Will potential issues with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine spell trouble for the nation’s inoculation efforts? I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and we’ll explore that question and more in this week’s Top Stories.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to concerns about several rare blood clotting cases in people who have received it. Healthcare Finance News reports (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cdc-and-fda-pause-johnson-johnson-vaccine-over-rare-blood-clot-concerns) that six people out of an estimated 6.8 million who’ve taken the vaccine have developed a rare and severe type of blood clot. All six cases were among women between 18 and 48. At this point these adverse events appear to be extremely rare, but anyone who has received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine who develops severe headache, abdominal or leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks are advised to contact their health provider. President Biden has said there’s enough supply of the Pfizer and Moderna products to vaccinate all Americans.
On Wednesday, the Mayo Clinic announced the launch of a new platform that's designed to deliver advanced, AI-powered clinical decision support through remote monitoring. It helps providers stay connected and deliver more continuous care to device-connected patients. We see in HealthcareITNews (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mayo-clinic-launches-remote-diagnostics-platform-forms-2-new-companies-support-it) that the new Remote Diagnostics and Management Platform was created to deliver what it calls "event-driven medicine," connecting patient data with machine learning algorithms within existing clinical workflows and enabling care in the "right context, at the right time." To help the new platform capitalize on its potential, Mayo Clinic worked with vendor partners to launch two new spinoff companies, Lucem Health and Anumana, each focused on a specific aspect of that AI-powered connected health.
Finally this week, Chronic care management company Omada Health is rolling out a new tool that uses computer vision technology to help physical therapists virtually measure a patient's movement and range of motion. According to MobiHealthNews, (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/omadas-latest-msk-tech-empowers-physical-therapists-conduct-remote-appointments), the new technology will be integrated into Omada's musculoskeletal services and will be able to provide therapists and patients with a set of longitudinal data. The digital musculoskeletal care space is growing, with other players including Sword Health, Spata Science, Hinge Health and SpineZone.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.