Microsoft Plans to Expand Azure API Health IT and Cloud Computing Offerings

planning to expand its Azure API (application programming interface) for Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) while providing customers with additional data management and cloud computing health IT tools. Also, the existing customers can continue using the product without service disruption or pricing changes.

Azure Healthcare predominantly APIs aims to help care organizations manage protected health information (PHI) data at scale by streamlining the health-based workloads and improving healthcare analytics. Microsoft stated that the company would be offering health data across patient outputs in the cloud sector to make PHI data sharing easier.

The new service aims to support the rapid exchange of data using the latest APIs in compliance with health data standards like FHIR and Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine (DICOM). The customers can manage imaging files in the cloud through APIs uniquely designed for DICOM. Also, the users can manage enterprise data workloads with high availability and disaster recovery support. Azure Healthcare APIs allow customers to manage their data regulations with certifications for ISO, HITRUST, FedRAMP, SOC, and in scope for the Azure BAA.

 

Ketto Introduces its New Healthcare Community App Healthnest

The crowdfunding platform Ketto has launched its healthcare community app called Healthnest. The app has been introduced to help patients, caregivers, medical experts, and doctors. This platform will connect patients with similar medical conditions and help them share their stories and emotional support.

The launch of the Healthnest app marks Ketto’s nine year anniversary. “At Ketto our endeavor is to bridge the healthcare accessibility gap. We closely work with hospitals and patients to raise funds for their medical treatment. However, we have realised that a patient’s family not only struggles in terms of finances but they undergo enormous physical and mental stress,” said Zaheer Adenwala, CTO and Co-founder of Ketto.org.

The Healthnest app will act as a platform that connects with people who have overcome similar healthcare. This app will help users connect with medical experts and healthcare practioners for medical suggestions and second opinions.

The app was originally launched as a pilot project last quarter. It has recorded 10 thousand installations with over 10 live communities on the app.

Ketto.org was founded by Varun Sheth, Zaheer Adenwala and Actor Kunal Kapoor with an aim to bridge the affordability gap. Ketto.org enables people to raise funds for health and medical emergencies, natural calamities, education, travel, short-term emergency needs, sports, competitions, arts, animal welfare, women empowerment, and many more.

 

Packaging Solutions Major Berry Global Announces Healthcare Investments in India

The U.S. Packaging and Protective Solutions major Berry Global has announced that it will be making big healthcare investments in India. Through this investment, the Fortune 500 Company will be establishing a second manufacturing facility and global center of excellence in India.

This planned development through fresh investment is going to happen in Bangalore, India close to its first site. The first facility opened in 2009.

The new facility will help Berry Global to extend its R&D expertise and scale up production in several key healthcare sectors, including ophthalmic, nasal pumps, inhalation, and injectable administrations. The facility will also enable the company to enhance its supply in India and throughout South Asia.

“Investing in our global healthcare business in Bangalore is a significant step in supporting our pharmaceutical, over-the-counter, and medical device customers aligned to forecasted market needs,” remarked Tom Salmon, Berry Global's Chairman and CEO. "During the pandemic, we've learned that strategically placed facilities across the world provide efficient localized support for customers of any size. We believe this investment significantly benefits the India and South Asia patient populations."

The work on construction of the new facility is set to begin later this year and expected to be completed in 2023.

 

HGS to Divest its Healthcare Services Biz

Hinduja Global Solutions Limited has announced that it will be divesting its healthcare services business. The healthcare services biz will be bought by Baring Private Equity Asia for a reported $1,200 million. Baring Private Equity Asia is one of the largest private alternative investment firms in Asia.

The HSG healthcare services delivers solutions that support payer, providers, laboratories, durable medical equipment firms and pharmaceutical companies. These services cover the entire lifecycle of a payer organization, including member acquisition, enrollment & billing, benefit set-up, claims adjudication, provider credentialing & data management, payment integrity & financial recovery, grievance & appeals, provider & member engagement, prior authorizations, case management and population health management, and the various functions in the revenue cycle of a provider organization.

