Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Gives Theranos Green Light To Conduct Blood Testing Outside The Lab
A few weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration granted approval to Theranos' innovative finger-prick method, which requires mere drops of blood as opposed to vials to run complex tests. The agency also specifically gave its blessing to Theranos' test for the herpes simplex 1 virus. But on Thursday, the FDA gave [company founder Elizabeth] Holmes yet another thumbs up that could radically expand the company's business potential. By granting Theranos the right to conduct that herpes test outside of a lab - a so-called CLIA waiver - the FDA is giving the Palo Alto-based startup the green light to offer consumers even greater flexibility and itself a broader revenue stream. (della Cava, 7/17)
Xerox Corp said it would revamp its healthcare IT business and record a related impairment charge of about $145 million in the second quarter. ... The healthcare business provides administrative and care management solutions to state Medicaid programs and government healthcare programs. (7/17)
Jack Hemmert has been hired as the first CIO of Intermedix Corp., which provides sales management and analytics software for health-care providers, corporations and government agencies. Mr. Hemmert, formerly CIO of Verisk Health, reports to CEO Joel Portice. Mr. Hemmert will work to expand the company鈥檚 technology and data analytics initiatives. He will establish IT culture and practices centered around Agile software development, with an emphasis on collaboration with business partners to accelerate growth. (Boulton, 7/17)
Just a stone's throw from UCSF Medical Center, a small group of entrepreneurs at Rock Health, a business accelerator program that is now a venture firm, were thinking about how to shake up the health care process with technology. These startups were developing new wearable devices and mobile apps to help patients take more control of their own health. The timing was right to bring new ideas to the sector. By 2012, hospitals around the country were rapidly moving away from paper-based medical records to electronic systems, a first step to moving health care into the digital age. Angelotti graduated the following year, but she didn't apply for any residency programs. Instead, she went to work at Rock Health as a researcher and writer and later joined the medical review site Iodine, one of an exploding number of digital health startups in San Francisco. (Farr, 7/19)
