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At this fall's most recent Health 2.0 Silicon Valley conference, the overall theme is that there is more excitement - and dollars - than ever in the realm of consumer healthcare informatics & technology.
This article reprinted with permission from iMedicalApps.com.
At this fall’s most recent Health 2.0 Silicon Valley conference, the overall theme is that there is more excitement — and dollars — than ever in the realm of consumer healthcare informatics & technology.
According to Matthew Holt, co-founder of Health 2.0, venture capital flowing into digital health technology companies has nearly doubled in comparison to last year, from $1.94 billion in all of 2013 to $3.65 billion as of October.
The biggest increase in funding, in terms of absolute numbers, has flowed to wearable technologies and technologies that encourage users to manage their own health conditions. Also seeing increases are patient-provider communication and business-to-business administrative tools. In contrast, the smallest number of products are in search, privacy & identity, and clinical trials & recruitment healthcare technologies.
Most interesting, notes Holt, is the “Uber”-fication of healthcare companies creating apps and online services that allow users to call healthcare providers on demand. Eleven companies call themselves the “Uber of Health Care”: Plushcare, OnCall, Uberdok, Zeel, StudioDental, Uberhealth, ViaHealth, Uber Dx, Curbside Care, Pager and Medicast. These services promise to treat conditions, such as urinary tract infections, sore throat, and sexually-transmitted diseases over the Internet.
A panel of venture capitalists at Health 2.0 noted a shift towards consumer health technologies due to the Affordable Care Act’s “consumerization of healthcare”, according to 7wire Ventures’s Glen Tullman.