Every Friday we recap the biggest news story of the week to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest trends, developments, and acquisitions in digital health. In case you missed it (ICYMI), this round-up will catch you up on the top stories from the past month.
#1 Story:
The story: XRHealth, an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) telehealth platform, raised $10 Million to support the expansion of virtual treatment in the Metaverse. Companies in healthcare are starting to race to the Metaverse to establish their place in this virtual world.
What you need to know:
- The Metaverse creates a unique opportunity for healthcare in terms of remote treatment and patient monitoring. XRHealth is establishing itself as a frontrunner in this space. The company’s AR/VR apps are FDA-registered and covered by Medicare and most major health insurance companies in the US.
- However, like any new health tech development, there are questions about how to drive adoption and increase usage. XRHealth ships VR headsets directly to patients and trains them on proper use. The therapies are delivered in virtual treatment rooms and assisted by licensed therapists. This supported and personalized engagement may help to address some usage and adoption challenges.
Industry implications:
- While the term Metaverse may be a new buzzword, forms of therapy have been taking place using AR and VR for some time now. Interest in this virtual space has picked up quite a bit with nearly $1.9 Billion raised for VR and AR start-ups in the last quarter of 2021 alone.
- XRHealth is not alone as others such as AppliedVR, BehaVR, and oxfordVR look to use immersive environments to deliver therapeutic offerings. However, the potential of the Metaverse for healthcare goes beyond this, such as Siemens Healthineers’ cardiac digital twin which will allow cardiologists to tailor treatments more closely to individual patients.
- The Metaverse creates a unique opportunity to reach patients in their homes and offer treatment that fits into their lifestyles and routines. However, there are still questions about data security and privacy for sensitive information.
Get the full story here.
In other news...
#2 Story Snapshot:
The story: Google’s Care Studio has launched a new clinician-facing AI-based tool called ‘Conditions’ that will help organize patients’ medical records in one place and give the clinician a holistic view of their medical history, medications, tests, and conditions. Google is pitching this new technology as a way to make it easier for clinicians to find useful information.
Get the full story here.
#3 Story Snapshot:
The story: Huma and AstraZeneca have partnered to progress the adoption of AstraZeneca’s AMAZETM platform for decentralized clinical trials and to develop Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) patient companion apps in several therapeutic areas. AstraZeneca will become a shareholder of Huma.
Get the full story here.