Get the latest news in health technology, digital health and health AI with this weekly overview. News for the week from June 15th to 19th.
ARPA-H launches program to redefine sleep as a ‘measurable and controllable’ health promoter
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) on Tuesday launched a research funding opportunity to develop the “first home closed-loop” technology to objectively measure health-related sleep characteristics.
The program, named the Restorative and Health-Enhancing Sleep Time (REST) Program, will focus on two technical areas: measurement and diagnosis, and control and treatment. This is supported by separate components dedicated to sleep health modeling, data harmonization, benchmarking, cross-performer integration, and independent validation and validation.
If successful, the program will yield “revolutionary insights” into sleep by treating it as a biological system that can be controlled, officials said. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of treating insomnia by at least 90% and pave the way to reducing health risks associated with sleep deprivation, such as depression and cardiovascular disease.
“REST was designed on a simple but ambitious premise: we can more accurately measure sleep quality at home and modify it in real time,” REST program manager Dr. Nate Nohat said in a statement. “The future we are building is one where Americans wake up better every night than they did the night before, without ever having to set foot in a doctor’s office.”
Lumeris adds symptom checking functionality within AI primary care platform
Value-based care company Lumeris announced Tuesday that its primary care-as-a-service solution, Tom, now offers symptom checking for patients between office visits.
Powered by Google’s CX Agent Studio and Gemini, this new feature allows users to report symptoms, ask health-related questions, and receive support through conversational interactions. The company says it’s currently being used in “major” Medicare Advantage plans serving high-risk members, with broader availability expected in late 2026.
“One of the biggest challenges in caring for high-risk populations is ensuring patients receive the right support at the right time,” Dr. David Carmouche, Lumeris’ chief medical and commercial officer, said in a statement. “This capability further expands Tom’s role as an active member of the healthcare team, enabling organizations to identify patient needs earlier, streamline workflows, and support more timely interventions.”
DeepIntent deploys agent AI platform for healthcare marketing
Healthcare demand-side platform DeepIntent launched on Monday and touts itself as the first agent AI platform built for healthcare marketers.
The company says the solution, called Helix AI, will unlock market insights within health datasets, allowing marketers to strategize and engage audiences with “unprecedented accuracy.”
Chris Paquette, CEO and founder of DeepIntent, said in a statement that the speed of information delivery has a “significant impact on improving patient outcomes and quality of life.”
“Agentic AI provides us with a technology that will ultimately democratize access to critical insights buried deep within many different types of health and media data,” Paquette said. “Helix AI reduces time to insight and time to action from weeks to minutes. This represents a major advancement in how healthcare marketers can use AI and data to optimize the commercial success of therapeutic products.”
Users can simultaneously analyze both patient and provider audiences and build relevant audiences using the platform’s agent tools and language. Helix AI can also optimize media performance and evaluate campaign results.
UCLA establishes AI Implementation Research Center
UCLA Health has launched a center aimed at evaluating the safety and adoption of AI across the healthcare organization.
The center, called the AI Innovation and Achievement Validation (INOVAi) Center, will focus on evaluating the “full lifecycle” of AI, from initial usability to implementation studies.
“INOVAi represents an important center of excellence in AI evaluation and implementation science and is an integral part of UCLA’s broader institutional approach to responsible medical AI,” Stephen Dubinette, MD, PhD, UCLA David Geffen Dean of the School of Medicine, said in a statement. “In collaboration with the UCLA AI & SMART Health Center and in conjunction with Dr. Catherine Andriol’s role as Associate Dean for Health AI Strategy and Innovation, INOVAi will help strengthen a coordinated ecosystem for AI innovation that is rigorous, ethical, evidence-based, and focused on improving health.”
