Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 7/16

Our Picks ✨

Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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1 in 3 digital health dollars going to AI

Per Rock Health’s latest report, digital health funding surged to $5.7 billion across 266 deals in the first half of 2024, indicating a strong year ahead. One in three dollars invested in H1 (34% of total sector funding) went to digital health startups leveraging AI—led by larger investments such as Transcarent ($126M series D) and precision medicine player Zephyr AI ($111M series A). (link)

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OpenAI bioscience research partnership

OpenAI and Los Alamos National Laboratory partner to advance bioscience with AI. They are testing how AI models like GPT-4o (with vision and voice) can assist in real lab work and hopefully will boost bioscience research. The collaboration comes after the White House issued an executive order, which tasked the U.S. Department of Energy’s national labs to help look into the capabilities of frontier AI models, including biological capabilities. (link)

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AI entering consumer health gadgets

Just days after the OpenAI and Thrive Health announcement for its new AI-powered health coach, both Oura and Samsung are launching rival products. This is likely just the start of the AI-driven health race to come.

• Oura unveiled a new AI-powered health coach called ‘Oura Advisor’, aiming to help users make sense and take action on the data from the company’s wearable rings. (link)

• Samsung revealed a new Galaxy Watch7 and new Galaxy Ring, which feature AI health monitoring, including FDA-approved sleep apnea detection and diabetes tracking. It also includes an ‘Energy Score’ to show overall fitness levels. (link)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• Neuralink improved version update: Neuralink hosted a livestream with new updates on its brain-computer interface, including potential telepathic and limb-controlling integrations with Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots, new patient testing, and more. Elon also said Neuralink could implant chips in 1,000 humans by 2026. (link)

• AI platform helps employers spot ERISA violations: Darrow AI, a platform that helps firms spot irregularities in legal cases, says its engine can help employers pinpoint the most extreme ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) violations, which helps protect employee benefit plans. (link)

• Synchron gets AI-powered update: Neurotech startup Synchron announced that it has integrated OpenAI’s generative AI into its brain-computer interface, enabling hands-free chatting for severely paralyzed users. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Nabla + Carle Health: Nabla’s ambient AI assistant is rolling out to Illinois-based Carle Health’s multi-specialty physician group following a successful pilot that cut over an hour of documentation time for a majority of participating clinicians across family medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, and other practice areas. (link)

• P3 + Innovaccer: P3 Health Partners is partnering with Innovaccer to advance the value-based care capabilities of its clients and improve outcomes for their Medicare patients. P3 will use Innovaccer’s Healthcare AI Platform, and will be leveraging InNote (EHR-agnostic physician engagement) to close coding and care gaps, as well as Innovaccers population health analytics suite and patient engagement solution. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Regard, an AI-powered clinical insights platform that finds missed illness and boosts hospital revenue, raised a $61M Series B financing round led by Oak HC/FT. Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, and Techstars also participated. (link)

• Octagos Health, a provider of AI-driven cardiac device monitoring solutions, raised a $43M Series B. The round was led by funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with continued participation from Mucker Capital and other strategic investors. (link)

• AIRS Medical, a Korea-based AI and robotics for healthcare applications startup, raised a $20M Series C. The investment was led by BSK Investment and Shinyoung Securities. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• SAIGroup + Get Well: Patient engagement startup Get Well was acquired by private investment firm SAIGroup, joining a portfolio of healthcare companies that also includes ConcertAI (clinical AI and real-world data) and RhythmX AI (gen-AI precision care platform for clinicians). Get Well provides health systems with patient engagement solutions, digital care plans, and navigation tools. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…

• Sam Altman & Arianna Huffington talk about new AI health coach (link)

• In constant battle with insurers, doctors reach for a cudgel: AI (link)

• ONC leader & FDA official step down from Coalition for Health AI (link)

• Amazon donation spurs AI hiring at Children's National (link)

• The AI-powered era of scientific discovery is here (link)

• Advances in AI enhancing early disease detection (link)

• VCU Health taps new AI chief (link)

• Economic, social, and industry implications of AI wave with Martin Casado of a16z. (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…