Healthcare IT industry news in brief

This week’s industry round up focuses on companies and company appointments, and includes news of some European recognition for Patientrack, a new partnership for Bridgehead, and a new chief executive for Arkivum.

Patientrack recognised by European Commission

A UK company that helps track hospital patients’ health in real time has made it to finals of the 2016 EU eHealth Competition. Patientrack was the only UK company to reach the “champions” finals of the European Commission-backed competition, which is focused on small and medium sized enterprises in healthcare.

In the separate “promises” category, OvuSense, a UK company that developed an ovulation predictor and disorder detector that helps woman conceive faster, was also a finalist. The winners were due to be announced on 9 June in Amsterdam as part of eHealth week.

Health IT consultancy teams up with data management provider

BridgeHead Software and AbedGraham have formed a partnership. BridgeHead specialises in healthcare data integration and management, while AbedGraham is a healthcare IT consultancy, focused on research, strategy, sales growth, project management and risk compliance. Saif Abed, founding partner at AbedGraham, will be appointed BridgeHead’s clinical safety officer.

Guy Yaniv to head Arkivum

Big data company Arkivum has appointed Guy Yaniv as its new chief executive officer. Yaniv was previously a senior manager at NICE Systems, an enterprise software company, focused on big data analytics, and had held a number of senior roles in the software industry.

Arkivum was found in 2011, arising for the University of Southampton IT Innovation Centre. It specialises in data management in the healthcare, life sciences, heritage and higher education sectors.

“Browsealoud” function added to NHS England website

Texthelp’s “Browsealoud” software has been integrated into NHS England’s website, allowing people to access health information aurally in 99 languages. The software can also convert the text into an MP3 file to listen to later or change the text size on the site. The functionality can be access through the orange headphone icon.

Canadian “gesture” based health tech firm target UK

GestureTek Health is hoping to muscle into the UK market, opening a new London office and partnering with IIP Health Ltd to pursue opportunities this side of the Atlantic. The Canadian based firm’s products are focused on gesture controlled and virtual reality based software for rehabilitation and disability services.

About 850 of company’s units are used in hospital in North America, Mexico and Asia, with company hoping to push into Europe next year.