In mid-2017, I launched a quarterly report series, digihealth impact trac. This research initiative is designed to complement and expand upon reports produced by StartUp Health, Rock Health and other organizations focusing on U.S. and global digital health investment activity.

It provides information about how digital technologies are being implemented and impacting health and medical care on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

Key highlights of this report include:

• The Global Digital Health Market is Growing in Strength: The market strengthened due to greater emphasis on improving interoperability and analytics capabilities, accelerating regional innovation diversity and other factors.
• Telemedicine is Surging: Telemedicine is…

As I discussed in a previous post, there’s been an ongoing debate about whether digital health (as an industry) is dead, or alive. Much of this conversation has been centered around financial metrics, as some investors have not realized rapid returns and companies globally are failing to gain traction.

This debate is framed within the context of economic returns, partly because firms such as Rock Health and StartUp Health have developed valuable reports focusing on on U.S. and global digital health investment activity. (BTW, here’s StartUp Health’s latest funding data.)

However, thousands of organizations, startups, government agencies, universities and others…

Yesterday during my live future::present breakfast event, I showed the slide below.

It illustrates how the volume of news headlines and social media mentions focusing on virtual reality and health nearly doubled in 2017.

And, it’s not just industry observers and media who are paying attention, investors are taking note as well. On Tuesday, news broke that Augmedics raised $8 million for its surgical virtual reality product and Greycroft and other funds are starting to invest heavily in the technology.

Why is VR so hot right now? Well there’s evidence that — when it comes to treating pain…

Yesterday, an essay by Rob Coppedge, CEO of Echo Health Ventures, appeared in CNBC with a provocative premise: “digital health is dead.”

He writes: “When the ungrounded aspirations of well-meaning digital health entrepreneurs and venture capitalists collided, it created an explosive environment where considerable capital was burned without building truly sustainable businesses. Many of these have quietly failed and others are — or soon will be — seeking strategic alternatives.”

I think this article is well worth a read (and a deep think). …

Welcome to the second installment of my mini-series, “Digital Health Around the World.”

As illustrated in the recent StartUp Health funding report, global digital health innovation and investment activity is accelerating, with many significant deals involving non-U.S.-based companies. The innovation trade winds are clearly blowing toward Asia, Europe and other parts of the world where difficult health infrastructure, outcomes, and demographic challenges are looming.

Our second stop on this digital health world tour is Singapore. (Click here to read my overview of the Korean digital health market.)

Singapore has a range of infrastructure and demographic challenges and…

For many of us this time of year brings travel opportunities and a chance to break away — physically and mentally — from the familiar.

Given this, I thought it would be the perfect time to launch a new mini-series I’m calling, “Digital Health Around the World.”

As illustrated in the recent StartUp Health funding report, global digital health innovation and investment activity is accelerating, with many significant deals involving non-U.S.-based companies. The innovation trade winds are clearly blowing toward Asia, Europe and other parts of the world where difficult health infrastructure, outcomes, and demographic challenges are looming…

AI is coming for our jobs — lots of them.

According to a recently published report by CB Insights AI could take up to 10.5 million jobs in the future.

The rise of AI has led to some speculation in the health community about whether doctors will be replaced by AI, whether for routine care, or more specialized tasks such as cancer diagnosis.

In fact, cancer diagnosis is one particularly hot area area for AI and machine learning, as illustrated by the Innovation Map below. …

One of the stories that is gaining traction in the wearables space is the reality that sensors are becoming less expensive and increasingly commoditized. It’s no longer enough for wearables makers to leverage better sensors to attract consumer interest. Instead, they must develop more holistic offerings with software that makes wearables smarter and more useful. This is why you may have been seeing a lot of focus on AI-powered wearables lately.

Yet, there’s are a few areas where sensors could still drive significant demand and innovation. A surprising one is sweat-sensing wearables.

A new feature coming this month…