Weilos
The digital health market is growing. Funding for digital health companies reached nearly $700 million in the first quarter of 2014, and grew 87 percent compared to the first quarter of 2013, according to a report from Rock Health. Along the way, digital health startups have reorganized, rebranded, and shifted focus to meet the needs of their customers or to meet the needs of a new...
Verizon SureResponse mPERS
That has to be a question on the minds of Verizon healthcare executives this week.
Verizon just announced plans for a whopping $621 million acquisition of leading machine-to-machine company, Hughes Telematics. The Hughes acquisition is without a doubt focused on adding more cellular-enabled services to cars, which is Hughes core competency. Connected cars are beginning...
This week, GreatCall announced the nationwide availability of its mobile personal emergency response system (mPERS), called 5Star. GreatCall subscribers who use a Jitterbug J phone can add the 24/7 emergency service to their rate plan for an additional $14.99 per month. GreatCall acquired mPERS startup MobiWatch in November 2009, the all-stock deal for MobiWatch was valued at around $100,000, ...
WebMD has officially announced the release of its Medscape mobile app for Apple's iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. More than 700,000 healthcare professionals already use Medscape mobile, according to the company. Epocrates says more than 1 million healthcare providers use its Web and mobile apps, but it does break out its user base for the iPhone: 175,000 physicians have Epocrates on...
As is now tradition, MobiHealthNews is heading to the big Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas for the Digital Health Summit on Friday. I'll be moderating the mobile health focused session, which includes representatives from WellDoc, AT&T, GreatCall and Epstein Becker. All week mobile health and connected fitness news announcements have trickled out ahead of the big event.
Expect...
This past week I served as co-chair of the second annual Mobile Healthcare Industry Summit in London. Fresh off a red-eye flight into London Tuesday morning, I joined Qualcomm’s Vice President of Healthcare Don Jones on-stage to conduct a one-on-one interview for the more than 100 attendees present. Jones outlined a number of strategies for mobile health startups, batted away a number of oft-...
New details have emerged regarding the recently resurrected Lifecomm mobile health joint venture. In May Qualcomm announced a JV with Hughes Telematics and American Medical Alert to launch Qualcomm's Lifecomm brand as a wireless-enabled mobile personal emergency response offering. At the time we knew little more than that Lifecomm was an entity formed with cash and in-kind contributions by the...
Qualcomm's Lifecomm is back and it has taken the form of a mobile personal emergency response offering.
Hughes Telematics, Qualcomm, and American Medical Alert announced a joint venture to deliver mobile health services called Lifecomm. Lifecomm, an entity formed with cash and in-kind contributions by the parties, will operate as a majority-owned subsidiary of HTI and plans to launch a mobile...
FDA may regulate smartphone apps. LifeComm closes. Best Buy stocks connected health devices. Apple invites LifeScan on-stage. The West Wireless Health Institute is founded. CardioNet's reimbursement rate cut. Consumers want wireless health. Three-quarters of Americans are interested.
2009 was a big year for wireless health and in many ways it was this industry's break out year. Activity in the...
Wireless bed sensor startup raises $535K: During the past year Roanoke, Virginia-based startup Wireless Medcare has raised $535,000 in capital to develop Vivatrak, a wireless sensor that attaches to a patient's bed. Vivatrak monitors patient movement to prevent bed sores or to prevent falls if a patient attempt to get up without assistance. The startup's founders say the need to raise $1.5...
