HealthTech Roundup! #003

Welcome back to the April issue of HealthTech Roundup! The Easter 🐰 brought us some cool healthcare technology news and innovation this month – grab a ☕ and 🍫 (if you have any left, I don’t…) and let’s dive in!

First up, some news bites 🥪:

• Moderna signed on with IBM to tap into its quantum computers and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to explore rapid therapeutics development.

• Microsoft brings generative AI to Epic’s electronic health records (EHRs). Right now, HCPs are able to use GPT-4 within Epic to draft responses to patients and customise metrics. In a matter of weeks HCPs will be able to interact with the EHR via chat functionality, auto-generate referral letters and use it for decision-support.

• In more Microsoft news, its subsidiary Nuance Communications announced that its AI-powered app will transcribe patient notes during doctor visits.

• Amazon welcomed One Medical to their fold, allowing patients to connect with clinicians 24/7 via video chat or messaging. This is in addition to Amazon’s virtual Pharmacy and Clinic, and subscription-based RxPass.

• According to a panel discussion at HIMSS23, digital health developers have been cautioned not to build digital solutions in a vacuum. The panellists suggested that these solutions should aim to connect the healthcare system, support HCPs, and not solely focus on patients.

• Hospitals in Singapore are taking a gamified approach to clinician education and are using Virtual Reality (VR) technology to train its nurses in IV cannulation. Read it with the NHS launch of Extended Reality (XR) training programme.

• Remember the prescription digital therapeutics I’d mentioned last month? Unfortunately, Pear Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy as the company struggled to get insurers to pay for its prescription tech.

Now, let’s take a look at what’s happening in the start-ups space🚀:

• I'm learning so much about this space - did you know that the Australian Federal Government has so many incubators? Check out just one of them: Australian BioMedTech Incubator (BMTI) .

• Clinicians are hopping on the ‘doctorpreneur’ trend, and building healthtech start-ups to transform healthcare systems.

Finally, leaving you with a futurist throw-back tidbit 🤖:

• Fish, crab and butterfly-shaped microrobots were being prototyped to deliver therapeutics directly to cancer cells in 2017. Fast forward to 2023, these shapeshifting microrobots take oral hygiene to a whole new level and can automate the rinsing, brushing and flossing of teeth too!