Digital Healthcare
Syra Health | January 04, 2024
Syra Health Corp. a healthcare technology company with a mission to improve healthcare by providing innovative services and technology solutions, is excited to summarize its significant accomplishments and the introduction of its innovative solutions across the Company's six business units.
Within its Behavioral and Mental Health Business Unit, Syra Health
Launched Syrenity, the Company's flagship mental and behavioral product, focused on preventing mental health crises. Syrenity is evidence-based and AI-backed, offering continual monitoring and cognitive therapy interventions. Syrenity also integrates with telehealth, allowing for easy access to licensed mental health professionals when treatment is necessary.
Entered into a strategic agreement with E&I Cooperative Services (E&I) which extended Syrenity's reach to over 6,000 colleges and universities nationwide, that make up E&I's membership.
Secured a five-year, $4.75 million contract with the District of Columbia's Department of Behavioral Health, to support vital mental health programs in communities.
Entered into a one-year agreement with the County of Camden Psychological Screening and Evaluation Services to provide mental health screening and evaluations to Camden County, New Jersey law enforcement personnel.
Received a contract from the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) to provide behavioral and mental health services to the Oakley Youth Development Center and other locations as directed by MDHS.
Across its Digital Health Business Unit, Syra Health
Launched CarePlus, an easy-to-use, secure, and scalable electronic medical record (EMR) system for small and mid-sized healthcare organizations. CarePlus is affordable and accessible by simplifying clinical workflows, integrating labs, radiology, and telehealth.
Unveiled SyraBot, a digital health product that uses human-centric AI to deliver conversational and immediate responses to inquiries made through any healthcare organization's website. SyraBot provides real-time access to information users need, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week in up to 200 languages.
As part of its Population Health Business Unit, Syra Health
Received a two-year contract extension, worth up to $636,000 with the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction and Family and Social Services Administration, to chair and manage the State of Indiana's Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup.
Secured a five-year contract worth $275,000 with the City of San Antonio to evaluate its Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Healthy Neighborhoods Project.
Across its Health Education Business Unit, Syra Health
Entered into a new strategic agreement with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health in Arizona where Syra Health experts trained over 100 public health staff on best practices for implementing health equity.
As part of its Healthcare Workforce Business Unit, Syra Health
Won a contract with Osawatomie State Hospital and Adair Acute Care in Kansas, to deploy licensed healthcare professionals to deliver vital social and therapy services.
Secured contracts across Oklahoma, Virginia, and Alabama to deliver healthcare staffing solutions to correctional facilities.
Provides on-demand temporary medical personnel, including nurses and nurses' aides, for two veteran homes in Ohio and one in Indiana.
Delivers direct care staffing for the Department of Health and Human Resources Purchasing Division in the state of West Virginia.
Expanded its Healthcare Workforce Solutions to include a new technology platform for employers and those seeking new positions, plus engagement and concierge services.
Syra Health Announced its Expansion into Federal Government Contracts, making Federal Government Solutions the Company's Sixth Business Unit
Syra Health expanded its reach beyond state and local governments to include supplying its products and services to the federal government.
Milestones
On September 29, 2023, Syra Health became a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol "SYRA.
In October 2023, Syra Health successfully closed on $6.7 million in IPO financing.
Syra Health's third-quarter revenue increased by 4%. Importantly, the Company saw a significant rise in gross profit margins from 27.3% to 35.1% versus the same period the year prior.
"2023 was a transformative year for Syra Health," said Dr. Deepika Vuppalanchi, CEO, Syra Health. "We are incredibly proud of our team's commitment which has enabled us to secure new contracts and launch innovative products. As we step into the new year, we are driven by a profound commitment to continue addressing the most significant healthcare challenges and to improving healthcare for all."
About Syra Health
Syra Health is a healthcare technology company addressing some of healthcare's most significant challenges in areas such as behavioral and mental health, digital health, and population health, by providing innovative services and technology solutions. Syra Health's products and services are centered on prevention, improved access, and affordable care. Syra Health supplies its solutions to payers, providers, life sciences organizations, academic institutions, and the government.
