Category: Health News

Atlas scores $40M for financial assistant tool and more digital health funding

Atlas, an AI-powered, patient-centered financial-navigator company, announced a $40 million Series A funding round. Felicis Ventures led the round with participation from GreatPoint Ventures, Tribe Capital, Global Founders Capital and MBX Capital. 

The company’s platform is designed to match patients to medical financial aid programs and advocates. The tool was created to integrate with a healthcare provider’s systems in order to match patient accounts and prescriptions to potential programs. The company’s patient advocates are able to submit claims and track payment. The company pitches its tool as a way to build reimbursement from philanthropic funds. 

The Seattle-based company plans to use the new funds to propel its go-to-market strategy, according to its release. 

Patient-triage company Infermedica scored $30 million in Series B funding. One Peak led the funding round with participation from Karma Ventures, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Heal Capital and Inovo Venture Partners. The startup plans to use the money to boost its global commercial presence and expand its global footprint. 

The company closed a $10.2 million Series A funding round in August 2020. To date, the company boasts of $44 million in capital. 

Infermedica’s products include a symptom-checking, AI-enabled chatbot that guides patients through

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Mental health startup Intellect bags $10M in Series A funding

Singapore-based mental health startup Intellect has raked in $10 million in a Series A investing round led by HOF Capital. 

The oversubscribed round was also participated by its new investors, Headline, East Ventures, MS&AD Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, Pioneer Fund, as well as its existing investor, Insignia Ventures Partners. 

Since it launched in 2020, the company has raised a total of $13 million.

WHAT IT DOES

Intellect offers an end-to-end unified mental healthcare platform. It provides mental health benefits for employers which feature clinical-based digital therapy programmes, along with telehealth services. Its consumer-facing product is an app that hosts self-guided cognitive behaviour therapy programmes.

Available on both iOS and Android devices, the app now has over three million users across 20 countries. Recently, it signed in major enterprise clients, such as foodpanda, Singtel and Schroders. Intellect claims an employee adoption rate of between 20% and 40%.

WHAT IT’S FOR

In a press statement, Intellect said it will use its fresh funds to rapidly scale its offerings and presence across Asia. It will be adding more products to serve the entire mental healthcare spectrum, from self-care to live counselling, coaching, and crisis management care.

“To massively scale our offerings across Asia,

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Passenger Exposed Buttocks and Threw a Can During Flight, Prosecutors Say

A passenger who refused to wear a mask on a flight from Dublin to New York pulled down his pants and exposed his buttocks, threw a can at a passenger and put his cap on the captain’s head and told him, “Don’t touch me,” prosecutors said in a case unsealed on Friday.

After the Delta flight from Dublin to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jan. 7, the passenger, Shane McInerney, 29, of Galway, Ireland, was charged with intentionally assaulting and intimidating a crew member, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

On Saturday, Mr. McInerney’s lawyer, Benjamin Yaster, declined to comment on the charges. Mr. McInerney made an initial appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on Jan. 14 and was released on a $20,000 bond, prosecutors said.

The charges represent the latest example of the unruly and sometimes violent behavior that has surged on airplanes since the start of the pandemic. Many of the disturbances have involved passengers who refused to wear masks, as required by the federal government.

On Wednesday, an American Airlines flight from Miami to London turned around about an hour into its journey because of a passenger who

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Coviu’s latest app combines telehealth, remote patient monitoring for COVID-19 management

Telehealth firm Coviu, in partnership with medical devices distributor Propell Health, has developed an integrated telehealth and remote patient monitoring application for the management of COVID-19 patients.

WHAT IT DOES

According to a media release, the app is able to display health data from bluetooth-enabled medical devices, such as pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, and digital thermometers, in video teleconsultations. Clinicians are able to receive real-time measurements while holding a video call with a patient. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Coviu and Propell Health came up with the solution as Australia is dealing with a new deadly surge of COVID-19 cases that has overwhelmed its health system once more. With a reported 700,000 new weekly cases, hospitalisations and deaths have been pushed to a record, forcing the state of Victoria to declare code brown early this week.

As the peak of cases may be weeks away, according to the Australian Medical Association, healthcare professionals are relying on remote patient monitoring to manage and treat patients. “[I]t’s important that we maintain a high level of RPM to ascertain and capture serious cases early to prevent home deaths,” said Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, co-founder and CEO of Coviu.

Coviu maintained that its latest solution is

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New Government Website for Ordering Covid Tests Is Active

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s new website allowing people to order up to four free at-home coronavirus tests quietly went live on Tuesday — a day in advance of its formal launch — and demand already appeared to be significant.

A combined total of more than 1 million visitors were on the home page and the ordering page of covidtests.gov at one point Tuesday evening — more than 40 times as many as were on the government site with the next highest traffic, the U.S. Postal Service’s package-tracking page, according to analytics.usa.gov, which monitors traffic on participating federal websites.

At a White House news conference on Tuesday, President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the official launch would take place on Wednesday morning, but that the site had begun taking orders during what she described as a “beta testing phase” conducted by the U.S. Digital Service, the government’s technology support division.

Also on Wednesday, the White House will announce that it is making 400 million “high quality,” nonsurgical N95 masks available, free of charge, at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the nation. The masks will be released from the Strategic National Stockpile, officials said, calling the effort

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Hims & Hers dips into the female hair loss space

Direct-to-consumer virtual healthcare company Hims & Hers has a long history of treating hair loss in men, but today the company is rolling out two new products focused on the issue in women. 

Customers experiencing hair loss will now be able to access a topical Finasteride and Minoxidil spray, as well as oral spironolactone, a pill that can decrease androgen levels. Users can take a hair care assessment, which will give customers more information about their options. 

In order to get a prescription for the spray or pill, users need to complete a medical consultation through the Hims & Hers platform with a healthcare provider. If a medical professional prescribes the medication, users will be able to purchase the treatment through Hims & Hers. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

Hair loss is common in women. In fact, about 50% of women experience noticeable hair loss, according to the Cleveland Clinic. 

Hair loss is more common in women over 40 and for those who just had a baby. It also impacts women going through chemotherapy and those going through menopause. 

“This launch is the direct result of Hers’ close relationship with our consumers, listening to their health goals and what they feel

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