The Chinese government has banned remote consultations without prior diagnosis and forbidden AI as a substitute for doctors in a major crackdown on the digital health sector. The new rules have left stocks reeling.
Dutch telehealth company Quin recently sold seven of its 11 physical GP practices with plans to sell the remaining four. CEO Bart Malenstein tells HBI that the company will instead focus on a licensing model to make its digital platform available to operators. This includes plans to expand into more specialist care and into other countries.
The more you look at the Babylon SPAC deal, the more black box it looks. The sheer complexity of the US insurance system makes it impossible for investors to assess its prospects with any accuracy. And then there is the question of the $230m sale of shares made by "certain accredited investors". How much of this went to Babylon founder Ali Parsa?
Doctolib, a French company which provides a consultation booking platform in France and Germany, has bought its Italian equivalent, Dottori. The company plans to invest €250m into improving its software and the service it offers to the Italian market.
Scotland will become the first country in the world to offer digital therapeutics for insomnia and anxiety for free at a national level, after NHS Scotland announced on October 13 that it has contracted with digital therapeutics group Big Health to make its two apps available to all five million Scottish adults. Big Health’s UK Director, Dr. Charlotte Lee, tells HBI the company plans to retain its focus on insomnia and anxiety as these areas are key to good overall mental health.
Getting the over-75s and the immune-suppressed to the front of the queue in Switzerland and 18 of its 23 cantons was the task for Romain Boichat and his team at Soignez-Moi faced last winter. The urgency is shown by the pace. Given the go-ahead on December 23, 2020, the online booking system for mobile phones was up and running on January 4. But the official sign-off awarding the contract didn't arrive until March 31, 2021. Boichart is now keen to offer the software to developing countries and is offering it free to the World Health Organisation.
Top Doctors, the third biggest doctor-booking platform in private healthcare after EU-based Doctolib and global player DocPlanner, has raised $13m to improve its digital tools and grow in key sectors. HBI chats with Alberto E. Porciani, CEO of Top Doctors to find out more.
Around half of the 183 contracts between NHS trusts and telehealth provider Attend Anywhere are expiring in March 2022. The upcoming tender process is expected to be competitive, with rivals including eConsult, which currently focuses on primary care, looking to increase market share in outpatient consultations.
France has committed to reforms in homecare, optometry, and mental health in its social security budget for next year. One source says that it's a particularly important budget with elections coming in the Spring of next year. Meanwhile, President Macron has also committed to replicating Germany's model for reimbursing digital health apps.
Since we last interviewed health-tech provider Dr Nadine Hachach-Haram, the Proximie CEO, last year, the group's technology has been deployed in 200 additional hospitals globally, and it has plans to scale its services up following its recent partnership with telehealth rival, Teladoc Health. HBI speaks to Hachach-Haram to find out more.
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