Digital health was already a growing industry at the beginning of last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has increased its importance within healthcare and society. Overnight, the entire system shifted online to reduce social contact and infection rates. Telemedicine has benefited from this healthcare paradigm shift, as patients seek care in their homes.
While the pandemic has directed high attention (and investment) to digital health companies operating in telemedicine in particular, there are interesting things happening across all five application areas that STL has identified as most relevant for telecom operators (see our article "What is digital health? in 5 application areas telcos should focus on"):
Personal health management and wellness
Diagnostics and triage
Virtual care and telehealth
remote monitoring
Data and Analysis
Top 10 eHealth Companies in the US
our ring
good health
Mendelian
Galileo Health
Doctor on demand
butterfly
Medwand
Peppy
Maven Clinic
Phlo
1. Our ring
Areas of application: Personal health management and wellness
End User: Consumer
Provider: Consumer
Website:www.ouraring.com
Established: 2013
The Oura Ring is a piece of wearable technology that uses sensor technology to track important health factors. It sends these data points to a mobile app via Bluetooth and allows the user to view metrics such as readiness for the day, sleep quality, and daily calorie burn.
Although the Oura ring was initially developed to help users develop good habits, it is currently in the spotlight for its ability to detect the onset of COVID-19. While there are alternative smart rings, the Aura Ring is best placed for this capability with its advanced sensor that measures temperature changes down to 0.1°C. It's clearly meeting immediate COVID-19 needs that the NBA has purchased over 2,000 rings for players and staff hoping to defuse the pandemic.
The Oura Ring costs between $299-$399, which means it's more expensive than most Apple watches (except for the Series 6 which starts at $399). While there are some key differences between an Aura Ring and an Apple Watch (such as the Aura Ring's ability to measure body temperature), there are also overlapping functionalities (such as tracking sleep, measuring heart rate, and flagging irregular heart rhythms). Because of these similarities — not to mention Apple's strong brand — Oura's price point will need to drop for mass market adoption.
2. Vantage Health
Application Area: Diagnostics and Triage
End User: Physicians
Provider: Health care organization
Website:www.vantage.health
Established: 2004
Vantage Health is a digital health company transforming the outpatient referral process through its AI platform Rego. This empowers physicians to use healthcare resources more efficiently: instead of directing patients to hospital by default, they can recommend alternative care services (such as community services) based on local guidelines.
As hospitals have limited resources and capacity, it is important to only refer them when most needed and thus avoid patient bottlenecks (long queues and high waiting times). This is especially important during COVID-19 because of the risk of infection associated with crowding. Through Rego, Vantage Health can ease some pressures and strains that hospitals face.
3. Mendelian
Areas of Application: Diagnostics and Triage / Data and Analytics
End User: Physicians
Provider: Health care organization
Website:www.mendelian.co
Established: 2015
Mendelian is an AI-enabled diagnostic platform centered on rare diseases. They designed it to be used by physicians and enables them to better serve their patients through early diagnosis. The Mendelscan algorithm captures disease characteristics from EHRs across patient populations, against which patients are matched for rare disease diagnostic criteria. Clinicians can combine their medical expertise with Mendelscan insights, thus improving the accuracy of the care and advice they provide.
Someone often misdiagnose rare diseases, resulting in unnecessary referrals and doctor visits, years before it made a correct diagnosis, and additional costs to the health care system. By facilitating early diagnosis of rare diseases, Mendelian can save time and money for a health care system that is already overstretched.
4. Galileo's health
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Patient
Provider: Patient, employer
Website:www.galileohealth.com
Established: 2018
Galileo Health is a healthcare app that provides virtual primary care. Galileo Health has 24/7 mobile access to team members of medical specialists, who can diagnose conditions, prescribe medications and refer to specialists. All these functionalities happen within the app, making it user-friendly and convenient.
Telecom operators looking to launch a virtual primary care service can speed their way to market by partnering with digital health companies like Galileo Health, as TELUS has done with Babylon Health and Telefonica with Teladoc. In such partnerships, each party brings complementary expertise: Galileo Health has software, healthcare knowledge and teams of doctors; A telecom operator adds reputational strength (a trusted brand within the country and often ties to authority/regulators) and customer reach. With a blueprint and lessons learned from TELUS' collaboration with Babylon Health now available, we can expect more such partnerships in the future.
5. Doctor on demand
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Patient
Providers: Patients, Employers, Insurers
Website:www.doctorondemand.com
Established: 2012
Doctor on Demand is a digital health company that provides telemedicine services that give patients access to virtual care. The company has an app that hosts virtual visits and a team of Licensed physicians (known as "Doctor on Demand Professionals") who administer care services. Doctor On Demand's healthcare offering is extensive: they cover traditional primary care such as rash and colds, but also psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists. The breadth of their services explains their slogan: Total Virtual Care.
