News & Updates

A recent study published in the journal Psychiatry Research looked at the correlation between Facebook habits and mental illness. College undergraduates who exhibited schizotypy, a range of symptoms usually characterized by social and emotional withdrawal, were found to show certain behaviors on Facebook.

BetterDoctor, which debuted the beta version of its application at a Health 2.0 conference in Boston last year, officially launched its iPhone app. The free app is available nationwide and helps users to find a physician, dentist or optometrist based on their insurance plan and location.

SparkPeople, an online diet and healthy living community, partnered with BodyMedia to allow users to integrate their data with their SparkPeople account. BodyMedia activity can also help users to earn SparkPoints, which can be redeemed for rewards.

Amiigo just launched a new fitness device that doubles as a bracelet and shoe clip. The company has already raised nearly $300,000 on Indiegogo with 24 days of funding left to go. The sensors in the device recognize the type of activity being performed, and information about the workout is synched to the Amiigo app on an iOS or Android device.

Linkwell Health, which creates guidance programs for health plans to provide to their members, raised $11 million in series C funding led by WellPoint. The round also included participation from Spark Capital and HLM Venture Partners.

University of Virginia Health System will deploy M*Modal’s technology across its health facilities, including its 604-bed hospital. M*Modal‘s solutions will enable UVA’s electronic health records to capture speech.

Genetic testing company 23andMe and Genentech will expand their study of metastatic breast cancer. Their goal is to recruit 1,000 patients in order to study the role that genes might play in their response to Avastin.

EHealth Technologies, which provides continuity of care technologies for hospitals and health information exchanges, raised a Series D round of more than $6 million. The investment was led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, and David Stevenson, an investment principal at Merck GHIF, is now on eHealth Technologies’ board of directors.

Ringadoc raised $1.2 million in seed funding, led by Founders Fund’s FF Angel. The company, which enables provider to patient communication, also debuted Ringadoc Exchange, which lets doctors organize their patients’ calls and get back to them when there’s time.

On Feb. 6 Azul 7 will host a Health 2.0 Twin Cities talk entitled “Aetna and Azul 7: The Future of Human Centered Design in Health Care.” Aetna and Azul 7, a design firm, have worked on a range of health technology products for patients, providers and payers.