Your morning abstract of digital well being information, data and occasions to learn about if you wish to be “within the know”.
👇 Information
👣 Juniper, the brand new reproductive healthcare insurance coverage supplier, has raised £1.5m in pre-seed funding led by Insurtech Gateway. The spherical was supported by 2100 Ventures, Distinctive Ventures, and Heartfelt, alongside angel buyers Vera Baker, Charles Delingpole, Matt Cooper, Tara Reeves, and others. The funding will triple the crew, drive progress and assist Juniper’s pilot part resulting in its official launch. Juniper addresses a niche in medical insurance by offering complete genital insurance coverage for all genders, guaranteeing easy accessibility for firms and their staff. Within the UK, one in three girls undergo from reproductive or gynaecological points, whereas one in 4 males expertise low testosterone by age 30.
🧠 Lots of of NHS sufferers with superior Parkinson’s illness are set to learn from a transportable drug infusion that’s progressively launched around-the-clock to assist higher management their signs. The therapy, referred to as foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, will now provide a further possibility for sure sufferers experiencing movement-related signs and whose situation is not responding to their oral medicines. The simple-to-use infusion is delivered via a cannula beneath the pores and skin and managed by a small computerized pump worn 24 hours a day to assist steadily handle sufferers’ signs with fewer unintended effects.
📄 DIGITALEUROPE’s Government Council for Well being has issued its suggestions for EU digital well being coverage for the subsequent 5 years (2024-29). The strategic advisory paper outlines 5 predominant objectives: prioritising digital transformation inside the European Well being Union and healthcare-related coverage devices, together with implementation of the European Well being Information Area (EHDS) with out fragmentation; enhancing using information and new enabling applied sciences in well being programs and well being analysis and funding; enhancing abilities and rising belief in digital well being; guaranteeing that every one funding and allotted assets advance digital transformation in healthcare; and guaranteeing authorized readability and consistency in digital well being coverage inside the EU.
💊 The GLP-1 remedy liraglutide considerably decreased opioid cravings in a small evaluation introduced on Saturday, STAT experiences. It’s the first randomised managed trial to check anti-obesity medication in opposition to opioid habit, which kills round 80,000 individuals within the US every year. Amongst 20 sufferers for opioid use dysfunction, these on liraglutide skilled a 40% discount in opioid cravings over the three-week examine, with this impact evident at even the bottom liraglutide dose, in response to information introduced right here on the American Affiliation for the Development of Science convention.
👨🦳 Researchers from Seoul Nationwide College, Yonsei College, aged care firm Silvia Well being, and DTx maker WELT Corp surveyed Koreans aged 65 and older to analyze how they’re utilizing digital well being applied sciences and the way frailty impacts their utilization. They declare that they’re the primary to check the utilisation of digital well being know-how between pre-frail or frail seniors adults and wholesome seniors. It discovered {that a} quarter of the respondents are utilizing healthcare apps, largely wholesome seniors. For frail seniors, they’re extra possible to make use of such apps to get healthcare data and search medical steerage than wholesome seniors. The place these apps are discovered extra helpful is for supporting self-care and managing private healthcare information, the researchers famous.
❓ Do you know that
Multiple third (38%) of self-identified weak clients who expertise poor psychological well being are reluctant to confess they’re struggling to customer support brokers, reveals the most recent Weak Buyer Report from NICE – the AI-powered customer support platform utilized by greater than 85% of the Fortune 100 firms. At the moment, 47% of weak clients expertise poor psychological well being, with 71% appropriately figuring out it as a driver of vulnerability. Gen Z isn’t any exception, with 42% of shoppers on this age group admitting that the main trigger of monetary strain was excessive power and utility payments.
📖 What we’re studying
Even in areas the place healthcare supply mechanisms are plentiful, demand might be overwhelming, and different healthcare operational challenges can intrude with affected person outcomes. Because the digital transformation in healthcare lags behind different industries, and value-based care drives supplier efficiencies, whereas the federal government invests in healthcare price discount and entry measures, well being tech is positively overripe for disruption, Sally Ann Frank, worldwide lead of well being and life sciences at Microsoft for Startups, argues prematurely of her presentation at HIMSS24.
🚨 This week’s occasions
23 February, Westminster Well being Discussion board – Subsequent steps for most cancers therapy, prevention and analysis in England