#182 - It's not bad, you're just reading it wrong 👎

The one-minute healthtech roundup

Feb 25, 2024

Hi friends,

This week: A new model of fertility care, Draw a clock (on an ipad), and welcome to the AI wild-west.

News Bites 🥪

⚡️ Flow Neuroscience trials drug-free depression treatment for NHS clinicians – On first glance, you might wonder if zapping clinicians in the head with electrical pulses isn’t really in the spirit of the whole ‘Thank you NHS heroes’ vibe we try to champion at Pigeon HQ. Reassuringly, it’s actually an innovative new treatment for depression, a condition that’s become a lot more common for frontline clinicians.

🍆 Juniper raises £1.5m to roll out “insurance for genitals” pilot – Chosen for the headline alone (Pigeon’s emotional maturity is equivalent to that of a 13 year old boy), but kept in for its insightful analysis of the market for tech designed to help people manage fertility issues, Sifted looks at a new model for helping people access reproductive healthcare..

⏰ AI-enabled digital health tech catches mild cognitive impairment early – Pigeon didn’t have ‘Someone’s going to digitise the “draw a clock” test’ on his 2024 bingo card, but that’s what happened. A fascinating interview with the innovator behind the new ipad-based version opens up on the rationale behind it and the healthcare teams using the technology.

🧬 23andMe considers splitting up company to revive stock price – The fear of being caught up in a data breach isn’t the only reason why 23andMe hasn’t managed to keep consumer revenue coming in, but it probably hasn’t helped*. Now the company’s looking at drastic options to pick up more investment.

🤠 Artificial intelligence is making critical health care decisions. The sheriff is MIA. – Look, Pigeon’s as happy to take light-hearted potshots at regulators as any other healthcare-obsessed avian, but this article raises questions about the extent to which regulators have got their collective guano together. Reactionary sensationalism or an accurate picture of regulatory chaos? If we’re honest, it makes us feel lucky to have the MHRA.

👀 Bilbao-based WIVI Vision raises €4 million to improve visual health with gamified AI-based therapies – Gamifying visual treatments with AI, 3D, and big data? Once Pigeon did a bit of extra research to find out what any of this meant, we realised it’s a pretty exciting opportunity to help patients improve their vision. Maybe a few less buzzwords next time, eh?

🧠 Kyiv Is Using Homegrown Tech to Treat the Trauma of War – Ukraine’s novel use of civtech to meet its citizen needs has been covered in detail, particularly at the onset of its war with Russia. A new pilot sees some of those innovative engagement tools deployed to help its population manage their mental health at a truly critical time. Pigeon wonders if similar models could be used in peace time?

🐍 Companies marketing useless health products to women using feminist wellbeing messages – Feeling empowered? Taken control of your health? No? But you downloaded that app to monitor your Xylophonian rhythms? And you’re constantly reviewing your Kryptonian pitch to check your Grenouille isn’t in limbo? Don’t let feminist platitudes con you into paying a monthly fee to monitor biomarkers that mean nothing to you.

🩼 Frail seniors less likely to use digital health technology than healthier peers, new study finds – Perhaps unsurprising results from this South Korean Survey on uptake of digital health among the elderly. But dig deeper, and it’s not all so clear cut, with some valuable insights for how to design systems that meet the differing requirements users may have of their apps and wearables.

ℹ Google Health: Information is a determinant of health – Knowledge is power – and now, information is health. A contribution to Nature from the Google Health team argues that tackling health misinformation and ensuring the dissemination of high quality health information must be a priority for governments and organisations globally. Hard to disagree….

🛠️ Tools for Better Data Interoperability Are Here — But Providers Aren’t Adopting Them – Finally, a headscratcher to end on: If we claim to have solved health interoperability challenges using [Tool], but providers aren’t using [tool], then Pigeon wonders….did we actually solve health interoperability challlenges?

What to listen to 🔊

🐦 The Healthtech Pigeon Podc ast — Join James, Huw and Arcturis Data’s Christie Brooks as they take a deep dive into the week’s healthtech news and views.

🔊 The Healthtech Podcast #339 Working in healthcare is a privilege, with Francesca Wuttke CEO of nen — James is joined by Francesca Wuttke, founder and CEO of nen, a digital health company founded to help children with cancer, their families, and HCPs with pain management.

🔊 MOTHER-podcast with Karina Vazirova — #1 Alisa Vitti - Menstrual Cycle as the 5th Vital Sign and Longevity Biohacking — Karina chats to Alisa Vitti, Mother of the cycle-syncing movement and founder of Flo Living, the next-gen hormone care platform helping hundreds of thousands of women.

FOUR DAYS TO GO: Don’t miss HTP LIVE

Join Dr James Somauroo, Dr Helen O'Neill, CEO and Founder of Hertility and Dr Karan Rajan (it’s a room so full of doctors, there’s barely room to swing a cat), myth-busting social media star and Number 1 Sunday Times Bestseller.

LAST FEW TICKETS REMAINING - no seriously, there’s like, three left.

Use code ‘COOCOO60’ for a special pigeon discount.

Events 📅

HETT North
🕣 28 February
📍 Manchester

HealthTechX Summit 2024
🕣 28 February - Use HTX24SMITH for 30% off your ticket
📍 The Hurlingham Club, London

Digital Health Rewired
🕣 12-13 March
📍 The NEC, Birmingham

HLTH Europe 2024
🕣 17-20 June
📍 RAI Convention Centre, Amsterdam

Opportunities 🕵️‍♀️

Digital Product Owner, Bupa — The big health insurer is going all in on digital transformation, and needs someone to manage their new product from their digital health brand Blua. If you’ve got the product chops and you want to transform how customers access care and wellbeing services, this one’s for you.

Chatbots Product Manager, LLM Assistant — Flo Health never fail to impress, and their latest role gives some insight into some of their next moves. If you want to have a role in bringing LLMs and chatbots to their service, take a look at this role.

Ai & Digital Health Fellow, Skin Analytics — This one was popular last time it came up, so don’t wait to apply. Go and work with the company using AI to support skin cancer diagnosis.

Strategic Customer Success Manager, Peppy — The Employee healthcare provider are looking for a BD and customer success star to help build their relationships with clients, old and new.

Platform Engineer, Doccla — Is Doccla the MVP in the virtual ward market right now? Possibly. Is this an exciting opportunity for a tech wizard to join their team and help them grow? Definitely.

*For the avoidance of doubt, Pigeon is 5% Welsh, 15% tech nerd, 30% health geek, and 50% Tyrannosaurus-Rex.

Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com

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