July - 2021

The HSB Blog

4 min

Scouting Report-Oxygen: AI-Based, End-to-End, Virtual-First Primary Care

The Driver: Recognizing the opportunity in “virtual first primary care” Oxygen Healthcare was launched during the Coronavirus pandemic to provide an end-to-end solution for physicians looking to rapidly deploy virtual-first primary care. Backed by $3M from Paul Heywood and with a founding team that has been involved in a number of successful startups, Oxygen offers AI-based solutions that provide clinicians with an entire virtual primary care ecosystem The Key Takeaways: Near

5 min

8 Steps To Protect Against Ransomware When Developing Or Deploying New Apps-The HSB Blog 7/26/21

Our Take: With the rise of ransomware attacks, healthcare providers and application developers need to make sure they are practicing exceptional cybersecurity controls and security hygiene to avoid being victimized and to recover quickly if they are. As noted in a recent Forrester blog post, entitled “Ransomware: Surviving by Outrunning the Guy Next To You”, ransomware is about making yourself a less vulnerable target than others and protecting your critical infrastructure, e

4 min

Scouting Report-Castor: Bringing the Clinical Trial Process into the 21st Century

The Driver: Castor, a provider of clinical trial software to empower decentralized clinical trials, recently raised $45M in a Series B funding led by Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital with additional investments from existing investors Two Sigma Ventures and Inkef Capital. With offices in New York and Amsterdam, Castor is attempting to disrupt an antiquated clinical trials process that is often not digitally driven and which results in approximately 40% of trials being

7 min

AR & VR for Mental Health: Ready for Prime Time-The HSB Blog 7/19/21

Our Take: For the past two decades, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have emerged as treatment protocols for mental health and are regularly studied in psychological research. Using an immersive experience, individuals feel as if they are in an environment other than the physical world they are actually in and experiencing sensations consistent with the artificial environment. The AR/VR industry has had a growing interest in medical applications over the past

4 min

Scouting Report-Bayesian Health:AI Tools to Reduce Physician Overload & Improve the Quality of Care

The Driver: Bayesian Health, a spinoff from John Hopkins University raised $15 million following its emergence from stealth mode in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, along with Health 2047 Capital Partners, Lifeforce Capital, and Catalio Investments. Founded by the director of the machine learning and health care lab at John Hopkins, Suchi Saria, the company will use the funding to commercialize its sepsis detection machine learning algorithm and develop other model

7 min

The Evolution of the FDA's Device Approval Process: What You Need to Know-The HSB Blog 7/12/21

Our Take: Innovators relying on the ease of the FDA’s 510(k) streamline device approval process need to be aware of potential changes as well as what the ongoing threat of cyber security incidents could impose on both premarket and post market security management for those devices. Key Takeaways: More than 90% of medical devices enter the market via the FDA’s less intensive 510(k) pathway which has caused them to miss adverse events or lead to product recalls. While the FDA’s

4 min

Scouting Report-Somatus: An Integrated Care Model for Chronic Kidney Disease

Recently Somatus successfully raised an additional $60.1M, which follows it’s Series C round of $64M, bringing its total raised to over $165M. The funding was backed by lead investor Longitude Capital as well as Optum Ventures, eerfield Management, Town Hall Ventures, The Blue Venture Fund, and Flare Capital Partners. Founded in 2016, Somatus’ goal is to expand their integrated care model for patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. The Takeaways: Acc