NEWS

ŌURA filed for IPO
The maker of the smart ring submitted an SEC registration statement relating to its intention of offering shares on the Nasdaq market, where they would be traded with the ticker OURA. Shares and price range have yet to be shared, though analysts say the listing may aim for a valuation north of $16 billion.

The company is experiencing impressive growth, with income of $60.8 million for the nine months ended June 30, compared with $1.6 million in the same period a year earlier, and total revenue of $1.21 billion, a 74% increase year over year.

Democrats call for the end of ER data sharing with Konza Health
Democrats are calling for the Trump administration to suspend the NEISS-R program from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which pressured hospitals to share identifiable emergency room health data with Konza Health, a private non-profit interoperability company. The program was initially mandatory, but the agency has backtracked after a KFF Health News investigation, and is now calling it voluntary.

OpenEvidence is moving further into oncology
OpenEvidence announced an upcoming partnership with a “nationally leading cancer center” (soon to be unveiled) that integrates precision oncology and genomic analysis into the AI platform, already used by millions of doctors. The move builds on OpenEvidence's existing licensing agreements with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Society of Clinical Oncology to embed evidence-based cancer treatment guidelines into its medical search engine.

THE BIG PICTURE

Defenders of the increasing vertical integration of health care services say that consolidation will create cost efficiencies that could bring down the cost of care. Elisabeth Rosenthal, former editor in chief of Kaiser Health News, has done the numbers and reports that when health care supply chains are merged, providers can force patients into more expensive care against their will. Anti-trust laws may not be enough to tackle the issue.

Ruth Reader: What drove your decision to leave the organization you founded, DIME, and lead the American Medical Association's Center for Digital Health and AI?

Jennifer Goldsack: What I find really exciting about this moment, is the rate of acceleration of AI-enabled technologies in particular. But that doesn't take away from the importance of things like remote monitoring and virtual care. You know, we mustn't forget those things because that allows us to communicate. That allows us to monitor beyond the walls of the clinic. But the the pace of the technological innovation, the dollars flowing into it, the policy environment With very, very, I think, intentional efforts being made by CMS to accelerate the use of technology, and then you posted a very good conversation just last week on the discourse within professional communities about what all of these tools and technologies mean for the industry that exists to care for people. This is a moment where the AMA has the positioning, the credibility, and under John's leadership, the will to really lead in this moment. And I think it's really important that we take an evidenced-based approach to evaluating the rapidly changing landscape and make sure that we are neither falling behind the promise of these tools to support patients and the people who care for them, nor are we getting ahead. And I think that you know, frankly, the resources that AMA is going to commit to being the leader in this space, the community that they represent-it's-I'm simply really excited because I believe that there's an opportunity now to have a lasting impact to make sure that in this moment of change we get things right again for the patients that this entire industry exists to care for.

Ruth Reader: The AMA has had other digital health efforts in the past, I'm curious what you think this center is uniquely positioned to do, and why it is?

Jennifer Goldsack: AMA is incredibly influential both to and on behalf of its position members and then to the field more broadly, and so what made me really excited about the formalization of AMA's efforts in digital, enshrined in this Center for Digital Health and AI, is that it's a clear signal that it's a priority with an intention to dedicate resources to truly lead here and become a center of excellence, both as an internal resource to the rest of the AMA and all of their activities, as well as the membership, with access to everything like education, but also to the industry more broadly, being that conduit between the best of technology, what physicians deeply know to be true around what it means to care for people, the proximity to being able to educate as it relates to policy opportunities, to make sure that we are taking the best approach to caring for people as these technologies come fit and fast. What you and I know to be true, Ruth, is that there's no single pathway or silver bullet to getting this right. We have to think about everything from scope of practice to the trustworthiness of the tool to the licensure to what is layered in with the AI-enabled solutions themselves: whether that's data rights, data privacy, and data exchange; whether we think about the the data that's captured outside of the wards of the clinic, either in patients' homes or during their activities of daily living; whether it's how we communicate with patients beyond the wards of the clinic— all of this has to be put together. We need to think about: how do we need to support physicians and other clinical experts? How do we think about the legal pieces? How do we think about the policy environment that we need to optimize this? How do we think about clinical workflows and payment pathways? All of these things need to be contemplated, and that's something that AMA deeply understands, is willing to resource, and gets to benefit from the deep expertise and knowledge across the rest of AMA. That has been that focus of digital expertise to AMA more broadly. So, in my mind, there's this phenomenal synergy between these things. What we can do with the physician community, with the organization, and then how we can lead-not just nationally, but internationally.

Ruth Reader: Do you feel an urgency to do this work?

Jennifer Goldsack: Absolutely, and really not because of the technology, because far too many people cannot access the care they need, and that's the company getting a lot. And what was due to we know this. We're looking at 9% hikes in premiums this year. We're looking at, you know, a workforce that is not sufficiently well supported to respond to the needs of the patients that it exists to care for. There is an absolute urgency, but it's being driven by the fact that there are plenty of patients out there who need the support of the healthcare system, but who aren't able to for financial reasons or due to a bit of location or other challenges, and cannot access their care. Then, at the same time, we have this suite of powerful new technologies that are coming towards us with this enormous problem. We have to make sure that we deploy those technologies in a way that we are absolutely certain is helping and not harming. And the debate that you were covering, I think it's fantastic that there's a discourse on this, but it can't be about an opinion. It has to be that we are absolutely certain with evidence, what works best for the patients. The center is the first step in the process. Because I want with the full support of the center what good actually looks like, both with today's technologies and into the future. It cannot be done on opinion.

Ruth Reader: What becomes of DIME, the organization you co-founded?

Jennifer Goldsack: Ben Van Den Brief, who has been our president and chief scientific officer for several years now is absolutely phenomenal, and so he is stepping into the [CEO] role today. He has my full support, the full support of the board. The organization is really excited. One of the things I'm most proud of is: it's one thing to do great work and build discrete resources and impact, and we've certainly done that at DIME. But I'm incredibly proud that with our community, with the team at DIME, with our board, we've really built something that is much bigger than one person, and that will absolutely endure beyond my tenure. And I think Ben's vision could continue to sit at the intersection of care delivery and medical product development, and be really intentional about supporting the organizations in the field working every day to improve the way we care for people in the digital era. I'll be staying on the board, but with absolutely no formal operational role.