| | | |   | Hello, it's Mario. It's a big day for health data, as we go into below... | | | Happy health data access day! Call it data liberation day: Under federal rules taking effect today, health care organizations must give patients unfettered access to their full health records in digital format. No more long delays. No more fax machines. No more exorbitant charges for printed pages. The new rules — passed under the 21st Century Cures Act — are designed to shift the balance of power to ensure that patients can not only get their data, but also choose who else to share it with. Read Casey’s story on the implications for startups and the scores of businesses that must figure out how to comply if they haven't already. | Ro aims to streamline Alzheimer’s recruitment Recruiting for Alzheimer’s clinical trials is notoriously difficult, but telehealth company Ro thinks it can help. The company, which is best known for its services providing easy access to medication, reached an agreement with the National Institute of Aging to create a registry of patients that could participate in research. its platform to recruit and screen patients who may be at risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia. The hope is that Ro’s consumer-friendly technology platform and broad user base will streamline the process of finding patients. Though the main goal is to create a registry of several hundred people who can participate, NIA senior investigator Madhav Thambisetty said he also hopes that technology will help address the overwhelming whiteness of trials. ““We want to pay particular attention to seeing whether we can encourage underrepresented minorities to participate in the registry,” he said. Read the whole story here. | Tweet of the week 
Here’s your reminder that a PhD and deep health care data expertise will not protect you from the tyranny of the fax machine in health care.
| Partnering to advance health equity and diversify the bioinformatics workforce Data show only 7.1% of the employed biomedical and life sciences workforce is Black, Hispanic or Native American. The United Health Foundation is partnering with Harris-Stowe State University, a historically Black college and university in St. Louis, to help change that. Their partnership has created a new bioinformatics training program to increase awareness of the field among high school and college students and further diversify the life sciences workforce. Learn more about our commitment to advancing health equity and diversifying the health tech workforce. | Industry news -
Drone logistics company Zipline will begin delivering prescriptions and other medical needs to Intermountain Healthcare patients. They hope to expand the service over five years to be able to reach 1 million people. -
Private equity firm Francisco Partners will acquire benefits software company bswift from CVS. You’ll recall the firm also acquired the assets formerly known as IBM Watson Health. -
Sonara Health raises $3 Million for its methadone monitoring system led by First Trust Capital Partners and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas. -
LexisNexis Risk Solutions launched a real world data network. - UK-based sleep apnea tech company Acurable raised over $12 million to expand abroad. The funding was led by Kibo Ventures.
| What to read around the web today -
The White House just unveiled a new AI Bill of Rights, MIT Technology Review -
Here’s to the crazy ones, Mayo Clinic Platform -
Video games offer the potential of “experiential medicine”, UCSF -
Efficacy and conflicts of interest in randomized controlled trials evaluating Headspace and Calm apps: Systematic review, JMIR Mental Health | Thanks for reading! More next week,  | | Have a news tip or comment? Email Us | |
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