Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1492995
24 INNOVATION Data company Arrive Health acquires pharmacy tech created at UPMC By Giles Bruce D ata company Arrive Health has acquired technologies created at Pittsburgh-based UPMC to help with patient medication adherence and benefits management. e artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant and integrated workflow tools were developed by UPMC Enterprises, the health system's innovation and venture capital arm, and the UPMC Pharmacy Network. UPMC also invested in Arrive Health as part of the transaction. "Technology is essential in transforming pharmacy and clinical operations while improving patient outcomes," said Rebecca Taylor, PharmD, UPMC's senior director of pharmacy, in a Jan. 18 Arrive Health news release. "With these tools, we communicate with over 60,000 UPMC patients annually and make a meaningful difference in their lives while streamlining processes for pharmacy staff." Arrive Health will use the technology to support pharmacy teams with automated patient-access resources and real-time benefit checks. n Dollar General offers healthcare in 3 store parking lots By Laura Dyrda D ollar General customers at three locations in Tennessee can now see a healthcare provider in the store's parking lot for preventative care, urgent care and chronic condition management services. The nationwide retailer partnered with DocGo On- Demand to operate mobile clinics on select days outside the stores in Clarksville and Cumberland Furnace, Tenn. The clinics, set up in large vans, allow patients to schedule online or walk in without an appointment. Operated as part of Dollar General's DG | Wellbeing brand, clinicians can provide routine checkups, vaccines, lab tests, diagnostics including EKGs and wound care. Individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can also receive care at the clinics. The urgent care services treat patients with the flu or COVID-19, skin issues, urinary tract infections, abdominal pain, migraines and gastrointestinal concerns. DocGo On-Demand does accept major insurers as well as Medicaid/TennCare and Medicare plans. The company charges a flat fee for patients without insurance and collects the fee ahead of the visit. n Stanford Medicine creates Theranos-like test using single drop of blood By Giles Bruce R esearchers at Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Medicine have developed a Theranos-like test that screens for health measures using a single drop of blood. The approach, relayed in a Jan. 19 study in Nature Biomedical Engineering, combines a finger-prick device with multiomics technologies that assess a variety of proteins, fats, metabolism byproducts, and inflammatory markers. "Even more importantly, we've shown you can collect the blood drop at home and mail it into the lab," said Michael Snyder, PhD, director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine and senior author of the study, in a Jan. 19 university news release. While not naming Theranos, which famously claimed to have revolutionized blood testing before its leaders were convicted of fraud, the release noted that the "research sounds similar to a well-known approach promoted in the past for testing a single drop of blood." However, this technique employs mass spectrometry molecule-sorting technology rather than replicating existing diagnostic tests, and the data analysis is done in a lab instead of a portable box. n