“Our Healthcare Services business has steadily grown over the years. We reached a stage where we could recommend to promoter to divest stake in this business to unlock value for all HGS stakeholders. We will use the generated funds to strategically invest for the future growth of the organization. We see a long-term value and benefit to HGS in doing so. HGS will continue to focus on aggressively expanding its CES and Digital businesses in line with our goal to transform itself into a "digitally-enabled customer experience (CX) company", said Partha DeSarkar, Global CEO, HGS.

With over 20,000 employees on its payroll across India, Philippines, the US, and Jamaica, the company recorded $400 million in revenues in FY2021. In a statement, HGS said that post the completion of transaction, HGS will transfer all client contracts, employees, and assets, including infrastructure related to the Healthcare Services business.

 

 

Luye Pharma Signs a Distribution Agreement with Zuellig Pharma

Luye Pharma Group has announced that it has signed an agreement with Zuellig Pharma, which will give the latter exclusive rights to distribute its central nervous system drugs Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate, immediate release) and Seroquel XR (extended release formulation) in Malaysia and Brunei.

“We are very pleased to collaborate with Zuellig Pharma again. By leveraging its business network and channel resources together with Luye Pharma’s in-house sales and marketing capabilities, we believe the distribution partnership will help better improve the accessibility of Seroquel products for patients in these two markets,” said Andy Siow, APAC Regional Director of Luye Pharma (International). “Meanwhile, we are also looking forward to working with more business partners, integrating resources from all sides to bring more high-quality and evidence-based innovative drugs to benefit patients in need.”

Luye Pharma has been continuously working to improve business capabilities around the globe and exploring growth opportunities. In Asia Pacific, Luye Pharma’s business footprint covers 15 countries and regions, with the company continuing to further expand in various markets through the establishment of its in-house sales and marketing team in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong SAR, and Taiwan, China, as well as in other markets, through in-depth collaborations with a number of global partners in the region.

 

Heathrow has requested Britain to allow fully vaccinated people to travel without quarantine

 

London's Heathrow Airport has requested Britain to allow vaccinated passengers to travel after the cumulative losses of the airport reached $4 billion. Heathrow was one of the busiest airports in Europe pre-pandemic, and now due to COVID-induced restrictions, the trade volume has come down significantly. The airport has stated swift action is needed from the government's end, and travelers are also demanding a solution quickly. If the situation continues to worsen, many jobs are expected to be lost.

John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow, has stated that the passenger level at Heathrow is well about 25 percent of the pre-pandemic level, whereas other airports in Europe are nearly 50 percent. If the passengers planes and not reaching global markets like the US, the UK exports will not be able to get its export out of the country. This will eventually lead to the fall of the UK and will end up costing jobs unless traveling is allowed. If Britain allows people who are fully vaccinated to travel without the mandatory quarantine for ten days, then there can be some amount of recovery and benefits. Other Europeans have followed this method and have opened up traveling where as Heathrow is expecting Britain to do the same to achieve recovery.

 

Even though the retail giants are reporting positive numbers, the retail sector is yet to recover from COVID

Retail giants ITC Ltd and Hindustan Unilever have recently revealed their Q1 FY22 numbers, and it seems promising. Even though the numbers are good, it, however, did not reward the share prices. When compared to the previous year’s numbers, HUL has managed to increase its profits by 9.5 percent (1,881 crores). Retail giant ITC has taken a huge leap and has reported a 28.6 percent rise in standalone profit (3,013.5 crores) for q1 of 2021. In the corresponding year of the previous cycle, ITC had reported Rs 2,342 crore as standalone profit.

Even though June month was severely affected by the second wave of COVID, both the retail giants managed to deliver good numbers in profit. Only a handful of companies have managed to show profits in this q1, and there are more than 50 percent of retailers who are yet to reach the pre-pandemic level in terms of profit. Data from RAI suggests that the profits of June month fell severely, and it showed that sales were down by 50 percent when compared to 2019 June. CEO of RAI, Kumar Rajagopalan, has stated that retail businesses are finding it very difficult to bounce back, and pan-Indian retail sales came down by 50 percent.

