Good morning, healthcare enthusiasts. Today’s newsletter is 539 words-long, or a 2-minute read.
Think about it 💡
🧈 Wellness influencers are trading their protein shakes for a serving of legal trouble. Influencers are the bread and butter of the booming wellness industry, a market worth a cool $1.5 trillion. Liver King (aka Brian Johnson), once an icon for raw meat enthusiasts, got slapped with a nice $25 million lawsuit after confessing to an $11,000 monthly steroid habit and some questionable marketing tactics. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to dust off its rulebook and update its guidelines, making it crystal clear that influencers must disclose their endorsements in a way that's "difficult to miss and easily understandable by ordinary consumers.” Quite an amazing wording, in our humble opinion.
👩⚕️ Between 2019 and 2021, physician burnout rates in the U.S. skyrocketed, leaving doctors feeling like overcooked noodles. A study in JAMA Network Open revealed that women physicians, junior physicians, and the brave souls in primary care were hit the hardest by this burnout surge. The study shows that exhaustion and cynicism scores soared by 20.0% each, while reduced personal efficacy increased by 9.0% compared to the 2019 baseline. Likewise, the risk of burnout doubled from 2019 to 2021. Burnout, a state of 'I-can't-even-anymore' due to endless workplace stress, was projected to cost healthcare systems $4.6 billion annually even before the pandemic added fuel to the fire. Some physicians found an escape route: spending less time on paperwork. This study serves as a reminder that the healthcare system needs a big dose of TLC to support our healthcare pros.
Glammed-up digi health 💎
📷 High-profile athletes and celebrities are getting in on the digital health game. Despite challenges like rising interest rates and limited opportunities, these health-conscious icons are making waves.
🎾 Andy Roddick didn't just hit aces on the tennis court; he also served up ViewFi, a telehealth company diagnosing sports injuries. He also teamed up with Transcarent, a healthcare navigation expert, to develop an AI-driven diagnostic system.
💸 Serena Williams has launched Serena Ventures, a venture capital fund in the health sector. Even the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Jared Leto are stepping off their red carpets to back digital health companies such as Maven or Headspace. It seems that celebrities are no longer merely lending their names for a quick buck but are becoming more and more involved in these ventures.
Neat News 🗞️
🔬 Researchers behind Covid mRNA vaccine win Nobel Prize in Medicine. Neat.
🧪 AOA Dx secured $17 million to advance its ovarian cancer diagnostic test. Super neat.
🎉 Nabla was at HLTH and got to meet some of you wonderful people. We found this ultra neat.
Clean Content 🧼
🤝 Julie Yoo and Paul Uhrig share their digital health entrepreneur playbook, revealing the secret handshake for cozying up to health systems.
☃️ Winter is coming and so is the AI-empowered patient - but are doctors ready?
🔎 Here are 13 digital health startups to watch, according to investors. Don't miss a peek at number 11.
This is what you came for 🍑
🧼 Global Handwashing Day is the perfect occasion to give our hygiene routines a once-over. Turns out, we could all do with a little more soaping up – a CDC study uncovered that a mere 31% of men and a somewhat more impressive 65% of women bother to wash their hands after paying a visit to a public restroom. So, next time things are heating up, don't forget your bottle of hand sanitizer.
Byeeee,
👏 A resounding applause to the brilliant wordsmiths who inspired the Healthcare Hoagie this week - Teresa Xie, Susanna Vogel, Tina Reed, Nathaniel Herzberg, Kai Nicol-Schwarz, Julie Yoo, Paul Uhrig, Robert Pearl.