Google’s $2 billion acquisition of Fitbit last month has been met with concern from privacy advocates worried about how the tech giant will use personal fitness data. This reaction prompted the tech giant to clarify that the acquisition is "about devices, not data."
The deal has brought to light a larger issue that we all seem to gloss over: Every day, millions of people publicly share seemingly...
Maternal and child health are critical for digital solutions that positively impact pregnancy outcomes. As early as 2016, this category of app saw approximately 200 million downloads as the broader consumer marketplace looked to smartphone trackers for fertility and maternity education.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has added an additional reason to have care online that avoids an in-person...
The alarming scale of the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic has resulted in unprecedented human and economic devastation, and there is significant opportunity for digital tools to alter the gold standard of care to one that is ongoing and on-demand.
The epidemic has only worsened since the onset of COVID-19, given heightened economic instability, social isolation, disruption to transportation...
Clinical trials have become big news this year amid the search for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. They are a critical component of helping the FDA validate that new drugs and diagnostics will be both safe and effective.
Pharmaceutical companies spend over $45B a year running clinical trials, which are, by design, very methodical and measured. Unfortunately, they are also slow, unpredictable...
With the use of digital health products and services in overdrive, veteran investors and newcomers alike are lining up to fund new ventures, including those that involve the lifeblood of the healthcare industry: data.
While new investors are bullish about a digital health sector that – so far – seems to have no ceiling, those of us who were backing data companies through the 2001 recession, the...
This is not a story about COVID-19, although COVID-19 is a key catalyst. This is the story of a new healthcare ecosystem, which will allow the development of new, diverse and creative healthcare experiences.
Today I can acquire a user on Facebook, give them access to physicians via partnership with Wheel, have medicines seamlessly shipped to their homes via Truepill [Editor's note: Hogg is a...
It’s been quite a year: COVID-19, a change in administration and a year of transition for FDA digital health policy. In light of all the change and uncertainty, many digital health companies are struggling to decide upon a regulatory strategy for 2021.
My advice? If at all possible, stay away from FDA. They have enough to do right now. The people I know at FDA have been working 12- and 15-hour...
In Part 1 of this article, we introduced Medicare and its covered services, along with rationales for digital health startups to engage with the nation’s largest payer. These motivations include Medicare’s large and growing beneficiary base, access to the nation’s largest and most influential payer, and movement toward value-based care.
Despite these opportunities, startups have been relatively...
Despite its attractive large market size, Medicare has long frustrated early stage healthcare companies. The complex federal health insurance system, mired in statutory constraints, has arguably discouraged entry from would-be external innovators.
Regulations intended to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, also create barriers to adoption for innovative value-creating products and services. The goal...
About the Authors: Ian Chiang is a principal at Flare Capital Partners, a healthcare technology and services-focused VC firm. Prior to joining Flare, he was the SVP of product and innovation and a founding member of Cigna’s CareAllies. Previously, he was a digital health entrepreneur and a former management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Poorwa Godbole is an MBA candidate at the Wharton...
