All Access

Health Tech Deals

Health Tech Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Health Tech Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Health Tech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Yesterday's crackdown by federal regulators on GoodRx highlights increasing efforts by the FTC under activist chair Lina Khan to protect consumers' digital health privacy.

Why it matters: The proposed order could have broad implications for the health tech sector, in which ad-targeting practices — particularly among direct-to-consumer businesses — are nearly ubiquitous.

Catch up quick: The order marks two firsts for the FTC:

The first use of its Health Breach Notification Rule, which requires health apps to notify users of infringements upon their information.

The first time it has sought with such an order to expressly ban a company from using consumer health data for ad-targeting.

Context: Startups and large tech companies collect troves of personal data on fertility, exercise, health conditions and prescriptions that are not expressly protected like other data covered by HIPAA.

Zoom in: Specifically, the FTC's complaint alleges that GoodRx shared with Google and Facebook individually identifiable data on users' prescription medications and health conditions.

The complaint also alleged that GoodRx targeted users of its telemedicine service, HeyDoctor, who'd searched online about STDs with ads for STD testing services.

The complaint characterized such practices as deceptive and unauthorized, something that could have broad implications for a sector in which such practices are common.

Yes, but: GoodRx agreed to settle the case Wednesday but said it disagreed with the agency’s allegations and admitted no wrongdoing.

Flashback: Although the FTC has ramped up its actions against health tech companies in recent years with similar actions, the GoodRx order goes further than previous cases by aiming to ban the company from future ad-targeting.

In 2021, for example, the FTC found fertility tracking app developer Flo sharing menstrual cycle and pregnancy data with Google and Facebook, and although Flo agreed as part of a settlement to get user consent before sharing such information, it was not expressly barred from such behavior.

The other side: In a statement issued alongside the court order, FTC commissioner Christine S. Wilson said the settlement falls short in that it "does not hold senior executives liable, and does not modify the core GoodRx business model."

"I would have supported a larger civil penalty," Wilson writes, noting the company's previous market valuation of $18 billion and adding, "I believe the company profited significantly from its silence about its scurrilous privacy practices — far in excess of the $1.5 million penalty."

1 big thing:  FTC's GoodRx crackdown has implications

Illustration of a gavel hovering over a block with an image of a red cross.

Virtual autism therapy provider AnswersNow has collected $11 million in Series A capital, CEO Jeff Beck tells Erin exclusively.

Why it's the BFD: AnswersNow wants to expand the reach of its virtual Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy — the only autism treatment currently covered by most insurance plans — by hiring more Ph.D. and master’s-level clinicians.

Deal details: Left Lane Capital led the round. 

Additional supporters included the American Family Institute for Social Impact, Blue Heron Capital, Difference Partners and former Kadiant CEO Lani Fritts.

The company plans to use the funds to expand into six additional states, hire more clinicians and hone its digital platform.

Beck says that if the company needs to fundraise again in the near future, it will raise a Series B at the end of the year or sometime in 2025.

Context: Although the prevalence of autism in the U.S. has risen significantly in recent years, the existing supply of ABA providers is failing to meet demand, leading to waitlists and an emergence of tech-forward startups looking to provide and quantify treatment. For example:

SpectrumAi in June raised $9 million in seed funding to measure the results of ABA treatment.

Elemy, a provider of hybrid educational services for children with autism and other behavioral health conditions, in 2021 collected $219 million in Series B capital at a $1.15 billion valuation.

How it works: Richmond, Virginia-based AnswersNow pairs families with a clinician to provide virtual ABA, an evidence-based form of therapy that uses rewards to help teach communication and daily living skills.

Although many other ABA providers employ registered behavior technicians (RBTs) and/or board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs), AnswersNow only uses the latter, which requires Ph.D. and master's-level training and does not require the support of a supervisor.

"We only deliver care that way," Beck says. "We are steadfast in that. BCBAs are incredibly creative."

AnswersNow accepts most major forms of insurance, including Medicaid, UnitedHealth Care, Aetna, Cigna, Anthem and Blue Cross Blue Shield. 

What they're saying: Beck says AnswersNow's virtual nature lends itself to easier adoption and better outcomes, because trying to change parent behavior in person can be a challenge.

"Virtually, parents are much more open to it," Beck says. "It just feels less personal than when I’m in their living room. And for the 10- to 14-year-old, they're running their own session. These are predictable environments for them."

AnswersNow investor and Left Lane Capital principal Henry Toole agreed, saying he viewed the company as part of the solution for "a large part of the population — people not close to treatment centers who can’t have someone in their house for 20 to 40 hours per week."

The backstory: Trained as a licensed clinical social worker, Beck says the company started in 2017 as a Slack chat (the HIPAA-compliant version), but turned into a fully fledged company after several emotional experiences with families.

"We had parents chatting with our clinicians and mailing us $20 checks to get support for their kids," Beck says.

A few months later, Beck says, he got a teary call from one such parent, whose child had been struggling for years with a fear of automatic flushing toilets but had recently overcome it thanks to his team's advice.

State of play: The company provided over 10,000 hours of therapy in 2022.

The intrigue: Tracking outcomes across a population of people with autism can be challenging because each person has a unique pace of learning and set of goals.

"So how do you create a pre- and post-test to assess that? We’re working on it," Beck says.

2. The BFD: AnswersNow gets $11M for virtual autism therapy

Illustration of a cursor made from four different colored puzzle pieces.

It's been a while since we've featured a Tweet of the week, but this one made us chuckle. As unsexy as it might sound, digital health infrastructure is rapidly emerging as one of the sector's hottest bets. 

State of play: Health tech is in its Shopify era, with a flurry of startups vying to supply the technological backbone for health care companies. For example:

Hint Health last fall acquired health record company AeroDPC in a cash and equity deal.

Capable Health, a maker of plug-and-play enablement tools for digital health startups, in May raised $6 million in seed funds.

Primary care-focused tech developer Fold Health in July collected $6 million in seed capital from former Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush and others

Virtual care enabler Wheel acquired GoodRx Care's virtual care tech backbone for $19.5 million in cash last year. 

3. Tweet of the week

A picture of a plane coming out of the window of an airport

XbyX, a Berlin-based DTC menopause and healthy aging startup, has raised a 7-figure seed round led by Econa AG. https://www.xbyx.de/

Eads Bridge Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Stokes Counseling, a Naugatuck, Conn.-based mental health counseling business. www.stokescounseling.com

Science 37, a clinical research company, has acquired the life sciences platform of remote diagnostic company Vault Health. https://www.science37.com 

4. Deals o' the day

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing has named former Folx CFO Lena Ballantine chief operations and transformation officer. https://www.thenationalcouncil.org

Cofertility has named former Modern Fertility marketing manager Riane Puno its marketing manager. https://www.cofertility.com/

Varsity Healthcare Partners has named former Cancer Treatment Centers of America CEO Pat Basu managing partner of operations.  https://varsityhealthcarepartners.com/

Nema Health has named former Brightline lead product manager Chipper Stotz head of product. https://nemahealth.com/

5. It's Personnel

It's Thursday, Health Tech readers, or what we around here like to call Friday Eve.

🏀 Aaron is prepping for his basketball league season that starts next week. 

❤️ Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor George Moriarty and copy editor Brad Bonhall. Please ask your friends and colleagues to sign up.

February 02, 2023

1 big thing: FTC's GoodRx crackdown has implications