INSURANCE
As One Insurance Group | February 25, 2022
Privately-held insurance brokerage firm As One Insurance Group ("As One") has announced the launch of its population health strategy that is already revolutionizing the healthcare industry based in Phoenix, As One has quickly achieved benchmark status in the population health world.
Brandon Bullock, Chief Strategy Officer of As One, says, "Over the years we have seen the number of those without access to healthcare shrink, the numbers are a positive sign, 10 percent of Americans still have no access to care. We're looking to close that gap. As One is offering Health Navigator alongside its proprietary sales platform which leverages electronic processing to speed up the sales cycle."
The cutting-edge firm specializes in life, health, and ancillary insurance benefits and is making insurance simple for carriers, agents, and clients through distinct offerings including:
An innovative population health strategy
A proprietary sales platform and CRM for straight-through electronic processing
An impressive nationwide distribution channel
Advanced agent training and sales tools
"With the right tools at their fingertips, our team and agents show tremendous courage every day fighting to fix health insurance, a strong team that works as one."
J.R. Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of As One
Cost of Healthcare in America
The cost of Healthcare in the United States is a significant factor that prevents people from obtaining the necessary care or filling prescriptions. Half of U.S. adults have stated that they postponed or completely mitigated some sort of dental or health care in the past year due to the high cost. Three in 10 people have also reported not taking their necessary medicines as prescribed at some point due to the very same reason. High healthcare costs excessively affect uninsured adults and those with lower household incomes. Larger shares of U.S. adults have also reported difficulty affording different types of care, which further delays and attributes to them forgoing medical care due to the cost.
However, individuals that are covered by health insurance are not immune to the weight of healthcare costs. Almost half (46%) of those insured reported difficulty affording out-of-pocket expenses, and 27% had reported difficulty in being able to afford their deductible. Difficulty paying medical bills has resulted in significant consequences for U.S. families. Medical bill problems are also disproportionately affecting those adults in households where they or a member of their household has a severe health condition.
About As One Insurance Group
As One Insurance Group ("As One") is a privately held insurance brokerage based in Phoenix, Arizona, specializing in life, health, and ancillary insurance benefits. As One aims to simplify insurance by making the process straightforward and honest. With transparent product information and open communications being the norm, the company provides a range of life and health insurance products that are coupled with the tools agents and clients need to manage their needs. That includes advanced education and training, innovative technology solutions, and best-in-class service. In short, they work with and for agents, clients, and carriers together as one.
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HEALTH TECHNOLOGY
Mednow Inc. | March 08, 2022
Mednow Inc. Canada’s on-demand virtual pharmacy, is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a share purchase agreement on March 4, 2021 with Mednow East Inc.and the shareholders of Mednow East, pursuant to which the Company shall acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Mednow East, in consideration for an aggregate cash payment of approximately C$65,578 and the Company’s agreement to convert approximately C$1,374,422 owed by Mednow East to the Company pursuant to a pharmacy agreement dated September 15, 2020, as amended October 30, 2020 into a non-interest bearing on-demand convertible promissory note.
Mednow East is an Ontario company that operates an online pharmacy, delivering prescriptions in the Province of Ontario. Mednow East has its business headquarters in Toronto and employs Mednow’s marketing and technology platform for lead generation, prescription fulfillment and customer services pursuant to the Pharmacy Agreement.
Strategically, Mednow is focused on building out a national pharmacy footprint and the acquisition of Mednow East, with their presence in Ontario, helps to accelerate these goals. Prior to this acquisition, Mednow entered into the Pharmacy Agreement with Mednow East, but post-acquisition, Mednow will own 100% of a pharmacy located in Ontario, which will allow Mednow to provide free same-day pharmaceutical delivery services in the GTA and surrounding areas, and free next-day delivery in the rest of Ontario.
Upon closing of the Share Purchase Agreement, Mednow East’s revenue and expenses will be consolidated with those of Mednow and the Pharmacy Agreement between the two parties will be terminated. The debt of approximately C$1,374,422 extended to Mednow East by the Company was used to fund Mednow East’s working capital and provide support for its operations.
As Amir Ali Reyhany-Bozorg and Felipe Campusano are directors of the Company and Karim Nassar is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and each are also shareholders of Mednow East, the transaction contemplated under the Share Purchase Agreement is a related party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 –Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions. The Company is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements imposed by MI 61-101 pursuant to the exemptions in section 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, as neither the fair market value of the Shares, nor the consideration paid therefor, exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization.
The Transaction is subject to corporate and regulatory approvals, including TSX Venture Exchange approval.
About Mednow Inc.
