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VoCare is pleased to share this Infographic – an easy to understand, concise visual of our story so far.  We appreciate that both our device and the US healthcare industry are complex, so when we saw this graphic version of our story by our marketing team we thought this graphic was worthwhile to share with our community.

Please feel free to share this post with your network as we move towards our 2020 market launch and the close of our investment round.

• There were 43 acquisitions of digital health firms in the first half of 2019 – mostly by other digital health firms
• IPO activity is “picking up” and digital health companies are raising historically large rounds
• The US is the “largest medical device market in the world” at around $156B, about 40% of the global market
• The sector is experiencing a “surge of cash from new investors and even more repeat investment”
• The core strategy of non-healthcare firms entering the industry, as seen in Apple’s buy of Tueo Health, includes acquiring startups with talent and IP
• Another example is Google “buying external innovation” via acquisition to fulfil their smart home strategy

We are very pleased to report that our Vitals360 capital campaign has now raised $1,330,000 USD, and another $150,000 USD is currently processing. This brings our campaign to $1.48M, or 74% of our goal of a $2M USD raise.

We appreciate all the support from new investors and, of course, our existing investors. We will continue to share information around our marketing efforts, industry news, and other updates like: What America’s Doctors are Saying about VoCare’s Vitals360 on our Press Releases page.

For more information on the VoCare investment opportunity, visit vocare.com/invest

Thank you for your interest in learning more about the VoCare Vitals360. We are sharing some relevant industry news for your consideration below.

A recent article in Home Healthcare News highlighted that when it comes to health care, “there’s almost nothing that won’t eventually move into the Home.”  With an aging U.S. senior population, increased health care spending and the preference of seniors to receive care in their home, the article states that the next major shift into the home may be the hospital itself.

“The concept of the hospital at home is now 20-plus years old,” said Scott Powder, chief strategy officer of Advocate Aurora Health, Wisconsin’s largest home care organization. “What [organizations] couldn’t figure out was how to scale it. They were putting expensive doctors in cars driving around. That … is incredibly ineffective.”

New-found Telemedicine capabilities and other technological advancements are solving some of the pain points, he said. Doctors, for example, no longer have to physically travel into the home in every instance.  “If you’ve got a five-to-seven year outlook of your investment, [hospital at home] is a good place to be putting money right now,” Powder said. You can view the entire article here.

As we covered in a recent post, together with the announced CPT codes that came into effect January 2019, these trends will only help to accelerate the proliferation of Telehealth platforms like the VoCare Vitals360.

The Vitals 360 is a Medical Grade remote patient monitoring/point of care device that collects and transmits critical health data anywhere at any time. As such, the Vitals360 device will represent a tremendous value to health care providers that can immediately improve patient care by utilizing patient data to provide better outcomes at lower costs, while immediately utilizing the new revenue stream approved by CMS.  The Vitals360 also provide tremendous value to patients in the form of an easy to use, fully mobile, all in one, diagnostic device that fits in your pocket.

You can check out all the VoCare news on our Press Releases page here.

We are pleased to share this photo of VoCare executive Rob Buckley accepting the
“Top 50 Healthcare Companies Award,” during the IFAH USA Conference held last week in Las Vegas.

The “Top 50 Healthcare Companies Award” was awarded to VoCare after a review of 2000 leading-edge healthcare companies and candidates by IFAH (The International Forum on Advancements in Healthcare).  The IFAH USA conference brought together 1000+ healthcare professionals from across the world. Participants include startups, hospitals, manufacturers, technology providers, insurers as well as government agencies.

Companies were scored on criterion including assessments of current or projected Industry Impact, Future Readiness, Market Demand, Spirit of Innovation and Overall Reach.

