Google Health, Philips among players pitching digital therapeutics standards

HP, Livongo and ResMed are also part of the effort led by the Consumer Technology Association to identify best practices to guide growth in the emerging field as COVID-19 drives demand for home-based treatments.

By Susan Kelly • Aug. 26, 2020

Fitbit launches smartwatch as EKG feature awaits FDA's OK

The device, which includes a skin temperature sensor and a heart rate tracker, comes as wearables are being trialed as early warning devices for COVID-19.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 25, 2020

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Medical device industry continues to turn to AI

While the industry continues to embrace artificial intelligence, there are still questions about how the new technologies need to be regulated and if they are effective.

By MedTech Dive staff

Surgical robots, early cancer tests top CB Insights digital health startup list

The most promising, as aggregated in annual rankings from the firm, have raised over $20 billion in total funding for more than 600 deals with 900-plus investors.

By Hailey Mensik , Maria Rachal • Aug. 14, 2020

Medtronic to buy Companion Medical, adding connected insulin pen to diabetes unit

Building on tuck-in acquisitions to a business losing market share in recent years, the deal gives the medtech giant an FDA-cleared device for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes on multiple daily injection therapy.

By Greg Slabodkin • Aug. 11, 2020

ResMed beats Street with ventilators driving revenue up 9%, but tailwinds ebbing

"While we are still working on current and future contracts with hospitals, as well as city and national health authorities for these ventilators, the volumes will be significantly lower in the September quarter," said CEO Mick Farrell.

By Greg Slabodkin • Aug. 5, 2020

iRhythm stock leaps 33% after CMS pitches new reimbursement codes

Permanent codes validate the digital health company's wearable heart monitoring technology and could drive more widespread adoption for detection of atrial fibrillation and other abnormal rhythms, CEO Kevin King said.

By Susan Kelly • Aug. 5, 2020

Livongo scooped up by Teladoc in $18.5B deal

An explosion in the use of virtual care during the pandemic may have sped up the timeline for the merger. Both companies' share prices are down on the news.

By Shannon Muchmore • Updated Aug. 5, 2020

Philips sees double-digit COVID-19 connected care bump amid Q2 sales dip

Headwinds won out this spring, dragging total sales down 6%. Still, management predicted the return of elective procedures will help tip the balance to growth for the rest of the year.

By Nick Paul Taylor • July 20, 2020

As FCC taps out its $200M coronavirus telehealth program, major nonprofit providers cash in

"One worries that the money went to health systems with the capacity to write an application for the money rather than the providers who needed it most," healthcare policy expert Ateev Mehrotra said.

By Rebecca Pifer • July 9, 2020

Philips wins $100M tele-ICU contract from VA

The company said it's creating the world’s largest system for providing remote access to critical care expertise, regardless of patient location. 

By Nick Paul Taylor • July 9, 2020

Digital health funding defies expected pandemic-era slowdown

As COVID-19 roiled economies in the first half of 2020, investors poured $5.4 billion into digital health startups, the largest investment in the sector for the period over the past decade, per a midyear report from Rock Health.

By Susan Kelly • July 7, 2020

BARDA backs push for clinical-grade wearable to detect signs of COVID-19

As companies like Fitbit aim to leverage their wrist-worn devices to monitor for disease symptoms, developers at Northwestern University argue that consumer tech falls short compared to clinical-grade, chest and neck-worn wearables.

By Nick Paul Taylor • July 2, 2020

Sidekick, Pfizer team on digital therapeutic for chronic disease

The collaboration marks the second partnership with the drug giant in under a year for the 6-year-old digital therapeutics maker, which also is working with Bayer on a behavior modification and medication management tool.

By Susan Kelly • June 30, 2020

AdvaMed, tech groups urge Congress to make eased telehealth rules permanent

Separately, Jefferies analysts pegged Teladoc, Quest Diagnostics, Exact Sciences and CareDx as beneficiaries of the boost in virtual care that's come during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Greg Slabodkin • June 30, 2020

FDA nod to Boston Scientific cardiac monitor clears challenge to Abbott, Medtronic

The medtech giant is betting remote adjustment will put its LUX-Dx insertable system in a position to take on rivals, which have a years-long head start.

By Nick Paul Taylor • June 29, 2020

CMS wants to make home health telemedicine permanent after COVID-19

Agencies would be able to keep using the tech for beneficiaries under the Medicare home health benefit beyond the public health emergency, including remote patient monitoring, according to a proposed rule fact sheet.

By Rebecca Pifer • June 26, 2020

BARDA backs study of Empatica's COVID-19 early warning platform

The system, which measures physiological data including blood volume pulse and electrodermal activity, is the latest in a growing list of wearables being primed to detect and monitor infections.

By Susan Kelly • June 22, 2020

Lack of data encryption for Baxter devices flagged in flurry of DHS alerts

The Department of Homeland Security's cyber agency published four advisories, ranging from 7.5 to 8.6 on its 10-point severity scale, about vulnerabilities in infusion pumps, hemodialysis delivery systems and other tech.

By Nick Paul Taylor • June 19, 2020

Senators back sustaining telehealth momentum post pandemic

Top priorities include axing geographic restrictions, expanding Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for virtual care services, and upping use of remote patient monitoring and digital health tools for patients with chronic conditions.

By Rebecca Pifer • June 18, 2020

In FDA 1st, game-based therapeutic gets marketing OK

Digital therapeutics developer Akili Interactive Labs won De Novo authorization for a treatment meant to improve attention function in children with ADHD, building on a rollout it began under a special COVID-19 policy.

By Maria Rachal • June 16, 2020

Heart rhythm bodies see 'clear concerns' with using wearables to detect arrhythmias

A paper published on Monday by the Heart Rhythm Society, along with counterpart groups in Asia, Europe and Latin America, found wearable-triggered false positives can cause unwarranted concerns and screening.

By Nick Paul Taylor • June 16, 2020

Siemens Healthineers, Geisinger ink 10-year digital health partnership

It's one of the medtech's largest partnerships of its kind in North America, as it plans to provide diagnostic imaging and artificial intelligence-enabled applications to the health system over the next decade.

By Greg Slabodkin • June 9, 2020

BARDA, Evidation team on early detection of COVID-19 using wearables

As part of an agency program to identify people infected with the virus, the company will analyze sleep and activity data, plus self-reported symptoms, aimed at creating an early warning algorithm.

By Nick Paul Taylor • June 5, 2020

Pandemic causes expected wearable shipments to plummet by 27M this year

But analysts expect a drawn-out recovery for the sector as wearables bolster their advanced health monitoring features and consumers remain increasingly health-conscious coming out of the COVID-19 crisis.

By Rebecca Pifer • June 4, 2020

Emergency authorization granted to COVID-19 ICU prediction software

The FDA nod for CLEW Medical's system is among a series of regulatory OKs for products designed to inform care for infected patients.

By Nick Paul Taylor • May 28, 2020