The convergence of machine learning, data analytics and digital technologies is innovating care delivery across the healthcare industry. As providers adapt to a range of challenges, this adoption of innovation and technology continues to drive new modalities of care.
Apply now for the 2019 Global Digital Health 100 >>
Across medicine and healthcare, technology can help transform unsustainable healthcare systems into sustainable ones, equalise the relationship between medical professionals and patients, provide cheaper, faster and more effective solutions for disease management and treatment. These changing trends present significant opportunities for developers like those featured in our Global Digital Health 100.
The companies featured in our annual Global Digital Health 100 are at the forefront of healthcare technology adoption. Our latest 100 innovators, announced last month, span the complete spectrum of healthcare technology from connected medical devices to clinical decision support solutions, digital therapeutics to telehealth.
We spoke to a number of our top innovators to find out what it means to them to have made the 100:
Pranam Ben, CEO of The Garage, commented, “The Garage is honoured to be chosen as part of this prestigious list, especially as it includes so many diverse organisations making a deep impact on the healthcare industry across the globe. Our company has pushed hard to take our technology platform to the next level for our clients. This year, alone, saw our platforms break into new realms of AI, telehealth and data analysis to help proactively bring actionable insights to healthcare organizations that will further improve their care quality and value. This award recognises the innovations we’re bringing to partners and to the industry as a whole, and I look forward to what the next year will bring for The Garage and all the organisations on the Global Digital Health 100 list.”
EarlySense is on a global mission to raise the standard of patient care throughout the healthcare continuum via contact-free continuous monitoring and predictive analytics. More than 150 global facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes and rehab facilities, use EarlySense’s contact-free sensor and analytics platform to monitor patients in real-time and identify potentially dangerous situations to intervene early, before they become critical.
Avner Halperin, the Co-founder of EarlySense, commented, “EarlySense is proud to be included in the Global Digital Health 100. This award acknowledges our ongoing efforts to improve patient care via ‘invisible’ sensing and smart analytics. With over 1 million patients monitored and recent publications showing an over 80% reduction in mortality associated with code blue events, we believe that our continuous monitoring solution is likely to become the standard across the continuum of care.”
Oxehealth is another solution provider helping healthcare providers monitor patients more easily and effectively. The company’s vital signs solution is certified as a Class IIa medical device for the noninvasive spot measurement of pulse rate & breathing rate. It is comparably accurate to conventional contact medical devices but it is completely contact-free.
“Nurse and carers are the heroes of healthcare; the Oxehealth team are working tirelessly to ensure the Digital Care Assistant gives them more time for hands of care where and when they are needed most.” said Hugh Lloyd-Jukes, Oxehealth CEO. “I’m thrilled that that the Journal of mHealth’s expert team have recognised the importance of Oxehealth’s Digital Care Assistant and included us in their Global Digital Health Award 100, alongside several other luminaries in the digital health space.”
The impact of technology on diabetes care, over recent years, has been profound and a number of diabetes tech companies made this year’s list. Smart Meter’s iGlucose® diabetes care solution is designed to be simple and fit conveniently into a person’s life without additional costs. Its cell-enabled technology eliminates the need for creating manual logbooks or downloading bG results. The ease of sharing real-time data keeps those with diabetes and their Circle of Care informed and engaged.
Smart Meter CEO, Cliff McIntosh, said “We are both excited and honoured to be selected for inclusion in The Journal of mHealth Global Digital Health 100 list. This recognition clearly supports our mission to enable the proactive and personalised management of diabetes through our global cellular-connected technology platform. We believe reliable, real-time data facilitates improved care and delivers better patient outcomes. Our iGlucose platform is perfectly simple for the patient and transformative for providers and partners. We thank The Journal of mHealth for recognising our efforts and including us on the list with the other innovative companies.”
Liva Healthcare is a Nordic innovative digital health platform designed to prevent and reverse chronic lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Kristoffer From, CEO of Liva Healthcare, comments; “We are honoured to have been included in the Global Digital Health 100 power-list. In the last year, Liva Healthcare has showcased innovation and rapid growth on a global scale by working with private insurance, pharma and public healthcare bodies to drive patient engagement, clinical outcomes and healthcare delivery efficiency with real-time data insight. The next 12 months will see further expansion as we widen our presence in the UK and begin our German market entry alongside other European markets, with plans to be operational by the end of 2019.”