The Vitals 360 is a Medical Grade remote patient monitoring/point of care device that collects and transmits critical health data anywhere at any time. As such, the Vitals360 device will represent a tremendous value to healthcare providers that can immediately improve patient care by utilizing patient data to provide better outcomes at lower costs, while immediately utilizing the new revenue stream approved by CMS.  The Vitals360 also provides tremendous value to patients in the form of an easy to use, fully mobile, all in one, diagnostic device that fits in your pocket.

You can check out all the VoCare news on our Press Releases page here.  For more information on the VoCare Investment opportunity visit vocare.com/invest

According to a 2018 report published by the Center for Managing Chronic Disease at the University of Michigan, more than 50% of the global population currently lives with some form of chronic disease.

In the US, the cost burden related to such long-term clinical conditions has been estimated to be approximately 86% of the USD 3.2 trillion that is spent by the country on healthcare, each year.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMS oversees many federal healthcare programs, including those that involve health information technology.  These kind of chronic care cost projections explains why CMS is pushing so much money towards these challenges in an effort to reduce overall costs including new payment codes to incentivize adoption.

The Vitals360 is uniquely positioned to not only help reduce these overall costs through monitoring and using collected data to provide better care, but also financially reward Doctors and Health Networks that champion these solutions.

Furthermore, according to the industry report: Digital Health Market:Focus on Digital Therapeutic, Monitoring and Diagnostic Solution, 2018-2030:

• Chronic disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, mental health problems and insomnia, are considered to be the leading causes of death and disability across the world.
• The market for digital therapeutics is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.7% between 2018 and 2030.
• North America (primarily the US) and Europe currently capture the largest share (close to 75%) of the overall digital health solutions market.

Learn more: https://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mwv8agj/4615155

We are very pleased to report that since January our capital campaign has raised $930,000 USD, and another $120,000 USD is currently processing.  This brings us to 53% of our goal.  We appreciate the support from both our existing investors and new investors.  We will continue to share information around our marketing efforts, industry news, and other updates that the executive team at VoCare find relevant on this new Press Releases section of our website located under the About Us tab.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officially approved three new billing codes for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM).  Announced in November 2018, the new codes came into effect January 1, 2019.

With these new reimbursement codes, physicians are incentivized to drive more health care to the home, and leverage technology like VoCare’s Vitals360 device.

The new codes will reimburse physicians for the initial set-up and education of the patient on the new RPM equipment, as well as monthly reimbursements towards device transmission services and monthly monitoring/treatment.  This structure closely mirrors the Vitals360 business model.

The specific codes are:

• CPT code 99453: Initial setup. Pays approximately $21. “Remote monitoring of physiologic parameter(s) (e.g., weight, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, respiratory flow rate), initial; set-up and patient education on use of equipment.”
• CPT code 99454: Device/transmission fee. Pays approximately $69 per month. “Remote monitoring of physiologic parameter(s) (e.g., weight, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, respiratory flow rate), initial; device(s) supply with daily recording(s) or programmed alert(s) transmission, each 30 days.”
• CPT code 99457: Monitoring and treatment. Pays approximately $53 per month for 20 minutes of time spent viewing data and communicating with patients. “Remote physiologic monitoring treatment management services, 20 minutes or more of clinical staff/physician/other qualified healthcare professional time in a calendar month requiring interactive communication with the patient/caregiver during the month.

CPT 99457 allows RPM services to be performed not only by the physician or qualified healthcare professional, but also by “clinical staff,” such as: RNs and medical assistants. This could make it easier for healthcare providers to figure RPM programs into their workflow.

Moreover, these codes can be combined with chronic care management services (CCM), which have been active for a few years. The combined utilization of these codes provides a mechanism that family medicine providers can use to monitor and engage with patients, and to help them more efficiently manage their chronic conditions, while getting reimbursed, providing a new mechanism that innovative and savvy physician practices may be able to use to increase their quality metrics while also increasing the near term profitability of their practices.

Why is CMS doing this?
While this new mechanism creates an enormous new financial opportunity for certain types of providers (e.g. primary care providers), the new billing codes are expected to help reduce overall medical spending as a whole.