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BioIntelliSense, a leader in continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence, and Hicuity Health, a leading provider of tech-enabled virtual care services, today announced a strategic partnership to offer fully managed, end-to-end continuous patient monitoring to hospitals and health systems. This partnership addresses critical infrastructure and staffing challenges faced by hospitals and health systems, empowering them to deploy proven, scalable monitoring solutions for in-hospital care, hospital-at-home programs, post-hospital discharge and chronic remote care management.

Through this partnership, the BioIntelliSense FDA-cleared BioButton® multi-parameter device and BioDashboard™ clinical intelligence system will integrate seamlessly with Hicuity Health’s 24/7 virtual patient monitoring services, to provide nurses and other clinicians with actionable health insights and workflow efficiencies. Hicuity Health services are designed to reduce the workforce burden of on-site clinical teams and leverage decades of experience and leadership in high-acuity patient monitoring, delivering over 11 million hours annually of patient monitoring across its nationwide client base.

“The BioIntelliSense award-winning medical-grade solution, combined with Hicuity Health’s extensive experience in patient monitoring services, ensures that health systems of all sizes can now deploy and scale continuous care programs from in-hospital to home,” said James Mault, MD, CEO and Founder of BioIntelliSense. “This partnership addresses current staffing challenges for health systems by offering a comprehensive tech-enabled solution for scalable continuous care that is proven to enable earlier interventions, better patient outcomes, and more efficient use of clinical resources.”

The addition of the Hicuity Health patient monitoring service is an ideal option for hospitals and health systems looking to either initiate or expand their virtual care programs. The rechargeable, wireless BioButton® wearable continuously and passively monitors patient vital signs and biometrics, automating the collection of 1,440 measurements per patient per day. The BioDashboard clinical intelligence engine provides algorithmic-based analytics and vital sign trends which are then securely monitored by Hicuity Health. Hicuity Health’s clinical teams follow predefined workflows and escalation protocols in collaboration with the health system to support timely interventions and better patient outcomes.

“At Hicuity Health, we are committed to transforming the way healthcare is delivered through trusted and innovative virtual care solutions that scale to the needs of hospital systems nationwide,” said Lou Silverman, CEO of Hicuity Health. “By partnering with BioIntelliSense, we’re bringing an unparalleled level of support, flexibility and scalability to hospitals and health systems, helping them provide the highest level of care for patients in-hospital and at-home.”
NewsBit Bureau

The head of the World Health Organization insisted on Monday it was “now or never” to strike a landmark global accord on tackling future pandemics, despite the United States withdrawing from negotiations.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said no country could protect itself from the next pandemic on its own — three days after US President Donald Trump’s administration formally told the United Nations health agency it would play no further part in the pandemic agreement talks.

“We are at a crucial point as you move to finalise the pandemic agreement in time for the World Health Assembly” in May, Tedros told WHO member states at the opening of the week-long 13th round of negotiations at the organisation’s Geneva headquarters.

“It really is a case of now or never. But I am confident that you will choose “now” because you know what is at stake.”

A further one-week session is planned to finalise the agreement before the WHO’s annual decision-making assembly.

In December 2021, fearing a repeat of the devastation wrought by Covid-19 — which killed millions of people, crippled health systems and crashed economies — countries decided to draft a new accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

While much of the draft text has been agreed, disputes remain over some key provisions, notably over sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential and then equitably sharing the benefits derived from them, such as vaccines, tests and treatments.

– ‘Protect future generations’ –

“You remember the hard-won lessons of Covid-19, which left an estimated 20 million of our brothers and sisters dead, and which continues to kill.

“They are why we are here — to protect future generations from the impact of future pandemics,” said Tedros.

“The next pandemic is a matter of when, not if. There are reminders all around us — Ebola, Marburg, measles, mpox, influenza and the threat of the next disease X.”

Hours after returning to office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order to start the one-year process of withdrawing from the WHO, an organisation he has repeatedly criticised over its handling of Covid-19.

The order also said that during the withdrawal process, Washington would “cease negotiations” on the pandemic agreement.

Tedros said Washington had formally notified the WHO on Friday of its withdrawal from the agreement talks.

“No country can protect itself by itself. Bilateral agreements will only get you so far,” Tedros said, adding that prevention, preparedness and response was the responsibility of all countries.

“Like the decision to withdraw from WHO, we regret this decision and we hope the US will reconsider,” he said. AFP

The number of workers terminated by the Trump administration at the National Institutes of Health has been revised to 1,165, according to an NIH internal email seen by Reuters on Sunday, down from an initial 1,500.

The email, sent to senior NIH leaders on Saturday night, said some names were removed from the list but new ones may have been added. Affected staff will be placed on administrative leave starting on Monday.

They have received termination letters and will be on administrative leave for four weeks before they are officially terminated, an NIH official told Reuters.

The number accounts for around 6% of the 20,000 people employed by the NIH, an agency overseeing 27 institutes and centers and the top public funder of medical research on everything from vaccines for emerging pandemic threats to targets for new drugs.

