Sri Lanka: first digital health platform launched

The World Bank group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Sri Lankan conglomerate Hemas Holdings have partnered to provide affordable and quality health-care through digital technology. The IFC: “Sri Lanka will be the first country to benefit from an IFC global initiative designed to boost access to affordable and quality health-care”. Global Digital Health Platform (DigiHealth) will create a platform to partner with healthcare organizations to develop, implement and finance digital transformation strategies.

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Mergers and acquisitions in digital health on the rise again

A new report by Rock Health describes mergers and acquisitions as a new way to invest in digital health. It takes place despite a significant slowdown in digital health investments. The following are key merger and acquisition trends in digital health: Mergers and acquisitions in the digital health sector averaged nearly 23 deals per month in 2021, for a total of 273 transactions. A monthly average of 23 digital health mergers and acquisitions was recorded in January and February of 2022. During the second quarter of 2022, economic headwinds caused digital health mergers and acquisitions to decline to 13 deals per month. With an average of 15 deals per month in the third quarter of 2022, there have been 144 digital health mergers and acquisitions in the first three quarters of 2022. The report expects this trend to continue into the fourth quarter of 2022, with merger and acquisition deals continuing to increase.  Rock Health’s latest report identifies four archetypes of digital health buyers capitalizing on sell-side interests to meet the following operational needs: 1. Consolidation for inorganic growth: ‘As some digital health startups contemplate exiting the private market to avoid an austere funding climate, others are looking to weather the market by acquiring their competitors, leading to waves of sector consolidation. From the buyer’s perspective, consolidation is a useful approach to grow one’s customer base and build confidence from investors looking for growth indicators.’ 2. Acquisitions to enhance core operations and internal efficiencies ‘The second acquisition strategy involves purchasing digital health startups that enhance or streamline the acquirer’s core operations, ideally offsetting the cost of acquisition with the bottom-line savings that would result from new internal efficiencies. Interestingly, many acquirers pursuing this type of M&A approach are provider organizations, which are battling staffing cost surges and rollbacks in post-pandemic relief funding.’ 3. “Buy and build” deals for category expansion ‘ A third acquisition strategy involves buying digital health companies with features complementary to the acquirer entity—empowering the acquirer to move more freely upstream or downstream in the care delivery value chain. This stepwise strategy can help acquirers capture market share in adjacent care categories.’ 4. M&A for disruptive innovation ‘As interest rates have continued to soar, the relative cost of capital has increased in tandem. With the days of easy money in the rear-view mirror, Rock Health hypothesize that the players best positioned to make headline-grabbing M&A deals are primarily those who used the heady times of 2021 to accumulate and hold serious cash reserves.’

French “My health space” expands the catalog of digital services

“My health space”, the French national electronic health record, launched at the start of the year, has expanded its catalog of certified digital services, L’usine Digital reports (in French). In total, 12 sites and applications are now offered to the 65.4 million users, who have activated their online personal spaces, as well as those who have not opted out. The catalog includes, for example, the Ameli Account, the Santé.fr directory, Libheros, and My medicines. To appear on the portal, these services must comply with more than 150 interoperability, security and ethical requirements, in accordance with the framework defined by the Digital Health Agency (ANS), and more than be GDPR compliant. In particular, they must have obtained the Health Data Host (HDS) certification. “There are regulatory tools to ensure that all players follow the same rules to guarantee data transparency to users and data control by users”, explained Hela Ghariani, the ministerial delegate for digital health.

New digital platform launched to destigmatize mental health in Arab world

Arab mental health stigma is being addressed through a newly launched digital platform. Houna offers information, resources, and support groups in Arabic to help tackle taboos surrounding the issue. The founder of Houna, Sheikha Majda Al-Sabah, told Arab News that Arabic mental health resources are lacking. Researching anything in Arabic is difficult. – Houna is a non-profit initiative that cares for mental health and acts like an aggregator and takes all the people that need help in terms of mental health and connects them to people that provide it. she said. Houna was founded by philanthropist and mental health advocate Al-Sabah with the goal of helping individuals suffering from depression, anxiety, abuse, eating disorders, addictions, or thoughts of suicide. In addition to providing information, Houna can point people to relevant support groups offering live counseling sessions, while also raising awareness of mental health issues. “We truly believe that support groups are the best way to take care of mental health,” Al-Sabah said. The platform works on the principles of inclusivity, respect, confidentiality, credibility, and integrity. It provides resources written in Arabic and English for people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and nationalities in the Middle East. In addition to podcasts, articles, webinars, and online events, the data includes the latest information on mental health disorders, symptoms, and treatments. Houna also offers regular mental health support groups as well as direct access to 150 licensed therapists and medical professionals.

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Willum Þór: The question remains if our healthcare system is sustainable

On January 1st, Iceland took over the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. This intergovernmental organisation plays an important role in promoting innovations, health data integration, and cooperation between all major stakeholders in the Nordic healthcare. The Icelandic Health Minister elaborates on his vision to future health in the Nordic region, the Nordic strengths, Iceland’s plans for the Presidency with regards to health innovations, and the coming collaboration with Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

CIFS ran an all-day session at the Week of Health and Innovation (WHINN) in Odense

Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies ran an all-day session at the annual Week of Health and Innovation (WHINN) in Odense, Denmark. CIFS’ program attracted over 40 experts from health and data organisations. We presented strategic foresight and futures studies in the health sector, concepts that are used to reimagine the future of the health sector, such as the Humanome and decentralised clinical trials. Also, we had a panel discussion on the newly started Phase V project on decentralised clinical trials, where CIFS is a contributing partner

New HIMSS book out on blockchain in healthcare

The HIMSS Series has a new book on blockchain in healthcare. “Blockchain in Healthcare: Innovations that Empower Patients, Connect Professionals, and Improve Care” is the title of the book. According to the book’s authors, Vikram Dhillon, John Bass, Max Hooper, David Metcalf, and Alex Cahana, blockchain technology may hold the greatest potential in healthcare. Some of the first use cases in medical payments, electronic health records, HIPAA/data privacy, and drug counterfeiting have been explored by early pioneers. There is still much work to be done in order to automate the complexities of today’s healthcare systems and design new systems that are focused on trust, transparency, and aligning incentives. In this book, Metcalf, Bass, Hooper, Cahana, and Dhillon have assembled over 50 contributors, including early adopters, thought leaders, and health innovators. They tell their stories and share their knowledge. The videos and transcripts provided by many authors and contributors humanize the technical details and abstract aspects of blockchain. Using the fundamentals of blockchain, the authors curated a collection of future-oriented examples that build on early successes. After a brief introduction to the fundamentals and the protocols available, as well as early blockchain efforts specific to health and healthcare, the authors discuss the promise of smart contracts and protocols to automate complex, distributed processes and some of the early consortiums that are exploring the possibilities. Throughout the book are examples and use cases, with special attention given to the more advanced and far-reaching examples that can be scaled at an industry-level. In addition, a discussion of integrating blockchain technology into other advanced healthcare trends and IT systems – such as telemedicine, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, value-based payments, patient engagement solutions, big data solutions, medical tourism, and clinical trials among many others – is presented. The final section provides a glimpse into the future using blockchain technology and examples of research projects that are still in labs across the globe.