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Health Technology, AI
Swoop | January 09, 2024
Swoop, a leader in developing precise direct to consumer (DTC) and healthcare provider (HCP) audiences for pharmaceutical and life sciences brands, today announced the launch of its AI-powered conversational agent. This groundbreaking advancement in healthcare marketing sets a new standard for lower funnel engagement, enabling immediate, MLR-compliant virtual customer interactions via brand.com.
“Swoop’s AI-powered conversational agent marks the first groundbreaking advancement for brand.com since the introduction of pharmaceutical websites in the 1990s, addressing a pressing need for innovation in how the industry engages with their customers,” said Scott Rines, underscoring the historic significance of this achievement. “Patients and physicians are looking for real-time information, 24/7/365 during their moment of need, but are often faced with an overwhelming experience on brand.com. They come to the site seeking fast, clear answers to their health-related questions – our agent solves this.”
Market conditions continue to remain a challenge with shortages of healthcare professionals despite an uptick in customer demand for information related to their condition and treatment decisions. Meanwhile, HCPs are also less likely to allow medical reps into their offices, a shift that has continued post-Covid. Instead, these increasingly digital-native, often over-extended, physicians prefer to seek information online when their schedule permits, limiting the impact of personal promotion.
“The ability to parse the data derived from lower funnel conversations with HCPs and patients in real time will prove invaluable, as these signals will become proprietary 1st party data to optimize future marketing spend and messaging,” added Rines.
Key Features of Swoop's Conversational Agent
Dynamic Patient Conversations: Patients and HCPs can engage with conversational AI in real-time, creating a personalized and responsive user experience to drive more high-value actions on a health brand website.
MLR-Approved Medical Information: Leveraging advanced algorithms, conversational AI provides MLR-approved answers to both simple and complex medical questions in the moment of need, enhancing the overall user experience for both patients and HCPs.
Real-Time Patient Insights: Valuable real-time data from conversations accessible via dashboards allows healthcare brands to assess the effectiveness of their messaging and make informed adjustments promptly.
Scalable to Client Demands: Whether for a single brand, therapeutic area or product portfolio, Swoop conversational AI agents can scale with the needs of healthcare marketers from new product launches to covering open territories and unsupported brands.
Patient Data Security and Compliance: Swoop prioritizes patient privacy and data security, ensuring that all conversational AI agents operate in compliance with the highest industry standards and regulations.
Typical Client Results Seen by Customers
96% – Average answer success rate of inquiries
5.2 minutes – Typical conversation duration
4.7/5 – Average user satisfaction rating
800% – Increase in high-value activities on brand websites
Swoop’s conversational AI technology is built on more than 1.3 billion conversations with patients and providers and has been trained under the supervision of physicians and medically trained clinicians. Unlike generative AI, which can hallucinate and is not appropriate for direct patient and HCP interaction in the heavily regulated pharmaceutical industry, Swoop conversational AI uses fine-tuned large language models to understand user intent and surface the most relevant MLR-approved answers to ensure compliance, accuracy and, most importantly, safety.
About Swoop
Swoop, part of Real Chemistry, enables pharmaceutical and life sciences brands to reach their ideal DTC and HCP audiences at crucial moments of their diagnosis and treatment journey. Using ML/AI and real world data, Swoop is a leader in developing brand-exclusive audiences of patients and their providers for healthcare companies. Once the right customers have been targeted, brands can drive bottom-of-the-funnel engagement through Swoop’s proprietary medically trained and MLR-compliant conversational AI. Built on a privacy-by-design foundation, Swoop is both HIPAA-certified and NAI accredited, having developed more than 12,000 unique target audiences for 42 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies safely. Its conversational AI has been implemented across 100 health brands and trained on over 1.3 billion medical conversations.
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Healthcare Analytics
Aya Healthcare | January 17, 2024
Aya Healthcare, the largest healthcare talent software and staffing company in the United States, today announced the acquisition of ID Medical, a leading workforce solutions provider in the United Kingdom (U.K.). ID Medical brings over 20 years of experience providing the National Health Service (NHS) and other healthcare organizations with innovative workforce solutions, including workforce management, international recruitment and temporary healthcare staffing.
As part of the acquisition, ID Medical will make Aya Healthcare’s market-leading technology available to the NHS and U.K.-based clinicians. The companies plan to share best practices from each market with their respective clients.
