Dec 1, 2023

Plus: Semantic Health acquired by US-based AAPC. Share on: The Healthtech Times is a weekly newsletter covering healthtech news from Canada and around the globe. Subscribe to H|T using the form at the bottom of this page to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important healthtech news every week! Subscribe (BETAKIT) Toronto artificial intelligence (AI) startup Semantic Health has been acquired by Utah-based medical coding, billing, and auditing firm AAPC for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, the two teams plan to expand Semantic Health’s functionality and bolster AAPC’s current product offerings. AAPC said it plans to continue supporting Semantic Health’s existing customers while growing the platform. (BLEEPINGCOMPUTER) Healthcare SaaS provider Welltok is warning that a data breach exposed the personal data of nearly 8.5 million patients in the U.S. after a file transfer program used by the company was hacked in a data theft attack. Patient data was exposed during the breach, including names, telephone numbers, as well as email and physical addresses. For some, it also includes Social Security Numbers, Medicare/Medicaid ID numbers, and health insurance information. (BETAKIT) The Government of Canada’s Fall Economic Statement, delivered this week by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, includes promises to implement a consumer-driven banking framework next year, expand Payments Canada eligibility, and bolster the country’s competition watchdog, as well as updates regarding the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit and the Canada Growth Fund. (BNN BLOOMBERG) Palantir Technologies, the data analysis company co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, has won a contract worth upwards of £480 million to overhaul the National Health Service’s patient data system in the UK. The decision is both predictable and controversial. Palantir has been working with the health service since the Covid-19 pandemic, and its relationship with the NHS has drawn fire from patient advocacy and civil society groups concerned about the privacy of medical data. (BETAKIT) Mike Wessinger, the co-founder of PointClickCare and current board chair, is the first to admit he may not be a household name beyond industry circles. In his exclusive interview with Aly Gillani, Head of Canadian Tech Investment Banking at RBC Capital Markets, Mike delves into his advice for cultivating a thriving tech ecosystem that stretches beyond Silicon Valley and how to build tech unicorns in Canada (while still staying humble, of course). (STAT) CEO of MedTech Innovator, Paul Grand’s parents weren’t really into the software thing; they saw their son in medicine. Looking back on his adolescence, Grand, now 55, wonders whether having inspiring mentors around him would have made a difference. Mentorship is the guiding principle of MedTech Innovator, a Los Angeles-based accelerator for early-stage medtech companies that Grand founded in 2013. What started as a startup competition called MedTech Idol at an industry conference is, ten years later, practically an institution. Any new med device founder worth their salt knows to apply to MTI: for the mentorship, but also for exposure to the most powerful companies in the industry.