Mednow is a healthcare technology company offering virtual access with a high-standard of care. Designed with accessibility and quality of care in mind, Mednow.ca provides virtual pharmacy and telemedicine services as well as doctor home visits through an interdisciplinary approach to healthcare that is focused on the patient experience. Mednow’s services include free at-home delivery of medications, a user-friendly interface for easy upload, transfer, and refill of prescriptions, access to healthcare professionals through an intuitive chat experience, a specialized PillSmart™ system that packages prescriptions and vitamins by date and time, and doctor consultations.
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DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
Health at Scale | February 01, 2022
Health at Scale today announced a collaboration with Walmart to provide personalized provider recommendations to Walmart associates and their families who work in locations where Health at Scale is offered and are enrolled in the company's health plan. This technology will be incorporated into Walmart's health plan administrator's search engine and virtual care referrals for associates in select geographies, making it easier for plan participants to find providers that match to their unique health needs and care history. Through this initiative, Walmart and Health at Scale will establish a more personalized healthcare experience that focuses on the needs of each individual in the moment and leverages industry-leading machine intelligence to identify providers who have successfully treated patients with similar characteristics and care needs.
"Finding the right provider is one of the most important health decisions a patient makes. It is also one of the hardest. What we really need to optimize is the patient-provider match. We're delighted to work with Walmart as the leader in employer health and benefits innovation and provide Walmart associates and their families in certain locations with smart, hyper-personalized provider matches that reflect a deep understanding and respect for their individual health needs."
Health at Scale CEOZeeshan Syed
Health at Scale's Precision Navigation™goes beyond non-personalized process-based star ratings, reputation rankings, and volume-based metrics and instead uses industry-leading AI and machine learning to model variations in provider outcomes across thousands of health factors. The service covers 25 different specialties as well as 34 procedures and imaging.
"Customizing services and treatments to individual needs is the next frontier in healthcare and is a major part of Walmart's commitmentto helping associates and their family members find great doctors who consistently deliver the best value and quality care in their community," saidLisa Woods, VP, Walmart US Benefits. "We are excited to launch this collaboration with Health at Scale and are eager to see the impact that another innovative benefit like this will have on associates' healthcare experience and outcomes."
About Health at Scale
Health at Scale is a healthcare machine intelligence company that uses proprietary advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning to match individuals managed by insurers, employers and providers to the next best action in real-time and when needed most: whether it's the ideal choice of treatment, an early intervention, or the right provider. Founded by machine learning and clinical faculty fromMIT,Harvard,Stanford, and theUniversity of Michigan, the company's mission is to bring precision delivery to healthcare, learning from thousands of health variables from over a hundred million lives to generate personalized and precise insights for individual patients. Health at Scale's machine intelligence is deployed at scale in real operational settings -- including with some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country, driving better health outcomes and affordability for its customers. The company's software solutions service a broad range of use cases: provider navigation and network design, early targeted prediction and prevention of adverse outcomes, optimized treatment planning; and fraud, waste, and abuse prevention.
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FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE
Spinafx medical inc | June 13, 2022
Minimally invasive image-guided therapy company, SpinaFX Medical Inc. announced it will exhibit at the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting inBoston, MA,June 11-16, at booth 414. Dr. Alexis Kelekis, medical advisor to SpinaFX, will present the results of a research study on which he was the lead author, recently published inThe Spine Journal, on the effectiveness of intradiscal oxygen-ozone treatment compared to microdiscectomy for contained lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy. This study has been recognized by SIR as one of the 2022Abstracts of the Year.
"We are excited to meet with some of the world's leading interventional radiologists to discuss innovations in minimally invasive, image-guided care and share our recent progress and momentum at SpinaFX. We look forward to Dr. Kelekis' presentation and celebrate the study's findings, which have the potential to benefit both patients and providers by addressing a significant gap in the continuum of care for the millions suffering from back pain."
Jeff Cambra, SpinaFX CEO
"I am thrilled that Dr. Kelekis will share the findings of our skilled research team at SIR's Annual Scientific Meeting," said Dr.Kieran Murphy, SpinaFX Chief Medical Officer and co-author of the recognized study. "The technology used in this randomized control trial holds great promise for patients struggling with contained herniated lumbar disc pain and it is an honor to have this research recognized by such a prestigious and well-respected organization."
Dr. Alexis Kelekis willpresentthe results of his study onWednesday, June 15, at10:40 a.m.during Closing Plenary.
As an exhibitor during the meeting onJune 11-16, SpinaFX will offer attendees the opportunity to discuss the study results and their implications with Drs. Kelekis and Murphy, learn more about SpinaFX and its goal to help develop minimally invasive, image-guided treatment options, and provide input on developing technology with the potential to redefine the treatment of contained herniated discs. Visit SIR'swebsiteto learn more about the Annual Scientific Meeting.
About SpinaFX
Headquartered inOntario, Canada, SpinaFX is a treatment solution and technology company bringing innovative, minimally invasive image-guided treatments to patients with back pain due to contained herniated discs.
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