-
Humana partners with Heal and invests $100 million in the company’s doctor-on-demand service
“The doctor’s office is dead.” That’s the way Nick Desai, the co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based startup Heal describes the future of traditional healthcare delivery. While Desai’s bluster may be wishful thinking, the doctor’s office is certainly changing, and that’s thanks in part to companies like Heal, which offer in-home and telemedical consultations — and health insurance providers like Humana that are backing ... -
Y Combinator’s Vitable Health is bringing basic healthcare to underserved populations
Joseph Kitonga, the 23-year-old entrepreneur behind Vitable Health, first saw the need for a new kind of healthcare service growing up in Philadelphia and seeing the experience of the home healthcare workers who worked at his parents’ business. The Kitongas immigrated to the United States a decade ago and settled down in Philadelphia, where they started a home-care business matching workers ... -
Nanox raises $59M for low-cost, downsized scanning tech to replace X-rays
Israeli startup Nanox has big ambitions to take on the world of medical imaging and imaging analytics with hardware that reduces the size and cost of scanning equipment, plus software that improves the quality of images and the insights you can gain from them. Today, Nanox is announcing another big step ahead in that plan: it’s raised another $59 million in funding, ... -
Tencent and Chinese scientists use deep learning to predict fatal COVID-19 cases
Tech firms around the world are in an overdrive to help battle the coronavirus pandemic. Research showed that 6.5% of COVID-19 patients can suddenly progress to serious illness, and among them the mortality rate can be as high as 49%. Therefore one of the key tasks for health authorities is to identify and treat patients who may develop severe or fatal syndromes early ... -
RapidSOS raises $21M to continue expanding its data platform for first responders
The global health pandemic has shed new light on how essential it is to have accurate data about an individual’s situation to assess the severity of his or her condition, and for those responding to emergencies to have it as instantly as possible to make the right choices in terms of care. Today, a startup that’s built a platform that ... -
VR telemedicine platform XRHealth raises $7 million
As the pandemic pushes more investors towards examining opportunities in telemedicine, a VR startup building out a platform for remote treatment has closed on new funding. XRHealth tells TechCrunch that they’ve raised $7 million in funding with backing from Bridges Israel, Flint Capital and 20/20 HealthCare Partners. The startup has raised $15 million to date, including a $4 million seed ... -
EU lawmakers set out guidance for coronavirus contacts tracing apps
The European Commission has published detailed guidance for Member States on developing coronavirus contacts tracing and warning apps. The toolbox, which has been developed by the e-Health Network with the support of the Commission, is intended as a practical guide to implementing digital tools for tracking close contacts between device carriers as a proxy for infection risk that seeks to steer Member States ... -
African genomics startup 54gene raises $15M led by Adjuvant Capital
Greater availability of African genomic data could lead to medical breakthroughs for the continent’s 1.2 billion people. That’s the driving proposition of 54gene — a U.S. and Nigeria based startup — that collects African genetic code for use in health research and drug development. The company has closed a $15 million Series A round, in part, to address a deficiency in these ... -
Fauci: US can expect more than 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, millions of cases
On CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, the leading U.S. authority on the COVID-19 pandemic made some grim predictions about the course of the novel coronavirus as it rages through communities within the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and emerging face of American leadership in the fight against the ... -
People who mostly get news from social networks have some COVID-19 misconceptions
A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center shows a COVID-19 information divide between people who mostly get their news from social networks and those who rely on more traditional news sources. Pew surveyed 8,914 adults in the U.S. during the week of March 10, dividing survey respondents by the main means they use to consume political and election news. In ...