The HLTH convention held in Las Vegas this week gave healthcare leaders the chance to convene, community and share concepts. It additionally introduced a bevy of stories bulletins, from partnerships to new product options to acquisitions and extra.

Under are 11 notable bulletins made in the course of the convention.

1. Basic Catalyst desires to purchase a well being system

Enterprise capital agency Basic Catalyst launched a brand new firm named Well being Assurance Transformation Company, or HATCo for brief. The corporate, which might be led by former Intermountain Well being CEO Marc Harrison, is concentrated on three issues.

Firstly, the corporate plans to work with its greater than 20 well being system companions to offer advisory companies that assist them deploy higher know-how. It additionally plans to develop an interoperability mannequin for know-how options, drawing on a few of Basic Catalyst’s portfolio firms to drive this effort. Lastly, HATCo plans to amass and function a well being system in order that the corporate can “display the blueprint of this transformation for the remainder of the {industry},” the enterprise fund stated.

2. Uber, Optum be part of forces

Uber and Optum introduced Sunday that they’re working collectively to assist sufferers of taking part well being plans pay for sure bills by way of the Uber app. The partnership combines Optum’s well being cost platform with Uber’s transportation companies and community of grocery and retail shops.

Beginning in 2024, members of choose Medicare Benefit plans will be capable to add well being plan profit playing cards issued by Optum’s cost platform as a type of cost within the Uber app. These members will be capable to use their profit playing cards to pay for health-related rides, over-the-counter objects and wholesome meals. Sooner or later, the businesses plan to broaden this service to Medicaid and business well being plans.

3. Walgreens to start delivering direct-to-consumer digital care

Walgreens stated it would start providing direct-to-consumer digital healthcare companies later in October. These digital visits will deal with widespread well being issues, like allergy symptoms, contraception, erectile dysfunction and flu. 

Sufferers can not use insurance coverage to pay for these visits. Walgreens will cost $33 for chat-based visits, and pricing for video visits will vary from $36 to $75.

To start, Walgreens is rolling out its digital go to companies in 9 states — California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. These states make up almost half of the U.S. inhabitants, and the corporate has plans to broaden these companies to extra states sooner or later, Walgreens stated.

4. Evernorth buys Shiny.md’s know-how platform

Evernorth Well being Providers introduced Tuesday that it plans to enhance MDLive’s digital care by buying Shiny.md’s know-how. Shiny.md provides asynchronous care, triage and care navigation companies. By buying this know-how, MDLive will be capable to supply asynchronous care by way of its digital pressing care platform to sufferers in 2024.

“We all know firsthand the ability of asynchronous care to deal with a variety of widespread situations that at present make up greater than half of pressing and first care visits, corresponding to rashes, urinary tract infections, and pink eye,” stated Shiny.md CEO Steve Giannini in an announcement. “Bringing Shiny.md’s know-how along with MDLive has thrilling potential to broaden entry to take care of thousands and thousands extra folks—assuaging administrative burden on clinicians and bettering outcomes.”

MDLive can be bettering its digital main care providing by together with well being teaching for sufferers with persistent situations.

5. Microsoft rolls out new analytics, AI instruments for healthcare

Microsoft launched new information and AI capabilities that can assist healthcare organizations higher handle their huge information and switch it into insights.

In Might, the tech large unveiled Microsoft Material, an end-to-end platform that unifies the information and analytics instruments organizations must take advantage of their information. With its HLTH announcement, Microsoft launched the platform’s first industry-specific information options.

Healthcare organizations can entry these instruments in preview. The platform guarantees to assist organizations mix information from beforehand siloed sources, corresponding to EHRs, labs programs, medical units and claims programs. It could additionally assist organizations de-identify medical information, allow extra personalised engagement with sufferers and construct standardized AI fashions to glean insights from their information.

6. Finest Purchase will begin promoting steady glucose screens

Finest Purchase will quickly begin promoting the Dexcom G7 Steady Glucose Monitoring System (CGMs) to eligible clients. Sufferers will be capable to begin the method of getting a CGM by visiting Wellness.BestBuyHealth.com. Clinicians from the digital care platform Wheel will decide if sufferers are eligible for a CGM. If the clinician approves the affected person for a CGM, then the prescription might be processed by pharmacy know-how supplier HealthDyne. The gadget will then be delivered to the affected person’s residence.