Like Galileo Health, Doctor on Demand can speed up go-to-market for telecom operators looking to launch a virtual primary care service. However, there is one differentiating factor between these healthcare companies: the breadth of offerings. Doctor On Demand can be an attractive digital health company to telecom operators as it will help them quickly diversify their care services–they can do POCs along one service line (e.g., traditional primary care), and if it proves successful, another Doctor On add Demands on the service line they offer.
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6. Butterfly
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Physicians
Provider: Health care organization
Website:www.butterflynetwork.com
Established: 2011
Butterfly is a handheld portable ultrasound machine that uses ground-breaking chip technology. With just this machine and a smart phone, doctors can perform ultrasound scans. Butterfly has five imaging modes and comes with 20 presets of common body scans for abdomen, bladder and lungs.
Butterfly has a unique value proposition because of its proprietary technology: it is the first full-body imager that is portable, affordable (£1,699 for the machine plus an annual subscription fee of £360) and can be deployed at scale. Such machines are perfect for bringing medical imaging to rural communities. Images can be shared and sent for review, overcoming the lack of expertise in butterfly remote areas. While Butterfly is a game-changer in low-resource settings, it is also being used in clinical environments–earlier this year they made it available to Canadian healthcare practitioners and health systems.
7. Medwand
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End Users: Patients, Physicians
Provider: Patients, healthcare organizations
Website:www.medwand.com/whymedwand.html
Established: 2014
The MedWand is a medical device that enables patients to perform physical examinations, expanding the range of consultations that can be performed. With MedWand, patients can perform tests themselves that GPs would normally perform, such as listening to the lungs, measuring blood oxygen levels and examining the skin.
Patients use MedWand when on call with a physician so they can be guided accordingly, ensuring accuracy of results. The physician can then analyze the results in real-time, provide feedback, and create a care plan. All of this happens within the MedWand platform, which is compatible with EMR systems and acts as an intermediary between patients and telemedicine providers.
8. Peppy
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Patient/Consumer
Provider: Employer
Website:www.peppy.health
Established: 2018
Pepi is an app that supports employee healthcare and wellness. Within the app, employees can choose the service stream they need (healthy mind, menopause, parenting, fertility) and then they can talk to an array of advisors and practitioners. Communication channels within Pepi are text- and video-based and provide access to resources and toolkits.
COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of employee mental health. Even when the pandemic is a thing of the past, employers need to cater to overall wellness. Pepi as a digital health company stands to benefit from this changing attitude.
9. Maven Clinic
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Patient/Consumer
Provider: patient/consumer, employer, insurer
Website:www.mavenclinic.com
Established: 2014
Maven is a digital health company that provides telemedicine services that revolve around women and family care. They assign members of Maven dedicated care advocates, can book appointments on-demand (video-based), and receive personalized educational content. These multiple touchpoints mean members feel supported whatever their concerns ( parenting plans, egg donation, adoption, childcare help).
By offering Maven, employers ensure that employees have the right support system in place for all paths to parenthood. It attracts and empowers women and LGBTQ+ activists Maven enables employee benefits to reflect workforce diversity.
Such digital health companies can be an important partner for telcos operating in countries with hybrid or privately funded healthcare systems. As large employers, they can test and develop these solutions for their own employee base before exploring new business opportunities.
10. Phlo
Areas of Application: Virtual Care and Telemedicine
End User: Patient
Provider: Health care organization
Website:www.wearephlo.com
Established: 2015
Phlo is a digital pharmacy that enables prescription drugs to be ordered online and delivered directly to the home. This eliminates the hassles that often accompany physical pharmacy visits: long queues and stock shortages. With Phlo, patients can order and receive their medication on the same day. The app makes the patient experience seamless as everything from requesting GP approval for medicines, choosing a delivery address and tracking orders in real-time can all happen in one place (real-time tracking is currently only live in London but Phlo is planning other major UK extend this feature to cities).
Distance selling pharmacies accounted for just 3.2% of total prescriptions in the UK in April 2020. But given the impact of COVID-19 and the fact that traditional community pharmacies are centralizing their services to reduce pressure on GPs, we can expect this number to rise.
So what is for the telecom industry?
The 15 digital health companies we mentioned above are current players in the telecom industry, who are looking to play in the digital health space, with potential partnership opportunities to help their healthcare customers transform and grow.
However, before engaging with any potential partners, telcos need to not only identify and prioritize which application areas they want to pursue but also clearly define what role they want to play in the ecosystem.
Once this is defined, operators and technology vendors must identify strategic partners that help them fill capability gaps and advance their ambitions in digital health–be it providing or delivering end-to-end solutions to healthcare customers. A key level in the value chain as part of a comprehensive solution.
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