A public-private women’s health partnership

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Oct 25, 2024 View in browser   By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun and Ruth Reader WASHINGTON WATCH Wegrzyn sees big improvements coming in women's health research. | Josh Reynolds/AP Photo Renee Wegrzyn, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, is calling on the private investment community and venture capitalists to partner with the high-risk, high-reward agency to boost women’s health. “We are sending a message to the business community that this is your opportunity to be at the forefront of this growing market,” Wegrzyn said during a Thursday press briefing. How so? ARPA-H awarded $110 million in funding to 23 recipients this week. Their projects range from creating a wearable sweat-sensing system to measure chronic pain and developing at-home medications to help prevent preterm labor. Wegrzyn sees this as just the beginning. The awards, which support President Joe Biden’s 2023 White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, are part of ARPA-H's Sprint for Women's Health, aimed at accelerating biomedical research to improve women's health while getting a broader swath of companies involved in women’s health innovation. The agency is considering how to accomplish that. In response to concerns raised during a proposers’ day that small companies face high barriers to entry for working with the government, ARPA-H simplified its application process. “We really took that to heart and reimagined the way that we can do business,” Wegrzyn said. Applicants submitted three-page summaries of their proposals. With the help of its Cambridge, Mass.-based investor catalyst hub, ARPA-H chose teams to make 30-minute, in-person pitches. Then the agency made its funding decisions. “It looks more like a workstream for a venture capitalist, which is relatively easy for a small startup to take on,” Wegrzyn said. Nearly half of the 1,700 entries ARPA-H received for the sprint funding came from small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, Wegrzyn explained, which widened the application pool beyond the usual candidates. What's next? ARPA-H wants to clear bureaucratic hurdles for any new tech the sprint funding yields. “At the end of our investment, if we're successful, the program managers and the teams working together will de-risk not just the technology but also be working to de-risk some of the regulatory barriers, some of the reimbursement [system] barriers that can also stand in the way of making technology successful,” Wegrzyn said. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Williamsburg, Va. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care.  American Airlines has started testing technology to ensure people don’t board before their assigned time, aiming to keep away what some airline employees derisively call “gate lice,” The Washington Post reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com , or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.  EXAM ROOM Amazon One Medical doctors are getting new AI tools. | Getty Images Amazon One Medical injected artificial intelligence tools into its clinics this week — aimed primarily at its doctors. The tech aims to assist Amazon’s providers by writing notes from patient visits, summarizing medical histories, drafting messages to patients and helping coordinate care. That’s supposed to reduce administrative tasks by 40 percent, according to the rollout announcement. The company’s move suggests it believes the most immediate benefits of AI in health care will be for its clinicians, not the Amazon customers who pay for service at its clinics. Even so: Doctors don’t have to use the tech if they choose not to, a company spokesperson told Daniel, and patients must explicitly consent to the transcription tool’s use during their visits. The company said patient privacy is “foundational” to how it creates and uses AI tools, and a spokesperson said the tools went through rigorous safety and efficacy testing leading up to implementation. WORLD VIEW England is experimenting with high-tech heart monitoring. | AP Doctors treating people with heart failure in England could learn in advance when their patients’ health is likely to deteriorate and offer them care before they end up in a hospital. The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE — an independent entity that assesses new treatments and medical devices in England — recommended that doctors use two technologies that get data from pacemakers and other implantable heart devices to monitor patients remotely. The technologies — HeartLogic by Boston Scientific and TriageHF by Medtronic — are based on algorithms that monitor a patient’s activity, heart rate variability, heart sounds and other parameters, and send an alert in real time to hospital staff who can provide care to the patient over the phone or in the hospital if needed. Why it matters: Heart failure was a leading cause of avoidable hospital admissions, causing some 90,000 hospitalizations in England between 2019 and 2020, NICE said.  A study showed TriageHF reduced hospitalizations from all causes by 58 percent, while HeartLogic cut heart failure admissions by 72 percent. That’s a win for patients and the country’s National Health Service, which can save money and patients’ lives, said Anastasia Chalkidou, a program director in NICE’s division for health technology. “The NHS is under considerable pressure and using technology, such as these devices, could prevent costly hospital admissions which would be avoidable if an early intervention is made,” she said in a statement. NICE estimates that some 25,000 people in England have a heart device compatible with the technologies.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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