 

 

LIC launches new benefit-based health insurance plan, Arogya Rakshak

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India recently has launched a new health insurance plan—Arogya Rakshak, a non-linked, non-participating, regular premium, individual health insurance plan. This plan primarily aims at providing timely support to the insurance holders in case of medical emergencies and helping their families to remain financially independent in challenging times.

This plan is different from the conventional health insurance plan in terms of the method of payment. While the latter reimburses the actual cost that has been incurred on treatment, Arogya Rakshak provides fixed benefit health insurance cover. This plan pays a lump sum benefit irrespective of actual medical expenses. Besides, this plan is not comprehensive as it works only against certain specified health risks.

One can purchase the plan for them as well as for their family members. It is available for Principal Insured/spouse/parents aged 18 to 65 years and children of age 91 days to 20 years. The cover period for principal insured, spouse, and parents will be available up to 80 years, while in the case of children, it is available only till the age of 25 years. This policy increases the overall health cover with time automatically through the Auto Step-up benefit.

 

Induction Healthcare Acquires Attend Anywhere to Increase Flexible Care Options for Healthcare Providers

Induction Healthcare, a leading virtual care platform for healthcare systems across the world, has completed the acquisition of Attend Anywhere Pty Ltd, an Australian-based award-winning video consultation system purpose-built for healthcare. It has been used by 90 percent of NHS Trusts throughout the UK.

This acquisition will create a well-resourced, UK-listed technology provider that predominantly focuses on enabling healthcare systems to deliver more flexible care options for patients and staff. This particular transaction provides services across the UK and Australia, which already use both companies' technologies, with the immediate benefit of improved support, dedicated to integration projects, product implementation, and partnerships. Attend Anywhere's solution complements Induction Healthcare's novel product suite.

Induction Healthcare's product called Induction Switch is an app-based solution used by over 210,000 doctors and healthcare providers across the UK and Australia to streamline communication with colleagues. Another product named Induction Guidance lets staff at over 126 hospitals in the UK, Mexico, and New Zealand access controlled treatment information and pivotal guidelines irrespective of their location. Induction Zesty, a portal used by 280,000 patients to access their appointments, read their clinical letters and store a copy of their clinical record to provide data remotely.

 

Aidoc Raises $66 Million in Series C

The leading provider of AI solutions for medical imaging Aidochas raised $66 million in Series C funding. The round was led by General Catalyst. The company has raised $140 million in funding to date.

Aidoc helps medical specialists to help flag acute anomalies in real time, expediting patient treatment and improving quality of care. Aidoc’s healthcare AI platform is currently used by radiologists in health networks, hospitals and radiology groups worldwide and has analyzed over 8M cases to date.

“This investment comes after significant milestones; expanding our product lines, doubling our FDA clearances and quadrupling our customer base,” said Aidoc co-founder and CEO EladWalach. “We are experiencing a huge expansion, which is also a direct result of C-level executives adopting an AI strategy and integrating our platform as a must-have solution across clinical pathways. It is truly rewarding – and a great responsibility – to be the trusted partner of the most innovative health systems and physician practices across the globe.”

There has been a surge in demand for Aidoc’s AI-driven solutions, including the largest clinical deployment of AI in healthcare through its partnership with Radiology Partners. The company will expand its comprehensive platform post this funding round.

 

 

UNICEF to Partner with Hispanic Federation to Help Asylum Seekers and Children

UNICEF USA and the Hispanic Federation (HF) are teaming up to help the children and families on the move who continue to face threats to their health, safety, and well-being. The primary goal of both organizations is to improve access to critical mental health and psychosocial support services and legal services. Through backing and capacity building program, the partners hope to be catalysts for change in the region.

UNICEF USA has stated that this new partnership will address the crucial legal crisis on both sides of the border. It will try to deliver tangible benefits to children and families in need. This will be a significant effort by both organizations. It will be a program that provides direct support to asylum seekers and supports capacity building in communities.

The new Migrant Services Partnership seeks to leverage vast expertise in both organizations' respective focus areas which is UNICEF in providing guidance and advocacy to government, all-inclusive psychosocial support, and other case management activities for children in Mexico; and HF will be providing legal services, capacity building, public education, and other legal services and activities in the US.