Monday, January 18, 2021
Happy Martin Luther King Day.
As the nation shifts into gear with the massive effort to roll out vaccinations, the biggest challenge seems to be allocating, distributing, and administering the vaccine in a speedy and equitable way.
While a return to the free travel of pre-pandemic era doesn’t seem to be in sight, everyone might now have to prepare to obtain a new kind of passport – the vaccine passport – without which travel may be restricted to most of us. Big tech firms are getting together with industry standards organizations to enable those that receive vaccines to access and share their immunization records online, an important step to remove barriers to work, travel, and return to some level of normalcy.
The J.P. Morgan and CES conferences concluded last week – virtually, of course, to the disappointment of many. (One person I spoke with lamented particularly the loss of the sensory experience of seeing, touching, and experiencing the gadgets of the future at CES.) We include a couple of summaries of those who drank from the virtual firehose.
Have a great week.
Paddy
Damo Consulting offers branding solutions for technology firms looking to gain visibility and access to healthcare executives and CXOs. Drop a line to info@damoconsulting.net for more details.
Our Top 10 Podcasts of the Year 2020
This Week in Digital Health Markets
We are selectively featuring guest posts in our newsletter from senior leaders in healthcare and technology. Reach out to us if you would like to contribute a blog to one of our upcoming newsletters.
Covid-19 Vaccines Are Getting Stuck at the Last Step
Local governments, hospitals, and clinics have the doses but not the resources to organize getting them to the right people. Wall Street Journal
Epic, Cerner and other health IT heavy hitters join forces for Vaccine Credential Initiative
The new coalition, which also includes Carin Alliance, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, and Salesforce, is using FHIR standards to enable more secure, interoperable access to digital vaccination records. Healthcare IT News
How COVID unlocked the power of RNA vaccines
The era of RNA vaccines has arrived — and dozens of companies are getting in the game. The technology could revolutionize efforts to immunize against HIV, malaria, influenza, and more. Nature Research
Employers Can’t Fix U.S. Health Care Alone
The decision by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to close Haven, their venture aimed at transforming U.S. healthcare, shows that the challenge is too big for employers. They must ally with the one purchaser that has market power everywhere and that has successfully implemented fundamental changes in healthcare payment and delivery: the federal government and its Medicare and Medicaid programs. Harvard Business Review
Amazon is likely to boost its own healthcare ambitions after exiting Haven JV
In this insightful piece by Katie Arcieri of S&P Global market intelligence, I share my thoughts on how Amazon will likely find success on their own in healthcare after the Haven chapter comes to a close. S&P Global Market Intelligence
Reporter’s notebook: J.P. Morgan’s 2021 health conference
Reporters daily updates and observations from the Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Modern Healthcare
The Devices, software and health tech headlines of CES 2021
MobiHealth News’ running list of the new health and wellness products from the digital version of this year’s consumer tech show. MobiHealth News
How digital health startups are staying competitive in a fast-growing arena
How digital health startups are navigating the complex healthcare landscape. Spoiler alert: follow the money. MedCity News
Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes
If you’re smart enough to invest in bitcoin, would you write down the access password on a piece of paper? I hope he finds it. The New York Times
He Created the Web. Now He’s Out to Remake the Digital World.
The inventor of the world wide web takes on the defining technology issue of our time -personal data protection. The New York Times
5 things to know about Google’s $2.1B Fitbit acquisition
Google completes Fitbit acquisition. Kind of. Modern Healthcare
Chart of the Week
Source: CB Insights
Events
Damo Consulting Thought Leadership and Research
Healthcare digital transformation: 5 predictions for 2021
Consumerism, telehealth, and the learnings from the pandemic will drive priorities in the year ahead.
Technology brings care to home for chronically ill patients
Video visits, temperature sensors and wearable scan replace the need for clinic visits. The pandemic has only accelerated this process – and shown the need to innovate infrastructure and make investments.
A mid-year review of the financial and market performance of global technology consulting firms in healthcare.
The WITCH Monthly Monitor - Our monthly update on major global IT consulting and services firms in healthcare provides the latest financial and market performance updates on WITCH companies along with other global IT consulting firms. *WITCH Monthly Monitor is now available as a free 1-year subscription with every purchase of The WITCH Report.
This research paper, based on focus group discussions with CHIME members, discusses the challenges with digital transformation for mid-tier health systems and what CIOs must do to accelerate digital transformation in their organizations.
