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For any healthtech company – from tiny startups to publicly-traded behemoths – being able to exchange data with Epic Systems, the nation’s largest electronic health records company, is an important rite of passage. Through its hospital customers, Epic includes the medical records of more than 250 million Americans. But with so many startups and apps to choose from, how do Epic customers end up picking who to work with?
Epic used to have its own app store equivalent, known as the App Orchard, where third-party developers could list their integrated offerings, which changed to Connection Hub at the end of 2022. On Wednesday, Epic unveiled a new website it’s calling “Showroom,” which directs customers to various products and services, including third-party apps. “Over the past year, we received over 13,000 requests for special relationships or special integration projects with various vendors,” Seth Howard, senior vice president of research and development at Epic, told Forbes. “So when we looked at that volume of requests, [we] pretty quickly realized [we] needed a standard framework to help our customers work with that group in a sustainable way.”
This includes hundreds of apps in Connection Hub, where developers can pay a $500 annual fee for their products to be listed. One new feature, known as Workshop, includes “a group of vendors that we are working with more closely to jointly develop new technology in areas like ambient voice and consumer satisfaction,” Howard said. Formerly known as Partners and Pals, Howard said the program was recently renamed because some people thought the name indicated Epic’s “stamp of approval” rather than the idea of co-development. The companies include ambient AI developers Nuance (owned by Microsoft) and Abridge, as well as Press Ganey and Talkdesk for developing consumer-facing tools. Qualtrics will be added later this year.
The other components of the revamped website include services, such as programs that help hospitals implementing Epic fill interim leadership roles with retired healthcare executives who are familiar with the tech, as well as ways to integrate with non-provider organizations, such as health insurers or specialty diagnostic labs. Howard acknowledges this is more of a re-packaging of a bunch of existing programs rather than new products and services. The goal, he said, was to help Epic customers to help “connect into the Epic ecosystem” and “assist with the adoption of new technology.”
VC Firm General Catalyst Plans To Buy Ohio-Based Hospital Summa Health
Three months ago, venture capital firm General Catalyst announced an unusual move: The creation of an entirely new company to acquire a multi-billion dollar health system. This week the Health Assurance Transformation Corporation revealed its intended target: Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health. The nonprofit three-hospital system and health insurer reported an operating loss of around $39 million on $1.8 billion in revenue in 2022.
Read more here.
Pipeline & Deal Updates
MedTech: The FDA has cleared DermaSensor’s first-of-its-kind handheld device that uses artificial intelligence to non-invasively detect skin cancer.
Gene Editing: The FDA approved Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics’ gene therapy Casgevy for transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia just a month after approving it as a treatment for sickle cell disease.
Patient Care: Primary & specialty care startup Harbor Health announced a $95.5 million series A round extension led by General Catalyst, bringing the company’s total investment to over $128 million.
Biosecurity: Illumina has entered into a co-marketing agreement with Concentric by Ginkgo to use Illumina’s products with Concentric’s pathogen monitoring network.
Veteran Care: The non-profit Wounded Warrior Project announced that it’s investing over $100 million into care for veterans’ mental health and/or brain injuries.
Here’s Why Drug Stores Are Closing In Minority Neighborhoods: Walgreens, CVS And Rite Aid Shutter More Than 1,000
A spate of pharmacy closings in Boston have drawn protests as more than 1,000 drug store chain locations across the country have closed, reigniting long standing concerns that low-income, Black and Latino Americans are bearing the brunt as pharmacies continue to disappear amid increased competition and other factors.
Read more here.
Other Healthcare News
The American Cancer Society reported that overall cancer mortality in the United States continues to decline, but that the projected number of new diagnoses for cancer this year is over 2 million, a new record.
New cases of measles are spiking in the United Kingdom, with over five times as many cases in 2023 compared to 2021, thanks to increased hesitancy on the part of parents to get a standard vaccination for their children.
UnitedHealth Group reported $22 billion in 2023 profits, including $5.5 billion in the fourth quarter, as its portfolio of health insurance and provider services continue to grow.
CVS Health will be closing some of its in-store Target locations early this year, less than a decade after it paid nearly $2 billion to buy the pharmacy and clinic business of retail giant.
The FDA said last week that preliminary evidence suggests popular weight loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic are not linked to an increase in suicidal thoughts.
The University of Oxford has launched human trials for a vaccine to protect against the deadly Nipah virus, which currently has no vaccines or treatment.
Across Forbes
How Vivek Ramaswamy Got Richer While Pumping Millions Into Failed Presidential Campaign
TikTok Owner ByteDance Quietly Launched 4 Generative AI Apps Powered By OpenAI’s GPT
50 Over 50: Asia 2024
What Else We are Reading
More patients are getting their meds online. Big Pharma wants in on the action (Stat)
The consciousness wars: can scientists ever agree on how the mind works? (Nature)
The Ozempic Plateau (The Atlantic)