It has long been in the crosshairs of newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said in November he would act quickly to fire 600 people there and replace them all with new hires.

It was unclear if those terminated this week, most of whom were probationary workers let go as part of President Donald Trump’s overhaul of government agencies, included the 600 employees referenced by Kennedy, an avowed vaccine skeptic and critic of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the NIH, agencies now under his watch.

The Trump administration also terminated employees at the FDA on Saturday night, Stat News reported, citing sources.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many FDA employees were affected nor how many parts of the agency may be involved, the report said, adding that some of those cut worked in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

About 5,200 probationary employees across the Department of Health and Human Services were being let go, STAT News reported, amounting to 6% of its 80,000 employees, including those at the FDA, NIH and the CDC, which saw half of its probationary workers terminated on Friday.

The U.S. government began firing thousands of people at multiple agencies on Thursday as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk accelerate their purge of America’s federal bureaucracy. Reuters

An automated oral biopsy device developed by a professor of SOA University has received a US patent.

The user-friendly automated pen-like device, which is expected to revolutionise oral biopsy procedures, has been developed by SOA’s pro vice-chancellor (research and collaboration) Prof Neeta Mohanty.

The device has simplified the process of biopsy and eliminated the need for extensive instrumentation along with features of tele-screening and fiber-optic light.

“Biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis and unskilled biopsy often leads to erroneous and delayed diagnosis resulting in life-threatening conditions. This device will benefit the patients immensely with early diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases without compromising on the expert opinion and reducing the burden of oral diseases, specially oral cancer,” Prof Mohanty said.

She had filed for two Indian patents for the same product in 2018 which were granted in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and she got a design patent in 2019. “I filed for the US patent in 2019 which was published in 2020 and the patent was granted a few days ago,” she said.

This innovation had won her the Global Outreach Dental Innovation Award in 2021. It was selected by the Science and Technology Department of the Odisha government for being showcased at the Global Bio India 2024 held at New Delhi.

Prof Mohanty’s research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology for prototype development and approval was received from Startup Odisha for need-based assistance. New Indian Express

Resistance to digitisation of patient health records by many healthcare providers is because they do not want to be accountable, said Indu Bhushan, former chairman of National Health Authority and former CEO of Ayushman Bharat.

Speaking at a panel discussion on “Future of Care: Revolutionising Healthcare Through Digital Innovation and Collaboration” at the Global Investors’ Meet on Thursday, Dr. Bhushan cited an example of doctors who prescribe investigation tests and antibiotics unnecessarily. “They also do not want to be accountable, because, in response, there is no benefit. Instead, it increases their workload,” he said.

“There are doctors who prescribe unnecessary antibiotics or unnecessary tests. They do not want to have it on record through digital means, because currently when you do it on paper, it is very difficult to audit that. But through digital health you can see that this doctor always prescribes antibiotics, irrespective of what kind of ailments the patient comes with. So they will be more accountable,” he explained.

He said it also holds good with interoperability of health records. “Many hospitals do not want their patients to leave the hospital and go to another hospital. That is why they would like the patient records to be with them. I am not casting aspersions on all hospitals. But, this is the reality,” said Dr. Bhushan, who was instrumental in rolling out the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM) in the country.

Inequitable technology use
Pointing out that technology use is inequitably distributed, Dr. Bhushan said there are some hospitals where digital technology is working very well. “They send reports on time. They link current reports to the previous ones. But again, there are others who are not doing this, or other patients who are not receiving the same service.”

“However, acceptability will increase in the next five years, similar to digital (UPI) payments. In the initial phases, there will be divergence. But once we have a critical mass, it will be the insurance payers who will insist that we should have digital records because it is easy to monitor. In all countries where digital health has taken root, it is largely because insurance companies and payers have insisted on this because they have a vested interest in ensuring that all the records are digital,” he said.

Public health policies
Asserting that public health infrastructure and the public health policies will drive the digital adoption in the country, Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare sought to know why the government has not made ABDM mandatory for all hospitals.

ABDM aims to digitise healthcare delivery by building an ecosystem that rides on collaboration between the government and the private sector. However, it is optional.

“Public sector is much more organised because repetitions do not happen. So the wastage is minimal. But in the private sector, the patients go to one place, do some set of investigations, then go to another place, do another set of investigations. By the time the patients come for the procedure, they have self exhausted all their financial resources. So I think there are a lot of challenges,” he said.

Sonal Asthana, Programme Director of Liver Transplantation at Aster group of Hospitals, who moderated the session, sought to know from the panelists the challenges faced in digital adoption. “What are the specific security needs we should think about in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven world for healthcare?” he asked.

Shashank N.D., CEO of Practo, emphasised the importance of anonymisation in technology, particularly in FinTech and HealthTech to protect personal information without compromising on functionality.

The panelists also discussed the crucial aspect of slow adoption of healthcare insurance in India and if digital innovations can help in creating novel financial models for payment. The Hindu