• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

Why Money Flows into Mobile, Wearable Health Technology

Article

At this fall's most recent Health 2.0 Silicon Valley conference, the overall theme is that there is more excitement - and dollars - than ever in the realm of consumer healthcare informatics & technology.

This article reprinted with permission from iMedicalApps.com.

At this fall’s most recent Health 2.0 Silicon Valley conference, the overall theme is that there is more excitement — and dollars — than ever in the realm of consumer healthcare informatics & technology.

According to Matthew Holt, co-founder of Health 2.0, venture capital flowing into digital health technology companies has nearly doubled in comparison to last year, from $1.94 billion in all of 2013 to $3.65 billion as of October.

The biggest increase in funding, in terms of absolute numbers, has flowed to wearable technologies and technologies that encourage users to manage their own health conditions. Also seeing increases are patient-provider communication and business-to-business administrative tools. In contrast, the smallest number of products are in search, privacy & identity, and clinical trials & recruitment healthcare technologies.

Most interesting, notes Holt, is the “Uber”-fication of healthcare companies creating apps and online services that allow users to call healthcare providers on demand. Eleven companies call themselves the “Uber of Health Care”: Plushcare, OnCall, Uberdok, Zeel, StudioDental, Uberhealth, ViaHealth, Uber Dx, Curbside Care, Pager and Medicast. These services promise to treat conditions, such as urinary tract infections, sore throat, and sexually-transmitted diseases over the Internet.

A panel of venture capitalists at Health 2.0 noted a shift towards consumer health technologies due to the Affordable Care Act’s “consumerization of healthcare”, according to 7wire Ventures’s Glen Tullman.

Continue reading at iMedicalApps.com.

Related Videos
Victor J. Dzau, MD, gives expert advice
Victor J. Dzau, MD, gives expert advice