Talkspace offers therapy via Amazon, and 23andMe board members resign

You’re reading the web edition of STAT’s Health Tech newsletter, our guide to how technology is transforming the life sciences. Sign up to get it delivered in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.

Talkspace offers therapy through Amazon now

As virtual mental health company Talkspace aims to grow its business, it’s added a very large entry point to the top of its funnel. Amazon users will now be able to discover Talkspace on the retailer’s website and check whether it’s covered by their insurance — the company boasts 150 million covered lives. Talkspace sits next to diabetes and chronic disease management company Omada‘s tools on a landing page for “employer-covered programs.” I also found it by searching for “Talkspace” on the Amazon homepage, though a search for “therapy” turned up a manual on DBT skills and other educational materials for sale.

It’s interesting that Amazon doesn’t seem to offer a link to Talkspace’s cash pay, direct-to-consumer services. That might just be Talkspace: Several years ago the company switched its focus from selling to consumers to getting insurers to cover its services. The deal with Amazon reflects Talkspace’s ongoing effort, described on earnings calls, to help the millions of people who are covered discover its services. As for Amazon, it’s staying true to it’s legacy as an online store.

23andMe board abandons ship

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki stands alone on the company’s board after everybody else quit this week, citing a difference of opinion on the company’s direction. “… because of your concentrated voting power, we believe that it is in the best interests of the Company’s shareholders that we resign from the Board rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company,” the former board members wrote in a letter. The company is well known for selling genetic tests and is working on experimental drugs.

In July, the Wojcicki filed a proposal to take the company private, which the board immediately rejected. The company’s stock has plummeted since it went public in 2021. Wojcicki argued it would be wise to take the company private to avoid “the short-term focus of the public markets.” The company showed declining revenues and expanding losses at the end of its last fiscal year. It still had $170 million in cash on hand at the end of June.

HHS’s invite-only AI meeting

On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services held an invite-only meeting of leaders from industry, academia, and government. The day before, STAT’s Casey Ross and I published the agenda, including HHS health IT and AI boss Micky Tripathi, officials from top HHS agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration, an executive from electronic records vendor Epic Systems, and more. We were told that the event was closed to press.

Invitations described the event as an opportunity to explore “cutting-edge AI applications” and “future trends and opportunities for AI-driven advancements.” Some who were in attendance told me there was no news announced and few details about what exactly the HHS AI leadership is up to as it tries to bring the department up to speed with the new technology.

Were you there? What impressed you? Who did you see? Let me know: mario.aguilar@statnews.com

Take a closer look at the agenda here.

Telehealth extensions march forward in Congress

A House committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that would extend Medicare telehealth flexibilities and a home hospital program adopted during the pandemic, I reported with STAT’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang.

The bill would temporarily make more telehealth services available to Medicare enrollees in their homes nationwide until the end of 2026. The bill also extends for five years a program that allows approved hospitals to deliver inpatient care in people’s homes.

The bill was unanimously passed on Wednesday by the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The legislation is being closely watched by industry, and regulators. Some health care organizations have already started making plans in case lawmakers don’t get the extensions over the finish line in time.

Though it wasn’t the topic of the day, several lawmakers took the opportunity to raise the issue of prescribing controlled substances over telehealth — including stimulants like Adderall and drugs used to treat opioid dependence. Those rules were temporarily loosened by the Drug Enforcement Administration during the pandemic, and the agency has until the end of the year to finalize a new policy. Many fear tough rules are coming. If you happen to be part of the conversations shaping DEA’s thinking, STAT would like to hear from you.

Read more about the advancing telehealth legislation here.

Providers cautious on new tech, but hopeful

One-third of clinicians, clinical leaders, and executives surveyed by NEJM Catalyst said their organization is slow to adopt new technologies. Another third of the 773 sampled said they wait until the tech is supported by sufficient evidence. Despite the hype around artificial intelligence, only a small percentage of organizations use it in clinical care — and yet, about 85% said they believe it will have a “major impact” on care within three years.

The survey is part of a Catalyst issue focused on digital health.

The Ascension hack cost how much??

The cyberattack that forced Ascension to shut off access to its electronic health records cost the nonprofit hospital system roughly $1.3 billion, STAT’s Bob Herman reports.

It’s one of the costliest hacks that has been reported. UnitedHealth Group estimated that the February ransomware attack on it Change Healthcare subsidiary cost the company $1.9 billion after taxes.

Bob had to do a bit of math to arrive at the large number. In the 10 months that ended April 2024, the health system lost $332 million, a fraction of the $1.9 billion Ascension lost in the same period of 2023. But including May and June, the months affected by the cyberattack, Ascension’s operating loss ballooned to $1.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year. He compared those operating loss figures, and removed some impairments losses, to arrive at the estimated $1.3 billion cost of the cyberattack. Read more here

What we’re reading

• FDA designates devices for heart surgery, smart knee implant as ‘breakthroughs’, STAT
• There are more than 120 AI bills in Congress right now, MIT Technology Review
• This Device Is ‘Proven’ to Protect Athletes’ Brains. The Science Is Under Fire., Chronicle of Higher Education
• Social determinants of health and insurance claim denials for preventive care, JAMA Network Open