabetes. Penn Medicine and Commonwealth Care Alliance are already running pilot programs on Alexa. As we wrote in our editorial, we believe voice-enabled personal assistant platforms will become an integral part of healthcare eco system.
Amazon is flirting with the idea of becoming a PBM
In some markets like Japan, the company is already selling medical devices and medications. Today the medications that are sold on the site are through partners. We understand that Amazon is busy recruiting a general manager for the division. Despite the fact that there are formidable players in this market with entrenched positions, we think the odds of Amazon succeeding are pretty high.
The market has been talking about Amazon getting into healthcare in a big way. We think that time has arrived. Amazon is no longer an eCommerce retailer, it is the most powerful digital intermediator.
EnsoData gets FDA clearance for sleep analysis software
We celebrate each time a software application gets FDA approval. The privilege is no longer limited to drugs or devices. EnsoData uses machine learning to analyze sleep quality and aid in diagnosis of sleep or respiratory related sleep disorders. The software was validated in clinical studies using signals from standard PSG systems, and the algorithmically calculated scoring system is based on current American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) guidelines.
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