Point-of-care diagnostics have come a long way in recent years, offering huge potential for the healthcare industry. Genomtec is one company innovating in this space with an innovative diagnostic device based on the amplification and detection of specific DNA and RNA fragments, i.e. the gold standard of molecular diagnostics. Miron Tokarski, CEO, Genomtec, comments, “Being included in the Global Digital Health 100 list confirms that our pocket-sized molecular biology laboratory is truly needed in the market and will greatly help specialists, including medical staff, to take faster and more informed decisions where health and lives of humans are at stake. Our device Genomtec ID combines mobility, ease of use and speed of analysis with a professional amplification and detection of specific DNA and RNA fragments. The device uses microfluidic technologies and a lab-on-chip system. Test materials include whole blood, swabs, cerebrospinal fluid and many more. In record time of less than 15 minutes and with an efficiency of 99% is able to detect a pathogen of bacteria, viruses, genetic mutations and fungi.”
“This is a huge success for us. The list includes many great companies, representing world class innovation. Congratulations to everyone!” said Katarzyna Pala, Business Development Director of SensDx. “The technology and the device created by SensDx is a tool that boldly enters the future of the thriving telemedicine and remote diagnostics sectors” emphasised Director Pala. “Our concept concerns technology that will allow for the precise and simple application of tests for quick diagnosis of pathogens. The innovativeness of the solution consists in combining a user-friendly device that contains the tests with a free mobile app for easy reading of results at any time and place. Placement on the list we treated as a prize, which delights that our idea was confronted with the opinion of international scientific authorities from The Journal of mHealth. This success is not only a huge reputation but also will have the opportunity to use the reputation and experience of the partners, which is a unique opportunity to develop.”
BBI is another company innovating at the point-of-care. The SEM Scanner is the world’s first device to objectively alert clinicians to specific anatomical areas of a patient’s body at increased risk for developing pressure damage. Patient risk assessments are performed with the SEM Scanner before visible damage manifests at the skin surface – a world and clinical first.
Martin Burns, CEO of BBI, comments, “The USA’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved our SEM Scanner for objective risk assessment of the #1 patient safety issue in most care settings, bed sores (pressure ulcers): a world first! This population health issue, which is as big and deadly as the opioid crisis, is mathematically impossible to fully prevent given the current subjective standard of care. And yet, unlike the opioid crisis, bed sores are largely avoidable, hence being “never events”; serious medical errors which should never occur in any care setting. The only way to achieve full or near-full prevention is with technology, properly applied in a prevention-focused care pathway. That single insight shaped and motivated BBI’s mission; to make prevention real, through the use of technology. And far from being a promise, clinical reality is showing that near-zero preventative states are achievable when the Scanner is deployed. Prevention has been realised in Europe. Now USA patients are benefitting.”
“Thank you to the Journal of mHealth for this wonderful top-100 listing.” continues Burns. “Recognition like this is warmly welcomed, of course. But you should know that it makes a positive difference in our market access work.”
This year’s Global Digital Health 100 also features a number of companies from previous years. “For the second consecutive year, SnapMD is honoured to be named as one of the Global Digital Health 100 companies that demonstrates the greatest potential to change the way that healthcare is delivered,” said Dave Skibinski, CEO of SnapMD. “As one of the health-tech industry’s leading technology awards, judges took a particular interest in our Virtual Care Management (VCM) telehealth solution as software scalability is a key factor and the platform helps hospitals and health systems reach across a variety of medical service lines to connect the care continuum.”
David Van Sickle, CEO of Propeller which has also featured in previous years, commented “Over the last eight years since Propeller was founded, we have witnessed the beginning of the digital health era, as pharmaceutical companies, providers, payers and patients start to realise the tremendous impact that digital will have on the experience of healthcare. We are still in the early days of digital health, but every day we see our peers and partners take bolder steps to create digital experiences and analytical insights that benefit the care and treatment of disease. We are proud to be recognised by The Journal of mHealth as one of the companies helping to improve people’s lives by connecting the world’s medicines.”
