Bytes: Week in Review — Investments flow into health tech, FDA approves modifying AI medical devices, and California’s AI insurance claim law

Marketplace Tech

American Public Media

Technology, News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s been a lot of discussion about health insurance over the last week. And one practice could be seeing more oversight: the use of artificial intelligence in coverage decisions. Plus, the FDA issues final guidance for makers of AI-enabled medical devices so they can now update their software after approval. And it was a good year for health tech startups — after a not-so-good year in 2023 — especially for those with the letters “AI” attached to their business. Our regular contributor Christina Farr, managing director with Manatt Health, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to discuss the news.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Lawmakers are starting to eye AI in health insurance. From American Public Media,
0:07.3	this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carrino.
0:18.9	There's been a lot of discussion about health insurance over the last week, and one practice could be seeing more oversight, the use of artificial intelligence in coverage decisions.
0:31.6	That's just one topic we'll be getting into on today's Marketplace Techbytes week in review.
0:36.8	Plus, the FDA issues final guidance for makers of
0:40.0	AI-enabled medical devices so they can now update their software after approval. But first,
0:47.0	it was a good year for health tech startups after a not-so-good year in 2023, especially for those with the letters AI attached to their
0:57.7	business. Here with more is our regular contributor, Christina Farr. She's a managing director at
1:03.3	Manette Health. It was a good year, not as good as some of the years during the pandemic and immediately before where we saw funding
1:14.4	just absolutely blow up through the roof in healthcare. I think a lot of that was just exuberance,
1:21.0	people thinking that the whole future of healthcare and medicine was going to be virtual.
1:27.1	And we believe that at a time when
1:29.9	COVID was happening and a lot of medicine was virtual because people didn't want to get seen in
1:34.8	person. And the laws changed and relaxed at that time to make it more possible. Things have remained
1:43.0	somewhat, you know, there's still a lot of telemedicine out there,
1:47.1	but what we're seeing is a lot of plateauing in, you know, general use and a lot more people
1:52.8	going back into the doctor's office. Hospitals are seeing just more people come back as well
1:59.7	and that they are trying to bring people back
2:02.2	into the physical like, you know, office or clinic. So it's now sort of maybe stabilized a bit
2:09.9	up from 23, which was a really bad year for companies raising money. And now I think, you know, we're seeing activity pick back up.
2:20.5	Okay. So we're out of this kind of pandemic era feeding frenzy. But like, where is the excitement
2:27.0	and investment today? Okay. So two words for you, artificial intelligence. That is where most of the funding is going these days.
	...

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