By working with Finest Purchase, Wheel goals to finally enhance entry to those units and digital companies for sufferers with diabetes, stated Michelle Davey, co-founder and CEO of Wheel, in an interview.

7. Google unveils new generative AI capabilities for healthcare

Google Cloud added new capabilities to Vertex AI Search, its platform that helps healthcare organizations construct generative AI-powered search engines like google and yahoo for his or her information. The brand new capabilities purpose to assist clinicians shortly entry sufferers’ medical notes and different medical information throughout varied sources.

The brand new Vertex AI Search capabilities combine with Google Cloud’s healthcare API and healthcare information engine, in addition to Care Studio, the tech large’s software to assist suppliers search well being data. Google Cloud clients can join early entry to the brand new options — the corporate is awaiting suggestions from early adopters.

8. Oura rolls out new options, groups up with Headspace and Thrive International

Oura introduced three new options on Tuesday to assist shoppers handle their stress. The corporate is thought for the Oura Ring, a sensible ring that provides information and steerage on sleep, exercise and different areas.

Two of the three options — Daytime Stress and Reflections — can be found to shoppers now. Daytime Stress takes frequent readings of customers’ biometrics, corresponding to coronary heart price, coronary heart price variability and temperature. This helps customers perceive what actions trigger them stress and what relaxes them. The Reflections characteristic is an AI-powered journal within the Oura app. Members can document themselves speaking and the app will transcribe the textual content right into a journal entry. 

The third characteristic is Stress Resilience, which might be obtainable this winter. Stress Resilience offers an evaluation of “members’ means to resist physiological stress” by measuring their daytime stress load, daytime restoration and restoration whereas sleeping. It additionally provides schooling and suggestions to handle stress.

ŌURA additionally introduced it’s partnering with Headspace to supply meditations, guided breathwork and muscle rest workouts within the Oura app. As well as, it’s working with Thrive International, which can supply sleep and stress administration challenges on its platform and can give customers the choice to combine sleep and stress information from Oura.  

9. Well being programs, payers launch collaborative for accountable generative AI deployment

Greater than 30 well being programs and payers from throughout the nation got here collectively to launch a collective known as VALID AI — which stands for Imaginative and prescient, Alignment, Studying, Implementation and Dissemination of Validated Generative AI in Healthcare. The collective goals to discover use instances, dangers and greatest practices for generative AI in healthcare and analysis, with hopes to speed up accountable adoption of the know-how throughout the sector.

UC Davis Well being will lead the collaborative, together with the opposite College of California well being programs. Another members embrace Elevance, Cedars-Sinai, CommonSpirit Well being, Houston Methodist, Michigan Drugs and Yale New Haven Well being System.

10. Sutter Well being plans to construct a well being innovation middle

Sutter Well being, a well being system with headquarters in Sacramento, introduced plans to open a healthcare innovation middle in San Francisco. The middle will function the house base for the well being system’s inner innovation workforce, in addition to a spot for Sutter’s college students, physicians and different staff to discover concepts and construct know-how fashions.

The middle will make investments and companion with enterprise companies and early-stage digital well being startups to develop and take a look at new services. Sutter stated it plans to have the middle up and operating by early subsequent yr.

11. Clear goes deeper into healthcare with two new partnerships

Clear, an organization initially based to assist vacationers breeze by way of airport safety traces, is transferring additional into the healthcare area. It introduced two new partnerships throughout HLTH — one with affected person matching platform Verato and one with b.nicely Linked Well being, an organization searching for to enhance the affected person expertise.

Clear is coming collectively with Verato to offer healthcare organizations with a digital identification verification course of that their sufferers can use throughout their care journey. As for the corporate’s partnership with b.nicely, Clear is integrating its digital identification verification know-how into the startup’s options in order that sufferers can entry their well being information, schedule visits and be part of telehealth appointments with out repetitive log-ins.

Photograph: HLTH