Health Tech News Roundup; Week of Feb 6-11

Policy

In political news, uncertainty about the ACA repeal is causing a 'nightmare scenario' for health insurance markets. More Republicans want to repeal the individual mandate, but without an individual mandate it is difficult to have required coverage of pre-existing conditions. One proposed plan is called 'continuous coverage.' More The Trump Muslim Ban is blocking doctors who work in underserved markets in the US. More The AARP has waded into the debate over the ACA and Medicare. More Minnesota is taking health insurance matters into its own hands and shoring up its insurance market with subsidies for skyrocketing premiums, a possible Minnesota only public option, and a rejection of a bare bones plan. More

Tech News

Zenefits is laying off half of its employees. More

There is an information gap in a lot of fertility apps, according to Buzzfeed. More

Who should own the prescription for digital therapeutics. That's now an ethical question now that companies like RxUniverse allow hospitals to curate their own lists of digital therapeutics options. More

The national health insurance market will continue to have 5 major players. A US Court struck down an attempted merger between Anthem and Cigna because it would have been anti competitive. More

Propeller Health, which uses technology to monitor adherence to inhalers, is now partnering with Novartis. This gives it a leg up in the competitive smart inhaler market. More

Every day in the US, 78 people die from opioid overdose. There are ways to use predictive analytics to figure out who is at risk of addiction, and insurance companies hold the data needed. More

A new device called MarginProbe promises to eliminate the need for repeat surgeries for breast cancer patients. More

ExpressScripts CEO says drug spending slowed in 2016. More

Pharma CEOs have floated the idea of pay for performance in drug pricing. The term they are using now is "value based pricing paradigms." More

Funding News

• WellbeHealth has raised $15M in a Series A to coordinate care for elderly patients. More
• HealthReveal, a New York-based company that "anticipates and mitigates" adverse medical events for individuals with chronic disease, has raised $10.8 million in Series A funding. GE Ventures led the round, and was joined by Greycroft Partners, Flare Capital Partners and Manatt Ventures. More