Torrid rate of investment in digital health cools

Investment in digital health startups is growing, but not at the same torrid pace as a year ago, according to a mid-year report from startup accelerator Rock Health.

Digital health startups attracted $849 million in the first half of the year, up 12 percent over the same period a year ago. However, the growth rate during the first six months of last year was 73 percent.

Nearly half the funding focused on remote patient monitoring, analytics and big data, hospital administration and electronic health records.

For all of 2012, digital health companies raised $1.4 billion, a 45 percent increase from 2011, Rock Health reported.

Still, digital health is faring better than some other sectors, reports GigaOM. Rock Health quotes a PricewaterhouseCoopers report that shows in the first quarter of 2013, venture funding for medical devices fell 29 percent and 2 percent for biotech ventures.

A post at Forbes, meanwhile, points to dedicated personnel being assigned to digital health ventures and increased academic activity in digital health.

"There remains significant interest in the transformative potential of digital health; the challenge is on the implementation side, finding a way to realize and give expression to this enormous potential, and demonstrate the value so many of us believe is there," contributor David Shaywitz concludes.

To learn more:
- find the report
- read the GigaOM article
- check out the Forbes piece