Med tech giant Royal Philips is partnering with Nuvo Group to support remote pregnancy monitoring in rural areas.

The collaboration will start with a pilot program in rural Colorado using Nuvo's INVU remote monitoring system, which was cleared by the FDA last year. The companies say the program could improve access to maternity care in rural communities, where a lack of options contributes to worse outcomes and higher mortality rates. 

"Digital solutions and ecosystem-building are critical enablers to addressing disparities in healthcare such as access to maternal health care in rural settings," Sandra Lesenfants, general manager, hospital patient monitoring, at Philips, said in a statement. "With this collaboration, we are extending the sight and reach of pregnancy care and bringing more remote monitoring options to the communities and expectant mothers where and when they need them most."

Prescription digital therapeutics company Pear Therapeutics will now be available in Epic's App Orchard Gallery, allowing providers to monitor patients using the company's therapeutics within the EHR.

Including the PearConnect service platform in the gallery will improve workflows for providers as they manage patients using reSET or reSET-O for substance use and opioid use disorders, the company said. They'll be able to review patient progress and document remote monitoring work for reimbursement.

"We are excited to bring this opportunity to expand access to our PDTs, with the initial listing of our PearConnect platform in the App Orchard gallery to support reSET and reSET-O patients. We believe Pear’s integration with Epic will create a pathway for healthcare providers to easily access our PearConnect platform and enable scale to serve many more patients," Pear chief commercial officer Julia Strandberg said in a statement.

Virtual reality therapeutics startup AppliedVR announced it has changed the name of its EaseVRx therapeutic to RelieVRx.

The system received FDA De Novo clearance to treat chronic lower back pain in November. AppliedVR plans to launch the rebranded RelieVRx in a few markets this year to prepare for its full release in 2023. 

"While ease of use is definitely an important part of our design, ultimately we wanted a name that better reflected how our innovative product intends to provide life-changing relief. With demonstrated efficacy data, 'RelieVRx' better captures the core benefit of pain relief that the healthcare industry is looking for: a prescription treatment option that provides a unique modality while addressing unmet patient needs," cofounder and CEO Matthew Stoudt said in a statement. 

The company also announced it had appointed Dr. Charisse Y. Sparks as chief medical officer to support the RelieVRx launch and its potential expansion for other clinical needs. Sparks most recently worked at DePuySynthes, the orthopedic device arm of Johnson & Johnson.

"Racial, ethnic and economic disparities in chronic pain management are well established. Reliable studies show that these disparities show up in the undertreatment of pain as well as overdose deaths, which continue to increase," Sparks said in a statement. "I am looking forward to making immersive therapeutics a standard of care in chronic pain management and establishing AppliedVR as a leader in health equity for the digital health industry."