“We are excited about ID Medical joining the Aya family of brands. We believe that we will deliver enhanced value to our respective clients and clinicians through this cross-Atlantic collaboration,” said Alan Braynin, president and CEO of Aya Healthcare.
ID Medical will continue to operate as its own brand in the U.K., supporting thousands of healthcare professionals and hundreds of healthcare organizations.
“We are excited to join Aya in our shared mission to transform the healthcare industry worldwide,” said Deenu Patel, CEO of ID Medical. “With Aya’s support, we’ll have access to additional resources, technology and expertise to enhance our services and expand our impact.”
About Aya Healthcare
Aya Healthcare is the largest healthcare talent software and staffing company in the United States. Aya operates the world’s largest digital staffing platform delivering every component of healthcare-focused labor services, including travel nursing and allied health, per diem, permanent staff hiring, interim leadership, locum tenens and non-clinical professionals. Aya’s software suite, which includes vendor management, float pool technology, provider services and predictive analytics, provides hospital systems greater efficiencies, superior operating results and reduced labor costs. While technology drives efficiency and scale, Aya’s 7,000+ global employees power the company to deliver unparalleled accountability and exceptional experiences for clients and clinicians. Aya’s company culture is rooted in giving back and supports organizations around food security, education, healthcare, safe shelter and equity.
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Medical Devices
Medtronic | January 05, 2024
Medtronic plc a global leader in healthcare technology, announced it has received CE Mark for its Micra™ AV2 and Micra™ VR2, the next generation of its industry-leading miniature, leadless pacemakers.
Micra AV2 and Micra VR2, the world's smallest pacemakers, provide longer battery life and easier programming than prior Micra pacemakers, while still delivering the many benefits of leadless pacing such as reduced complications compared to traditional pacemakers.2
With approximately 40% more battery life compared to previous generations,1 Medtronic projects the battery life of Micra AV2 and Micra VR2 is nearly 16 and 17 years, respectively.3 This means more than 80% of patients who receive a Micra may only require one device for life.3
This CE Mark milestone follows U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the Micra AV2 and VR2 devices in 2023.
In addition to size and longevity benefits, Micra devices are also the only leadless pacemakers with remote monitoring capabilities, which allow a doctor or clinic to check on a patient's heart device without the need for a patient to travel to their clinic for an in-person appointment. Other patient benefits of remote monitoring may include a reduction in hospitalizations and increase in sense of security.4,5
"For more than eight years, our Micra leadless pacemakers have provided meaningful benefits to people in Europe who require a pacemaker. Now, these patients have access to the latest leadless pacing technology that, for most of them, may be the only device they will ever need," said Robert C. Kowal, M.D., Ph.D., general manager, Cardiac Pacing Therapies within the Cardiac Rhythm Management business, which is part of the Cardiovascular Portfolio at Medtronic.
"The first generation of leadless Micra pacemakers demonstrated a significant reduction in major complications, and this next generation of Micra brings several additional benefits including greater longevity, and specifically for the Micra AV2, new algorithms to optimize AV synchrony at faster heart rates while requiring less in-office programming," said Prof. Dr. Christophe Garweg, Cardiologist at University Hospitals of Leuven, Belgium. "These advantages likely will expand the use of the leadless pacemaker to more patients."
Globally, more than 200,000 patients have received Micra pacemakers.6 Comparable in size to a large vitamin, Micra pacemakers are less than one-tenth the size of traditional pacemakers. Unlike traditional pacemakers, Micra pacemakers do not require leads or a surgical "pocket" under the skin, so potential sources of complications related to leads and pockets are eliminated, and there is no visible sign of the device.
About Medtronic
Bold thinking. Bolder actions. We are Medtronic. Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is the leading global healthcare technology company that boldly attacks the most challenging health problems facing humanity by searching out and finding solutions. Our Mission — to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life — unites a global team of 90,000+ passionate people across more than 150 countries. Our technologies and therapies treat 70 health conditions and include cardiac devices, surgical robotics, insulin pumps, surgical tools, patient monitoring systems, and more. Powered by our diverse knowledge, insatiable curiosity, and desire to help all those who need it, we deliver innovative technologies that transform the lives of two people every second, every hour, every day.
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