< + > Mifepristone: Supreme Court Expected To Rule On Fate Of Abortion Pill

The court has paused a controversial lower court ruling until midnight Friday.

< + > HIMSS23: DHA is developing a virtual-first health ecosystem

The Defense Health Agency is launching a data-centric path to making military medicine "more precise, personal, predictive, preventive and participatory," said its new director, Dr. Telita Crosland, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army.

< + > Scene Health Secures $17.7 Million Series B Financing Led by ABS Capital Partners

Funding Will Grow Medication Adherence Services for Medicaid and Other Under-Resourced Populations

Scene Health, the leading medication engagement company, has closed an oversubscribed $17.7 million Series B growth financing led by ABS Capital Partners with participation from existing investors Claritas Health Ventures, as well as Healthworx, the innovation and investment arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, PTX Capital, and Kapor Capital.

The investment is the latest validation of Scene Health’s unique video-based platform, which empowers people to take medication properly through person-to-person connections, every day. This week’s funding announcement comes on the heels of:

• The recent CDC endorsement of video Directly Observed Therapy (video DOT) as equivalent to in-person DOT for tuberculosis treatment.
• Last week’s announcement of a $1.67 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant allowing Scene to provide medication adherence support to pediatric heart transplant recipients in Florida.
• Scene reaching a milestone of impacting more than 200,000 lives with over 40M engagements through its 360° model of care.

Series B funding proceeds will enable Scene to further accelerate its ability to serve Medicaid and Medicare managed care plans, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical research organizations. This financing brings the total investment in Scene to over $25 million since its founding in 2014.

“This is an incredible opportunity for Scene Health and it comes with a very important obligation to meaningfully impact millions of people who struggle with chronic and infectious conditions” said Sebastian Seiguer, Co-Founder and CEO at Scene Health. “Nonadherence, or not taking medication as prescribed, is one of the most insidious causes of mortality and cost in our healthcare system. We’ve taken the gold standard solution to the problem from the inpatient setting and enhanced it for scale in outpatient care using video technology and a compassionate care team. This funding is a critical milestone to defining a new, modern standard for supporting medication adherence using evidence-based public health strategies.”

Medication nonadherence is a $500 billion challenge in the U.S. and the leading cause of preventable hospitalizations. Scene’s tech-enabled solution provides personalized engagement through video technology, clinical coaching, and validated interventions to improve medication adherence rates and address barriers related to social determinants of health. Through daily one-on-one video and in-app chat interactions, Scene’s care team of pharmacists, nurses, and health coaches build relationships with patients like young Elajah to improve their medication administration technique, adherence, and motivation.

“Scene’s solution directly aligns with the quadruple aim in healthcare – enhancing the patient experience, improving a population’s clinical and quality outcomes, improving care providers’ work lives, and reducing costs,” says ABS Capital Partner, Cal Wheaton who led the investment and will be joining Scene’s board of directors. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Scene and its experienced team to expand the scope of Scene’s positive patient engagement and impact, while meaningfully reducing the financial burden associated with medication nonadherence for Scene’s varied customers.”

About Scene Health

Scene (formerly emocha) brings healthcare professionals, patients, and their families together to solve the $500 billion medication nonadherence problem. Scene’s mobile app allows patients to connect with a care team of pharmacists, nurses, and health coaches through daily video check-ins anytime and anywhere. Research in 19 peer-reviewed publications so far has demonstrated that Scene dramatically increases patient engagement, improves health outcomes, and reduces overall costs for healthcare payors. Scene currently delivers programs for 720 customers across Medicaid and Medicare Managed Care Organizations, public health departments, and life science organizations covering multiple chronic and infectious conditions, including diabetes, asthma, cholesterol, opioid use disorder, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, hypertension, solid organ transplants, and sickle cell disease.  For more information, visit scene.health.

About ABS Capital

ABS Capital provides growth equity capital to B2B software and tech-enabled services businesses with strong technology and data underpinnings looking to scale with the right partners. Building growth-stage businesses has been ABS Capital’s focus for more than 30 years. Over that time, ABS Capital has invested more than $2.5 billion in approximately 130 companies across eight funds. Bringing investing, operational, infrastructure, technology, and business development skills to amplify the success of growing businesses together with data-driven business strategies, market research and analytics, ABS Capital works intensively in close partnership with talented management teams. ABS Capital: building emerging growth businesses into industry leaders. For more information, visit abscapital.com.

Originally announced April 11th, 2023

< + > Givers Provides Money Management To Caregivers

Ask someone who has found themselves in the position of being the caregiver for a family member, and they’ll tell you that it’s one of the toughest jobs in the world.

< + > Global leaders talk ways forward for digital transformation with 'equity by design'

CHICAGO – "Without health there is nothing," said Hans Kluge, regional director for Europe at the World Health Organization, during the morning keynote Thursday at HIMSS23.

< + > Tech may not be an easy solution to health systems' financial challenges

At HIMSS23, panelists discussed health systems' financial challenges as labor costs rise and the population ages.

< + > New cardiac hospital in Victoria goes pager-less

The Victorian Heart Hospital has adopted a role-based messaging platform provided by FiveP.